Rummaging through the old pile of RPGs
I'm a strong believer that the best RPGs were before our current generation, back on PS1 and PS2. That's not to say that our current gen doesn't have decent role-playing games, but there are handful of RPGs that have left a lasting impression. Let's take a step back and have a look at the some of the best role-playing games of all time.
Although it was initially released on the SEGA Saturn in 1997, Grandia appeared on PlayStation two years later. Last year, Grandia was released on the PlayStation Network as a celebration of the re-development of Grandia Online. Grandia is an excellent role-playing game. With over 60 hours of game time, an enjoyable story, a fun battle system and satisfying gameplay, Grandia is a must for RPG-fans.
Grandia tells the tale of a stubborn 15-year-old boy named Justin, who inherits a special stone, the "Spirit Stone," that had belonged to his father before he died. Justin, and his childhood friend Sue, visit ruins being excavated by an evil Army, the Garlyle Forces, and discover that the Spirit Stone is more important than Justin had initially imagined. Justin is tasked with a quest and must travel across the ocean to Alent, an ancient city of knowledge. Naturally, Justin has always longed to become an adventurer and sets off to discover the mysteries behind the Spirit Stone. The story is fairly cliched, it's all been done before, but it's lighthearted and something you can easily pick up and start playing again.
"Justin, your bottom is shining!"
Grandia is a fantastic and satisfying game. Every time you reach a new town, you really want to explore and talk to all the citizens. Towns look nice and bustle with trade, you can even pop into the Inn to have dinner with your party and discuss current events. The storyline itself is linear, although the dungeons can be explored to find weapons, armor and items. You'll be following the story along a moderately set path with the odd hidden side-dungeon. The game is pretty lengthly though and on many occasions you do have the option to revisit locations and dungeons from the World Map to grind. Like many RPGs, grinding is pretty big in Grandia. What makes it fun is that you don't actually grind the characters themselves, you grind stats on the character. Different weapons have their own stats, along with different elements of magic. When magic and weapons are leveled up with a character, they learn new spells and abilities. Magic can be the same between characters, but they do match the characters personalities and stance on battling. For example, Justin has almost purely offensive magic, Sue is defensive and used for buffs, and Feena is balanced, etc. Abilities are dependent on the character, and they are generally the flashiest moves accompanied by a catchphrase.
Characters in Grandia are all 2D sprites in a 3D world, in contrast to the 2D world of Final Fantasy VII with 3D characters. It looks really nice and because of its style, it hardly feels outdated even when playing it today. There are a few CG cut scenes but they don't look that amazing and they appear so rarely you wonder why they even bothered. I would have liked the cut scenes improved and more of them, perhaps even some anime cut scenes, but it's a minor gripe and you probably won't notice.
While running around, enemies are actually on the screen. If they run into you from behind, the battle starts to their advantage and vice-versa. No random battles make the game a joy to play, especially when you're low on HP and MP and you just want to get to the next save point. Your party members trail behind you too, which gives it a touch more realism than RPGs where your party seems to vanish when it's time to move on, only re-appearing to chat or battle. The more party members behind you, the more likely you are to be hit by a monster or a trap outside of battle.
The battle system is fantastic, even to this day I haven't found one I enjoy more. The battle system is turn-based, but you have the option to move your characters around for strategic purposes. Certain attacks hit multiple enemies, or even party members, so you have to plan out how you'll attack. Time only pauses in battle to let you pick a command. The bar at the bottom, the IP bar, dictates who will attack next, and shows your party members as well as the enemies. A critical hit can send a character further along the IP bar, and paralysis and sleep stops their progress in its tracks. It's a fantastic system, and gives you enough breathing space to plan out your strategy without stress.
"Gadwin's Secret Move! Dragon King Slice!"
If I had one complaint about Grandia, it would have to be the voice-acting. It's not totally unbearable, but it does make the characters come off a tad annoying. Hearing Justin yell, "Here goes! Hwaaarghhh!" when using a special move gets tedious pretty quickly. That being said, for an RPG at that time to have so much voice-acting is pretty impressive. The music is quite nice; it's never annoying, it's warm and it fits the style of the game. There are some good variations to the music, whether it be exploring a creepy ghost ship, or walking through a bustling market town. Otherwise, the battle music is identical all the way through until the second disk at which point it changes and stays the same until the end of the game.
Replayability-wise, I'd keep this game for years to come. There are no hidden or alternate endings, and the overall series suffers from Final Fantasy syndrome - no sequel is related to the previous game. However, going through and finding the mass amounts of hidden items, making your character stronger and better, and finding the three hidden dungeons is great fun. I've played it through several times and I haven't gotten bored of it yet; it still ranks up there as my favorite game of all time. Don't let the screenshots fool you: although the game is over 11 years old now, it has aged very well. If you're an RPG-fan looking for a warm, enjoyable and delightful adventure go track down a copy of Grandia, or jump on the PSN store and download a copy. You won't regret it.
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