@ArtieKnightFebruary 01, 2025
It is absolutely crushing how little reception this game got when compared to its peers. It deserves far more love than it ever got.
Keep in mind this game came out in 1997, so while it's a bit on the rustic side, it is absolutely bursting with charm and sincerity. It's the closest we got to an RPG that felt like a Studio Ghibli movie, before the Ni No Kuni games.
The characters are all incredibly memorable, the environments are sprawling with little details, the music is godlike, the combat is unique and exciting, and the story is perfectly paced. And while the English voice acting isn't the best, it still feels really earnest. Besides, for the time, not a lot of games at this time period had good voice acting.
It is such an incredibly memorable experience and will last you for quite a while. The game originally came in 2 discs, and each one is roughly the average total length of a full-blown RPG on its own!
I believe it is widely overlooked when compared to Grandia II because it may be seen as kiddy and immature. But it is anything but. By the 2nd half of the game, things get really serious.
Grandia 1 may have had an HD remaster with Grandia 2, and it has been ported to PlayStation Plus, but a PC port of the original would be truly appreciated.
The Grandia 1 Fanbase are some of the most devoted fans around, and if nothing else, the modding scene can make this game look even better than before!