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Post by Digitalnametag on Jul 16, 2014 16:20:43 GMT -5
I enjoyed the first Grandia, but I found Justin way more annoying than endearing. The characters really weren't all that memorable outside of the three initial characters. Nor was the story. I think Lunar SSC and EB holds up a little better in that regard. Grandia definitely wins at game play with the better battle system though.
Guys are making me want to bust out the PS2 to finally give the other games in the series a shot. Have had them sitting around long enough. If I had a Dreamcast I'd play Grandia II on it. Hear the PS2 port has some technical issues.
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Post by voltagecontrol on Jul 16, 2014 18:33:11 GMT -5
Grandia III was acceptable up until the point where Miranda left the party, it was all downhill from there. Grandia II was okay up until the later stages where it became another "destroy the church which is secretly evil" cliche. They both downspiraled but at least Grandia II maintained not-awfulness for a longer period of time. I think the only reason I'm okay with Ryudo is the fact that he was voiced by Cam Clarke. I don't think I played more than 30 minutes of Grandia Xtreme. I never hear anyone talk about it either. I liked the battle system and the characters. Grandia II is OK. Grandia III had this really cool setup to a grand adventure like the first game. Then it became about fighting that one girl's evil brother or whatever.
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Post by Discoalucard on Jul 16, 2014 21:26:46 GMT -5
I played Grandia III in Japanese, and my Japanese is not so good. Since the main dude (what's his name?) calls that girl by "Miranda", I thought that she was his wannabe love buddy. Then several hours in where it gets to that dramatic point where he's taking off in an airplane, he calls her "kaasan" for the first time, and I'm like...oh, that's his mom, huh. That sure was awkward. Also the Lunar DS kusoge entry is up: www.hardcoregaming101.net/kusoge/kusoge17.htm#lunards
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Post by muteKi on Jul 16, 2014 21:35:09 GMT -5
Oh god I just remembered the teleport dungeon in Eternal Blue. I *had* to use a guide for that. Fuckin awful
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Post by Feynman on Jul 16, 2014 21:35:49 GMT -5
It's like reading somebody's terrible blog profile.
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Post by nightdreamer on Jul 16, 2014 21:48:45 GMT -5
I played Grandia III in Japanese, and my Japanese is not so good. Since the main dude (what's his name?) calls that girl by "Miranda", I thought that she was his wannabe love buddy. Then several hours in where it gets to that dramatic point where he's taking off in an airplane, he calls her "kaasan" for the first time, and I'm like...oh, that's his mom, huh. That sure was awkward. Wow, I wonder how many doujins are, well, 'informed' by this relationship.
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Post by Discoalucard on Jul 16, 2014 21:58:12 GMT -5
Classic Working Designs-era Lunar:
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Post by muteKi on Jul 16, 2014 22:30:48 GMT -5
Who else but Ronfar!
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Post by TheGunheart on Jul 16, 2014 22:36:57 GMT -5
I remember really wanting Eternal Blue way back in the day, but for some reason I can't remember, I never got it. Then SSSC came out, and I was all over ti. Gotta hand it to Working Designs; they really knew how to do packaging. To honest, I prefer its "characters over story" approach. Story is kinda an overrated concept; it's really just an excuse to have your characters actually do stuff. A great story can easily be brought down by boring characters, but a lousy story can be saved if the cast is likable enough. ...I just wish I could remember more of the experience. I know I loved it, I remember it was hard as hell, and I loved the soundtrack, but damn, I can't really remember the details. I'll admit, I never beat Eternal Blue Complete, unfortunately. Made it to the final dungeon, but I really sucked at JRPGs back then, and was just kinda afraid to go on...
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Post by Weasel on Jul 16, 2014 22:38:39 GMT -5
To honest, I prefer its "characters over story" approach. Story is kinda an overrated concept; it's really just an excuse to have your characters actually do stuff. A great story can easily be brought down by boring characters, but a lousy story can be saved if the cast is likable enough. As a writer, I agree completely with this. You should never be writing just a story. You should be writing the characters, and then the characters will naturally provide the story on their own, if they're good enough.
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Post by nightdreamer on Jul 16, 2014 22:41:04 GMT -5
Naturally, that's where the Square division of Square Enix fails at in their games for the past 10 years.
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Post by Feynman on Jul 16, 2014 22:46:43 GMT -5
Then SSSC came out, and I was all over ti. Gotta hand it to Working Designs; they really knew how to do packaging. To honest, I prefer its "characters over story" approach. Story is kinda an overrated concept; it's really just an excuse to have your characters actually do stuff. This is absolutely true. Story is just one part of a narrative... namely the sequence of events. Character personality and development, and the theme or idea the story wants to convey are both infinitely more important than the basic "this happened then this then this" sequence that most would define as a "story."
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Post by vetus on Jul 17, 2014 7:41:48 GMT -5
Guys are making me want to bust out the PS2 to finally give the other games in the series a shot. Have had them sitting around long enough. If I had a Dreamcast I'd play Grandia II on it. Hear the PS2 port has some technical issues. PS2 port is horrible. Play the PC version instead with the neccessary patches (still it has some sound issues). If your PC is capable of playing Dreamcast emulator, it's the best solution. It's like reading somebody's terrible blog profile. Please tell me this is not the main character (I haven't played the game for years and of course I have only played it until the first battle). Grandia III story and characters weren't the best but at least the gameplay and the atmosphere (it has from the most beautiful graphics I've seen for PS2 and the soundtrack, just like in the previous games, is beautiful) saved the situation. And the sense of humor which is one of Grandia and Lunar's appealing point is not missing either. But Lunar Dragon Song? It doesn't even have an interesting gameplay. And the graphics during the battle? So ugly. To honest, I prefer its "characters over story" approach. Story is kinda an overrated concept; it's really just an excuse to have your characters actually do stuff. A great story can easily be brought down by boring characters, but a lousy story can be saved if the cast is likable enough. As a writer, I agree completely with this. You should never be writing just a story. You should be writing the characters, and then the characters will naturally provide the story on their own, if they're good enough. Pretty much this. Even if the theme of a game is cliche, if you make a great job at the presentation then you won the audience. Same goes for other media, expecially in anime: I have seen plently of anime with interesting setting but they fail miserably at presentation.
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Post by Discoalucard on Jul 17, 2014 9:15:15 GMT -5
Yeah, that guy in the picture (Jian) is the main character. Lucia is his childhood friend with bright pink hair that's - guess what! - a reincarnation of Althena who gets kidnapped. For as bad as Grandia III's story was, Lunar DS seems like it was written by a 12 year old.
Grandia III was INCREDIBLY good looking. I remember it coming out around the same time as Valkyrie Profile 2, which was a technical masterpiece for a PS2 game. If ever I finish this Lunar piece, I'd like to do Grandia next, but it's a little more difficult since the first one is the only game I can play on the go, and that's really the only way I can sink any major time into games nowadays. (At least until I finish up System Shock 2 for a different article, anyway.)
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Post by Allie on Jul 17, 2014 9:34:48 GMT -5
Yeah, that guy in the picture (Jian) is the main character. Lucia is his childhood friend with bright pink hair that's - guess what! - a reincarnation of Althena who gets kidnapped. For as bad as Grandia III's story was, Lunar DS seems like it was written by a 12 year old. Grandia III was INCREDIBLY good looking. I remember it coming out around the same time as Valkyrie Profile 2, which was a technical masterpiece for a PS2 game. If ever I finish this Lunar piece, I'd like to do Grandia next, but it's a little more difficult since the first one is the only game I can play on the go, and that's really the only way I can sink any major time into games nowadays. (At least until I finish up System Shock 2 for a different article, anyway.) Maybe I'm just imagining it, but it felt like the battle system's balance shifted heavily in favor of the enemies when they switched from the Linear IP Gauge (1 & 2) to the Circular IP Gauge (Extreme, 3). Or maybe it's just that Grandia 2 was way too easy.
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