Grandia

[Lordmrw]

Originally posted by Tsubaki


And burg... say what you will, but Jp Grandia had the best cast of any game IMO. Hidaka Noriko, Inoue Kikuko, Hisakawa Aya, Touma Yumi and Yamaguchi Kappei all in one game!

I'd actually care if I knew what the hell they were saying. Its been said many times, but well-acted gibberish is still gibberish.

[burgundy]

Originally posted by Tsubaki
First of all, the game was in production for 4-5 years with the Saturn architecture in mind. It was stated on numerous occasions in interviews and such. You will see that it's reflected in the texture-work of the game. Yes it is pixelly, but it's also more detailed than the PSX-blurring.

The framerate is also surprisingly better on the Saturn than it was on the PSX. And the PSX one also more prone to crashing than the SS version.

GameArts did not even port the game to the PSX. They farmed it out to another party.

And language is not an issue between PSX version and the SS version, because duh... there exists a Japanese PSX version too. And burg... say what you will, but Jp Grandia had the best cast of any game IMO. Hidaka Noriko, Inoue Kikuko, Hisakawa Aya, Touma Yumi and Yamaguchi Kappei all in one game! It's a reunion of Ranma and Aa Megamisama/A!MG/OMG! casts right there.

Edit: LOL, bbobb was right... the post didn't appear until after I wrote my shpiel. ^_^ Oh well, Grandia is definitely worth being enthused about. No other RPG comes close.

The existence of a Japanese PSX port is totally irrelevant. There's still only one (legit) way to play it in English and that's on the PSX. All your other points may well be true, but the language barrier IMO trumps them all.

[Dyne]

just look at the intros......

[Kidnemo]

Originally posted by burgundy
The existence of a Japanese PSX port is totally irrelevant. There's still only one (legit) way to play it in English and that's on the PSX. All your other points may well be true, but the language barrier IMO trumps them all.

Hmm, thats pretty much the only thing I had to add.

[bbobb]

*Shrug* I played the Saturn version before there was any planned US release and quite enjoyed it even with the Language barrier... it was still playable with the help of a FAQ. I then played the US version and still enjoyed it, but those damned US voices caused me pain. I wanted to strangle Justin.

[Tsubaki]

So go learn Japanese?

Language is pretty darn irrelevant when you do so. *shrug*

I'm not saying that you're wrong. The Sony-localized Grandia is the only option for an English Grandia. But it doesn't matter to everyone that a game has to be in English.

Truth to be told, even if a game like Sakura Taisen were to be subtitled in English, keeping original Japanese voices, I wouldn't want it. But that's just me.

Edit: Oh, and more to the point. If you already played (and I assume, loved) Grandia in English, what's wrong with playing it again on a different system, in a different language? It's not like you'd be missing anything since you already know what happens. Then you can just enjoy the game for its beauty, its original format, its original cast.

I'm going to pick up the US Grandia one of these days for those reasons too. Just want to see how bad the localization really is ^_^

[taloony]

How about Sue? *shudder*

I played the Saturn version for a couple of hours and enjoyed it, but I tend to lose interest pretty swiftly when I can't understand what's going on, even with a translator right next to me.

[Werewolf]

I would love to learn Japanese but if only it where that easy, plus I hardly have any free time now as it is

And "sake" wouldn't be a good choice anyway for the USA, at least most kids know what coffee is

[sggg]

I have only played the PSX rev.... and I loved it, it's one of my favourite games ever. The thing is. I had wanted it for Saturn so badly for so long, so when I read the few complaints people had about the port I was a bit upset... but in all honestly the little things like the annoying voices and the "coffee drinking" didn't effect my enjoyment of the game very much. I was just happy to play in English...

Now that I know the story it might be cool to go back and play the Saturn version though. I have always wanted to. I am sure it is the better version, but sadly I'll always pick the English language option first if there is one. Well, until I learn Japanese anyway.

[Tsubaki]

Originally posted by Werewolf
I would love to learn Japanese but if only it where that easy, plus I hardly have any free time now as it is

And "sake" wouldn't be a good choice anyway for the USA, at least most kids know what coffee is

Yeah but sake == alcohol for all intended purposes. It's just the Japanese's generic term for it because that's what they primarily drink. When we say "sake", we mean it to refer specifically to the rice-wine. So "sake" should just be translated as "alcohol".

Anyway, my opinion on learning Japanese is simply this:

There will always be games that will not come to America. So why not learn the language and make the issue irrelevant? It's far more rewarding than the whining and petitioning that companies won't localize Game A or did a poor translation job on Game B. It's always better to have a choice.