The Granstream Saga

The Granstream Saga (グランストリーム伝紀) is an action role-playing game developed by Shade, a development team in Quintet, for the PlayStation. It is an intended spiritual successor to their previous Super NES titles, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma (involving Tomoyoshi Miyazaki and Masanori Hikichi).[4] The game was first published in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment, then given a United States release by THQ.[5]

The Granstream Saga is lauded as one of the first fully polygonal RPGs, as opposed to using polygonal characters with pre-rendered backgrounds, polygonal environments with scaling sprites, or other such combinations. The game features anime-style cutscenes by Production I.G. It is also somewhat unusual in that the characters the player meets in the game are faceless.

Gameplay

Gameplay consists of top-down RPG exploration and storytelling. When the player character is confronted or ambushed by an enemy, the camera angle shifts to a 45 degree angle, and combat begins. Combat consists of real-time one-on-one battles.[5] In real-time combat, the player utilizes several weapons and abilities, such as swords, daggers, axes, warhammers, and various spells. When not in combat, they spend a very large time exploring, gaining new weapons and armor, and conversing with the many characters of the different continents.

Rather than gaining levels from combat as in most RPGs, the player character's level is raised at set points in the game.[6]

Plot

The game takes place after a short animated sequence where Eon and Valos cut a section of land off of Shilf. After discovering a young boy has disappeared, Valos performs locating magic to find the boy in an ancient cemetery. The spirit of the Wise Man speaks to Eon here, and asks him to find and help his daughter, Arcia, to use the Orb and recite the lifting verse to raise the land. Together they make it a goal to raise the other continents as well, and set off on a journey.

Reception

The game received average reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[7] Next Generation said that the game "isn't a bad effort; it's just an average one. Neither the gameplay nor the storyline elevates it into the same category as Square's Final Fantasy, Konami's Suikoden, or Capcom's Breath of Fire."[17] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 31 out of 40.[11]

GamePro said the game was "one of the most enjoyable new role-playing games of the year", praising its intriguing storyline, enemies, and frantic fighting action. They considered the "voice-overs during most of the cut scenes" as "audio highlights" and concluded its blend of "classic RPG elements (puzzle solving, spells, saving mankind) with those of the action/fighter genre" make it a fun and challenging adventure.[20]

Hardcore Gaming 101 gave it a positive retrospective review, commending its combat system, story and presentation.[21]

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