Grandia is an epic and involving adventure that shouldn't be missed by any RPG fan.
You play as Justin, a troublemaking 14-year old boy who is intrigued by mysteries of long-lost civilizations. He insists that there are still more lands to discover and dreams of becoming an adventurer, following in the footsteps of his father, who mysteriously disappeared years ago and was presumed dead. Justin is now living with his mother Lilly in the town of Parm in the Old Continent. His lifelong friend is Sue, who is almost like a sister to him and eventually follows him in his journey.
Justin and Sue one day visit an ancient ruin, where they see a holographic projection of a mysterious woman named Liete, who tells Justin he must go to the New World and find the ancient city of Alent, where he will find all the answers he seeks. Later on you come to find out that he actually has a much bigger role to play in this story, as it takes truly epic proportions.
The story is very lighthearted for the most part, although it gets darker in the second half. It starts off slowly, but it picks up the pace a few hours in. Throughout the journey you'll meet many different characters to join your party. What makes these characters special is that you will grow really close to all of them throughout your adventure. The game does a great job of getting you to know all of their personalities, and it's impossible not to feel connected to them. You will feel happy when they are happy, sad when they are sad, and so forth. The character development is really well done. Overall, the story may not be the most original, but it's beautiful and involving, and is told really well by FMVs and real-time cutscenes.
The gameplay in Grandia is solid as well. First, there are no random battles, you can always see enemies on the map and when you or a party member touches them, the battle begins. However, if you touch an enemy before they notice you, your party will start attacking before the foes. On the other hand, if an enemy touches a party member from the back, you will be ambushed, and they will start attacking you first.
The battle system is what really makes the gameplay shine. It's a hybrid between turn-based and real time combat. There is an onscreen bar (called the IP bar), with an icon for every friend and foe taking part in the battle. These icons move left to right, and as they reach the Action mark, the respective character may attack, defend, use magic, an item or a special move, or whatever action. There are two types of basic attacks: Combo, which is the most powerful and the fastest to perform, and Critical, which deals less damage and is slower but can delay an enemy's turn by moving them backwards on the IP bar, and sometimes cancel their attacks.
For a character to learn more special moves, you must increase your skill levels for each type of weapon. Each character can only use a few weapon types, although some can only handle one type. These skill levels also determine how much damage you deal with that type of weapon, and how much you will gain of a certain attribute when you level up.
Magic works in a similar way: you must level up a given magical element to unlock new spells. However, to be able to use each of the four elements, you must first find Mana Eggs, which are scattered throughout dungeons and other places, and trade them at a store for a magical element to be learned by one character.
These gameplay mechanics are solid and make the battles interesting and fun. There are a few negatives, however. First of all, most battles are extremely easy. This means you won't have to do any level grinding. A few bosses might be slightly challenging, but most players will probably breeze through. It would have been nice to at least have an option to change the difficulty setting. Second, the heavy focus on story makes the game extremely linear. There are only a handful of optional dungeons and sidequests, and there's nothing to do in towns apart from the story quests, and, of course, resting at the inn and shopping at the store. Despite the linearity, the game is quite long. It took me 55 hours to complete, it should probably take most players around 45-65 hours on a first playthrough.
The graphics are fairly good, being constituted of 3D environments with 2D characters, a combination that works really well on the PS1. The 3D environments don't look spectacular, and some places look bland, with repeated textures and models everywhere. You'll probably get lost in some dungeons, since everything just looks the same. The towns, however, look pretty good and there's a lot of attention to detail. The 2D characters and creatures look great and animate really well. Also, there are 3D effects for all the magic spells and some moves, which also look nice. There is quite a bit of slowdown in some areas, but it's still tolerable for PS1 standards.
The soundtrack in Grandia is outstanding. There is some annoying music in a few dungeons and towns, but aside from that, the music is top-notch. The songs that play in cutscenes really help set the mood for the story, and make it feel like a grand journey.
What ruins the sound, however, is the dreadful voice acting. It ranges from "acceptable" to "annoying". Thankfully, there is voice acting only in battles and during some cutscenes and story sequences, so it doesn't ruin the presentation that much.
Bottom line: Grandia has a colorful and involving story, charming characters, great gameplay and an epic soundtrack. Despite being linear and not very challenging, it's always fun thanks to the innovative battle system, and you will want to keep on playing to see how it all unfolds. To sum it up, this is an unforgettable adventure that shouldn't be missed by anyone who likes RPGs.
Story: 9.5
Gameplay: 8.5
Graphics: 8.0
Sound: 8.0
Overall: 9.0