Sometimes its best to let the past die
A wise man once said that “cocaine is a helluva drug” and I can extend that further to include nostalgia. The Grandia HD Collection has finally come to the other systems and I was able to play it on the Xbox. This collection bundles two classic JRPG’s from the genre’s golden age. Grandia was originally released on the Sega Saturn but was ported to PS1 in 1999, Grandia II came out on Dreamcast originally and that’s where I played and loved it. While not as well known as the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest’s of the world, Grandia did some neat things with its battle system where it can be automated to a certain degree.
MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
Just like the Final Fantasy series, the Grandia games don’t share any sort of narrative commonalty. In Grandia players will follow Justin, who is a young boy who as all young boys do in these games, dreams of being an adventurer. As a main character, I didn’t like this kid back in the day and time hasn’t done him any favors. Honestly the whole cast in Grandia is just kind of ‘meh’, now the antagonist; General Baal of the Garlyle Forces is far more interesting. The sequel however still holds up narratively, players will control Ryudo who works as a Geohound, a mercenary who is willing to take on dangerous jobs for top dollar. Gee, that kinda sounds like another spikey haired mercenary from another game, I’m sure that’s nothing though. Ryudo unlike Justin shows character growth throughout the game. While yes, he is sarcastic and annoying at the outset he learns to calm down and is really likeable by games end.
The combat in Grandia is turn-based like in the Final Fantasy games pre FF16, while the combat does some neat things in the original game its Grandia II where it really takes off. Here characters take turns attacking according to their place on the IP gauge, this is kind of like Final Fantasy’s ATB system. Standard attacks come in combos and criticals, combos are good for dealing consistent damage whereas criticals can delay big attacks from enemies; pushing them to happen later on the IP gauge. By late game each party member can have 4 hits in a combo and fights become crazy and amazing at the same time. There is also a magic system and special abilities that players will get as they progress the story.
I loved these games back in the day, but I got to say that time has not been kind here. At $40 this is a tough sell considering there wasn’t a lot of TLC shown here. There are some enhanced sprites, widescreen support and even a hard mode in Grandia II. But that’s really it, there is no quality-of-life features to speak of, and the game desperately needs the ability to speed up gameplay. Because while it was cool to see each character in your party climb down a ladder back then, doing it now just shows feels slow and monotonous. I mean there isn’t even save states here, which means players will only have access to the save points. Grandia HD Collection takes two classic JRPG’s and makes them more readily available but with little in the way of extras and a big price tag this one isn’t going to appeal to anyone but the most hardcore of fans.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
