Yeah, the Switch is getting jam packed with these games that were easily missed back in the day, especially if (like me) you did not have the original systems they were released on! I am loving it!
I was just thinking the same thing. The Switch gets criticism for having so many ports of old games but then if you crunch the numbers, a 20 year old would have only been born when a game came out in 1999. So it gives a new generation an opportunity to play some of these, still great, games. I fear that these with soon be the only examples of games without micro transactions.
@@ryangurnett568 oh ok it’s hard to find this collection either way I just was curious. I did see grandia 3 at the retro store with no manual I might just pick it up. Nicer with manual. Thank you :)
SwitchUp is the source for my gaming fix. Grandia II originally launched for the Sega Dreamcast, hitting NA shelves on December 5, 2000. It was not ported to the Sony PS2 until January 2002.
Strangely feeling the first one more than the second, looks a bit nicer. Getting Mario RPG vibes, music sound good too. Hope they do a breath of fire collection one day. No random battles is always a good thing, thanks guys
Got mine on sale I think for $15.00, I'm not sure but I'm actually happy to be able to play it despite playing demos of it for the original PlayStation
Never played the first game, but I had the second one (I believe) on the Dreamcast, and it's still my favorite RPG ever. Absolutely loved the combat system, and also the fact that I don't remember ever having to grind in it in order to get powerful enough for a new area. As you said, I think the collection is a bit pricey right now, but once it goes on sale I'm definitely picking this up!
Yeah there is very little grind in either game, unless in the first you want to power up your spells. You don't need to in order to progress, so it's totally player's choice. It's a great series!
Yeah I had missed this as well since I did not have the original systems (was a Nintendo kid). Having these oldie but goodie games coming out again on the Switch has been a true blessing!
I got this on my Switch List wishlist waiting for a sale. It looks like a great time. QoL improvements like those seen on Final Fantasy would be nice, but being as I haven't played this series ever, experiencing the games as they were at release isn't a bad thing. I think the QoL improvements on the FF series are almost necessary as it would be tough to go through those games a second time at the original pace.
Yeah it does help being new to these, as I didn't feel overly fatigued by the battles. And luckily, grinding is kept to a minimum unless you really want to unlock more spells. In terms of level grinding, it was never necessary to get through the story.
Fun facts about Grandia II (which I ended almost 2 decades ago): The English voice acting features many great voice actors from both Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2, such as Cam Clarke, Paul Eiding or Kim Mai Guest... But there's a unique voice actress here: Jodi Benson. The Little Mermaid Ariel, as the mysterious Millenia. One of the creatures in this game, the Carro, was designed by none other than Atsuko Nishida... As in the designer of many fan favorite Pokémon such as Pikachu or Sylveon. So yeah, want a JRPG with the Little Mermaid's voice and designs by the maker of Pikachu done in the early 2000s? There.
*Gaps* Been playing Grandia 2 for 20 years now and I never looked at the credits to see that Millenia's VA was Jodi Benson! Thinking about it yeah I can hear hints of her in it, although the voice is definitely deeper lol.
Although I loved the fighting system and how nice the engine looked in Grandia II, neither characters, world building, story or pivotal story points were nowhere close the first Grandia game. Grandia is one of the hidden gems of the 90's and should honestly be considered a classic, just like FFVII... It has aged somewhat worse with the simple 3D environments. and I absolutely hate the xBRZ filter smacked on top of the beutiful sprite-work in the "remaster". But all in all, the first game is something people need to experience. It's just such a good game.
The first Grandia is definitely special. I don't think I've ever gotten the sense of adventure from an RPG the way Grandia has done it. What is the game it's tied with at 1?
Grandia, is one of my favourite JRPG from the PS1 era, due to its more streamlined and linear Story it was much more accesable to my ten(ish) year old mind, compared to the more complex FF7. Now the only Game left to port to the Switch would be the Legend of Dragoon :)
I’d love to have some more rare Saturn games ported to Switch, like Panzer Dragoon, Nights Into Dreams, or Magic Knight Rayearth. It feels like I missed a whole generation of excellent 32 bit classics due to the unfortunate bomb of the Saturn in the United States. I think I would have loved these if I had the chance to play them. Original discs for the Saturn are very rare and expensive on eBay, and many are slowly dying due to time, wear, and data rot.
I missed pretty much all of the Saturn and Dreamcast games as well, so it is great seeing a lot of these brought over. Panzer Dragoon is getting a beautiful looking remake though! Can't wait to play that one.
I’d just downloaded this one predominantly for Grandia 2 and because my older digital version I have on PSP was a tad glitchy of which I lost my save file.. The graphics and sound look ridiculously dated however the gameplay is top notch and more than makes up for it.. The story is generic and somewhat campy but still was put together well enough you don’t mind it.. I would like a remake at some point tbh The series definitely belongs in any classical rpg enthusiasts library..
First ;) I have played all of the grandia games! They are fantastic ^-^ I highly recommend. Thanks Jace for a great review, and thanks glen and mark for creating the rest of the video :D
I played these games about half a decade ago, the first one as a PSN PS1 classic on PSP, and the second one on PC after I found it second hand. I felt that the reviewers opinions on these games mirrored my own. I think that the visual enhancements that they've made look alright, but personally, I'd be happy to replay the versions I already have rather than purchase them anew.
A little correction. Grandia II came out to the Dreamcast, and was later ported to the PS2. Also, I can't see that they have made much improvement on Grandia II from the Dreamcast version, even Skye look the same in my book. Perhaps the game was simplified a bit for the PS2?
I am glad you mentioned this fact because I was about to mention it myself since I do have the original Grandia II game for the Dreamcast. I am still hopeful that Sega will one day make Skies of Arcadia: Legends remaster for the Switch. I never played Legends on the gamecube, but I did play the original Dreamcast version.
My only major complaint. The camera never stops moving! It’s always panning and zooming and spinning. I guess I’m lucky I don’t suffer from motion sickness, but sometimes my eyes feel strained trying to watch a simple battle.
During the overworld segments, that's my fault as I'm trying to look for items. I never really thought about it during battles, but now that you mention it you're right! Sorry about that!
As someone who owns the original Saturn import as well as the ps1 version and tu DC and PS2 and grandia 3 and a translated physical copy of Time tripers for Gameboy. This is one of the major reasons I finally bought a switch. While I could go back and play my original copies. This way o can still enjoy them and keep my originals safe on my shelf. Now of only a switch physical edition came out. I'd double dip and buy a physical too then. Lol
Surprised burn doesn't show area of effect 2:52 in Grandia 1. 4:27 thanks for stating the cancel is broken in the 1st. Didn't know if done well, bosses can be stopped from attacking.
Yeah the burn spell is interesting because it has a tiny radius visually but actually hits a little bit outside of that area. It's only really used early on anyways as you quickly unlock better spells that hit everything all the time (or at least much bigger areas).
I totally agree with Mark here on the value front. Nobody can knock the the quality of the original content, they are classics, but apart from the adoption of widescreen, too little has been done. After GungHo ridiculed several requests for a physical release on their Twitter account, I refuse to give them a penny for their overpriced digital cash grab.
Yep, it's unfortunate they didn't put a bit more into these. Personally, I'm glad to have gotten the chance to review them. I would not have bought them myself, but had never played the originals and so it was great to get to experience them as they are solid games.
Best part of the review: "If you watch the old footage, egofriend sky, he is a small squarehead sitting on top of a rectangle body. In the HD version you can tell he is actually a bird" lmao
I haven't heard of these games but so far the first game's graphic caught my attention it just too bad seeing a beautifully well made sprites get smeared a bit by the blurriness.
NoNeedToWorry the second one is really good and story is about a following a religion blindly when it is evil at its core. The characters are good and the combat is fun and its challenging
I bit too rich for my already tapped-out blood. Maybe if it goes on a good sale at some point. Even then, I wont have time to play it... Damn being an adult!!
I want to pick this up but boy I got DQ XI and Ni no kuni go deal with. Not even counting the copy I ordered off play asia of DQ 1/2/3 and the upcoming Baldur's gate 1/2,Planescape/Icewind Dale, and Witcher 3.
Still $28 on sale in the US Switch ship. Love grandia's OST and want to play part one again, but don't want to pay that much as I don't have a desire to play grandia 2
Great review! But for us who wants the physical copy of the game waiting for a sale isn't really and option . Glad i bougth it as soon as it was release now the prices are insane.
Jace Glover I only played 2 and that was when it came out. im 31 now so I guess was around 12 or 13 atm? not sure but yet I vaguely remember the game its self. just really enjoying it
I enjoyed both but that feeling of wonder and thirst for adventure in 1 made a lasting impression on me. Hell, it’s impacted how I approach my real life
This is illegal. You guys keep tingling my nostalgia boner. I found Grandia 2 as a good game. Sadly, I played Breath of Fire 3 before this and it will always be 1st place in my heart.
9:01 if you hade heard this DA DAN DA sound from a speaker....you would have thought it was a club banger/hit lol We need more individuality in music :) stands out more.
Question for a Switch Lite user like myself! As of now are there any noticeable issues with both Grandia's (Specifically 2) I should be aware of with current patch's in place! Would love to here thoughts, just anyone who has it and is still playing on Switch as I got it recently on a sale for 20 dollars and I'd like to be aware of anything to take note of (I save every time I come across a save point in practice for any RPG I play because of fear of power outages! They rarely happen, but I'd hate to make alot of progress just to lose it all! Same with game crashes when I was playing Stranger of Sword City on my Switch Lite the other day because you can only save at the HQ, so if it crashes on the field after grinding for hours, it's the equalivent of just getting a game over! Lose all your progress, hence I would love to know what to expect as I'm currently playing Three Hopes in preparation to picking up Xenoblade 3 in the following Week! So I don't have the time to check it fully for myself! So any tips from anyone playing would be helpful and you have my thanks)
@@jglover8 Alright, it's cheaper and seems like it has a bigger focus on story or characters so I'll go with FF X and X-2. Thanks for the help and quick reply!
@@BlindGardener I agree it's not too grindy compared to a lot of RPG's, including the FF games where you get stuck at bosses until you grind levels, but I still preferred the method in 2 more.
Bit misleading to say 6 or 7 games in the franchise. Can't really count a gameboy game and a closed mmo. The only 2 titles missing were Grandia extreme and Grandia 3, wich might have rights problems with square enix. Maybe they were planning a second collection. It seems they could hardly handle these two as it was. Really liked your review structure though.
Really the only games we got was Grandia 1, 2, Xtreme and 3! It's likely stupid reasoning like why in the Handsome Collection we got Borderlands 2 and Pre-Sequel, but not 1 till the collection that came out on the Switch later gave all three (likely cause they couldn't get away with that same reasoning when they successfully ported it all three to the Switch!) Frankly this would be a complete collection if they called it the "Grandia HD Trilogy" with all three MAIN games as Xtreme was a Spin-off more then a main line! Otherwise it should have been in their as "Collection!" But seeing how they cut corners, I don't even want to guess how they'd mess up Xtreme and 3! (Especially with 2! After the PS2 disaster, I have to wonder if 2 was by design a game that would be fucked up if anyone remastering or porting it outside the Dreamcast tried to be lazy with it at any point! If so then it just goes to show how the previous remasters of 2 along with current are pathetically lazy! Likely more so because of the reasoning of "we can patch it later" seeing how patching is far easier like they hold people will always have a secured online connection to get the fucking patch! It's why I lean towards games that are solid without patches! Yeah they'll crash and have problems, but their stable enough that the patch only lowers the rate of crashing by well, example is without patch, it crashes every 4 hours of non-stop gaming! While with it it crashes every 5 hours! AT least I can predict the time table and not be solely dependent on online connection to fix the game! I refuse to own buggy mess of games physical! And if I get em digital, I'll get them on a mega sale. Because I'm assured to get the patches when I redownload the game in the future, but then I tend to wait patiently for Digital Sales to Digital only games anyway so it's no big!)
I didn't feel it that difficult to explore as most of the maps are fairly small. If it had been all one big connected world instead of segmented areas I would have had a much bigger issue.
Love the game. But you should do a bit more research before making a review. 6 or 7 games in the franchise? Did you just open Wikipedia and read some titles without understanding anything? There are only 5 (including the GBA game.) Rest of the items listed on Wikipedia include a cancelled mmo and some art gallery feature.
I believe wings have a major role in this game story that showing a character that sprout out their wings is a spoiler IMO. Its really not a problem when you just start the game but it'll start bugging you out in the middle of story when you start to know the nature of that wings.
I agree the first one is a great deal better than the second overall with more memorable characters and story, but the combat in the second is a bit more refined which I appreciate.
Your kidding right? The first one was so generic you could have played any other rpg that has little kids saveing the world and mistake it for grandia 1.
Just two miserable games included and they dare to call it a ¨collection¨, *sigh*. Look at the Contra collection with its like 9 games, that's a collection, not this overpriced bullshit!!