Grandia 3 felt unfinished. Main character Yuki's mother is in the party for the first third of the game, but is just dropped abruptly when you get your plane. Yuki stops talking about his plane obsession the second he has his first successful flight. One of the villains is entirely forgotten about at one point. There's an abrupt difficulty spike in the enemy encounters at the very start of the second disc, suggesting a section was cut out. Overall, the first third is great. After that, something just feels off.
Not only those, but once you get the plane and can fly on the world map, it just feels so... empty. There are all of these landmasses and places and you only get so many locations that you're actually able to land at. Heck, they even have that entire island complete with radio entries about the plane races and you can't even go there (let alone participate).
Maybe unfinished, but I feel like GameArts was suffering from a serious lack of direction around this time, after Grandia 3 they fell off the earth and now they make very obscure titles. Yuki losing all of his character motivation isn't a sign of an unfinished game, but a lack of direction, among the other things.
I've never noticed any kind of difficulty at all in any grandia games but I thought grandia 3 was great even though I can't remember much about it since I played it years ago.
I really liked Grandia 3 even though it feels off like you guys saying. It should have been longer and they never should become a mmorpg that is a killer.
The rerelease of Grandia II on Steam was the one bright spot after Grandia Online tanked. If only we could get Grandia 1 on there now. Glad people are still thinking about this series, it was my childhood T_T
Sorry to be off topic but does anyone know of a method to get back into an instagram account?? I stupidly forgot the login password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me!
Grandia 1 is still one of the best JRPGs, it was such a great adventure! And the combat system of this series is my favourite. It has so much potential... I would really like to see Grandia IV.
Wow, now i'm kind of sad knowing that one of the major creators died... Grandia 1&2 are in my top 5 RPG's and i cant believe that i had no idea what happened. I always wondered why it said Square Enix instead of Game Arts on Grandia 3, and why it was not as good as the first 2 even though it was still great as a whole, i very much appreciate this information for my favorite trilogy.
I miss very much Grandia series.I do know but the feeling playing Grandia 1,2 and 3 a little it was i was really feaaling like i stay in a new adveture world RPGs with,magic,swords,and etc.Its a great feeling that i don wnat to forget.I hope this series come back one day...maybe not a great game,but a new title funny game for the fans of the franchise ^^/. I liked of the video xD
Spent the week watching your videos. You are a true JRPG Fan, and i realize that i still have a long road ahead of me to reach your level of dedication. I hope you can still provide good content for us to watch, thank you very much
Etherious Natsu Dragneel Honestly I wasn't surprised. I remember people buying good games without boxes that were put in boxes of bad games that they either lost, sold or didn't care about.
I recently did a playthrough of Grandia on a psp go, I played all day at work and when I got home I docked it and played on the big screen. Such a great series.
I hope you make more videos on youtube and on Facebook too. Do you stream these games on facebook? Facebook has a huge backing for retro games right now for live streams.
Oh that and I feel in this day and age.. RPG's don't do as well as they did back in the 90s and very early 2000s. I have noticed that Fighting games went back up in popularity, and MOBA, FPS, and such became even more popular as time grew further. Fighting Games surprised me, cause it was extremely popular, then took a huge dip for a while. Then all of a sudden sprouted back up fresh and new. I am hoping somehow the RPG genre can sprout back up again.
I thought Grandia 3 was ahead of its time in terms of graphic and animations, it was such eye candy. I know the story is non-existent but I enjoy G3 for what it is and here's hoping G4 is coming.
It's also that the characters were boring and uninteresting.. I could not care less about Alfeena.. Yuki was meh as well and I don't even remember the rest.. The two characters that was keeping the game afloat were Yuki's mom and that guy she flirted with (forgot the name) if they would keep these 2 in the game the whole game could be a lot better overall.. but no, they dropped them and I could not care less about the remaining characters.. it got a little bit better at some parts later on, but still, graphics don't do a great game.. after all, my first grandia I played was Grandia 2 on PS2.. and after I laughed my ass off when I first saw the graphics and thought that there is no chance I'm playing this... that was before I got hooked on the characters, story and music.. the rest is history!
@@KillerkoUK Yeah graphics does not make a game, BUT Grandia 3 Battle System is no doubt the BEST in the series! It fun coordinating your attack and getting aerial finish. Also the Graphics in combat (Especially the spell) is Jaw Dropping! Yeah the story is kinda generic, but I can tolerate it because of its gameplay.
@@rjproduction486 i have yet to find a game that replicates that combat feel. I would pay solid money for grandia 3 again honestly, i never finished the game, my disc 2 broke 😭
Thank you so much for making this video. It's amazing to see videos of Grandia pop up here and there, but it's even more rare to see someone discuss the Grandia series in it's current situation. It hurts to see the series die simply because of being trapped in obscurity, bad luck, and poor decisions. I'm sure a remaster could happen given the gaming space we are in right now where remasters are cropping up everywhere. So maybe we won't get a sequel, but a remaster of the first game. If that does well, then maybe there will be another Grandia game. Maybe someday, I just hope I live to see it. Anyways great video man, good job.
Damn... Watching this makes me sad because of the situation of this awesome saga, but also grateful for what we got, especially Grandia 1. As far as I´m concerned, here in Europe we didn´t get Grandia 3, and though the second one is quite cool (waiting for a sale for its steam version, mamma mia) it is the first in the series the one I am more fond with. It is just the perfect sense of adventure while being a kid. I have been buying some JRPGs for some time, which means costs on money and time, but, when I really get the chance, I will buy the PAL version and enjoy it like it deserves. Well done, Erick, great video to start the weekend! :)
4:09 "But finally one we all got" We didn't, Europe got shafted as always, we didn't get Grandia 3 either until it was released on PS Store and to get it you need to have an american account.
don't worry, we missed out on Chrono Cross and Baten Kaitos Origins as well... oh and we didn't get radiata stories, Xenosaga 1 and 3, Suikoden 3 and Xenogears... we're used to missing out on great games over in Europe...
But if it is on PSN store on PS4, which is regionfree, isn´t a European account enough to download and play G3? Or do you only mean the American PSN store?
What a sad story... I knew that, actually. But thanks for reminding and telling other about it. That's important. My favorite was Grandia 2. I felt catharsis after last boss' speach after the defeat... And other story parts gave many many emotions, so of them were dark, some light.
I still play the original Grandia on my PS VITA as a PS1 classic. One of the reasons why i loved the first game more then the others is because it subverted allot of tropes that allot of JRPGs use as a crutch. For example Justin is an average 16 year old boy who wants to explore the world simply because he wants to. He's not trying to save the world or stop an evil empire, he's just doing it because he wants to. Only by taking this journey does he discover not just about ancient civilizations but you see him grow from a kid to a young adult who knows what he needs to do to help those around him. Sure it turns into a saving the world story towards the end but thats the beauty of the game. It doesn't hammer into you how important your journey is off the bat. It slowly gives you a mystery to explore and solve by journeying across the world. There are so many iconic moments in Grandia that i still get teary eyed over years later and even after beating the game multiple times. I still feel my heart warm when i hear some of the music. And the characters I met along the journey will stay with me forever because I got to see them at their best and worst. So i do hope there will be another Grandia one day, but i hope it's made with the same spirit of exploration that inspired the first game.
I didn't even realise the creator has passed away, this is why i love videos like this, educated me in finding out about games i grew up with. Also the reason they decided to make the mmo a japanese only is because japanese MMO's were picking up popularity in japan and WoW was dominating the west Lich king and Cataclysm selling really well they were worried that pushing an MMO overseas would be a huge financial failure. Similar reason why phantasy star was only in japan too.
It's so sad when the main creator dies for a game, the only way they can get this game series back good is if Tri-Ace is involved but to keep the original game mechanics intact. Yeah I agree with you this is what happened to the Grandia series, very sad indeed.
Only played G1 watched some of G2 (character emphasis and story telling normally come naturally on a first title and it's hard to carry that same affinity and energy) , and after reading mixed feeling on G3 GX didn't get involved or go back to play. Perhaps I'll need to pick them up later. and I actually didn't know of an online version exclusive to JP. I agree with many sentiments that G1 was part of my childhood. Such great character build and evolution. Unfortunate that some of the story felt rushed after the 2nd disc. Has a Disney ending, but can't say it wasn't a beautiful and very capturing atmosphere. I would like to revisit the story with today's standards in GFX / Reproduction. Would be quite beautiful, but to be honest ditching the character romance after disc 1 sad choice. There are some rough edges of the story but overall, one of the coolest stories and battle system for its time.
Justin and Feena's romance? I thought it was good. Gotta realize that they are pretty young. I feel like the villain needs a lot more back story. How cool would it be if you could play a flashback of Gaia's rise and the destruction of the Icarians? Always felt like Liete could have done something like that to give Justin motivation on fighting Gaia. Maybe a segment specifically about Baal, because it was mentioned once or twice that he 'changed' over time. Tie in Justin's father into the events as well, he did find the spirit stone, and I imagine Baal must have fallen across all this important information around the same time. Maybe he died to Baal or something dark like that? Would have been a great build-up to the final segment. ...Put way too much thought into this stuff lol
Andreas Michael Design Yeah there are many elements to the story that could have been improved, the ending felt rushed. Still a great story regardless :)
So whiney babies "killed the franchise". G3 is a beautiful game and improves on all the aspects of previous titles. The Jpop was nice too. My honest opinion is that just because a series stops doesn't mean it failed. Some series don't need a sequel and by the time they make one there's a chance it'll be directionless like Lunar DS. That said I'd love for, say, Bandai Namco to produce a legitimate Lunar 3.
I think Grandia 2 is the overall better game, because I think both the story and soundtrack were vastly superior in 2 (3's soundtrack was the worst in the series, imo). But, the gameplay and presentation were better in 3, and it's still a really good game.
Personally if they ever did get back to making a 4 I would like them to use some elements of the original. Like leveling weapons and magic to gain new powers. Grandia is one of the only games to make me not horde spells. (Even if I did go back to save points to recover a lot.) But in regards to story I liked how Grandia was very character centric and the world saving was a real slow-burn but once it was there it was like a natural progression. I remember playing two and the general amount of ‘grim edge’ out of the gate was jarring. Then 3’s gameplay was fine but it felt like it lacked the things I loved about the combat structure. Growth felt more limited.
Are you talking about the digital version of G3? If I remember correctly, the physical copy when it first released never worked properly. At least not for me.
I don't think you quite understood the whole "grim edge" thing, Grandia 2 is very tongue in cheek with the dialogue and the world around them, it wasn't trying to take it seriously but at the same time it did have serious themes that helped to develop the characters. What started as a lighthearted comedy ended up being an excellent story because of how the game's themes and characters drive the story. Grandia 3 had its fair share of edge too with Raven and Emilious but unlike Grandia 2, Grandia 3 tried to take itself seriously with it. Grandia 3 lacks the subtle themes that Grandia 2 had and the dialogue was poor in comparison.
Gotta disagree. Grandia 1 was a game made with heart that pushed the boundaries of gaming at the time. Grandia 2 was a solid improvement on many aspects, but I never personally enjoy it as much as 1, as IMO the characters just started to feel more like tropes. Grandia 1 had a lot of subtlety in the story telling and characters. Emotions felt real, rather than forced, and their interactions were interesting and natural. The world felt vibrant thanks to having different cultures, mystery, and amazing music to back it up. The story didn't delve too heavily into good and evil, with every character having more abstract motivations and realistic goals. Justin just wanted an amazing adventure, and the only time you see his spirit break is when he realizes he has to 'fight evil' and save the people he had come to love. I always wished that segment of the game lasted longer because it touched on real emotions rather than the generic hero story of "IM GOING TO SAVE EVERYONE AND BE A HERO", that's not what he wanted at all, and it was an interesting contrast that a lot of games don't show. Grandia 1 had a very strong understanding of its own world, characters, and lore. Grandia 3 was nothing but generic anime tropes with an overly serious, predictable story. Characters were contrived and their emotions felt so fake and over-acted. Motivations didn't make sense or were never expanded upon. You were just supposed to 'roll with it', rather than wonder why anything was even happening. It was a typical good vs evil story with all the twists you'd expect in such a story. Grandia 2, imo, kind of suffered the same problem, but it wasn't taking itself nearly as seriously, similar to the first game it just felt like the developers were having fun and putting together something they enjoyed. I didn't get that vibe with the 3rd game, and trust me, by the time I bought it I was a huge fan of the series. It wasn't a step forward in most of the ways that mattered to me. Sure the gameplay got better, but everything else started to get more and more stale. And even then, though the gameplay got more features, I feel like they could have started making the combat more seamless and fast, rather than throwing in new super moves and team-attacks.
A correction for your video: Grandia Xtreme and Grandia 3 were not released worldwide. These games were not released in europe, which was a huge bummer cause I loved the first two games.:(
Pretty sure Grandia was the "Lunar 3" that GA had been talking about for so long. I think they just decided to go with a new universe but the original Grandia sure as hell played like a natural advancement to lunar. What is terrible is that for some reason they kept doing like side games to the lunar series and just made things worse and worse. Dragon Song man, what in the fuck. I was so excited to see another Lunar game then saw it was atrocious. If Grandia 3 had a terrible story (never played it, but a friend was playing and I thought the combat looked solid at least) then that ruins what I felt was the best part of their games. No wonder they never went on.
We got a Grandia 1 and 2 for the Nintendo Switch HD remaster after the Steam version came out. Glad people like Happy Console Gamer are still talking about it. I wanted to give it a shot.
At least for those who didn't play the first two games, can enjoy them now on Switch as Grandia HD Collection (or PC as Grandia HD Remaster & Grandia II HD Remaster)
It's that battle system. The games themselves were average vanilla JRPGs. High quality, but very average. Those battles though. Even if the games were a little too easy, the battles were just so fun and fluid. They look and feel like real time action battles. But they're actually tactical turn based affairs. Great stuff. Especially the third game. I'd love to see the designers make a new series; keeping the battles, but ditching most everything else. Call it a spiritual successor if you will. A man can dream right?
Thomas Polaino Technically, one can consider Grandia a spiritual successor to Lunar as it is, so taking the chain one step further wouldn't be so farfetched.
They proved with Grandia xtreme that the combat system can't hold its own. I think you're selling the games short a bit, the characters and world was a big part of the experience. Which is why 3 is so awful, you ONLY get the combat system followed by mediocrity across the board. I'd argue the story/plot in any of them weren't anything special, but you could say the same about a lot of games.
Andreas Michael Design I would argue that 1 and 2 didn't have a much better story or world design. They were painfully linear. The story's were generic RPG power fantasy nonsense. They had very little in terms of side content or any sort of gameplay freedom. And they were so easy that even the immensely fun combat grew tedious. In fact I would even say that Lunar 1 and 2 had better story, characters and world building. Don't get me wrong. I like these games. I just always thought there was a lot of wasted potential. I will agree with one thing... Grandia Extreme sucked!
Never really cared about linearity. I guess it'd be cool to leave the trail and find cool secrets. All the optional dungeons in Grandia were largely pointless and didn't tie back into the story in any meaningful way. Still, I really like the world. Almost every village had a unique culture, npc's, and fitting theme song, each character you acquired from those areas, or major npc's, typically showed diversity and unique traits to that region. Always loved the art and portayal of the Icarians and the destroyed civilization. Although the difference between cutscenes and in-game were huge, and the in-game ruins didn't capture that futuristic scene that the opening showed off except once or twice, such as the first time you met liete. Totally agree that the combat was too easy though. Not much else to say there. Each encounter was just a slow grind of throw-away battles that did nothing to challenge the player. I'm playing Divinity 2 right now and it's a great example of making every battle a challenge in one way or another. Imo the focus of Grandia is more about Justin's whimsical adventure, and far less about a world ending drama. That really didn't matter intill mid-to late 2nd disc. Of course, they failed to fully transition into that drama, and it all happened too fast. Gaia's backstory is especially shallow and undeveloped. "IM EVIL BECAUSE MAN IS GREEDY" Felt rushed and incomplete imo.
Thomas Polaino grandia xtreme has the best combat I’ve ever played.. but the game is bad. Story sucks. You are only in one town the whole game. Got repetitive.. but man that combat was something special. Only reason I got through the game.
I got PS1 in 2000, when i was 10 years old. My first game that i got with the PS1 was Grandia.. It was soo fkn amazing, it had 2 CDs, the Game case was amazing and the pictures it had on the case and on the CDs... So much Nostalgia.
Just started the 1st game a few months ago, at 1st I was skeptical towards people praising it because of its more lighthearted tone compared to most complex JRPGS, but I'm halfway through it and I'm loving every minute. I just wish better decisions were made with the series...
Well, I think the developer of the series worked with Square Enix and made a mobile game called Choas Rings 3. if you play it you'll notice the similar feel to Grandia Games from the music to gameplay.
I've been watching all your videos! Fantastic channel! Keep up the good work! (It's also awesome that you're an author!) I recently played all the Grandia games (even X-Treme, which I loved!) When I beat 3, I cried. I know there will never be another. :( It was nice to watch this video and relive the series with you!
I've been playing almost only RPGs/JRPGs for the last 20 years and Grandia is still in my top 5 best games ever, especially the first. Sure i would like to see another chapter of this franchise but with the way the gaming market is now, I have a huge fear of what kind of game that would be, probably a crapfest at the best. I cna't shake off me this mixed feeling about tons of franchises in these last years
Grandia II also had a PC version. That's what I played back in the day. It ran MUCH better than the PS2 version, at least for me. I ran it on a P3 1Ghz and a Radeon 9000 128MB.
But thankfully Grandia II came back in Steam. Even though it's better experience in the dreamcast it's still great that its playable on the computer now.
This was such a great series. I absolutely loved the first one when I played it back in high school (and again when I replayed it a few years ago, more than 15 years after my first experience!), and while it took me a long time to get to the rest of the series, I really loved Grandia II and mostly enjoyed Grandia III despite some pretty glaring flaws (Xtreme never did it for me). The battle system remains one of the best I've ever experienced in a JRPG, and it got better with each installment. And the music was incredible, particularly in the first one (I love the later soundtracks too, but that first one was special). I'd love to see another one. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll ever see that happen, and that's a shame. I think that's true of a lot of RPG series, and I'm starting to understand that that's OK, because there's still so much out there to experience. I think it's OK to love the past games, appreciate shorter series for the 2, 3, 4, 5, however many games they got, and either replay them or move on to something different. Thanks for the great retrospective.
I'd love to see an evolution on the Grandia series, much like it was an evolution on Lunar... even if it was a fan doing it out of the love and nostalgia in their own heart for the series. Take the "best" (in my opinion) mechanics from the entries (using weapons, special moves, and magic to level up your skill with them (like in I (and Xtreme to a degree)), skills increase in level and effect as you get EXP while they're equipped (Xtreme), common Mana Eggs with small magic lists on them that can be fused (Xtreme) and rare Mana Eggs with long magic lists that can't (like II's), both allies and enemies having access to combination special moves (Xtreme), and Aerial Combos (just make them easier to do and have different options for if you used Combo or Critical when one triggers)) while also integrating new ones like adding new features to the battlefield that open new strategic options (for example, having a battlefield that wasn't flat which would change the areas that some magic hits or alters how fast/slow you can approach a target, having rock formations or something to hide behind or climb on and having Aerial Combos be triggered when you're at a higher elevation on a target instead of how III did them). Then, script up a storyline that resonates on some level - the series hasn't really gone past a basic "save the world" plot but the character interactions (at least in 1, 2, and up to hitting the mainland in 3) were what gave the series its charm and made you want to keep chugging along (well, and the battles, but we know that *only* being a battle simulator wasn't enough to make Xtreme work, so you've got to have something else tugging you along). G1 had kids growing up and exploration/adventuring, 2 had an exploration of the spectrum between dark and light (until it kinda went paint-by-numbers towards the end), and 3... didn't really have anything before getting to the mainland, but there was a seed there that just kinda fell by the wayside in favor of being a paint-by-numbers JRPG the rest of the way. There's material and themes that could be worked with, subverted, taken in different ways, etc. and applied to an entirely new story to come up with the charm and nostalgia people have for the existing games but still produce something new that advances beyond the standard overarching goals that we've already seen in every game.
I always enjoyed that it married tactical combat with an action packed 'zone' where everything was happening. You had a bit of positional tactics, a bit of timing, a bit of strategy with what moves to use and when... It's a really good feeling in G1 when you beat a boss without getting hit once because you timed all your moves just right. Didn't like how G3 did it though, imo. It felt like the action was always stopping for something, whether it was team attacks or really long cutscene magic spells. I feel like making the combat more seamless and faster would have helped draw more people in. In G1 I'd only use the long spells like Dragon King Slice when I absolutely had to, because it took sooo long lol
Great job on the video. I hope The series makes a return. We can always use great JRPGS. Even though there are more now than I can keep up with I am so back logged
Grandia 1 still has the most memorable battle for me. Those mechanics, bgm, zooming and panning, and freeze frame.. never seen anything that engaging in other jrpg battle
Surprised there was no mention of the Grandia 2 Anniversary Edition release on PC. Really would love to see another Grandia game one day.. or at least more Anniversary Edition type releases of the other games.
Thank you so much for making this video on Grandia yo!. I loved this game so much, it is one of my most favorite RPG games up there for me with Chrono Trigger, FF7, and Legend of Dragoon. I feel like Grandia 1 was the best version, and Grandia 2 was also good. But I felt after Grandia 1 and 2 it was lacking a bit.
Greetings Grandia fans, I have news. If you're interested in hearing from the original voice cast? The voice of FEENA & LILLY (Angela Anderson) is doing a live interview on Twitch March 27th! Full details can be found here (www.reddit.com/r/grandia/comments/t9lzz5/voice_of_feena_lilly_to_do_a_live_interview_on/) and my previous interviews are here on my channel! Much love
It's so sad because Grandia 2 and Xtreme were my favorite. I still replay them every now and then. Amazing battle system that hasn't been replicated as far as I know. They were super fun to play. Even 3 tho the story was a little meh it was still enjoyable. I came to this video hoping i just missed something regarding Grandia 4... Such a shame...
Grandia 1 was the only very strong game in the series. There was a lot of love put into that game, and it showed. It’s still one of my all time favorites. The pacing is amazing..with a lot of detail put into character development...something that basically all of the other games in the series failed at. I think that the main killer was the timing of its release. The fact that it was a hit years after its initial release was a problem- because the industry was changing so much at that time. Didn’t it come out almost simultaneously with final fantasy 7 or 8? They probably didn’t get a chance to give proper attention to the series until it was too late, and maybe they didn’t know how to change it to what they assumed the average consumer wanted. We’re in a time now where these old-school RPGs are being reimagined by indie developers...but at the time there was pressure to evolve.
I don't want to sound critical but it is an important point for me as a european gamer. Grandia extreme and 3 weren't released in the Pal region, so it wasn't released worldwide. I get hear some youtubers also say this, I just get disappointed when I hear a game is said to be released worldwide only to look it up and there be no pal release. I did enjoy this and your other video, it's just something to keep in mind for future videos
The ENTIRE Europe has been telling me that, okay? I'm sorry, I fucked up but I unfortunately I cannot correct my mistake. Please settle down with these comments.
I will, I didn't realise there had been other comments like mine. As I said I do enjoy you video's and content. Please accept my apologies as my comment was trying to come from a good place
Amazing job! Grandia series is my most memorable jrpg when i wahs a child... i'm very upset whith the tragic creator's endings life. He dont deservet this, I LOVE GRANDIA!
Played again Grandia 2 on Dreamcast and I can't wait to play it replay it. From what I'm reading here people say Grandia 1 is the best. Guess I have to play that one.
What about the STEAM release of Grandia 2 HD? It’s really good and recent. More people got on board and downloaded you could possibly see 4 or more HD re-releases.
Grandia Xtreme waas pretty good but only got good in the final dungeon 100 floors all the grandia music from previous games and a lot to do for some fun getting to 100 was no easy task
Great review, and very good information on the games not released outside Japan, .... I have a question, have you thought on making an episode or two based on the Dragon Quest series games? since XI for Ps4 is going to be released soon outside Japan it would be awesome to see information on the main series and the games that never left Japan, maybe one episode for the spin offs too
Sadly, I'm not a big fan of the DQ series; I've never even finished one, even though I did get to the last dungeon in DQ8. I need to get into some of them a liiiiiiiittle more, before I can start thinking about talking about the entire series in one video. But I'll see what I can do!
Love the heck out of this game series. 2 was my first RPG. X-treme was IMO, the most fine-tuned installment (as far as mechanics). The perplexing thing for me is that the combat system was hardly ever adapted for other franchises (Child of Light being a noteworthy exception). Competition is the spirit of revival in games and this system is yo date, my favorite. PER-PLEXING!!!
Anthony Carter X-treme had a solid battle system, but it was a sluggish grindfest with no real story or sense of engagement, which rendered the rest moot.
wohdin -pls tell me you're not thinking 3 was better. The Stopping time summons broke the latter fourth of that game and (at least for my two cents) system options were the most hit or miss and lacking in diversity. That's not even touching story or soundtrack which are their own separate beast. G.2 will always be my favorite, but X-treme perfected combat & shouldn't be overlooked.
Erick Landon RPG woah :( really...? I thought there were plans for a sequel at some point in the future u.u. I’ve been positive about it since Vyse (the main character of the game) has appeared in other Sega franchises like Valkyrie Chronicles and Sega all star racing. I hope Grandis has its comeback someday too. Square Enid did a great job this year with games such as Octopath traveler
Grandia III uses the same system as RPG Maker 3... it's limited. But since my "mom" is part of my crew... even for a short time (thanks for the spoilers, everyone 😂)... I'll have blast. I'll have to restart Grandia 1. I can't get past this one boss because I think I slipped up in choosing the appropriate equipment. And I want Sue back in my party again...
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
I miss Justin Sue and Feena :(
Me too, bro, me too.
what's the butterfly pet Sue have? I can't remember...
Rendy Pohan it's Puffy! *PUU PUU*
I loved Sue! The part where she leaves breaks me every time :(
Soooo she went all the way home on foot? That`s cruel!
Grandia 3 felt unfinished. Main character Yuki's mother is in the party for the first third of the game, but is just dropped abruptly when you get your plane. Yuki stops talking about his plane obsession the second he has his first successful flight. One of the villains is entirely forgotten about at one point. There's an abrupt difficulty spike in the enemy encounters at the very start of the second disc, suggesting a section was cut out. Overall, the first third is great. After that, something just feels off.
Not only those, but once you get the plane and can fly on the world map, it just feels so... empty. There are all of these landmasses and places and you only get so many locations that you're actually able to land at. Heck, they even have that entire island complete with radio entries about the plane races and you can't even go there (let alone participate).
Maybe unfinished, but I feel like GameArts was suffering from a serious lack of direction around this time, after Grandia 3 they fell off the earth and now they make very obscure titles.
Yuki losing all of his character motivation isn't a sign of an unfinished game, but a lack of direction, among the other things.
Kornell disappeared
I've never noticed any kind of difficulty at all in any grandia games but I thought grandia 3 was great even though I can't remember much about it since I played it years ago.
I really liked Grandia 3 even though it feels off like you guys saying. It should have been longer and they never should become a mmorpg that is a killer.
The rerelease of Grandia II on Steam was the one bright spot after Grandia Online tanked. If only we could get Grandia 1 on there now. Glad people are still thinking about this series, it was my childhood T_T
true its still my nr 1 i hope they do something i love this game so much i play it severals times through :D every year
Now it's on Steam and Gog
I got a physical release for it for the Switch through Limited Run games.
@@TheLegendaryRPGXD Now if they would fix it. They also lied about it being faithful to the Saturn version. Just a shoddy port.
Sorry to be off topic but does anyone know of a method to get back into an instagram account??
I stupidly forgot the login password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me!
Grandia 1 is still one of the best JRPGs, it was such a great adventure!
And the combat system of this series is my favourite. It has so much potential... I would really like to see Grandia IV.
Wow, now i'm kind of sad knowing that one of the major creators died... Grandia 1&2 are in my top 5 RPG's and i cant believe that i had no idea what happened. I always wondered why it said Square Enix instead of Game Arts on Grandia 3, and why it was not as good as the first 2 even though it was still great as a whole, i very much appreciate this information for my favorite trilogy.
Oh my gosh Eric this is beautiful. Grandia the original is my all time no 1
Thank you!
mine too^^
Mine, too! Such a great game~~
To those reading in the future, look up Grandia HD Collection. :)
Grandia 1 oh the nostalgia used to play it with my friends back when i was 12 now im 27 uff time flies
This was really well done. I don't know shit about this game but I left pretty well informed about it, you're a great reviewer man.
Thank you, man!
Hey Eric, Grandia I and II are coming to Switch this winter!!!
I wasn’t going to get a switch, but hearing this news plus Star ocean just made me decide I have to have one now
I remember my Grandia II. I love it!!
I miss very much Grandia series.I do know but the feeling playing Grandia 1,2 and 3 a little it was i was really feaaling like i stay in a new adveture world RPGs with,magic,swords,and etc.Its a great feeling that i don wnat to forget.I hope this series come back one day...maybe not a great game,but a new title funny game for the fans of the franchise ^^/.
I liked of the video xD
Thank you.
Spent the week watching your videos. You are a true JRPG Fan, and i realize that i still have a long road ahead of me to reach your level of dedication. I hope you can still provide good content for us to watch, thank you very much
You're welcome and thank you for your feedback. I'll keep doing my best.
Grandia 1 = cod3 seem legit😁😂😂
Etherious Natsu Dragneel Honestly I wasn't surprised. I remember people buying good games without boxes that were put in boxes of bad games that they either lost, sold or didn't care about.
I recently did a playthrough of Grandia on a psp go, I played all day at work and when I got home I docked it and played on the big screen. Such a great series.
I finished Grandia a couple weeks ago on PSP as well, its a great game
Just got it on ps3 for $6
I enjoy watching your videos a lot. It is very soothing to listen to your reviews and insight.
Thank you.
I hope you make more videos on youtube and on Facebook too. Do you stream these games on facebook? Facebook has a huge backing for retro games right now for live streams.
I still hope that someday someone capable will pick up that series and bring back its old glory.
Me too. And that's the key word: "capable". Let's hope for that.
Oh that and I feel in this day and age.. RPG's don't do as well as they did back in the 90s and very early 2000s. I have noticed that Fighting games went back up in popularity, and MOBA, FPS, and such became even more popular as time grew further. Fighting Games surprised me, cause it was extremely popular, then took a huge dip for a while. Then all of a sudden sprouted back up fresh and new. I am hoping somehow the RPG genre can sprout back up again.
I thought Grandia 3 was ahead of its time in terms of graphic and animations, it was such eye candy. I know the story is non-existent but I enjoy G3 for what it is and here's hoping G4 is coming.
It's also that the characters were boring and uninteresting.. I could not care less about Alfeena.. Yuki was meh as well and I don't even remember the rest.. The two characters that was keeping the game afloat were Yuki's mom and that guy she flirted with (forgot the name) if they would keep these 2 in the game the whole game could be a lot better overall.. but no, they dropped them and I could not care less about the remaining characters.. it got a little bit better at some parts later on, but still, graphics don't do a great game.. after all, my first grandia I played was Grandia 2 on PS2.. and after I laughed my ass off when I first saw the graphics and thought that there is no chance I'm playing this... that was before I got hooked on the characters, story and music.. the rest is history!
@@KillerkoUK Yeah graphics does not make a game, BUT Grandia 3 Battle System is no doubt the BEST in the series! It fun coordinating your attack and getting aerial finish.
Also the Graphics in combat (Especially the spell) is Jaw Dropping!
Yeah the story is kinda generic, but I can tolerate it because of its gameplay.
@@rjproduction486 i have yet to find a game that replicates that combat feel. I would pay solid money for grandia 3 again honestly, i never finished the game, my disc 2 broke 😭
Holds gun to head: shouts persona
I almost did it, haha.
Thank you so much for making this video. It's amazing to see videos of Grandia pop up here and there, but it's even more rare to see someone discuss the Grandia series in it's current situation. It hurts to see the series die simply because of being trapped in obscurity, bad luck, and poor decisions. I'm sure a remaster could happen given the gaming space we are in right now where remasters are cropping up everywhere. So maybe we won't get a sequel, but a remaster of the first game. If that does well, then maybe there will be another Grandia game. Maybe someday, I just hope I live to see it. Anyways great video man, good job.
Thank you.
Hey man just came across your channel.
I wish they would port the original Grandia to PC as well and maybe clean the graphics up a bit. That would be nice.
Damn... Watching this makes me sad because of the situation of this awesome saga, but also grateful for what we got, especially Grandia 1. As far as I´m concerned, here in Europe we didn´t get Grandia 3, and though the second one is quite cool (waiting for a sale for its steam version, mamma mia) it is the first in the series the one I am more fond with. It is just the perfect sense of adventure while being a kid.
I have been buying some JRPGs for some time, which means costs on money and time, but, when I really get the chance, I will buy the PAL version and enjoy it like it deserves.
Well done, Erick, great video to start the weekend! :)
Thank you. I'm glad you liked it.
4:09 "But finally one we all got"
We didn't, Europe got shafted as always, we didn't get Grandia 3 either until it was released on PS Store and to get it you need to have an american account.
I see.
don't worry, we missed out on Chrono Cross and Baten Kaitos Origins as well... oh and we didn't get radiata stories, Xenosaga 1 and 3, Suikoden 3 and Xenogears... we're used to missing out on great games over in Europe...
But if it is on PSN store on PS4, which is regionfree, isn´t a European account enough to download and play G3? Or do you only mean the American PSN store?
You need an american account to download it... you can play it on a european one though.
Oh I forgot to mention, it's not on ps4, it's on ps3
What a sad story... I knew that, actually. But thanks for reminding and telling other about it. That's important. My favorite was Grandia 2. I felt catharsis after last boss' speach after the defeat... And other story parts gave many many emotions, so of them were dark, some light.
I still play the original Grandia on my PS VITA as a PS1 classic. One of the reasons why i loved the first game more then the others is because it subverted allot of tropes that allot of JRPGs use as a crutch. For example Justin is an average 16 year old boy who wants to explore the world simply because he wants to. He's not trying to save the world or stop an evil empire, he's just doing it because he wants to. Only by taking this journey does he discover not just about ancient civilizations but you see him grow from a kid to a young adult who knows what he needs to do to help those around him. Sure it turns into a saving the world story towards the end but thats the beauty of the game. It doesn't hammer into you how important your journey is off the bat. It slowly gives you a mystery to explore and solve by journeying across the world. There are so many iconic moments in Grandia that i still get teary eyed over years later and even after beating the game multiple times. I still feel my heart warm when i hear some of the music. And the characters I met along the journey will stay with me forever because I got to see them at their best and worst. So i do hope there will be another Grandia one day, but i hope it's made with the same spirit of exploration that inspired the first game.
Grandia II might have the best battle theme of all time. That theme still gets me hyped today.
Bring Grandia 2 and 3 to PSN and Switch, I swear the switch is tailor made for these old JRPGs
3 is already on PSN... in America it's on PS3.
ShadowKing1982 First and second one was just announced on the switch.
I saw that earlier, hopefully a set date is announced soon
I didn't even realise the creator has passed away, this is why i love videos like this, educated me in finding out about games i grew up with. Also the reason they decided to make the mmo a japanese only is because japanese MMO's were picking up popularity in japan and WoW was dominating the west Lich king and Cataclysm selling really well they were worried that pushing an MMO overseas would be a huge financial failure. Similar reason why phantasy star was only in japan too.
It's so sad when the main creator dies for a game, the only way they can get this game series back good is if Tri-Ace is involved but to keep the original game mechanics intact. Yeah I agree with you this is what happened to the Grandia series, very sad indeed.
Both Grandia and Breath of Fire last games were silly mobile games after that the series died 😢
Only played G1 watched some of G2 (character emphasis and story telling normally come naturally on a first title and it's hard to carry that same affinity and energy) , and after reading mixed feeling on G3 GX didn't get involved or go back to play. Perhaps I'll need to pick them up later. and I actually didn't know of an online version exclusive to JP.
I agree with many sentiments that G1 was part of my childhood. Such great character build and evolution. Unfortunate that some of the story felt rushed after the 2nd disc. Has a Disney ending, but can't say it wasn't a beautiful and very capturing atmosphere.
I would like to revisit the story with today's standards in GFX / Reproduction. Would be quite beautiful, but to be honest ditching the character romance after disc 1 sad choice.
There are some rough edges of the story but overall, one of the coolest stories and battle system for its time.
Justin and Feena's romance? I thought it was good. Gotta realize that they are pretty young.
I feel like the villain needs a lot more back story.
How cool would it be if you could play a flashback of Gaia's rise and the destruction of the Icarians?
Always felt like Liete could have done something like that to give Justin motivation on fighting Gaia.
Maybe a segment specifically about Baal, because it was mentioned once or twice that he 'changed' over time.
Tie in Justin's father into the events as well, he did find the spirit stone, and I imagine Baal must have fallen across all this important information around the same time. Maybe he died to Baal or something dark like that?
Would have been a great build-up to the final segment.
...Put way too much thought into this stuff lol
Grandia 2 had a great story but I think that Grandia Extreme had one of the best combat systems ever.
Andreas Michael Design
Yeah there are many elements to the story that could have been improved, the ending felt rushed. Still a great story regardless :)
Wow TH-cam suggested something unique and interesting from a small content creator, kudos to you sir.
Thank you and welcome!
Where did you score that Quistis figurine? Nice 😉
A flea market. It was 5 dollars.
So whiney babies "killed the franchise". G3 is a beautiful game and improves on all the aspects of previous titles. The Jpop was nice too. My honest opinion is that just because a series stops doesn't mean it failed. Some series don't need a sequel and by the time they make one there's a chance it'll be directionless like Lunar DS. That said I'd love for, say, Bandai Namco to produce a legitimate Lunar 3.
I think Grandia 2 is the overall better game, because I think both the story and soundtrack were vastly superior in 2 (3's soundtrack was the worst in the series, imo). But, the gameplay and presentation were better in 3, and it's still a really good game.
Personally if they ever did get back to making a 4 I would like them to use some elements of the original. Like leveling weapons and magic to gain new powers. Grandia is one of the only games to make me not horde spells. (Even if I did go back to save points to recover a lot.)
But in regards to story I liked how Grandia was very character centric and the world saving was a real slow-burn but once it was there it was like a natural progression. I remember playing two and the general amount of ‘grim edge’ out of the gate was jarring.
Then 3’s gameplay was fine but it felt like it lacked the things I loved about the combat structure. Growth felt more limited.
Are you talking about the digital version of G3? If I remember correctly, the physical copy when it first released never worked properly. At least not for me.
I don't think you quite understood the whole "grim edge" thing, Grandia 2 is very tongue in cheek with the dialogue and the world around them, it wasn't trying to take it seriously but at the same time it did have serious themes that helped to develop the characters.
What started as a lighthearted comedy ended up being an excellent story because of how the game's themes and characters drive the story.
Grandia 3 had its fair share of edge too with Raven and Emilious but unlike Grandia 2, Grandia 3 tried to take itself seriously with it. Grandia 3 lacks the subtle themes that Grandia 2 had and the dialogue was poor in comparison.
Gotta disagree. Grandia 1 was a game made with heart that pushed the boundaries of gaming at the time. Grandia 2 was a solid improvement on many aspects, but I never personally enjoy it as much as 1, as IMO the characters just started to feel more like tropes. Grandia 1 had a lot of subtlety in the story telling and characters. Emotions felt real, rather than forced, and their interactions were interesting and natural. The world felt vibrant thanks to having different cultures, mystery, and amazing music to back it up. The story didn't delve too heavily into good and evil, with every character having more abstract motivations and realistic goals. Justin just wanted an amazing adventure, and the only time you see his spirit break is when he realizes he has to 'fight evil' and save the people he had come to love. I always wished that segment of the game lasted longer because it touched on real emotions rather than the generic hero story of "IM GOING TO SAVE EVERYONE AND BE A HERO", that's not what he wanted at all, and it was an interesting contrast that a lot of games don't show. Grandia 1 had a very strong understanding of its own world, characters, and lore.
Grandia 3 was nothing but generic anime tropes with an overly serious, predictable story. Characters were contrived and their emotions felt so fake and over-acted. Motivations didn't make sense or were never expanded upon. You were just supposed to 'roll with it', rather than wonder why anything was even happening. It was a typical good vs evil story with all the twists you'd expect in such a story. Grandia 2, imo, kind of suffered the same problem, but it wasn't taking itself nearly as seriously, similar to the first game it just felt like the developers were having fun and putting together something they enjoyed. I didn't get that vibe with the 3rd game, and trust me, by the time I bought it I was a huge fan of the series. It wasn't a step forward in most of the ways that mattered to me.
Sure the gameplay got better, but everything else started to get more and more stale.
And even then, though the gameplay got more features, I feel like they could have started making the combat more seamless and fast, rather than throwing in new super moves and team-attacks.
I don't get why we've never got a remaster of the first game. It'd be nice to get a Saturn port with dual audio
A correction for your video: Grandia Xtreme and Grandia 3 were not released worldwide. These games were not released in europe, which was a huge bummer cause I loved the first two games.:(
That intro was awesome 🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for this historical review, much appriciated.
I love your What the hell happend... videos.
What the hell happened to Lunar!
That and tons of others coming right up!
Exactly.
Lunar Series >>>>>>>>> Grandia
To be fair Lunar Series >>>>> Any RPG
Pretty sure Grandia was the "Lunar 3" that GA had been talking about for so long. I think they just decided to go with a new universe but the original Grandia sure as hell played like a natural advancement to lunar.
What is terrible is that for some reason they kept doing like side games to the lunar series and just made things worse and worse. Dragon Song man, what in the fuck. I was so excited to see another Lunar game then saw it was atrocious.
If Grandia 3 had a terrible story (never played it, but a friend was playing and I thought the combat looked solid at least) then that ruins what I felt was the best part of their games. No wonder they never went on.
Grandia got me into rpgs. Though, I really only liked the first Grandia when it was on ps1.
We got a Grandia 1 and 2 for the Nintendo Switch HD remaster after the Steam version came out. Glad people like Happy Console Gamer are still talking about it. I wanted to give it a shot.
Erick yur really the goat of jrpg videos. This is where yu are at yur best. Please do more on other old games like earthbound & lagoon
I really miss the games. Grandia 2 was my favourite, I just loved how well written the dialogs were, and the characters were very memorable.
At least for those who didn't play the first two games, can enjoy them now on Switch as Grandia HD Collection (or PC as Grandia HD Remaster & Grandia II HD Remaster)
It's that battle system. The games themselves were average vanilla JRPGs. High quality, but very average. Those battles though. Even if the games were a little too easy, the battles were just so fun and fluid. They look and feel like real time action battles. But they're actually tactical turn based affairs. Great stuff. Especially the third game. I'd love to see the designers make a new series; keeping the battles, but ditching most everything else. Call it a spiritual successor if you will. A man can dream right?
Thomas Polaino Technically, one can consider Grandia a spiritual successor to Lunar as it is, so taking the chain one step further wouldn't be so farfetched.
They proved with Grandia xtreme that the combat system can't hold its own. I think you're selling the games short a bit, the characters and world was a big part of the experience. Which is why 3 is so awful, you ONLY get the combat system followed by mediocrity across the board.
I'd argue the story/plot in any of them weren't anything special, but you could say the same about a lot of games.
Andreas Michael Design I would argue that 1 and 2 didn't have a much better story or world design. They were painfully linear. The story's were generic RPG power fantasy nonsense. They had very little in terms of side content or any sort of gameplay freedom. And they were so easy that even the immensely fun combat grew tedious. In fact I would even say that Lunar 1 and 2 had better story, characters and world building. Don't get me wrong. I like these games. I just always thought there was a lot of wasted potential. I will agree with one thing... Grandia Extreme sucked!
Never really cared about linearity. I guess it'd be cool to leave the trail and find cool secrets. All the optional dungeons in Grandia were largely pointless and didn't tie back into the story in any meaningful way.
Still, I really like the world. Almost every village had a unique culture, npc's, and fitting theme song, each character you acquired from those areas, or major npc's, typically showed diversity and unique traits to that region. Always loved the art and portayal of the Icarians and the destroyed civilization. Although the difference between cutscenes and in-game were huge, and the in-game ruins didn't capture that futuristic scene that the opening showed off except once or twice, such as the first time you met liete.
Totally agree that the combat was too easy though. Not much else to say there. Each encounter was just a slow grind of throw-away battles that did nothing to challenge the player. I'm playing Divinity 2 right now and it's a great example of making every battle a challenge in one way or another.
Imo the focus of Grandia is more about Justin's whimsical adventure, and far less about a world ending drama. That really didn't matter intill mid-to late 2nd disc. Of course, they failed to fully transition into that drama, and it all happened too fast. Gaia's backstory is especially shallow and undeveloped. "IM EVIL BECAUSE MAN IS GREEDY" Felt rushed and incomplete imo.
Thomas Polaino grandia xtreme has the best combat I’ve ever played.. but the game is bad. Story sucks. You are only in one town the whole game. Got repetitive.. but man that combat was something special. Only reason I got through the game.
Love Grandia! And you opened with one of my favorite songs, too. Hope they release the original on GOG and Steam soon.
I got PS1 in 2000, when i was 10 years old. My first game that i got with the PS1 was Grandia.. It was soo fkn amazing, it had 2 CDs, the Game case was amazing and the pictures it had on the case and on the CDs... So much Nostalgia.
Just started the 1st game a few months ago, at 1st I was skeptical towards people praising it because of its more lighthearted tone compared to most complex JRPGS, but I'm halfway through it and I'm loving every minute. I just wish better decisions were made with the series...
2:37 oh well there’s your answer. It came out on sega Saturn.
At least we got Child of Light to recreate Grandia's awesome battle system
There is no other game that is like Grandia games on this Earth I really miss the battle mechanics
Well, I think the developer of the series worked with Square Enix and made a mobile game called Choas Rings 3. if you play it you'll notice the similar feel to Grandia Games from the music to gameplay.
I've been watching all your videos! Fantastic channel! Keep up the good work! (It's also awesome that you're an author!) I recently played all the Grandia games (even X-Treme, which I loved!) When I beat 3, I cried. I know there will never be another. :( It was nice to watch this video and relive the series with you!
I've been playing almost only RPGs/JRPGs for the last 20 years and Grandia is still in my top 5 best games ever, especially the first. Sure i would like to see another chapter of this franchise but with the way the gaming market is now, I have a huge fear of what kind of game that would be, probably a crapfest at the best. I cna't shake off me this mixed feeling about tons of franchises in these last years
Grandia 2 on Dreamcast...back when Ubisoft was good.
Grandia II also had a PC version. That's what I played back in the day. It ran MUCH better than the PS2 version, at least for me. I ran it on a P3 1Ghz and a Radeon 9000 128MB.
I love Grandia. Grandia 2 is in my top 5 games of all time. Nice guitar by the way. 👌
Thank you!
But thankfully Grandia II came back in Steam. Even though it's better experience in the dreamcast it's still great that its playable on the computer now.
I still have the old grandia ii pc CD but it keeps showing graphical glitches on modern OSs. Does the steam version has these glitches?
This was such a great series. I absolutely loved the first one when I played it back in high school (and again when I replayed it a few years ago, more than 15 years after my first experience!), and while it took me a long time to get to the rest of the series, I really loved Grandia II and mostly enjoyed Grandia III despite some pretty glaring flaws (Xtreme never did it for me). The battle system remains one of the best I've ever experienced in a JRPG, and it got better with each installment. And the music was incredible, particularly in the first one (I love the later soundtracks too, but that first one was special). I'd love to see another one. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll ever see that happen, and that's a shame. I think that's true of a lot of RPG series, and I'm starting to understand that that's OK, because there's still so much out there to experience. I think it's OK to love the past games, appreciate shorter series for the 2, 3, 4, 5, however many games they got, and either replay them or move on to something different. Thanks for the great retrospective.
Grandia 1 is THE Grandia game for me, nice video Erick!
Thank you.
I have not played Grandia 1, but in my case Grandia 2 was to my liking but Grandia 3 not that much
I'd love to see an evolution on the Grandia series, much like it was an evolution on Lunar... even if it was a fan doing it out of the love and nostalgia in their own heart for the series.
Take the "best" (in my opinion) mechanics from the entries (using weapons, special moves, and magic to level up your skill with them (like in I (and Xtreme to a degree)), skills increase in level and effect as you get EXP while they're equipped (Xtreme), common Mana Eggs with small magic lists on them that can be fused (Xtreme) and rare Mana Eggs with long magic lists that can't (like II's), both allies and enemies having access to combination special moves (Xtreme), and Aerial Combos (just make them easier to do and have different options for if you used Combo or Critical when one triggers)) while also integrating new ones like adding new features to the battlefield that open new strategic options (for example, having a battlefield that wasn't flat which would change the areas that some magic hits or alters how fast/slow you can approach a target, having rock formations or something to hide behind or climb on and having Aerial Combos be triggered when you're at a higher elevation on a target instead of how III did them).
Then, script up a storyline that resonates on some level - the series hasn't really gone past a basic "save the world" plot but the character interactions (at least in 1, 2, and up to hitting the mainland in 3) were what gave the series its charm and made you want to keep chugging along (well, and the battles, but we know that *only* being a battle simulator wasn't enough to make Xtreme work, so you've got to have something else tugging you along).
G1 had kids growing up and exploration/adventuring, 2 had an exploration of the spectrum between dark and light (until it kinda went paint-by-numbers towards the end), and 3... didn't really have anything before getting to the mainland, but there was a seed there that just kinda fell by the wayside in favor of being a paint-by-numbers JRPG the rest of the way. There's material and themes that could be worked with, subverted, taken in different ways, etc. and applied to an entirely new story to come up with the charm and nostalgia people have for the existing games but still produce something new that advances beyond the standard overarching goals that we've already seen in every game.
I always enjoyed that it married tactical combat with an action packed 'zone' where everything was happening. You had a bit of positional tactics, a bit of timing, a bit of strategy with what moves to use and when... It's a really good feeling in G1 when you beat a boss without getting hit once because you timed all your moves just right.
Didn't like how G3 did it though, imo. It felt like the action was always stopping for something, whether it was team attacks or really long cutscene magic spells. I feel like making the combat more seamless and faster would have helped draw more people in. In G1 I'd only use the long spells like Dragon King Slice when I absolutely had to, because it took sooo long lol
Great job on the video. I hope The series makes a return. We can always use great JRPGS. Even though there are more now than I can keep up with I am so back logged
Thank you.
Justin and Feena will be back...soon
I love your accent, but I was legit thinking you said "cold classic" for half the video xD
Grandia 1 still has the most memorable battle for me. Those mechanics, bgm, zooming and panning, and freeze frame.. never seen anything that engaging in other jrpg battle
Surprised there was no mention of the Grandia 2 Anniversary Edition release on PC. Really would love to see another Grandia game one day.. or at least more Anniversary Edition type releases of the other games.
Good video. I've been playing Grandia 1 for the first time and am really enjoying it
Thank you so much for making this video on Grandia yo!. I loved this game so much, it is one of my most favorite RPG games up there for me with Chrono Trigger, FF7, and Legend of Dragoon.
I feel like Grandia 1 was the best version, and Grandia 2 was also good. But I felt after Grandia 1 and 2 it was lacking a bit.
You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it.
I am glad that Grandia 1 and 2 is getting remastered for Nintendo Switch. Maybe there is hope for Grandia after all.
Great material. I love listen about rpg series history :D
Thank you. It might not be 100% accurate; I am not a historian in any case.
Greetings Grandia fans, I have news. If you're interested in hearing from the original voice cast? The voice of FEENA & LILLY (Angela Anderson) is doing a live interview on Twitch March 27th! Full details can be found here (www.reddit.com/r/grandia/comments/t9lzz5/voice_of_feena_lilly_to_do_a_live_interview_on/) and my previous interviews are here on my channel! Much love
It's so sad because Grandia 2 and Xtreme were my favorite. I still replay them every now and then. Amazing battle system that hasn't been replicated as far as I know. They were super fun to play. Even 3 tho the story was a little meh it was still enjoyable. I came to this video hoping i just missed something regarding Grandia 4... Such a shame...
Grandia 1 and 3 are on the PSN store. As for Grandia 2, it got a remake on Steam and seems to be doing well review-wise. :3
The Steam release is good because it's a port of the Dreamcast version.
Have to tell you, Erick, i enjoy your content! Keep on!
Thank you!!!
Holy shit guys! HD remaster of Grandia 1 and 2 for Nintendo Switch just announced!
Love you stuff! Big thanx
i miss Justin and Feena....beautiful RPG!
As i play hd watching this
Grandia 1 was the only very strong game in the series. There was a lot of love put into that game, and it showed. It’s still one of my all time favorites. The pacing is amazing..with a lot of detail put into character development...something that basically all of the other games in the series failed at.
I think that the main killer was the timing of its release. The fact that it was a hit years after its initial release was a problem- because the industry was changing so much at that time. Didn’t it come out almost simultaneously with final fantasy 7 or 8? They probably didn’t get a chance to give proper attention to the series until it was too late, and maybe they didn’t know how to change it to what they assumed the average consumer wanted. We’re in a time now where these old-school RPGs are being reimagined by indie developers...but at the time there was pressure to evolve.
Just played the first Grandia game for the first time earlier this year and really enjoyed it....are the sequels solid like the first game?
Grandia 2 is really good and most people prefer it. Grandia 3 is very generic except for the combat system.
I don't want to sound critical but it is an important point for me as a european gamer. Grandia extreme and 3 weren't released in the Pal region, so it wasn't released worldwide.
I get hear some youtubers also say this, I just get disappointed when I hear a game is said to be released worldwide only to look it up and there be no pal release.
I did enjoy this and your other video, it's just something to keep in mind for future videos
The ENTIRE Europe has been telling me that, okay? I'm sorry, I fucked up but I unfortunately I cannot correct my mistake. Please settle down with these comments.
I will, I didn't realise there had been other comments like mine. As I said I do enjoy you video's and content.
Please accept my apologies as my comment was trying to come from a good place
Amazing job! Grandia series is my most memorable jrpg when i wahs a child... i'm very upset whith the tragic creator's endings life. He dont deservet this, I LOVE GRANDIA!
Thanks.
Played again Grandia 2 on Dreamcast and I can't wait to play it replay it. From what I'm reading here people say Grandia 1 is the best. Guess I have to play that one.
Grandia and Lunar are amazing - so many great memories!
What about the STEAM release of Grandia 2 HD? It’s really good and recent. More people got on board and downloaded you could possibly see 4 or more HD re-releases.
We need grandia 4!!!!
Grandia Xtreme waas pretty good but only got good in the final dungeon 100 floors all the grandia music from previous games and a lot to do for some fun getting to 100 was no easy task
Great review, and very good information on the games not released outside Japan, .... I have a question, have you thought on making an episode or two based on the Dragon Quest series games? since XI for Ps4 is going to be released soon outside Japan it would be awesome to see information on the main series and the games that never left Japan, maybe one episode for the spin offs too
Sadly, I'm not a big fan of the DQ series; I've never even finished one, even though I did get to the last dungeon in DQ8. I need to get into some of them a liiiiiiiittle more, before I can start thinking about talking about the entire series in one video. But I'll see what I can do!
Bruh, I thought Grandia ended with "Extreme."
Grandia Xtreme and 3 didn't come out in Europe.
Love the heck out of this game series. 2 was my first RPG. X-treme was IMO, the most fine-tuned installment (as far as mechanics). The perplexing thing for me is that the combat system was hardly ever adapted for other franchises (Child of Light being a noteworthy exception). Competition is the spirit of revival in games and this system is yo date, my favorite. PER-PLEXING!!!
Anthony Carter X-treme had a solid battle system, but it was a sluggish grindfest with no real story or sense of engagement, which rendered the rest moot.
wohdin -pls tell me you're not thinking 3 was better. The Stopping time summons broke the latter fourth of that game and (at least for my two cents) system options were the most hit or miss and lacking in diversity. That's not even touching story or soundtrack which are their own separate beast. G.2 will always be my favorite, but X-treme perfected combat & shouldn't be overlooked.
Grandia 2 has one of the best stories while Extreme has one of the best combat systems.
Genuine lol at the beginning of the video. Guess shouldn’t mention Suikoden 2
been playing grandia HD collection lately. i've forgotten so much lol
Hey Erick! Thanks for your research ;) BTW, do you know what the hell happened to Skyes of Arcadia? :( (my other favorite dreamcast JRPG)
Hi. Uh, nothing happened? That was never meant to have a sequel or become a series, as far as I'm concerned.
Erick Landon RPG woah :( really...? I thought there were plans for a sequel at some point in the future u.u. I’ve been positive about it since Vyse (the main character of the game) has appeared in other Sega franchises like Valkyrie Chronicles and Sega all star racing. I hope Grandis has its comeback someday too. Square Enid did a great job this year with games such as Octopath traveler
A collection of the games was just announced.
Grandia III uses the same system as RPG Maker 3... it's limited. But since my "mom" is part of my crew... even for a short time (thanks for the spoilers, everyone 😂)... I'll have blast.
I'll have to restart Grandia 1. I can't get past this one boss because I think I slipped up in choosing the appropriate equipment. And I want Sue back in my party again...
Grandia I and II great. Glad they got HD Collection on Switch. Hope they do Lunar 1 and 2
What the HELL Happened to Suikoden? What the HELL Happened to Wild Arms?
Wait for friday's video ;)