GRANDIA HD Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

GRANDIA HD Collection Switch NSP Free Download Before getting to the review, allow me to describe my personal history with Grandia. I actually played Grandia II first as I found it in a bargain bin and figured I should try it out. After completing it, I couldn’t believe what a fantastic game it was so I went to my local game store and the owner sold me his rental copy of the original for a somewhat hefty price and to my surprise, I enjoyed it even more! Prior to playing through these delightful adventures, I loved RPGs such as Chrono Cross and Vandal Hearts yet Grandia did something that no other game did before; it managed to combine strategic combat with real-time battles in a way that felt action-packed and supremely rewarding. Sure, the action pauses whenever it’s one of your characters’ turns but that only adds to the tension as you see enemies lunge towards your friends as you try and cancel their actions and gain an advantage by using a multitude of unique skills and spells. ROMSLAB.COM BEST SWITCH GAMES

GRANDIA HD Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

When I started playing the original on Grandia HD Collection, the memories came flooding back. Reacquainting myself with Justin and his mom in their humble cafe as well as his pal Sue in the small port town of Parm instantly put a smile on my face. From then on, you adventure to parts unknown and past the End of the World while meeting new friends such as the energetic Feena and the hilarious Rapp. Watching everyone’s abilities slowly expand as you master the elements, various weapon types, and learn new skills is extremely satisfying, especially once you manage to topple tricky bosses. The soundtrack is excellent, the world is huge and memorable, and the voice acting is cheesy yet that only makes it even more charming. Overall, it’s a wonderful game that holds up beautifully.

Not as grand as we’d hoped

All of that being said, the iteration of Grandia here doesn’t quite feel like a full HD remaster. For starters, the sprites are smoothed over and although I’m sure that many gamers will find them appealing, I much prefer the pixel-perfect sprites of the PS1 version. I wish there was an option to switch between retro and modern sprites. I also noticed some weird audio glitches such as music going silent for brief moments and even getting completely jacked up at other parts. Aside from these easily overlooked issues, I’m happy with how smoothly Grandia runs without any noticeable load times or massive hiccups so you can generally enjoy it without many disturbances. Axiom Verge Switch NSP

GRANDIA HD Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Thankfully, Grandia II looks and sounds a lot better than the original here. I’m fairly certain that it’s based on the 2015 Anniversary Edition release for PC and it plays fantastically. Keep in mind, I played through Grandia II on PS2 back in the day and that version was full of performance issues and annoying bugs so the version here is a huge improvement. Anyway, Grandia II stars a mercenary named Ryudo who’s in charge of protecting a singer from the church named Elena at the beginning of the tale. Soon into the story, things become quite crazy and the general atmosphere is a lot darker than the original. For starters, Ryudo is sarcastic and frequently hard-headed which contrasts with Justin’s almost constant positivity. It’s a lot shorter of a game, too, as the original takes about 60 hours to beat while Grandia II lasts about 35 hours. That being said, I really can’t stress enough how crisp it looks and how smoothly it plays.

Real-time, turn-based action

I’d even go so far to say that this is the definitive way to play Grandia II. However, it seems to have some major performance issues while playing portably so make sure you keep this sucker docked for maximum enjoyment. Finally, I must admit that I’m quite disappointed by the fact that there aren’t any extras in this collection. To illustrate this, the main menu merely has you choose 1 of the 2 games which reminds me of another recent duology of games for Switch. I guess it’s cool that you can swap between English and Japanese voices but aside from that, I wish there were galleries, soundtracks, etc. Atelier Meruru ~The Apprentice of Arland~ DX Switch NSP Free 

GRANDIA HD Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

1997 was a long time ago. That’s when the well-regarded Game Arts-made RPG Grandia first came out on Sega Saturn in Japan on the same weekend that the movie Titanic was released in theaters. 22 years laters and Grandia, after a worldwide appearance on PlayStation in 1999, is out on Nintendo Switch as part of the Grandia HD Collection (check out our separate review of Grandia II). For the most part, Grandia is a brilliant and engrossing Japanese RPG with an excellent battle system paired with an enjoyable story, but this modern remaster lacks a degree of polish and refinement that holds it back from being the highly recommended pick-up it should be.

Ear-Indulging, Melodious Compositions

The story in Grandia has a pleasant whimsical feel as you take control of overly earnest teen adventurer Justin who pairs up with town friend/surrogate sister Sue to sneak around and explore. They wind up setting off in search of a lost civilization and over time join up with a varied cast of characters that are all endearing in their own way. While the late ‘90s voice acting doesn’t hold up all that well (Japanese audio is more pleasing and easy to switch to), the writing is fine more often than not. Even still, the story has some supreme goofiness and low-key pacing issues, but it’s an enjoyable romp that occasionally juggles some good emotional beats next to the occasional dips into breezy absurdity. Combine the story with the bouncy and big soundtrack from composer Noriyuki Iwadare and the scope and scale of the journey is ably felt. Blaster Master Zero 3 Switch NSP 

GRANDIA HD Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

However, the general slow pace is something that’s prevalent throughout all of Grandia. While load times and the like were acceptable and common back in the ‘90s, the 2019 remaster is abundantly slow, even if it does improve some stutters and framerate dips from the original releases. Some sort of fast-forward or speed-up option (a feature relatively common in modern RPG remasters and ports) would do wonders here and it’s a shame nothing like it is in place. In general, this is a barebones, straightforward port absent the visuals. Plain and simple, this is just Grandia, save for some newfound bugs and problems that cropped up in the transition, ranging from audio cues being jumbled or cut short to sporadic sprites that don’t reflect the remastered smoothing. Publisher GungHo seems to be aware of these issues and will hopefully iron out the kinks, but as it stands right now, an onslaught of periphery and presentation issues plague this port. Burnout Paradise Remastered 

Add-ons (DLC): GRANDIA HD Collection Switch NSP