You have a PS3? Oooh! Grandia!
Grandia is available on PSN, and I highly recommend it. It is an anime-style RPG with a delightfully cartoonish feel to it - lighthearted and fun, yet more than capable of being poignant and suspenseful when it needs to be. The story follows the epic adventure of Justin, an optimistic and likeable youngster who is quite simply on a journey to see the world. This does not keep him from picking up a ragtag crew of followers and a quest to vanquish some great monster that wants to destroy all life, though!
Grandia offers a vast, richly varied game world (the game used to come on two PS1 discs), an epic yet fun story, genuinely likeable characters, awesome music, and a battle system which is hailed as pure genius to this day. It should be noted that the graphics are somewhat primitive, though - but give them a chance, and you'll get used to them within the first hour of gameplay!
That said: Grandia does look considerably better than Final Fantasy VII!
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Incidentally, if you're in the USA [EDIT: Or thereabouts], you should have access to the PSN version of The Legend of Dragoon!
Somewhat of a sleeper hit, LoD was considered a bit 'meh' when it first came out - but if you take it for what it is, you won't be disappointed.
So what is it, you ask? Well, it's basically a checklist of JRPG clichés. Brooding hero with a troubled past? Check. Vapid bimbo / healer / primary love interest? Check. Ruined home town? Check. Desert town? Snow town? Fortress town? Blatant, soap-operatic plot twists that you'll see coming from the start? Big, fat check!
It the game's favor, though, it's still incredibly well done. I'm not kidding. You'll see it all elsewhere if you pursue your interest in the Japanese style of storytelling - but you will very rarely see it done BETTER! And for someone who's just decided to see exactly what should be expected from a Japanese RPG, I have no better advice than this: Play The Legend of Dragoon - and you will know!
Oh yeah, and this game is HUGE! It used to come on a whooping four discs - and with a TWO-VOLUME manual! No sh*t.
Fun fact: LoD took three years in the making - during a time when graphics were dramatically improving on an almost daily basis, so the graphical quality is noticeably uneven. Personally, I find this more interesting than annoying, though! (And several of the better CGI cutscenes just might STILL blow you away!)
Grandia is available on PSN, and I highly recommend it. It is an anime-style RPG with a delightfully cartoonish feel to it - lighthearted and fun, yet more than capable of being poignant and suspenseful when it needs to be. The story follows the epic adventure of Justin, an optimistic and likeable youngster who is quite simply on a journey to see the world. This does not keep him from picking up a ragtag crew of followers and a quest to vanquish some great monster that wants to destroy all life, though!
Grandia offers a vast, richly varied game world (the game used to come on two PS1 discs), an epic yet fun story, genuinely likeable characters, awesome music, and a battle system which is hailed as pure genius to this day. It should be noted that the graphics are somewhat primitive, though - but give them a chance, and you'll get used to them within the first hour of gameplay!
That said: Grandia does look considerably better than Final Fantasy VII!
--- --- ---
Incidentally, if you're in the USA [EDIT: Or thereabouts], you should have access to the PSN version of The Legend of Dragoon!
Somewhat of a sleeper hit, LoD was considered a bit 'meh' when it first came out - but if you take it for what it is, you won't be disappointed.
So what is it, you ask? Well, it's basically a checklist of JRPG clichés. Brooding hero with a troubled past? Check. Vapid bimbo / healer / primary love interest? Check. Ruined home town? Check. Desert town? Snow town? Fortress town? Blatant, soap-operatic plot twists that you'll see coming from the start? Big, fat check!
It the game's favor, though, it's still incredibly well done. I'm not kidding. You'll see it all elsewhere if you pursue your interest in the Japanese style of storytelling - but you will very rarely see it done BETTER! And for someone who's just decided to see exactly what should be expected from a Japanese RPG, I have no better advice than this: Play The Legend of Dragoon - and you will know!
Oh yeah, and this game is HUGE! It used to come on a whooping four discs - and with a TWO-VOLUME manual! No sh*t.
Fun fact: LoD took three years in the making - during a time when graphics were dramatically improving on an almost daily basis, so the graphical quality is noticeably uneven. Personally, I find this more interesting than annoying, though! (And several of the better CGI cutscenes just might STILL blow you away!)
