* Hi hello. Yes I know it's not "Black History Month" as this was supposed to be posted last Friday. But with all the announcements last week I didn't want it to get swept under the rug! So here it is on a Thursday! Also, don't forget to check out my Patreon; consider supporting me on there! Thank you!!
Do you think other games deserve love than final fantasy 7? Yes I totally do, there's so many great stories with deep characters and fulfilling worlds that are just as great if not better than ff7 in many aspects; and that's not a dig at ff7 but it's a persona preference, even ff7 has flaws and it can't do things better than every story ever. time and tech lead us to improving off games after game as we continue forward. and it's important to remember the old greats but not diminish new experiences by comparing them to the old for those who do, it's disrespectful to both mediums. In my opinion at least.
The reason FF7 probably gets so much attention is because of how much promotion there was for the game. It was advertised like crazy while other JRPGs weren't as promoted or advertised as much.
This^ FF7 got massive marketing from Square, Eidos, and Sony of America. If there was one game that won the market for the Playstation early on it was FF7. It was effectively a mainstream game at the time when role-playing games were NOT mainstream at all (one aspect of this is the copious amount of shitty minigames in it.) All this is reflective of the global market. In Japan, role-playing games were more highly regarded and FF7 did not splash as hard. I feel like most JRPG enthusiasts of the time do not point to FF7 as being the best, though it is certainly important.
@@shawnje3072 I think Projared added on to that by saying that they kinda hid the fact that it was an RPG. So some people probably didn't know what game they where getting until they bought it.
But it also totally deserves it. Amusingly, it was my first JRPG and I had no idea what they were. I played a demo that came on a PC Gamer CD, that only had the battle system, and bought it just because of that... had no idea there was a massive story, let alone be the first game to make me cry. After that I was hooked, insatiable, and it led to me scraping together the money to experience so many unforgettable JRPGs like Xenogears, Suikoden, Lunar, Grandia, Valkyrie Profile etc.
I want to say, you've been in my recommendation list forever on youtube. I finally clicked on this and can't stop watching your videos. I love your sense of joy when it comes to jrpgs, and although we do not agree on the same things sometimes I love that, it makes me look at things from a different angle. Keep it up, love love love this channel.
LPPTBAVAAEHFLFPVVG was great. A lot of people complain about older games having "bad" voice acting. But often they are the most memorable parts of those games for me.
When you said “no random encounters” it was like the spongebob pretty patty meme where he sets the sign on the table, except all the customers are me. I am very glad to have gotten a taste of the voice acting as well, this is a game I’m excited to get to playing 😆
Square-Enix (Squaresoft at the time) had an insanely aggressive marketing campaign in the West during the 90s that really pushed FF7 (as well as their other titles), and it also happened to be a game with a really high budget. I think those two things made it hard for other JRPGs of the time to compete for a player's attention. Grandia is something special.
There is another side to that. If FF VII hadn't been successful, maybe you wouldn't even have got localisations for some of those games, and they probably would've sold even worse. Just look at the SNES era games for examples.
This is weirdly the best review I've seen for a video game maybe ever. Everything is talked about in concrete and specific terms. Systems are explained by how their mechanics interact and how they compare to other games in the same genre. Subjective parts like the story, music, and characters have emotional reactions backed up by examples. It's perfect. Every other review I've seen of this HD collection has been nothing but gushing about the originals which is not a review.
Wow thank you so much! That honestly made my week. I believe I should present the facts then state why the mechanics do or don't work AND why I like them. So that way the people get the facts of the mechanics, and even if my opinion on them is bad maybe it's something that appeals to others. :) I appreciate the kind words!
This is my favorite RPG, it may not be the biggest, more ambitious or with the best story, but it just clicked with me and I loved nearly everything about it, the sense of adventure, the characters are really likable, the battle system is really fun, the colorful graphics and the general vibe it has is very special, also the game manages to be linear without feeling like a bunch of corridors like other RPG's I have played, and I just love the romance of Justin and Feena, one of the best I have seen in any media, just incredibly natural and well developed with some beautiful scenes. There are just a couple of things on the ending I didn't care about and the english dub is not the best if you are one of those people who don't like hearing japanese voices, but overall I adore this game
Welp, looks like you surpassed that 700 likes, so I'm looking forward to the Grandia 2 voice segment. Especially if you cover Millenia's lines. Haha. Grandia holds a special place in my heart. It came into my life at a time when my life was tumultuous, and the sense of adventure and the beautiful music helped to center me and served as an escape from what was happening in my own life at the time. I am glad to hear that you really enjoyed the game, too. Ah, yeah the Gumbo theme was great. It was a refreshing twist to what other games of the 90s were doing. I also really like Mullen's Theme and especially the theme of Luc Village.
You really hit the nail on the head on what makes this game special. It really is one of those JRPG’s that captures that childlike innocence of exploring a vast world and making new friends along the way. The only other JRPG’s I’ve played which capture a similar feeling are Earthbound, skies of Arcadia, and dragon quest 8 & 11.
First off your hair is giving me life💜💜💜! It's a breath of fresh air to see someone who enjoys JRPGs more than I do. Your channel is amazing! I really enjoyed the review. Grandia 2 hands down is one of my favorite RPGs. I love old school RPGs. Thanks for posting!
Glad to see this review. I also had the same feeling with grandia, where I loved the characters, music, story, and just overall feeling of youthful adventure. It gave me the same whimsical feeling of a ghibli movie. Great review, and I'm having a blast going through this channel!
"Does Final Fantasy 7 get too much attention?" *Looks over to see there are now 9 games about Final Fantasy 7 now and more to come* "I'd have to agree"
@@jonathansoko1085 Translation was pretty incoherent at times, characters such as yuffie and vincent added little to story when they were major characters in the world, especially Vincent. The story had quite a few loop holes specifically stuff dealing with the war of wutai and midgar which was an internal conflict that should have been explored more. The backstory behind zack and first soldier sephiroth. The remake aims to change most of these things and give it a more polished experience in terms of writing but with the episodic nature of the remake project, it will be some time before we are able to experience it all in its entirety. As a result though the story it self was some what confusing and many of the characters lacked alot of personality compared to many other rpg casts that I have seen. FF IX for example probably is the more "complete" and polished FF game of the series in regards to the points I made. The whimsical and often more spirited fused anime arch types I prefer more because they always bring so much energy to their characters but thats just a personal opinion over what I prefer as character archtypes. Also this may be a preference thing but Personally I prefer a more eastern fantasy setting in my rpgs. Its just far more colorful and you get this wide variation of locales, cultural phisophies and abstract designs explored that FF VII really has not tackled, at least not on the same level as like Legend of Dragoon, Skies of Arcadia or Grandia or even my fav of the genre, FF IX.
@@Artimes. I love FFIX but I don’t know that I would say it is particularly ‘complete’, in the sense that after Disc 1 loads of subplots about Burmecia are just dropped. Freya’s arc ends the moment it starts and it really bothered me when I played it, since I was always expecting Fratley to show up again and actually do something, but he never did
@@danielostrowski856 I completely agree. I honestly never understood the hype behind mainline FF games outside of maybe FF6. Grandia had a better combat system and art direction, in my opinion, compared to many of the Playstation FF games. Choosing 2d sprites in a 3d environment looks great even today. Playstation FF games look much worse outside of their cutscenes (which are admittedly beautiful). It always felt like I was playing on a 2d painting with 3d characters and it made it very visually confusing even for gameplay. Like what can I interact with and what is just a jpeg. I dunno it just seems like Legend of legia and Grandia deserves a lot more attention. FF 7 seems to be many people's gateway into JRPGS and was heavily marketed in the west at the time. However, as someone who started with other jrpg franchises I never shared the same adoration for the final fantasy franchise (outside of spinoffs like Dissidia).
Oml lady I love the voice acting bit this is great. It's sad that you dropping the 10 out of 10 thing but yeah people it uppity about the numbers. This a great review
Happy New Year! I hope you had a great break and I look forward to what's come on the channel in 2021! Grandia is one of the classics that I really want to play (along with 2) and this review made me want to play it even more. I like the decision to just say "recommended/not recommended", I agree most people don't watch the review and end up not understanding the scoring at the end. Thank you for the great review!
There's definitely a negative emotion that occurs in me when someone proclaims FF7 as the best rpg of all time but the amount of RPGs they've played is very few or... Just FF7.
I get this feeling but I've played a ridiculous amount of rpgs and ff7 still just has the most interesting mechanics/world building/music/characters to me.
Well, that's why pop culture sucks. I think FF7 on its own isn't "pop" but it's success has made it pop. Pop culture people (which is like everyone) only know surface level nonsense and don't have a clue about what they're talking about... When you tell them they don't know what they're talking about, they dismiss you instead of trying to learn something about why, which is their biggest flaw. I like FF7 though, but there's a whole lot of other stuff I like too.
Wow, so if you are enjoying "The adventure" and asthetic appeal of the many varied locations spread across the world in grandia, the colorful cast of characters, etc then I serously point you to SKIES OF ARCADIA!! THIS HAS TO BE YOUR NEXT MAJOR GAME. I am serous when I say you are going to fall in LOVE! with this one.
I wanna play it so bad, but the price for the game on the dreamcast was expensive last I checked. I missed out when I was a kid and I have wanted to play it for a while. I seriously hope it gets a port to the Switch.
Great review! I really enjoy the length of your videos. You say everything that's important and add some personal touches without ever dragging on. Also Grandia is exactly the kind of game i need right now. Keep it up :)
It does get under my skin to see how much FF7 tends to get the most attention for the ps1 era of jrpgs, and jrpgs as a whole now, but thankfully it doesn’t seem to be choking out everything. It has been nice to see Square spending this generation porting over some of their rarer rpgs to current gen consoles and PC. Romancing Saga 1 - 3, Trials of Mana, and now Legend of Mana along with Saga Frontier.
Materia was a really good mechanic for FF7 during its time. Also the cinematics are another thing that FF7 gets high praise for, for being the first to really push video games into feeling like so much more than a video game. That said, I totally agree that there were many other RPGs in that era that were innovative and amazing for it.
What i hated about materia is it took the role in roleplaying and largley allowed you to throw it out the window. I hate any game that allows or has systems that allow characters to all do anything and everything. I feel like its lazy design, and as i said it throws out the role in role playing.
@@jonathansoko1085 It was a subtle reimagining of the job system, but with more customization. If you don't like your characters to be able to change what they do, then fair enough. But imo it's definitely a valid archetype.
@@jmporkbob Also the characters cannot do everything all at once, so you still have to choose who has what. I think the tryth of this complaint is actually that the game is too easy so there isn't much of a point paying attention to your set up on most occasions.
Nice in depth review. I’ve downloaded this already. Definitely looking forward to it. FFVII is good but it like all other RPG’s would be nothing without Dragon Quest.
I think the main thing that made FF7 burn itself into everyone's nostalgia was the sudden emotional twist when Aerith was killed. I know that when I played it back in the day that made me sit there and wonder what the hell just happened. The only moment up to that point as emotionally jarring was Chrono suddenly being wiped out of time in ChronoTrigger when I played it on the SNES. That was another WTF! moment.
After an event happened you can return to villages for new dialogues :) btw your Review ist Great thanks for doing it :P Grandia is my Favorite Game of all Times.
As someone who enjoys FF7, I agree that it gets way too much attention compared to other JRPG's on the PS1. It's a great game sure but I enjoyed other RPG's on the system far more. But that's just me. This was a great review to kick off the year!👏 It's been forever since I last played Grandia. Think it's about time for a replay!
Good review. But oh my god, I'm crying at the Voice bit. The Toad voice. You should do a segment where you do those attack voice overs, but as Toad. Or just do it for some of your favorite attacks in general.
Thanks for the review. 35 year old gamer and coping with the fact that I no longer have the physical ability to play online games at a high level. So I'm returning to my roots and planning to play all the acclaimed classic jrpgs that I missed. And that is many because I really only have experience with square jrpgs - but jrpgs is where it all began for me.
Welcome back from your break. Thanks for another great video and I gotta say your voice acting skills are awesome. Hope to see more content from ya soon 🙂
Can’t wait for this review! I only played psx grandia for twenty mins and they failed to hook me (my fault). When they announced the switch port, I was so ecstatic.
I fully approve of getting rid of scores because people do get very fixated on them to an unhelpful degree, and I just don’t feel like they’re very helpful, especially since people get mad at things being given scores like 7/10 since they’re too low
Yeah scores are completely arbitrary. They only serve to validate feelings and distill an entire video’s worth of opinions into a single number helping no one all that much. Glad to see other people are beginning to let the videos speak for themselves rather than a number.
Really missed your videos good to see you back. These games are right up my street but great to see them reviewed so well as they are usually a big time sink so need to make sure they are the right choice
I like how I can like this twice (s/o fg accounts)! Cuz that's exactly how I felt about this video and this game! Yup. Sometimes FF7 steals everybody's thunder. When think that in the same short span of time we had Suikoden, Wild Arms, Grandia, Alundra, Breath of Fire 3, Final Fantasy Tactics etc. FF7 is a great game, the advent of 3D RPGs to the world, the one you gathered your friends to watch the CGI and summons. But to me there were games just as if not more magical! (Plus 6, 9 and tactics are better, don't @ me, world!) Wonderful review as always m'lady, and just as charming as Grandia was! Much love, bby!
The thing with "overrated" games isn't really that they're bad... they usually deserve to be well regarded. It's just that so many other great games never got much love. That can be annoying.
Agreed! I posted the same thought without realized it had already been expressed. Always happy to see games like Grandia and Xenogears getting more love.
Hay gurl hayyy, welcome back! 🙋🏾♂️ This review was so on point. A classic fave of mine and I got about 1/3 through the Switch remaster before getting distracted by FF7R and then Trails of Cold Steel IV... But your review gave me the urge to get back to it! What I love about your work is the attention to detail and fun hot takes, like the differences between the Saturn version vs Switch and your impressions of the characters' battle lines respectively in this review. Even the beach sketch for Suikoden 4 speaks to your level of creativity! All this to say, you've got a new Patreon supporter. I've been following you for a while now and it's about time. 🙂 P.S. Don't stop keeping Shadow in line and putting him in his place over on the podcast. 😎
Part of why FF7 gets so much praise and kudos is because it literally singlehandedly changed the status of RPGS in the US. Not only that, it put the final nail in the coffin of the Sega Saturn by instantly pushing the Playstation over the sales number of the Saturn in Japan. Up until that point the Saturn was actually outselling the Playstation in Japan. It's one of those games, like Mario 64, where it REALLY did change everything for its respective genre. Before FF7 rpgs were a very obscure niche market in the United States. FF7 made RPGs mainstream. Without it we wouldn't have had anywhere near the number of RPGs we had in the USA during the PS1 and PS2 generations and possibly not in later generations either.
Me and my brother had a Megadrive, Snes, 3do yet my first ever Jrpg experience was ff7. Blame it on my dad because he was the one buying the games when we were young lol I guess for a lot of people it is also their first rpg ever. I guess that is why it is such a beloved game. I do agree with you though that Suikoden, Xenogears etc also deserve that. I hope you could get to play ff7 someday.
Welcome back lady! I loved this game on its original PlayStation when I was a kid. Even though I'm not a native English speaker, I kept playing this game ignoring all the story, just for the battles and the graphics. Take care!
I have no intention of replaying it, but I remember it as the best jrpg of the ps1 era. It was leagues beyond everything else. Great review and more voice acting segments pls.
Absolutely agree that this is overlooked. I first played it when it was relatively new. Like 2001-2002 somewhere... I don't remember exactly because it was 20 years ago. My sibling bought it and, being a good big bro, I had my own save file too. So good. They beat it before me of course.
Thanks a lot for this review, PelvicGaming. I am so glad that this game got an update. Back in the late 90's, there was a lot of hype about this game and everyone on the magazines and internet praised Grandia. I never was able to get a copy and my curiosity never ceased during all these years. Now I am definetely getting this, and after this review, I am sure I will enjoy it a lot.
Literally have this game on switch from Limited run waiting to be played! Maybe this is the boost I need to finally play it! It looks absolutely fantastic!
What an official roaring start to 2021 recordings from you! I am so so happy you reviewed this game, you really hit the nail on the head about everything with Grandia, could not have put it better myself. This game deserves a ton of praise and so much more attention and I hope being on the switch gives it a ton more love. Fantastic review! (Also for the love of god I hope the voice acting segment returns that was so much fun)
Another amazing review. You are so detailed and on point with everything. Thank you so much for making my day. Now im going to finally go play Grandia on my Switch.
Gawwwddddd the tactics vibes from this game though ❤️. Love the content. Sorry to comment spam. Your reviews are so enjoyable and I’m glad I found your channel. Stay safe! I eagerly await more uploads.
I never finished Grandia but I did enjoy my time with it. Absolutely agree that Final Fantasy 7 disproportionately overshadows other PS1 JRPGs. The big one I have a chip on my shoulder about is Breath of Fire 4, which I think is overall a far better game than FF7.
A lot of us hadn't heard of any other rpg series back then so a 3d final fantasy of course was a lot of our first PS1 RPGs. There was just so many good PS1 games coming out to budget our allowances on, that a lot of good games were passed by
ooooh !!! this brings back memories ! I LOVED this game back then, to honest: I jsut bought it back a couple of days ago and wanted to make my own review about it ! :) Thanks for your superb review, it motivated me to dive back into the adventure. Though I rather play the original with the pixelated art rather than the "smoothed" remastered version. It's just a personal taste. Havea a good day !
Yay!! I am so glad you loved Grandia. It is one of my all time faves. Also one of the few games that uses the trope of "adventurer" in a way that feels nostalgic and wonderful. Its very close to being like my #1 Lunar SSSC. Tropes are there for a reason and when a game gets it right it can be so damn wonderful *chefs keese*
Also about your FFVII question. It absolutely overshadows other amazing games that were just as good if not better. Although growing up when it was released I do know why. It was the first huge cinematic game. With tons of cutscenes and production value. When it released it was STUNNING. No game matched it. Because of that I believe it stuck in peoples minds. I still absolutely love it. But I wish others got just as much love, such as my fave Lunar or any of these beauties: Legend of Legaia, Suikoden, Grandia (duh), Legend of Dragoon, Thousand Arms, Koudelka (Shadow Hearts), and oh so much more.
@@PelvicGaming we never got to talk all about it in the before times! But I have always admired your vast knowledge of gaming and your tastes and preferences. I hope one day we can have a day together again, when the world gets better 💕 until then, forever am I your support!
Well about lvl healing u mentioned. There is actually a way to lvl ur healing fast. Througout the game there is couple enviroment traps that dmg ur party members just heal ur party and then go rest to save points that are nearby and voila u have gained exp. Spam that method for a while and u have now lvled ur heal.
Love your content! Just recently found your channel and am enjoying it! I would say just go back and play FFVII because although it does get a lot of the attention, there are good reasons. Not my favorite FF but there’s plenty of merit for the attention it gets. Though plenty of other games like Grandia should get more attention. I loved Grandia! Glad you liked it. Definitely could use some polish but the story, gameplay and music were great! My only gripe (mainly cause I didn’t want to grind by endgame) was by the time your final party gets together, Justin is just so powerful that everyone else can kind of take a backseat. So maybe a bit of balance issue in that regard but I love the game overall! Looking forward to more content!
Another great video, Lady P. I have never played Grandia, although I've been planning to do so for a very, very long time. Your review is a very strong argument to get me to do so. Regarding FFVII (Which is my favorite JRPG and my favorite game), I do agree that maybe it gets a little too much attention, but I also think that it's quite easy to understand why. At least when it comes to RPGs, FFVII was the first time that a kind of balance was struck so well between "Stupid, crazy, fun anime shit" and "Characters that for the most part have motivations and backstories which are a bit darker and more mature than we were accustomed to". Also, the mixture between cyberpunk, fantasy, spiritualism/environmentalism and cosmic horror is still to this day something that wasn't quite replicated or surpassed. ALSO, the soundtrack is absolute pure fire. It's a game that's easy to like IF you're into what it is putting out, IMHO. Yeah, I know it's a tad "ugly" for modern standards ( I like how it looks, though!) and that sprite-based games like Grandia and Xenogears will forever be more beautiful, but... such is the plight of early 3D in-game models in the eyes of most people. Anyway, it's totally fine not to like it. I don't like a lot of popular games too! No biggie. Keep up the good work!
I do love the voice acting segment. Really highlights VO acting from the era that wasn't quite up to snuff for its time. Hope you didn't paralyze your vocal chords so much.
Nice review, I bought the game a few days ago for my Switch Lite, also on offer in the HD Collection. Now I can finally catch up on these 2 classics, so as soon as I'm through FFIV at some point and can find some time.
Harroo! Thanks for the review. I agree with you about FF7. It is quite a good RPG, and worth a playthrough, but I played it and this game at around the same time, and found Grandia incredibly more appealing. The characters, the gameplay, even the story (Grandia tells a pretty traditional tale but tells it very well), all stand out to me. In fact FF7 is pretty low on my list of PS1 RPGs...Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Persona 2, Valkyrie Profile, Legend of Mana...all just had more personality, in my humble opinion. I even think Grandia LOOKS better compared to FF7, and its sprite animation has definitely stood the test time. FF7 looks like a minecraft rip-off now, though I get it was amazing in the day.
FF7 is an amazing game despite what some people say. It get hate because of its popularity. I played both Grandia and FF7 and love them both. The only difference is FF7 sold more hence why its so popular.
@@PelvicGaming Its a great game i just think people nitpick it too much because its so popular. Same with FF7 remake. I actually like the remake as much as the original even though it only covers 10% of the game.
Playstation 1 had an embarrassment of riches when it came to JRPGs. So many brilliant gems. Final Fantasy 7 was one of them - it's an excellent game (that's been kind of despoiled by SquareEnix and Nomura's obsession with milking it to death) worthy of its praise, but yeah other JRPGs from that era have been overlooked which is a shame. Being a jrpg gamer back in the PS1 days was hella fun.
As someone who’s played FF7, you are not wrong in what you say. I played the other games you mentioned prior to 7 and was like “This is what we fucked over Xenogears for?”. It is a great game but its not amazing compared to its competition. Its praise is most likely due to it being many people’s first JRPG experience(especially for 90s babies like myself) and the fact that at the time, it had the best graphics in the genre.
My favorite JRPG leveling template is "these characters have defined strengths and weaknesses and roles but you can put them in any direction". Similar to Final Fantasy VII but a lot harder to break. In another universe this could have been the gold standard for the subgenre.
Nice review - this was a Limited Run game I passed on but I was like, "should I shouldn't I?" I didn't but now I am having slight regret for not picking up. I like the idea of having customizable spells for characters and knowing that experience is saved as an item puts my qualms about a rotating party at ease. I'm big on the Lunar games and this was always recommended and now I can see why. I also haven't played Final Fantasy 7 but I feel that about the JRPG love too especially because Lunar: Silver Star Story has that spot for me, personally. I like your new recommend or not format as well, I've always hesitated to do reviews in part because I think people will just skip to the number and miss the why but that's a great way to keep people engaged.
WHAT A COINCIDENCE!! I jut finished the game, and voila! you did the review. :D I played GRANDIA when I was a child on PSX, but didn't finish the game. I am glad I did it this time and managed to finish the game. I must say, GRANDIA is one of RPGs I have been longing for, and it gives such a felt-good feeling and sense of adventure. I still remember when Feena showed Justin the height of the end of the world, and it gave me goosebump and wanted to explore the world, just like Justin. I hope you are going to play the GRANDIA 2 as well, as I am playing it right now. :) Can't wait to watch your review video of GRANDIA 2 in the future
I always liked Final Fantasy 6 better than 7 myself. I also enjoyed Grandia more. But I give FF7 it's credit for pulling more people into the Jrpg genre and making it much bigger in the west to the day.
Fantastic review! Really glad you enjoyed the game so much. Definitely one of the great classic jrpgs everyone should experience. Also welcome back from the break!! However, I can't deal with those smooth sprites on the switch version... I'll always play the original version. Up to personal preference though.
* Hi hello. Yes I know it's not "Black History Month" as this was supposed to be posted last Friday. But with all the announcements last week I didn't want it to get swept under the rug! So here it is on a Thursday! Also, don't forget to check out my Patreon; consider supporting me on there! Thank you!!
Do you think other games deserve love than final fantasy 7?
Yes I totally do, there's so many great stories with deep characters and fulfilling worlds that are just as great if not better than ff7
in many aspects; and that's not a dig at ff7 but it's a persona preference, even ff7 has flaws and it can't do things better than every story ever.
time and tech lead us to improving off games after game as we continue forward.
and it's important to remember the old greats but not diminish new experiences by comparing them to the old for those who do, it's disrespectful to both mediums.
In my opinion at least.
every month should be black history month
Good to have you making content again!
@@kohaku059 Every month should be history month.
The reason FF7 probably gets so much attention is because of how much promotion there was for the game. It was advertised like crazy while other JRPGs weren't as promoted or advertised as much.
This^ FF7 got massive marketing from Square, Eidos, and Sony of America. If there was one game that won the market for the Playstation early on it was FF7. It was effectively a mainstream game at the time when role-playing games were NOT mainstream at all (one aspect of this is the copious amount of shitty minigames in it.) All this is reflective of the global market. In Japan, role-playing games were more highly regarded and FF7 did not splash as hard.
I feel like most JRPG enthusiasts of the time do not point to FF7 as being the best, though it is certainly important.
@@shawnje3072 I think Projared added on to that by saying that they kinda hid the fact that it was an RPG. So some people probably didn't know what game they where getting until they bought it.
But it also totally deserves it. Amusingly, it was my first JRPG and I had no idea what they were. I played a demo that came on a PC Gamer CD, that only had the battle system, and bought it just because of that... had no idea there was a massive story, let alone be the first game to make me cry. After that I was hooked, insatiable, and it led to me scraping together the money to experience so many unforgettable JRPGs like Xenogears, Suikoden, Lunar, Grandia, Valkyrie Profile etc.
I want to say, you've been in my recommendation list forever on youtube. I finally clicked on this and can't stop watching your videos. I love your sense of joy when it comes to jrpgs, and although we do not agree on the same things sometimes I love that, it makes me look at things from a different angle. Keep it up, love love love this channel.
LPPTBAVAAEHFLFPVVG was great. A lot of people complain about older games having "bad" voice acting. But often they are the most memorable parts of those games for me.
When you said “no random encounters” it was like the spongebob pretty patty meme where he sets the sign on the table, except all the customers are me.
I am very glad to have gotten a taste of the voice acting as well, this is a game I’m excited to get to playing 😆
I hope you enjoy it! Every bit she hit on about the sense of adventure and wonder is there. It truly has a good coming of age story.
Love that voice acting segment. Doing that Toad voice must have hurt a lot.
Ya know...I say shit in Toad's voice more than I care to admit...
Square-Enix (Squaresoft at the time) had an insanely aggressive marketing campaign in the West during the 90s that really pushed FF7 (as well as their other titles), and it also happened to be a game with a really high budget. I think those two things made it hard for other JRPGs of the time to compete for a player's attention.
Grandia is something special.
There is another side to that. If FF VII hadn't been successful, maybe you wouldn't even have got localisations for some of those games, and they probably would've sold even worse. Just look at the SNES era games for examples.
This is weirdly the best review I've seen for a video game maybe ever.
Everything is talked about in concrete and specific terms. Systems are explained by how their mechanics interact and how they compare to other games in the same genre. Subjective parts like the story, music, and characters have emotional reactions backed up by examples. It's perfect.
Every other review I've seen of this HD collection has been nothing but gushing about the originals which is not a review.
Wow thank you so much! That honestly made my week. I believe I should present the facts then state why the mechanics do or don't work AND why I like them. So that way the people get the facts of the mechanics, and even if my opinion on them is bad maybe it's something that appeals to others. :)
I appreciate the kind words!
New segment: Pelvic destroys her voice box
This is my favorite RPG, it may not be the biggest, more ambitious or with the best story, but it just clicked with me and I loved nearly everything about it, the sense of adventure, the characters are really likable, the battle system is really fun, the colorful graphics and the general vibe it has is very special, also the game manages to be linear without feeling like a bunch of corridors like other RPG's I have played, and I just love the romance of Justin and Feena, one of the best I have seen in any media, just incredibly natural and well developed with some beautiful scenes. There are just a couple of things on the ending I didn't care about and the english dub is not the best if you are one of those people who don't like hearing japanese voices, but overall I adore this game
Welp, looks like you surpassed that 700 likes, so I'm looking forward to the Grandia 2 voice segment. Especially if you cover Millenia's lines. Haha.
Grandia holds a special place in my heart. It came into my life at a time when my life was tumultuous, and the sense of adventure and the beautiful music helped to center me and served as an escape from what was happening in my own life at the time. I am glad to hear that you really enjoyed the game, too.
Ah, yeah the Gumbo theme was great. It was a refreshing twist to what other games of the 90s were doing. I also really like Mullen's Theme and especially the theme of Luc Village.
OH SHIT I DIDNT EVEN NOTICE I PASSED 700 LIKES....SHIT. LOL
ALSO YOUR LETS PLAY HELPED ME IN ONE OF THE OPTIONAL DUNGEONS SO THANK YOU ♡♡♡
"Earthquakes ARE SCARY!"
I HAD THAT BUT I CUT THAT OUT
You really hit the nail on the head on what makes this game special. It really is one of those JRPG’s that captures that childlike innocence of exploring a vast world and making new friends along the way. The only other JRPG’s I’ve played which capture a similar feeling are Earthbound, skies of Arcadia, and dragon quest 8 & 11.
I would add the Xenoblade 2 in as well for that sense of childlike adventure.
huh that's why i like 8 and 11. Haha so its has similiar vibe
Your final line of the review was a great overall summary for my thoughts on Grandia. And I'll tell my wife about the products you recommended!
First off your hair is giving me life💜💜💜! It's a breath of fresh air to see someone who enjoys JRPGs more than I do. Your channel is amazing! I really enjoyed the review. Grandia 2 hands down is one of my favorite RPGs. I love old school RPGs. Thanks for posting!
The queen of RPGs is back! Great review, made me want to check this out.
Glad to see this review. I also had the same feeling with grandia, where I loved the characters, music, story, and just overall feeling of youthful adventure. It gave me the same whimsical feeling of a ghibli movie. Great review, and I'm having a blast going through this channel!
"Does Final Fantasy 7 get too much attention?"
*Looks over to see there are now 9 games about Final Fantasy 7 now and more to come*
"I'd have to agree"
As a kid i hated ff7 because it wasnt midevil DnD type of vibes. I dont hate it now but its still not a highlight of gaming to me.
@@jonathansoko1085 Translation was pretty incoherent at times, characters such as yuffie and vincent added little to story when they were major characters in the world, especially Vincent. The story had quite a few loop holes specifically stuff dealing with the war of wutai and midgar which was an internal conflict that should have been explored more. The backstory behind zack and first soldier sephiroth. The remake aims to change most of these things and give it a more polished experience in terms of writing but with the episodic nature of the remake project, it will be some time before we are able to experience it all in its entirety. As a result though the story it self was some what confusing and many of the characters lacked alot of personality compared to many other rpg casts that I have seen. FF IX for example probably is the more "complete" and polished FF game of the series in regards to the points I made. The whimsical and often more spirited fused anime arch types I prefer more because they always bring so much energy to their characters but thats just a personal opinion over what I prefer as character archtypes.
Also this may be a preference thing but Personally I prefer a more eastern fantasy setting in my rpgs. Its just far more colorful and you get this wide variation of locales, cultural phisophies and abstract designs explored that FF VII really has not tackled, at least not on the same level as like Legend of Dragoon, Skies of Arcadia or Grandia or even my fav of the genre, FF IX.
@@Artimes. I love FFIX but I don’t know that I would say it is particularly ‘complete’, in the sense that after Disc 1 loads of subplots about Burmecia are just dropped. Freya’s arc ends the moment it starts and it really bothered me when I played it, since I was always expecting Fratley to show up again and actually do something, but he never did
@@danielostrowski856 I completely agree. I honestly never understood the hype behind mainline FF games outside of maybe FF6. Grandia had a better combat system and art direction, in my opinion, compared to many of the Playstation FF games. Choosing 2d sprites in a 3d environment looks great even today. Playstation FF games look much worse outside of their cutscenes (which are admittedly beautiful). It always felt like I was playing on a 2d painting with 3d characters and it made it very visually confusing even for gameplay. Like what can I interact with and what is just a jpeg. I dunno it just seems like Legend of legia and Grandia deserves a lot more attention. FF 7 seems to be many people's gateway into JRPGS and was heavily marketed in the west at the time. However, as someone who started with other jrpg franchises I never shared the same adoration for the final fantasy franchise (outside of spinoffs like Dissidia).
How did I just learn about your channel today?? Amazing, and entertaining reviews! Thanks, and you've definitely earned yourself a subscriber!
Wow!! Thank you so much!!
The voice acting bit was great! Good job Pelvic girl!
Yea funny af... would love to see more of that for many other games
I grew up playing Grandia, and love it! Happy 2021 so far! You crack me up!
As someone who also recently beat this game, it was nice to hear your thoughts on it as well! Keep up the awesome content
I like the artstyle of this game. I'll consider getting this game.
Best combat system I’ve ever played in a JRPG
It's worth it
Do it! Such a wonderful game.
Oml lady I love the voice acting bit this is great. It's sad that you dropping the 10 out of 10 thing but yeah people it uppity about the numbers. This a great review
My absolute favorite game of all time. Always like seeing Grandia getting some love. Also the voice acting bits were hilarious 🤣
Happy New Year! I hope you had a great break and I look forward to what's come on the channel in 2021! Grandia is one of the classics that I really want to play (along with 2) and this review made me want to play it even more. I like the decision to just say "recommended/not recommended", I agree most people don't watch the review and end up not understanding the scoring at the end. Thank you for the great review!
There's definitely a negative emotion that occurs in me when someone proclaims FF7 as the best rpg of all time but the amount of RPGs they've played is very few or... Just FF7.
I get this feeling but I've played a ridiculous amount of rpgs and ff7 still just has the most interesting mechanics/world building/music/characters to me.
Well, that's why pop culture sucks. I think FF7 on its own isn't "pop" but it's success has made it pop.
Pop culture people (which is like everyone) only know surface level nonsense and don't have a clue about what they're talking about...
When you tell them they don't know what they're talking about, they dismiss you instead of trying to learn something about why, which is their biggest flaw.
I like FF7 though, but there's a whole lot of other stuff I like too.
Wow, so if you are enjoying "The adventure" and asthetic appeal of the many varied locations spread across the world in grandia, the colorful cast of characters, etc then I serously point you to SKIES OF ARCADIA!! THIS HAS TO BE YOUR NEXT MAJOR GAME. I am serous when I say you are going to fall in LOVE! with this one.
I wanna play it so bad, but the price for the game on the dreamcast was expensive last I checked. I missed out when I was a kid and I have wanted to play it for a while. I seriously hope it gets a port to the Switch.
Great review! I really enjoy the length of your videos. You say everything that's important and add some personal touches without ever dragging on. Also Grandia is exactly the kind of game i need right now. Keep it up :)
It does get under my skin to see how much FF7 tends to get the most attention for the ps1 era of jrpgs, and jrpgs as a whole now, but thankfully it doesn’t seem to be choking out everything.
It has been nice to see Square spending this generation porting over some of their rarer rpgs to current gen consoles and PC. Romancing Saga 1 - 3, Trials of Mana, and now Legend of Mana along with Saga Frontier.
I’m so happy to see you back. Also I think you just sold me on this game. Also also, your toad impression is spot on lmao
Materia was a really good mechanic for FF7 during its time. Also the cinematics are another thing that FF7 gets high praise for, for being the first to really push video games into feeling like so much more than a video game.
That said, I totally agree that there were many other RPGs in that era that were innovative and amazing for it.
What i hated about materia is it took the role in roleplaying and largley allowed you to throw it out the window. I hate any game that allows or has systems that allow characters to all do anything and everything. I feel like its lazy design, and as i said it throws out the role in role playing.
@@jonathansoko1085 It was a subtle reimagining of the job system, but with more customization. If you don't like your characters to be able to change what they do, then fair enough. But imo it's definitely a valid archetype.
@@jmporkbob Also the characters cannot do everything all at once, so you still have to choose who has what. I think the tryth of this complaint is actually that the game is too easy so there isn't much of a point paying attention to your set up on most occasions.
Nice in depth review. I’ve downloaded this already. Definitely looking forward to it. FFVII is good but it like all other RPG’s would be nothing without Dragon Quest.
Perfect timing. I just recently got my switch copy. Your my go to for rpg reviews
Thank you so much!!!
I think the main thing that made FF7 burn itself into everyone's nostalgia was the sudden emotional twist when Aerith was killed. I know that when I played it back in the day that made me sit there and wonder what the hell just happened. The only moment up to that point as emotionally jarring was Chrono suddenly being wiped out of time in ChronoTrigger when I played it on the SNES. That was another WTF! moment.
Crisis core: were not done yet
After an event happened you can return to villages for new dialogues :) btw your Review ist Great thanks for doing it :P Grandia is my Favorite Game of all Times.
As someone who enjoys FF7, I agree that it gets way too much attention compared to other JRPG's on the PS1. It's a great game sure but I enjoyed other RPG's on the system far more. But that's just me.
This was a great review to kick off the year!👏 It's been forever since I last played Grandia. Think it's about time for a replay!
Good review.
But oh my god, I'm crying at the Voice bit. The Toad voice.
You should do a segment where you do those attack voice overs, but as Toad. Or just do it for some of your favorite attacks in general.
Thanks for the review.
35 year old gamer and coping with the fact that I no longer have the physical ability to play online games at a high level. So I'm returning to my roots and planning to play all the acclaimed classic jrpgs that I missed. And that is many because I really only have experience with square jrpgs - but jrpgs is where it all began for me.
Welcome back from your break. Thanks for another great video and I gotta say your voice acting skills are awesome. Hope to see more content from ya soon 🙂
Played this way back in 98, still a favorite.
Can’t wait for this review! I only played psx grandia for twenty mins and they failed to hook me (my fault). When they announced the switch port, I was so ecstatic.
I fully approve of getting rid of scores because people do get very fixated on them to an unhelpful degree, and I just don’t feel like they’re very helpful, especially since people get mad at things being given scores like 7/10 since they’re too low
Yeah scores are completely arbitrary. They only serve to validate feelings and distill an entire video’s worth of opinions into a single number helping no one all that much. Glad to see other people are beginning to let the videos speak for themselves rather than a number.
Really missed your videos good to see you back. These games are right up my street but great to see them reviewed so well as they are usually a big time sink so need to make sure they are the right choice
I like how I can like this twice (s/o fg accounts)! Cuz that's exactly how I felt about this video and this game!
Yup. Sometimes FF7 steals everybody's thunder. When think that in the same short span of time we had Suikoden, Wild Arms, Grandia, Alundra, Breath of Fire 3, Final Fantasy Tactics etc. FF7 is a great game, the advent of 3D RPGs to the world, the one you gathered your friends to watch the CGI and summons. But to me there were games just as if not more magical! (Plus 6, 9 and tactics are better, don't @ me, world!)
Wonderful review as always m'lady, and just as charming as Grandia was! Much love, bby!
That deck swabbing theme is on my favorites playlist. Also welcome back!
So glad you are back to review girl💗
The thing with "overrated" games isn't really that they're bad... they usually deserve to be well regarded. It's just that so many other great games never got much love. That can be annoying.
Agreed! I posted the same thought without realized it had already been expressed. Always happy to see games like Grandia and Xenogears getting more love.
We lost out on a complete Xenogears due to FF7 as well, so some of us are bewildered as to why Square would cannibalize like that,lol
Hay gurl hayyy, welcome back! 🙋🏾♂️
This review was so on point. A classic fave of mine and I got about 1/3 through the Switch remaster before getting distracted by FF7R and then Trails of Cold Steel IV... But your review gave me the urge to get back to it!
What I love about your work is the attention to detail and fun hot takes, like the differences between the Saturn version vs Switch and your impressions of the characters' battle lines respectively in this review. Even the beach sketch for Suikoden 4 speaks to your level of creativity!
All this to say, you've got a new Patreon supporter. I've been following you for a while now and it's about time. 🙂
P.S. Don't stop keeping Shadow in line and putting him in his place over on the podcast. 😎
If you think Sue had fun battle phrases, wait til you hear some of Millenia’s.
Millenia's battle lines still play in my head years after lol!
Part of why FF7 gets so much praise and kudos is because it literally singlehandedly changed the status of RPGS in the US. Not only that, it put the final nail in the coffin of the Sega Saturn by instantly pushing the Playstation over the sales number of the Saturn in Japan. Up until that point the Saturn was actually outselling the Playstation in Japan.
It's one of those games, like Mario 64, where it REALLY did change everything for its respective genre.
Before FF7 rpgs were a very obscure niche market in the United States. FF7 made RPGs mainstream. Without it we wouldn't have had anywhere near the number of RPGs we had in the USA during the PS1 and PS2 generations and possibly not in later generations either.
Me and my brother had a Megadrive, Snes, 3do yet my first ever Jrpg experience was ff7. Blame it on my dad because he was the one buying the games when we were young lol I guess for a lot of people it is also their first rpg ever. I guess that is why it is such a beloved game. I do agree with you though that Suikoden, Xenogears etc also deserve that. I hope you could get to play ff7 someday.
Welcome back lady! I loved this game on its original PlayStation when I was a kid. Even though I'm not a native English speaker, I kept playing this game ignoring all the story, just for the battles and the graphics.
Take care!
Great video!!! This has me even more excited to play Grandia this year!
I have no intention of replaying it, but I remember it as the best jrpg of the ps1 era. It was leagues beyond everything else. Great review and more voice acting segments pls.
Absolutely adore Grandia! I'm so happy that you covered this. And yes, I also quote these lines fairly often...
It'sa... TOUR NAY DOH!
Absolutely agree that this is overlooked. I first played it when it was relatively new. Like 2001-2002 somewhere... I don't remember exactly because it was 20 years ago.
My sibling bought it and, being a good big bro, I had my own save file too. So good. They beat it before me of course.
Thanks a lot for this review, PelvicGaming.
I am so glad that this game got an update.
Back in the late 90's, there was a lot of hype about this game and everyone on the magazines and internet praised Grandia.
I never was able to get a copy and my curiosity never ceased during all these years.
Now I am definetely getting this, and after this review, I am sure I will enjoy it a lot.
Always happy to see your videos! Missed you!
You put a lot of work into your reviews and videos, real talk you have quality content.
Literally have this game on switch from Limited run waiting to be played! Maybe this is the boost I need to finally play it! It looks absolutely fantastic!
Great review! I adored Grandia II back in the day, so I've always been curious about the first game. Your video has given me the push I needed!
What an official roaring start to 2021 recordings from you! I am so so happy you reviewed this game, you really hit the nail on the head about everything with Grandia, could not have put it better myself. This game deserves a ton of praise and so much more attention and I hope being on the switch gives it a ton more love. Fantastic review! (Also for the love of god I hope the voice acting segment returns that was so much fun)
Another amazing review.
You are so detailed and on point with everything. Thank you so much for making my day. Now im going to finally go play Grandia on my Switch.
You really should play FF VII Pelvic! Awesome review! I’ll be grabbing this on my Switch now thanks to you. Voice acting segment 5 ⭐️!!!
Please bring back the voice acting segment! Grandia 2 has some great lines! Also, I loved your takes on the lines.
Gawwwddddd the tactics vibes from this game though ❤️. Love the content. Sorry to comment spam. Your reviews are so enjoyable and I’m glad I found your channel. Stay safe! I eagerly await more uploads.
I never finished Grandia but I did enjoy my time with it. Absolutely agree that Final Fantasy 7 disproportionately overshadows other PS1 JRPGs. The big one I have a chip on my shoulder about is Breath of Fire 4, which I think is overall a far better game than FF7.
A lot of us hadn't heard of any other rpg series back then so a 3d final fantasy of course was a lot of our first PS1 RPGs. There was just so many good PS1 games coming out to budget our allowances on, that a lot of good games were passed by
ooooh !!! this brings back memories ! I LOVED this game back then, to honest: I jsut bought it back a couple of days ago and wanted to make my own review about it ! :) Thanks for your superb review, it motivated me to dive back into the adventure. Though I rather play the original with the pixelated art rather than the "smoothed" remastered version. It's just a personal taste. Havea a good day !
A+ for the video
A++ for the new segment
A++++++++++++++ for new segment's name 🙌🏿
This game had an extremely 90’s anime look and feel which probably contributed to why I loved it so much when it came out on PS1.
Yay!! I am so glad you loved Grandia. It is one of my all time faves. Also one of the few games that uses the trope of "adventurer" in a way that feels nostalgic and wonderful. Its very close to being like my #1 Lunar SSSC. Tropes are there for a reason and when a game gets it right it can be so damn wonderful *chefs keese*
Also about your FFVII question. It absolutely overshadows other amazing games that were just as good if not better. Although growing up when it was released I do know why. It was the first huge cinematic game. With tons of cutscenes and production value. When it released it was STUNNING. No game matched it. Because of that I believe it stuck in peoples minds. I still absolutely love it. But I wish others got just as much love, such as my fave Lunar or any of these beauties: Legend of Legaia, Suikoden, Grandia (duh), Legend of Dragoon, Thousand Arms, Koudelka (Shadow Hearts), and oh so much more.
Just discovered your chanel and I like it a lot, you won a new subscriber.
Hello and thank you!!
Man this reminded me I really need to finish Grandia, also I LOVE your mighty mite Link shirt
It's such a fun journey!
Also thank you!!
I was super close to cosplaying from this game so this review takes me BACK!
I LOVE learning how much of a hardcore gamer you were. Like...I never knew!
@@PelvicGaming we never got to talk all about it in the before times! But I have always admired your vast knowledge of gaming and your tastes and preferences. I hope one day we can have a day together again, when the world gets better 💕 until then, forever am I your support!
Great review, you had me thinking I should give it a try again until the voice acting lol
Great review and fantastic tee-shirt 😁 thank you. Happy new year and welcome back
Glad you too liked the theme music too!
Lol, LOVE the voice acting segment!
Well about lvl healing u mentioned. There is actually a way to lvl ur healing fast. Througout the game there is couple enviroment traps that dmg ur party members just heal ur party and then go rest to save points that are nearby and voila u have gained exp. Spam that method for a while and u have now lvled ur heal.
Love your content! Just recently found your channel and am enjoying it!
I would say just go back and play FFVII because although it does get a lot of the attention, there are good reasons. Not my favorite FF but there’s plenty of merit for the attention it gets. Though plenty of other games like Grandia should get more attention.
I loved Grandia! Glad you liked it. Definitely could use some polish but the story, gameplay and music were great! My only gripe (mainly cause I didn’t want to grind by endgame) was by the time your final party gets together, Justin is just so powerful that everyone else can kind of take a backseat. So maybe a bit of balance issue in that regard but I love the game overall!
Looking forward to more content!
Great video. The mic fake out made me lol.
your "burn em" triggered my dog, lmao
great video!
Haha sorry!!
Thanks for watching!
Im absolutely in love with this dub segment lol.
Another great video, Lady P. I have never played Grandia, although I've been planning to do so for a very, very long time. Your review is a very strong argument to get me to do so.
Regarding FFVII (Which is my favorite JRPG and my favorite game), I do agree that maybe it gets a little too much attention, but I also think that it's quite easy to understand why. At least when it comes to RPGs, FFVII was the first time that a kind of balance was struck so well between "Stupid, crazy, fun anime shit" and "Characters that for the most part have motivations and backstories which are a bit darker and more mature than we were accustomed to". Also, the mixture between cyberpunk, fantasy, spiritualism/environmentalism and cosmic horror is still to this day something that wasn't quite replicated or surpassed. ALSO, the soundtrack is absolute pure fire. It's a game that's easy to like IF you're into what it is putting out, IMHO.
Yeah, I know it's a tad "ugly" for modern standards ( I like how it looks, though!) and that sprite-based games like Grandia and Xenogears will forever be more beautiful, but... such is the plight of early 3D in-game models in the eyes of most people.
Anyway, it's totally fine not to like it. I don't like a lot of popular games too! No biggie. Keep up the good work!
That Toad voice was on fire! 🔥
I do love the voice acting segment. Really highlights VO acting from the era that wasn't quite up to snuff for its time. Hope you didn't paralyze your vocal chords so much.
Nice review, I bought the game a few days ago for my Switch Lite, also on offer in the HD Collection. Now I can finally catch up on these 2 classics, so as soon as I'm through FFIV at some point and can find some time.
Harroo! Thanks for the review. I agree with you about FF7. It is quite a good RPG, and worth a playthrough, but I played it and this game at around the same time, and found Grandia incredibly more appealing. The characters, the gameplay, even the story (Grandia tells a pretty traditional tale but tells it very well), all stand out to me. In fact FF7 is pretty low on my list of PS1 RPGs...Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Persona 2, Valkyrie Profile, Legend of Mana...all just had more personality, in my humble opinion. I even think Grandia LOOKS better compared to FF7, and its sprite animation has definitely stood the test time. FF7 looks like a minecraft rip-off now, though I get it was amazing in the day.
FF7 is an amazing game despite what some people say. It get hate because of its popularity. I played both Grandia and FF7 and love them both. The only difference is FF7 sold more hence why its so popular.
Oh I wanna be clear. I do NOT hate ff7. Hell haven't played it to hate it.
@@PelvicGaming Its a great game i just think people nitpick it too much because its so popular. Same with FF7 remake. I actually like the remake as much as the original even though it only covers 10% of the game.
Playstation 1 had an embarrassment of riches when it came to JRPGs. So many brilliant gems. Final Fantasy 7 was one of them - it's an excellent game (that's been kind of despoiled by SquareEnix and Nomura's obsession with milking it to death) worthy of its praise, but yeah other JRPGs from that era have been overlooked which is a shame. Being a jrpg gamer back in the PS1 days was hella fun.
Of course, Grandia was a Sega Saturn game but I played it on the original PS1 when that got its port. Same era so the point is the same.
Grandia 2 next? One of my faves o Dreamcast 😊
As someone who’s played FF7, you are not wrong in what you say. I played the other games you mentioned prior to 7 and was like “This is what we fucked over Xenogears for?”. It is a great game but its not amazing compared to its competition. Its praise is most likely due to it being many people’s first JRPG experience(especially for 90s babies like myself) and the fact that at the time, it had the best graphics in the genre.
My favorite JRPG leveling template is "these characters have defined strengths and weaknesses and roles but you can put them in any direction". Similar to Final Fantasy VII but a lot harder to break. In another universe this could have been the gold standard for the subgenre.
Nice review - this was a Limited Run game I passed on but I was like, "should I shouldn't I?" I didn't but now I am having slight regret for not picking up. I like the idea of having customizable spells for characters and knowing that experience is saved as an item puts my qualms about a rotating party at ease. I'm big on the Lunar games and this was always recommended and now I can see why. I also haven't played Final Fantasy 7 but I feel that about the JRPG love too especially because Lunar: Silver Star Story has that spot for me, personally. I like your new recommend or not format as well, I've always hesitated to do reviews in part because I think people will just skip to the number and miss the why but that's a great way to keep people engaged.
WHAT A COINCIDENCE!! I jut finished the game, and voila! you did the review. :D
I played GRANDIA when I was a child on PSX, but didn't finish the game. I am glad I did it this time and managed to finish the game.
I must say, GRANDIA is one of RPGs I have been longing for, and it gives such a felt-good feeling and sense of adventure.
I still remember when Feena showed Justin the height of the end of the world, and it gave me goosebump and wanted to explore the world, just like Justin.
I hope you are going to play the GRANDIA 2 as well, as I am playing it right now. :)
Can't wait to watch your review video of GRANDIA 2 in the future
I always liked Final Fantasy 6 better than 7 myself. I also enjoyed Grandia more. But I give FF7 it's credit for pulling more people into the Jrpg genre and making it much bigger in the west to the day.
Fantastic review! Really glad you enjoyed the game so much. Definitely one of the great classic jrpgs everyone should experience.
Also welcome back from the break!!
However, I can't deal with those smooth sprites on the switch version... I'll always play the original version. Up to personal preference though.
Been wondering about this game. I missed it on ps1 back then. I'm convinced. I'm going to get it.