Grandia for PS1... is this game any good??

I consider it best of the series.

Grandia is all about dungeon crawling with it's battle system. If that's not your thing, you might not enjoy it too much because you will be stuck in a dungeon for long long time.

Also game has very slow moving story pace.

It was good, but I found it too long...which is saying something, because I love long RPGs. It just seemed like I was doing random trivial stuff all the time, and after about 40 hours, it didn't feel like I had gotten anywhere. I just couldn't finish it.
fathoms_basic

I agree with this.

I have beaten the game (around 80 hours) and I think that it is too long also. Disc 1 is mostly good, but the game starts to really get repetitive and boring on disc 2 IMO.

Grandia beats out FFVIII gameplay wiseHiResDes

Then again, I hear quite a lot does :|.

I always wanted to play this game but I've never gotten around to it.

Is it like a 2D Persona 3 without going to school?

I always wanted to play this game but I've never gotten around to it.

Is it like a 2D Persona 3 without going to school?Dencore

You've played a Grandia game before, right? This is one, with more meat on its bones than any other save Xtreme.

[QUOTE="Dencore"]I always wanted to play this game but I've never gotten around to it.

Is it like a 2D Persona 3 without going to school?DarkCatalyst

You've played a Grandia game before, right? This is one, with more meat on its bones than any other save Xtreme.

I've never played Grandia before. :(

Also I've heard that Xtreme is the worst in the series.

[QUOTE="DarkCatalyst"][QUOTE="Dencore"]I always wanted to play this game but I've never gotten around to it.

Is it like a 2D Persona 3 without going to school?Dencore

You've played a Grandia game before, right? This is one, with more meat on its bones than any other save Xtreme.

I've never played Grandia before. :(

Also I've heard that Xtreme is the worst in the series.

Two things to take note of here. First, that's just background noise from the story-over-gameplay crowd. From a pure gameplay standpoint, it's Grandia gameplay with Diablo structure, which should get any gamer incredibly stoked.

Second, if Xtreme is to be taken as the worst game in the series (I can't call it that though, great customization system + hundreds of hours of Grandia gameplay = win), it's not because it's a bad game, it's because the others are so good. I've said it before; I put all four Grandia games at the top of the RPG genre when I rank them.

Here's how I rank the Grandia series.

1) Grandia. Awesome gameplay that lasts about twice as long as most RPGs. (~80 hours.)
2) Grandia Xtreme. Length in the c|ass of Disgaea/Morrowind, outstanding customization. (~200 hours.)
3) Grandia III. Exceptional customization system and strong lastability. (~50 hours.)
4) Grandia II. Good lead into Xtreme/III systems, good story, too short w/no replay incentive. (~30 hours.)

[QUOTE="DarkCatalyst"][QUOTE="Dencore"]I always wanted to play this game but I've never gotten around to it.

Is it like a 2D Persona 3 without going to school?Dencore

You've played a Grandia game before, right? This is one, with more meat on its bones than any other save Xtreme.

I've never played Grandia before. :(

Also I've heard that Xtreme is the worst in the series.

Grandia is beefed up Final Fantasy X-2 in terms of combat engine.

It basically uses ATB system but you can push back the time meter by attacking it and knocking them off.

Two things to take note of here. First, that's just background noise from the story-over-gameplay crowd. From a pure gameplay standpoint, it's Grandia gameplay with Diablo structure, which should get any gamer incredibly stoked.

DarkCatalyst

That's what I originally thought most JRPG fans *I should be saying the gaming community in general* don't really care too much about gameplay and more so presentation. It's pretty much the sole reason why the JRPG genre is just pathetic in comparison what it was some years ago, though quality is slowly reaching it's way.

Second, if Xtreme is to be taken as the worst game in the series (I can't call it that though, great customization system + hundreds of hours of Grandia gameplay = win), it's not because it's a bad game, it's because the others are so good. I've said it before; I put all four Grandia games at the top of the RPG genre when I rank them.

DarkCatalyst

That is true when you listed the top games of the genre you listed all the games as the top 4, with Persona 3 at #5. :)

Here's how I rank the Grandia series.

1) Grandia. Awesome gameplay that lasts about twice as long as most RPGs. (~80 hours.)
2) Grandia Xtreme. Length in the c|ass of Disgaea/Morrowind, outstanding customization. (~200 hours.)
3) Grandia III. Exceptional customization system and strong lastability. (~50 hours.)
4) Grandia II. Good lead into Xtreme/III systems, good story, too short w/no replay incentive. (~30 hours.)

DarkCatalyst

Hmm I think I'll try out the first one first and judge it on that.

And not to be mean or anything but I'm just wondering what it is :P

I mean is it a dungeon crawler with a indepth JRPG combat system?

[QUOTE="DarkCatalyst"]

Two things to take note of here. First, that's just background noise from the story-over-gameplay crowd. From a pure gameplay standpoint, it's Grandia gameplay with Diablo structure, which should get any gamer incredibly stoked.

Dencore

That's what I originally thought most JRPG fans *I should be saying the gaming community in general* don't really care too much about gameplay and more so presentation. It's pretty much the sole reason why the JRPG genre is just pathetic in comparison what it was some years ago, though quality is slowly reaching it's way.

Second, if Xtreme is to be taken as the worst game in the series (I can't call it that though, great customization system + hundreds of hours of Grandia gameplay = win), it's not because it's a bad game, it's because the others are so good. I've said it before; I put all four Grandia games at the top of the RPG genre when I rank them.

DarkCatalyst

That is true when you listed the top games of the genre you listed all the games as the top 4, with Persona 3 at #5. :)

Here's how I rank the Grandia series.

1) Grandia. Awesome gameplay that lasts about twice as long as most RPGs. (~80 hours.)
2) Grandia Xtreme. Length in the c|ass of Disgaea/Morrowind, outstanding customization. (~200 hours.)
3) Grandia III. Exceptional customization system and strong lastability. (~50 hours.)
4) Grandia II. Good lead into Xtreme/III systems, good story, too short w/no replay incentive. (~30 hours.)

DarkCatalyst

Hmm I think I'll try out the first one first and judge it on that.

And not to be mean or anything but I'm just wondering what it is :P

I mean is it a dungeon crawler with a indepth JRPG combat system?

Personally I think Darkcatalyst likes Grandia series too much to be really good individual to tell you what Grandia series is like.

Listen to him and I think you might lead youself to over-expectation and not enjoy the game.

Grandia series is certainly not for everyone because it is VERY repetitive due to really large dungeons. It does feel very much like a dungeon crawler with JRPG combat system, but Grandia does offer more than that.

Grandia does have very interesting story telling method of dining. Often during the game you will come across some dining sequence where you get to talk to individual characters and amount of conversation you can bring out during that dining sequence is quite significant. Which brings quite different element to normal JRPG games.

One of the largest reason why not many can really get into Grandia series is because it is extremely slow paced game. The story really moves very slowly and uncovers very slowly, and the dungeons are so long without any story sequence, it can easily be boring to many people.

If you can enjoy repetitive combat of advanced version of Final Fantasy's ATB system and just by that alone, then Grandia is great game for you. However if you like games with good pacing that can really get you involved with story, then Grandia most likely won't be that game.

If you are used to heavily story driven games like Xenogears, Final Fantasy series, etc Grandia might not be the game for you. If you have enjoyed Diablo and thought maybe JRPG should have dungeons like that, then Grandia might be for you.

Persona 3 had randomly generated dungeons, but Grandia would really test you when it comes to dungeons. Persona 3 dungeons are quite short (even though they are randomly generated dungeons that you can spend entire day in) compared to many of Grandia dungeons. I used to feel like "where is the end to this dungeon? I can't take this anymore!"

Grandia isn't very friendly towards to new comers to JRPG. Especially because besides the first one, Grandia generally lacked in story aspect of the game.

Well JRPG's are probably the genre with the highest amount of mixed reactions when it comes to titles. I can also think of a certain favorite title that I have amongst that genre that it seems that nobody likes as much as I do.

As far as liking the game or not goes I just care if it plays well, however people completely fail to realize that story is an important part of pacing and also effects level design to a certain degree. It seems that Grandia isn't a game the holds your hand which would create teh ability to have great pacing a difficulty for the developers. See I'd buy it but it's $80, and I just don't want to fork over that amount of cash for it. Maybe I'll wait until a site sells it for cheaper.