After making the first two Lunar games, Game Arts developed Grandia. Being primarily aimed at children, the plot makes no efforts to be ground-breaking. Hot Blooded protagonist with red hair and blue clothes? Check. Ancient civilization? Check. The girl? Take a guess. Tropes Are Not Bad, of course. Some enjoy the plot, as it makes interesting use of the Motifs of the "End of the World" (no, not that one) and adventurers, the protagonist is a great example of an aversion of The Chosen One, and the whole cast of characters is a textbook example of good Character Development in action. It also does an unusually good job of making the world seem like it's actually planet-sized, whereas most RPGs have a world that comes off as barely above Baby Planet size.It was released on the Sega Saturn, but only in Japan. The game was ported to the Sony Playstation and localized to the US.Now with Character Page.
Provides Examples Of:
Accidental Pervert: Justin accidentally grabs a handful of Feena in Ghost Ship.
He also accidentally stumbles on Saki, Mio and Nana when they are changing clothes.
Action Girl: Feena is one when you meet her on your trip to New Parm. She's also on equal ground with Justin as a melee fighter and has fire magic to boot! She undergoes some Chickification by mid CD 2, but recovers towards the End Game, although she is surpassed as a melee fighter and her attributes grow towards magic, making her the second best mage in the game, maybe the best if you count her plot related spells.
Action Mom: It's also stated that Lily, Justin's mother, was a pirate who first met his father when they clashed swords.
All Myths Are True: Justin's driving force for much of the game is his belief that Alent is a real place, and that he can get there somehow. He's right.
Ancient Astronauts: It turns out Icarians were a space-faring race, and Alent was sent into orbit to avoid being destroyed by Gaia.
Armies Are Evil: Originally a security detachment for the Joule Foundation, the Garlyle Forces now control the excavations, hoard ancient technology, and even withhold the revelation about "The End of the World" being a myth.
Babies Ever After: In the ending, an older Sue goes to meet up with Justin and Feena after having not seen them in years- and finds they've got bizz-ay!
Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Milda's village where males are (barely) anthropomorphic cows and females are humanoids with pointy ears.
Bonus Boss: Lord's Ghost, Kung Fu Master and Leviathan.
Bonus Dungeon: Castle of Dreams, Soldier's Grave and Tower of Temptation.
Chaste Hero: Justin; that romantic moment that's trying to happen midway through the game on the ocean? It takes Justin a phenomenal amount of time to realize what's going on, and by the time he (probably?) does (or at least seems to be trying to attempt a 'come on' himself), they're interrupted.
Combat Tentacles: This is what General Baal is hiding under his cape.
Cool Ship: The Grandeur. Almost makes you sad to see it explode.
Fortunately, Mullen has a duplicate airship of his own: the Lyonlot.
Cosmic Horror: What happens to Zil Padon at the hands of Gaia as well. Some of the side effects are unpredictable, fear inducing and make little sense and aren't explained, such as petrification and inter-dimensional anomalies
Defensive Feint Trap: Thinking they've got Justin cornered, Nana, Saki & Mio pursue him into the engine cab of a runaway locomotive — only to find that Justin backtracked into the opposite car and decoupled the engine. Also, the brake lever is broken.
Drop the Hammer: Hammers share the same weapon class as axes.
Drunk On The Darkside: General Baal, when he finally gets hold on Justin's Spirit Stone.
Duel Boss: Mullen demands proof of Justin's will in a one-on-one fight.
Easing into the Adventure: Justin's first task is to win a scavenger hunt consisting of garbage around Parm. Funnily enough, the last item — the Wooden Sword — is dubbed the "Spirit Sword." This is the same name as Grandia's Infinity+1 Sword, which you acquire much later.
Epic Flail: Share the same class with maces. Nana's yo-yo also turns into a truly EpicFlail as part of her ultimate attack ability.
Hair Decorations: Sue, whose pet, Puffy, rests on her head as a giant hair bow.
Everything's Better With Cows: When the males of Laine come of age, they sprout horns of knowledge (sic) and take on a new form — a walking, talking bovine.
Exact Eavesdropping: Justin stumbles on the three sergeants just as one of them is asking about the password she herself needs at that exact moment.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The so-called "End of the World"—a wall that cuts the planet in two, which stretches up for miles into the sky. For most people, it literally is the end of world, unless you have an airship that can fly over it or you're like Justin and you climb over the damn thing.
Good Morning, Crono: inverted: the story opens with its main villain, General Baal, awakening from a nightmare.
Gratuitous English: A lot of the battle chants in the PlayStation version, thanks to a very poor translation.
Guest Star Party Member: Technically, everyone but Justin is Guest Star Party Member. A lot of the characters, like Gadwin, Guido, Milda, and even Sue have lives outside of Justin's quest that they need to go back to, and they will leave the party when their part in the story is over. It's not really a case of So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear, though, as everyone but Sue comes back to help Justin storm the Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
Leen also shows up as a more traditional Guest Star Party Member for a very brief stretch of the game, though as a non-combatant.
Guide Dang It: Mana Eggs were the only way to teach characters elementals and there were only just enough for every character to have all the magic in the game. Combine this with the fact they are sellable and that you cannot return to many places after particular plot points and the eggs themselves are often well hidden; suddenly this becomes quite frustrating.
Half-Human Hybrid: Mullen. It's a full stop Tomato Surprise when he starts speaking the Humanoid language, thus revealing his true nature.
I Got You Covered: The Garlyle Forces provide help during the final attack on Gaia.
Improbable Age: Pretty much the whole main cast, but Sue being only eight years old is the biggest offender.
Grandia at least tries to avert this trope by having the journey make Sue seriously ill due to sheer exhaustion and stress, a little shy of halfway into the story (when things are only just beginning to really get difficult for the heroes). She has to be sent back to Parm with the implication things could have become a lot worse, were it not for Justin and Feena sacrificing the safe way to the next continent in order to transport her home instantly. This is foreshadowed by her getting a stat-progression handicap that becomes noticeable around the time she should be getting ill.
Konami Code: During the Exact Eavesdropping moment described above, Saki mistakenly thinks the password is Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right. The correct password is a reshuffled version of the code, switching every instance of Up for Right, Down for Left and vice versa.
Not So Harmless: Klepp King, who turns into the four-headed Serpent when confronted.
Palette Swap: Almost all enemies and bosses have these.
Peninsula of Power Leveling: Grinding your water magic at the poison puddles of Mt. Typhoon or any place where you take damage on foot.
Justin's Immortal Aura skill. It always gives you a lot of experience when used, and with the game's tendency to always have those handy healing save points near, you can easily grind Justin into epic Game Breaker levels.
Pirate Girl: Justin's mother Lilly is revealed to have been one in her youth.
Retired Badass: Subverted(?) by Java, who insists that he's still an active adventurer. He's modeled from Don Quixote, complete with goofy-looking armor and lance.
This Cannot Be!: Said by Nana and later General Baal when defeated.
The Un Chosen One: Justin starts out as an ordinary boy who just wants to be an adventurer. Though he Jumped at the Call, and gains the powers of the "Spirits", he wasn't chosen; instead, he fought hard in order to be accepted.
Violation of Common Sense: Mullen, the good son of the Big Bad, is willing to let his love, Leen, make a Heroic Sacrifice to stop the end of the world. When Leen sees that her sister, Feena, has a power to stop it without anyone dying, Mullen says they are to go through with the original plan anyway.
We Have Reserves: By triggering the golems, Baal knowingly brings the entire town of Zil Padon crashing down onto his own troops.
Weapon of Choice: All the characters can use at least two different weapon types in battle (ie. Justin can use Swords, Maces and Axes).
The sole exception being Liete, who only uses maces.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Defeating General Baal results in him... turning into a small snake-like creature and slithering away, never to be seen again.
0 reviews