Mmm.
Grandia is all about gameplay. Hours and hours and hours of gameplay. First of all,
Grandia is a long, long game. Like, even more than
Xenogears, which took about 30 hours to beat the first CD, and a paltry five or so to beat the rest.
Grandia just keeps going and going. The best part is that all of this gameplay is damned enjoyable. The plot of the game is pretty cliché (Help young boy and his friends find out the truth about the world around
him), but you won't mind, because every major character in this game has a life of their own. Justin, bad voice acting aside, has a personality that shines through in every step of the game. So does Sue, his constant
companion. As the game goes on, and as you gain more characters and encounter others, it just doesn't let up. You've got the requisite three goofy anime babes, the bizarre race of humanoids, the sturdy adventurer chick... it's
all there, in all its clichéd glory, but my God, it's well executed. You'll care for the characters. Game Arts has always been an expert at doing this, and it has never shown so well as it does in
Grandia.
Then there's the battle system. I can't explain it, but this game's battle system has me
running around for hours just killing things to get up in weapon and spell levels. As you use the various spells and weapons, your stats get raised, and you both learn more powerful skills and get physically or mentally stronger. Very, very cool. It's almost as if a strategy-RPG's level-up elements got put into a full-blooded RPG, and it's one of the most intriguing aspects of the game. Admittedly, some times it's a serious pain in the ass to get up a few levels in certain skills, but once you get the hang of it, you'll actually be looking forward to most of the battles. Another cool thing is that, like Chrono Trigger and the Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, you can see all of the enemies on the screen. They chase
after you in an attempt to slaughter your sorry self. No more random battles! Cheer. The overworld map is just that, a map, with no walking around to make you irritated between interesting areas. It gets the job done, in a rather gorgeous flat 2D style. I like it. I also like that, unlike in the Final Fantasy series of games where you sit and wait for your 'time' to come up, time speeds up until it's someone's turn. Less wait means more fun.
