I finished Grandia last night (only a month late for #VGCJan2024 lol). A lot of the gameplay/design issues folks had when taking it on last month never really go away, but I gotta say this game has a heck of an ending.
Without going into any spoilers, it leans extra-hard into the character relationships in ways I predicted (and hoped) would happen, but also in ways I didn't but was pleasantly surprised by. Things get pretty dragged out in the process (which is to say I thought I was on the final fight, like, 3 different times), but the payoff is worth it, imo, especially since the game isn't especially hard. There were only two boss fights that I felt were pretty tough but even then I only had to re-load once or twice to get through them. According to my final save file, I finished in just under 40 hours.
For anyone in #VideoGameClub who moved on from Grandia and is wondering whether or not to return to it eventually, I highly recommend, particularly if you like games with a lot of heart.
