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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grandia_series_logo_3.png]]
2
3->"Earthquakes are ''scary''!"
4->"That was ''beautiful'', you guys!"
5->"This might ''sting a little''!"
6->"''Deep-fried goodness!''"
7-->-- '''Various in-battle quotes.'''
8
9Following on from the ''VideoGame/{{Lunar}}'' series, Creator/GameArts made this {{spiritual successor}}. It keeps the familiar elements: the distance-based battle mechanics, boy heroes, ancient civilizations, dark gods.
10
11The first title is most similar to ''Lunar'', taking the latter's popular 'semi-realtime' battle system and adding fully 3-D worlds. Later games would expand the 3-D to battles themselves, allowing the series to come into its own.
12
13Mixing the turn-based battle format often attributed to console [=RPGs=] with a system of real-time action, they [[TakeYourTime pause for choosing a character's next move]], but other than that, characters and enemies run around the field, often trying to dodge attacks or to reach an opponent in time to interrupt their coming actions. This is especially important, since spells and attacks have different areas of effect and are vulnerable to being canceled. Consequently, with proper know-how it's even possible to end the fight without letting a single enemy attack once.
14
15Games in the series:
16[[index]]
17* ''VideoGame/Grandia1'' (1997)
18* ''Grandia: Digital Museum'' (1998)
19* ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'' (2000)
20* ''Grandia: Parallel Trippers'' (2000)
21* ''VideoGame/GrandiaXtreme'' (2002)
22* ''VideoGame/GrandiaIII'' (2005)
23* ''Grandia Online'' (2009)
24[[/index]]
25--------
26!!Tropes Among Several Games:
27* ActuallyFourMooks: Encounters are represented by individual enemy models, but the actual battle could feature any number of enemies.
28%%* AerithAndBob
29%%* AllInARow
30* AutobotsRockOut: Some of the more intense scenes and encounters feature rock music.
31* BagOfSharing: Averted in the first game as each character has his or her own inventory. Played straight the rest of the way.
32* BookEnds: The story begins in earnest when Justin sails from Parm. He and Feena return to Parm harbor in the epilogue.
33* BowAndSwordInAccord: Not all characters can use bows (only the FragileSpeedster or SquishyWizard), but those who do can swap them for melee weapons.
34* BraggingRightsReward: Unlocking Time Gate.
35** No longer applies in the remake where the level requirements for Time Gate have been corrected.
36* BrokenBridge: The first two games stopped you from going back to certain places after particular plot points. This also meant this if you didn't know where the [[BonusDungeon Bonus Dungeons]] were, you could easily miss them and the nice rewards they give.
37* BonusDungeon: Each game has at least one, which explicitly tells you it's just for combat, and not for story purposes.
38* CallingYourAttacks: Almost every spell and special attack has one or two for each character.
39* CerebusSyndrome: ''Grandia'' and ''Grandia II'' both start out as light-hearted romps before taking a more serious turn at the mid-way point.
40* CharacterPortrait: Battles and menus feature this for the characters. The turn indicator has small ones to show the turn order.
41* CognizantLimbs: Big baddies, such as bosses, tend to have multiple parts with their own attack timers.
42* CombatantCooldownSystem: The series features twofold combatant cooldowns: each PlayerCharacter has a "Wait" cooldown and a "Command" cooldown. The duration of the Wait cooldown depends only on the character's Speed stat (and speed-enhancing buffs), and the game pauses after a PC's Wait cooldown is over, letting the player select their next action, which is carried out after the subsequent Command cooldown, whose duration depends both on the Speed stat and the type of selected action (e.g. it's shorter for basic attacks than for massive AreaOfEffect spells). Furthermore, as the battles basically take place in real time (except for pausing to select commands), executing the selected action also takes some time: e.g. a melee attack requires an attacker to actually run up to the target before they can strike it. After the action is completed (or canceled), the PC is placed back on Wait cooldown. Unlike the [=PCs=], AI enemies have only a single-phase cooldown whose duration is determined by their Speed stat.
43* CriticalHit: Actually a selectable attack from the start, which trades total damage (a single hit instead of two) for knocking the victim down a few spots on the IP bar. Both players and enemies have access to this.
44* FightWoosh: Battles start this way.
45* FlawlessVictory: Beating a battle without taking a single hit point of damage (or status effect), and with each character taking only one turn, earns you a different victory quote and the victory tune turns into a full {{Fanfare}}.
46** In ''Xtreme'', a flawless victory also gives you EXP bonuses.
47** In ''Grandia III'', your party will recover 10% of their SP afterwards.
48* FreeRotatingCamera: The games have the "rotation only" kind.
49* GaidenGame: ''Parallel Trippers'' involves kids from the real world being transported into the universe of ''Grandia'' I; ''Xtreme'' is a dungeon crawler, with some of the dungeons being randomly generated. It was created to be an ''[[VideoGame/{{EvolutionTheWorldOfSacredDevice}} Evolution]]'' killer.
50* GetOnTheBoat: Generally speaking, once you board a boat, that wraps up your business on that particular side of the pond; you won't be back. On the one hand, this spotlights the linearity of the series; on the other hand, it's an effective way of making gamers feel like they're on the opposite side of the world.
51* HealingCheckpoint: Most games' save points heal you.
52* HealingHerb: Several different varieties in each game.
53* InconsistentColoring: Nearly every game suffers from a case or two of this, though deviation may reasonably be down to EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference. It's most obvious in II and Xtreme, where the details on both the in-game models and speech portraits are clear, thus making the discrepancies visible.
54* InfinityPlusOneSword: Downplayed. There are weapons that are the strongest, and can be hard to get, but the nature of the games makes strategy more important than the best weapons alone.
55* LostTechnology: There are quite a few ruins featuring the advanced tech of old civilizations.
56* NoSidePathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: It's exceedingly rare you have any other options on the world map beyond going to the next dungeon or restocking at the last town, and the circumstances always make sure that once you leave any region on the world map, you have no way of returning there. From a narrative standpoint, though, this has the advantage of avoiding the common RPG shortcoming of making the world seem small. In ''Grandia'', the fact that the main characters travel around the world is actually a big deal, not something that can be done lightly in the course of less than a day. ''VideoGame/GrandiaXtreme'' and ''VideoGame/GrandiaIII'' do not have this, however, and you can return to almost every location. In Xtreme, the main character can teleport around using special gates. ''VideoGame/GrandiaIII'' gives you an airplane about a third of the way through the game.
57* PermanentlyMissableContent: The first few games have areas that are closed off at certain points, so backtracking for missed items and secret areas is impossible.
58* PointOfNoReturn: Once you've crossed over to a new map, any place you visited previously is gone for good. Justified in that the heroes lack a GlobalAirship to quickly ferry them around the world, relying mostly on slow travel across oceans. Again, this does not (usually) apply to the later two games.
59* PrequelInTheLostAge: Grandia Online takes place in the same world as the first game, but is set hundreds of years beforehand during the GoldenAge of adventuring.
60* RealTimeWithPause: The battle system has turn order slide along a bar, but battles hold when a player character's turn menu is open.
61* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: Averted, and then some. In the first two games, the departed party members not only leave behind their gear, but all of their accumulated skill and magic points, which can be re-applied to any character you want.
62* SpellLevels: The first ''Grandia'' game has three tiers of magic, each with its own set of magic points.
63* SpiritualAntithesis: ''Grandia'''s Angelou civilization mistakenly created the dark god Gaia through their own hubris, and were destroyed by the very same technology which built their great cities. ''Grandia II'' has a slight inversion of this story, with mankind enjoying the blessing from a benevolent god, but losing its autonomy in the process. The parallel between both games is illustrated in cutscenes showing humans making buildings appear out of thin air.
64* StatusBuff: Recurring spells Diggin', WOW!, Speedy and Runner.
65* TechPoints: Weapon and magic skills are advanced this way, yet each game uses a different method. The first game advances skills through using them, while the second game advances them though spending special coins earned in battle.
66* ThereAreNoTents: Averted. The party sets up camp inside dungeons fields to regain HP; In ''Grandia II'', the main hero has a positively ''palatial'' tent [[BagOfHolding in his knapsack]]. The party also usually has a meal with interesting (and occasionally hilarious) conversations.
67%%* UndergroundMonkey
68* VisualInitiativeQueue: This has a variation where the queue moves along a bar (or circle in the third game) but pauses when a player character's menu is ready for selection. This can be used to plan moves such as using a critical hit to delay boss attacks.
69* WelcomeToCorneria: Averted. Your characters will have in-depth conversations with just about every NPC, with the conversations changing in response to events in the game.
70** It's worth noting that the linearity of ''Grandia'' makes returning to old locations meaningless, since once you've gotten past the city limits, your job there is over. The developers could just as easily have greyed out the town names on the map rather then let you reenter. Yet you even have the option of revisiting old towns to check and see if their dialog's changed. It has.
71* WhenTreesAttack: Man Eating Trees are a recurring enemy that shows up in forested areas. In ''Grandia II'', they're actually disguised as part of the surroundings -- until you get close.
72** Gaia, the main antagonist of the first ''Grandia'', is a bizarre amalgam of plant and insect.

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