Review: Grandia HD Collection - Two Classic Games, Shoddily Remastered

Not as grand as we'd hoped.

You’d be forgiven for not immediately recognizing the Grandia series at first glance. This adventurous JRPG series is one of those that – for better or worse – never really found its footing with a wider audience, and though it had a strong start in the late ’90s, Grandia mostly fizzled out by the mid-2000s for a number of reasons. Despite its relative ‘failure’, Grandia has had a lot of influence on the JRPG genre in the years to follow, and it’s certainly acquired a passionate fanbase as time has passed. Indeed, that small, but vocal fanbase is probably the main reason why Grandia HD Collection has now been released for the Switch, collating the first two releases under one up-rezzed and prettied-up banner. Or, so it would seem. Though the two games included here are still enjoyable RPGs in their own right, Grandia HD Collection is, unfortunately, a game that embodies the concept of ‘cut corners’.

Let’s get the additions (or lack thereof) of this re-release out of the way first. You’re given the option to utilize either English or Japanese audio for either game, both games have obviously received the HD treatment, and the various content differences (i.e. the PSX vs. Saturn versions of the first game) between the original multiplatform releases for both games have supposedly each been merged into one cohesive whole. Apart from these things, there aren’t any other notable additions to speak of, which comes as something of a disappointment. Unlike, say, the recent line of Final Fantasy re-releases, there’s no global quality of life features included to soften the occasionally creaky decades-old design of these classics. There’s no feature here to let you skip dialogue scenes or speed-up battles, no toggles to buff your team to overcome any difficulty spikes that may rear their heads during boss fights, and no save states to replace the dated save system. For all intents and purposes, Grandia HD Collection is essentially giving you the original, unaltered experience of these games, but now you can play them in widescreen.

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