GRANDIA HD Remaster Review
I´m not really a JRPG guy, but I recently dove headfirst into the world of Grandia, and ohhh boy, what a ride it has been! If you’re looking for a game that has a perfect sense of adventure and friendship, then look no further.
In Grandia HD Remaster we play as Justin, a young over enthusiastic aspiring adventurer. With our childhood friend, Sue, we are investigating ancient ruins, and stumble upon a hologram of a woman named Liete. The hologram tells us to travel to a lost city beyond the edge of the world. And this is exactly what we do…and then our adventure kicks off!
The story takes us on a journey that’s longer than the list of excuses you give your boss when you call in sick to play video games. We’ll travel to exotic locations, meet colorful characters, and encounter more plot twists than you can shake a stick at.
But Grandia doesn’t just rely on cheap laughs. It also has a lot of heart. The characters are all well-developed and relatable, and the story is surprisingly deep at times. By the end of the game, you’ll be rooting for the heroes and some of the villians too.
The real star of the show here is the dialogue. It´s full of witty one-liners and puns and it’s so delightfully cheesy that you’ll swear you’re playing a game from the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. Combined with over-the-top so bad it´s good voice acting Grandia HD Remaster feels like the perfect nostalgia trip.
It´s a classic JRPG with a unique combat system. It´s turn-based with light real-time elements, its defining feature is the IP Gauge, which determines when combatants can attack. There are no random encounters which is a huge plus for me. You´ll see the enemies in the levels and decide if you want to fight them. One of the main reasons I don´t like JRPGs is the grind. In this game it was ok.
For this review I played the Grandia HD Remaster for the PC and Nintendo Switch. It uses the PlayStation code and then adds graphical filters to the sprites, textures and interface. The result looks great. The widescreen support and customizable resolutions for the PC version, and the general ease of access on modern platforms make the best version to check out.
In conclusion, one of the greatest JRPGS for a reason. It really stands the test of time. Fantastic combat system, great story, fun characters, really awesome OST and neat graphics which took me back to the great PS1 time. Grandia is a cult classic, and I’m in this cult now.
Make sure you´ll get the kick out of gaming with Grandia HD Remaster!
Little known Gaming Kick FACT: I did enjoy this game a bit more than Grandia 2 tbh.
