I Wish The Grandia Series Would Return

This past summer, I went on a trip to Washington, DC to meet my dad for the first time. It was a great adventure and the first time I was able to use my Switch as a travel companion. While on the airplane, I booted up Grandia 2, part of the Grandia HD Collection released on that platform in 2019. Composed of Grandia 1 & 2, it was an easy sell for me and one of the reasons why I got a Switch.

I was midway through the game, and those old feelings of excitement and dread started to well up. Grandia 2 was one of my favorite JRPGs during the PlayStation 2 era. I bought it during a video game drought back in 2005. I was in college at the time, and it was recommended by the GameStop sales rep.

While the PS2 version is notorious for terrible lag, I loved the adventure. Ryudo, the main character, is still one of my favorite protagonists of the PS2 era. He exudes the anti-hero archetype with gusto. Not only does he cuss up a storm, but he’s quite the adorable jerk. He’s constantly putting down people for allowing others to walk all over them, and he has fun poking at the demure songstress Elena who joins him on the journey early on. These two are set up in your typical “opposites attract” romantic scenario, with other characters like the mighty ax wielding anthropomorphic Mareg joining in at different times.

Mareg, alongside the other characters you meet are part of why the story of Grandia 2 is so memorable. Each has their own motivations and is given a chance to shine. One of the moments that sits rent-free in my head whenever I think about the game is the series of exchanges between Mareg and Tio, an android-like character who learns what it means to be alive. Mareg becomes both a mentor and father figure to her, explaining how she can become an individual and break away from her initial reason for creation.

To this day, I can’t think of Grandia 2 without hearing Mareg yell “Hear now the lion’s roar!” as he empowers the other team members and allows for their attacks to hit harder. It put a smile on my face because even though the story for Grandia 2 is a great traditional narrative of a young group of heroes destroying a god, the combat system is where the series as a whole makes itself distinct from other JRPGS.

The turn-based battle system is designed to reward meticulous planning and a keen focus on details. Within the battle interface, there’s a continuously moving action bar situated in the lower right corner of the screen. This bar is divided into two distinct halves.

In the first half, you await a party member’s turn. As their icon nears the end, you select a move and target an enemy, potentially altering the action order. The second half is for executing your attack. Waiting for your character’s icon, you can time your attack with an enemy’s icon, disrupting their action and resetting their place in the order.

The combat system in Grandia 2 is quite commendable, building upon the foundation of its predecessor with a more streamlined approach. However, if I had to pick the entry with the most exceptional combat in the series, I’d point to Grandia 3.

In Grandia 3, battles require thoughtful decisions. You must consider whether your healer can cast the crucial Alhealer spell in time or if your party members can cancel an enemy’s attack effectively. The IP system removes guesswork, displaying upcoming actions. Constant visibility of enemy hit points enables efficient combat, with interruptions preventing fatal attacks. However, frequent cancelation attacks are slow and low-damage, while cooldown periods follow specific moves.

The addition of “juggling” enemies mid-air allowed for special aerial attacks when successfully canceling an enemy’s action, leading to an “aerial finish” that offered more rewards. Positioning characters on the IP gauge strategically becomes vital to obtaining rare items.

Grandia 3 is a grindy game, so I spent hours building up my characters. Yuki, the main protagonist, would slash an enemy into the sky, and leading lady Alfina would charge up a light-based spell and hit them several times. It made boss fights either a major pain or quite the exciting romp, depending on how you’d set things up.

While having the best iteration of the combat system, Grandia 3 lacks in the story department compared to the other two main entries. Its story follows Yuki, an ambitious youth who dreams of flying across the ocean like his hero, Schmidt. Despite his mother’s wishes for him to become a potter, Yuki embarks on this journey, leading to an unforeseen crash in a forest with Miranda, his mother. Their mishap interrupts soldiers chasing a mysterious girl, setting the stage for the game’s storyline, which, while straightforward, lacks the depth of Grandia 2 and the original Grandia.

I still love it though. To this day, “In The Sky” by Miz is one of my most played JRPG theme songs of all time. It was always a treat to watch the intro video whenever I booted up the game. They made it look like a music video, and its inclusion in the end is very endearing. It tells not only Yuki’s story but Alfina’s and their future together.

Grandia 3 came out in 2006. I had pre-ordered it, and since then, I’ve been waiting for the next entry.

Looking for questions on what’s happened to the series brings up several theories. The most interesting thread to look at comes from a Reddit post titled “What happened to Grandia series?” The most heartbreaking entry to see is that the original creator, Takeshi Miyaji, passed away in 2011. Another post describes that the series went downhill with Grandia 3, and that’s perhaps the reason why.

The last thing to happen with the series was the release of the Grandia HD Collection on the Switch. Prior to that, Grandia 3 had been added to the PS3 library, and the MMO Grandia Online was shut down in 2012 after being up for about three years.

It’s so worrisome to think that such a great series, with one of the best combat systems in a JRPG ever, sits at the bottom of the proverbial ocean, collecting rust and finding itself becoming more and more obscure as time passes. I’m glad that at least I can enjoy Grandia 1 and 2 either at home or on the plane, but come on Game Arts and GungHo Online Entertainment! There’s so much potential in this series. Why not give it another chance?