Review: GRANDIA HD COLLECTION manual is missing

Grandia is a role-playing game developed by Game Arts and released between 1997 and 2000 on Sega Saturn and PlayStation. GungHo Online Entertainment has since brought the game and its Dreamcast sequel Grandia II as an HD remaster in the Grandia HD Collection on PC and Switch in 2019, and that collection has finally arrived on PS4 and Xbox One starting March 26, 2024. The GungHo team was kind enough to provide me with an Xbox digital copy of the game for review purposes, but all thoughts that follow are mine. You can purchase your copy from your favorite digital store (like the Xbox Store [affiliate link]) or pre-order a physical copy from Limited Run Games until April 14th.

The highly anticipated Grandia HD Collection for Xbox One and Xbox Series Get your hands on two games that changed the RPG landscape forever, with stunning HD graphics.

GRANDIA: Dive into the fascinating journey of Justin and his allies as they race against the sinister Garlyle Forces. Unravel the mysteries of a forgotten civilization and immerse yourself in a role-playing game acclaimed as a timeless classic, inspiring generations of gaming to come.

GRANDIA II: You play as Ryudo, a jaded Geohound with a heart, as he embarks on a magical quest alongside a group of unlikely allies. Their journey is full of twists and turns as they search for a divine weapon to save the world. Immerse yourself in this story where the line between good and evil is blurred and everything is open to discussion…

To set the scene for this review of the Grandia HD CollectionI’m new Grandia. I haven’t played it before. It’s also a very long game and so I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface. Now let’s dive into the meat and potatoes.

As a remaster, I’m quite disappointed with this collection. The team did a good job adapting the game to the widescreen format and the game is presentable. However, that seems to be it. My most frustrating complaint is that the game comes from a time when game manuals were really important. The games didn’t always explain how the mechanisms worked because you could look in the manual. Unfortunately, there is no manual with the digital copy of the file Grandia HD Collection. I had to google a manual so I could understand how the combat worked and that’s a big part of the game. I look at other remasters of late like Metal Gear Solid Collection Vol. 1 and while it has its flaws, it included game manuals so players could know how to play.

While the textures and sprites look fine, but in my opinion they should have done one of two things. The first option I would have liked would have been to make the textures really pop. They still look a little blurry and very flat. The other option would have been an option to turn on scan lines. I know scanlines can be divisive, but I like having the option for older games because, when done correctly, they really come together.

I have one other complaint about it Grandia HD Collection and it appears to be from the original game and not the HD remasters. In Grandia, different characters level up at different rates, meaning that some characters outperform other party members. Also, the statistics continue to confuse me. Sue has a higher STR than Feena, but she seems to deal less damage with a weapon than Feena. This doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe I’m misinterpreting the manual scan I had to find online to figure out what it all means because they couldn’t be bothered to include it.

But that’s enough negativity. I’m having fun Grandia. It has fun voice acting, the story so far has been engaging, and the characters have personalities. You get to play as a young boy (12 years old) named Justin who just wants to be an adventurer. He ends up leaving his home in Parm to find an ancient people and save the world (I think?). Also, the music is sometimes okay, but other times it’s phenomenal and perfect for the moment.

The combat system is new to me. It’s turn-based like many other RPGs, but not in the same way. There is a track on which all participants are located, and depending on their statistics, each participant moves along the track at different speeds. Thus, different actions can actually cause another participant’s action to be canceled before he can perform it. It’s definitely an interesting dynamic. Overall, I think I like the combat system. I also appreciate how your characters not only gain experience by participating, but each magic weapon/stat also gains experience based on what that character used. As your weapon/magic stat levels up, your base stats (HP, STR, etc.) also receive a boost depending on which weapon/magic stat is leveled up. Again, this was only made apparent by reading the manual I had on Google.

I admit I haven’t really played Grandia II. From what I’ve seen it looks like a decent port with remastered graphics. I honestly think the 3D graphics really help it. My biggest wish, based on my experience, would be to upgrade the 3D models, but that won’t happen with a simple remaster.

I think if I was nostalgic or always wanted to play Grandia and you want to use modern hardware, Grandia HD Collection on Xbox it’s decent. I wish there was a little more work and at least access to a digital manual was simple with a game interface so players can actually understand how the game works. If you are willing to look for a manual online, Grandia can offer you a fun experience. According to How Long to Beat, the collection takes more than 60 hours to complete, which is a considerable amount of time.