Grandia online is apparently real.

[Lard]

http://www.destructoid.com/whoa-it-s...h-129585.phtml

Well,I wasn't writing about games back in 2005, so I'll be honest with you: when Gungho games announced they would make Grandia into an MMO back then, I wasn't exactly aware of it. This news did mak eme prick up my ears though -- it seems as if the nearly forgotten project isn't so forgotten after all.

According to 1UP, news of the MMO came via Gungho's homepage here, which extends an invitation to fans to attend a Grandia Online conference in Akihibara on May 20th. Sixty people will be allowed to play the game at the event, which will also be attended by several guest stars including series composer Noriyuki Iwadare and voice actors Kikuko Inoue and Mariya Ise.

I'm curious, but doubtful this project will make it over to the US. I wish it would though, a Grandia MMO could be really cool. While Japanese fans wait for the event, they can busy themselves with the PSN release of the original Grandia or throw it on their PSPs for travel. I'm not jealous. Not at all. Really.

[Wild Armor]

This has caught my interest. I was actually surfing old Grandia fan sites and saw something of mentioning of a Grandia online. I would definitely be down for an online Grandia game, but curious how they would set it up. They also better bring in Noriyuki Iwadare for music, the man did a great job on the first game's soundtrack. :)

[Lard]

Well it says he's going to be at the event, so I would assume he's involved.

[Ryos]

The bad news: That page has moved

???

[Professor Gast]

The good news: There is a website linked to these boards where you could read about this stuff as well.

[Losfer]

Game looks terrible.

The first couple Grandia games looked good and had a unique style.  Ever since the third game, shit's sucked.  Just looks like generic animu crap.  You could slap Ragnarok Online 3 or Atelier Generica on this and no one would know the difference.

[Ashtrot]

Uh... Grandia's always used a 'crappy animu style.' In fact, I'd go so far as to say III's artstyle was better than II's, which in turn was better than I's. And how can it suck 'ever since III' if no Grandia games have been released since III? That just means only III sucked.

Xtreme sucked ass but I don't count that since it's not numbered. It's like Mystic Quest or some shit.

[Losfer]

Yeah, like I said, game looks shitty.

[Myau]

It would help if it looked anything like Grandia at all. Model style bares more of a resemblance to ToS Dawn of The New World than anything else. That being said, I like how FFXI can have a fucking great art style with comparatively shitty specs, while this thing requires a 2ghz CPU and looks like they threw it together in two weeks.

[Fei]

The art style isn't that far off.

The video made the game look pretty generic, but it isn't even in beta yet.

It better not suck, I don't care what the facts are. 

[Wild Armor]

I'm going to end up playing it anyways. I just hope the music is something I don' have to block out.

[Hathen]

Ugh, it looks so...plain.

There was something at the core of Grandia that made me love it- it had a real feeling of adventure and wonder to it. Maybe it's just the nostalgia talking, though. Grandia's aesthetic wasn't very original or amazing if you think about, but there was something about the presentation that made it feel special, and in MMOs, you generally don't have the advantage of presentation so you need to make it appealing at first sight.

I've never played Grandia 2 or 3, but I have many fond memories of the first game. I should really dig it up and replay it sometime.

[Ithunn]

I would love to play it. Unfortunately, I have a Mac and haven't been around any nerds interested in me to bootcamp me some Windows.


Unless----!

[ShiningHero]

This definitely has me interested.  Can't wait to re-enter the original grandia universe once again with this game.

Atlus Online should try and get the publishing rights to this. Seems like it would fit best with them. ;/

Liete :x

Mogay :x

Best of all though is that Noriyuki Iwadare is doing the music.

No way I can pass this up...

[Ryos]

Ugh, I don't expect this to make it out of Japan, but for a game that's been in development for 5 years, it looks like crap.  That AI partner thing means it'll probably be pretty solo friendly like RO, which may or may not be a good thing.