Grandia Series - Main Series

Main Series

• Grandia (Game Arts/ESP, Sega Saturn/Sony PlayStation/PlayStation Network): Grandia's story focuses around Justin, a young boy who desires to be a great adventurer. While investigating a ruin of the lost Angelou Civilization, he hears a mysterious request to come east and find out the secret of why these ancients mysteriously disappeared. The resulting adventure takes Justin across the sea to new continents, and even beyond the known end of the world. Graphically, the game used character sprites in a 3D world, rather than polygonal character models that later came to favor. The battle system, like Game Arts' Lunar series before it, placed emphasis on the combatants' location in the field. However, while Lunar only allowed the player to set the team's position in battle, Grandia had characters move to appropriate positions during battle and allowed the player to have them move elsewhere to avoid attacks or reach a more advantageous position. Also notable was how characters could counter or disrupt enemy attacks, leading to a very interactive experience. A port of Grandia to the PlayStation was made in 1999. This port was later released on the Japanese PlayStation Network, to celebrate an upcoming announcement regarding Grandia Online, on April 22, 2009. The European version of Grandia has compatibility issues when running on a PS2 as the game will sometimes freeze, so it advised that gamers play the game on a PS1.

• Grandia II (Game Arts/Ubisoft, Dreamcast/PC/Sony PlayStation 2): Grandia II's story focuses around Ryudo, a sarcastic "Geohound" (mercenaries who take undesirable jobs). He receives a mission to guard a sister of Granas, Elena, during a rite to reseal an ancient evil god. However, the rite runs into difficulties, leading to a much longer quest to escort Elena across the continent to meet Pope Zera, leader of the Church of Granas. The failed sealing attempt is also tied into the emergence of a strange woman known as Millenia, and a series of disturbing events at towns along the way to the Granas Cathedral. This sequel used a new, fully 3D engine to seamlessly render landscapes and battle scenes. The core battle system functionality stayed the same between Grandia and Grandia II, although it became impossible to cancel an action merely with normal attacks. The magic system was also changed, whereby magical eggs (usable by any character) were used to cast magic rather than having spells linked directly to each character. The game was well-received both critically (the story and character development being the most prominent features) and among the fans, and was considered one of the premier games to appear on the ill-fated Dreamcast. Considering the Dreamcast's fairly small market penetration, the game was ported to both the PC and the PlayStation 2.

• Grandia III (Game Arts/Square Enix, PlayStation 2): The latest sequel was released in Japan on August 4, 2005, and on February 15, 2006, in the US/Canada market. Grandia III follows a young boy named Yuki, a flight enthusiast who has experienced some difficulty in getting his planes to fly. His latest project flew him into a situation in which he saved a girl named Alfina from a group of menacing pursuers. He and his mother, Miranda, agree to escort Alfina safely back to her home in Arcriff Temple, where she serves as a communicator between humans and a group of powerful creatures known as Guardians. However, once at Arcriff, Yuki and Alfina discover that the lives of the Guardians are being threatened by Alfina's brother, Emelious, who is working to restore an evil being named Xorn to power. Although some have criticized Grandia III for featuring a less interesting storyline than previous entries in the series, it was generally well-received, and has been lauded for its refined combat system. Training and battle strategies are highly emphasised in this installment of Grandia, moreso than the others.