Grandia HD Collection

[Jaymann]

Continuing my survey of turn based JRPGs I never played back in the day, this contains G1 and G2 and comes highly recommended. It was made for PS4 and I am playing on PS5. The graphics are de-pixilated enough to make it tolerable. Apparently there are some early game quests that are easy to miss, so I will be closely following a walkthrough. The reviewer stated it contains possibly the most frustrating maze in history, but fortunately it is an optional dungeon, so I will be avoiding that one. Also there is essentially infinite level grinding which is a plus for me. Should be interesting.

[Sudy]

I remember trying so hard to love Grandia II on Dreamcast, but it was just so painfully generic. But I guess for that era, the combat system was engaging enough. I must have lost my patience at some point, though. Maybe it was during that maze you mentioned, if it's during the second game.

I can't believe that was so long ago. We'll all be dead soon, and the AIs will comb through our posts of our memories seeking scraps of insight worth preserving.

I hope you have fun!

[Jaymann]

I am enjoying it so far, especially the exploration. There is a mode to have the game handle combat for you. This is wonderful for trivial battles and to minimize carpel tunnel. Oddly enough it is a real bugger to turn off auto mode (for boss battles). I even searched the interweb and could only find how to turn it on. Finally achieved it by random button mashing, but was not easily repeatable. WTF?

[Jaymann]

LOL! The guy making the video I'm following shows an early game exploit where you can max out (level 99) your magic ability in water for all three characters. The downside is it takes TWENTY-FOUR HOURS to do so. It's mindless though, so I can watch movies and listen to podcasts. As someone who put in over 1800 hours into BG3 this sort of things doesn't bother me.

[Jaymann]

I have made major strides. No, I did not take Water up to 99. I moved on at about level 14. The guy doing the video does his grinding off screen, so no way am I attempting to match that. I now have a party of 4 and everyone has all 4 types of magic. I can dominate bosses and that is good enough for me.