Current Events > Grandia HD Collection or Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster at $20 on Switch 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

Grandia HD Collection is 50% off, discounted to $20.
https://www.nintendo.com/en-ca/store/products/grandia-hd-collection-switch/

Baten Kaitos HD Remaster is 60% off to $20.
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/baten-kaitos-i-and-ii-hd-remaster-switch/

• I haven't played either of the originals so I have no nostalgia for either series.
• I love JRPGs, been playing since the early 90s with Final Fantasy II (well... IV)'s release on the SNES, then Mario RPG and so on.
• I don't mind card-based battle systems. Slay the Spire is perhaps my GOAT.
• I don't mind playing in Japanese if the dub is missing and/or bad.
• Some of my favorite JRPGs include Xenogears, Skies of Arcadia, Lunar Eternal Blue, Radiant Historia, Star Ocean 2, Shadow Hearts, Final Fantasy VI + Tactics, Metaphor, Xenoblade Chronicles X...
• JRPGs (or adjacent) that I tried and were sadly not for me: Golden Sun, Expedition 33, Kingdom Hearts, Earthbound, Dragon Quest XI, Final Fantasy X, Mana series, Etrian Odyssey series, Tales Of series, Sea of Stars
• Currently playing Suikoden II

Which of the two classic remasters should I pick up?
Note that I will grab the Trails in the Sky remake at some point -- I loved the demo.

still bitter the baiten kaitos collection has no english dub

(have it on PC where there apprently is a way to mod that in just need to get on doing that)

any ways i recomend baiten kaitos as both games are FANTASTIC

AceMos posted...

still bitter the baiten kaitos collection has no english dub

(have it on PC where there apprently is a way to mod that in just need to get on doing that)

any ways i recomend baiten kaitos as both games are FANTASTIC

Thanks! Seems like most of the board agrees with you so far since it's currently 3-0 in favor of Kaitos (edit: first person just voted Grandia). I can live without the English dub since I'll be playing on Switch.

Question: have you also played either of the first two Grandia games for comparison?
What makes them special? I remember back in the day, Grandia 2 was being hailed as this Final Fantasy killer.

I have played the original Grandia and it was one of the best ps1 rpgs I think.

Zikten posted...

I have played the original Grandia and it was one of the best ps1 rpgs I think.

Nice! What made Grandia 1 stand out for you? Is there a game or feeling you could compare it to?

Grandia 1 is a fantastic JRPG. The characters are fun and the game does a great job handling the feeling of adventure you undertake. Plus the last act is kinda crazy.

Grandia 2 is also good but far darker.

I'd say Baten Kaitos just because the Grandia 2 port in HD is BAD. Audio levels clip constantly, frequent crashes, introduces lag that wasn't in the Dreamcast version. Love Grandia 1 and 2 to death, but this is not the port to experience them with

Grandia is just a grand and fun adventure. It has a lot of anime tropes but it's a bit of coming of age. I find Justin very relatable.

IronTusk posted...

Nice! What made Grandia 1 stand out for you? Is there a game or feeling you could compare it to?

I liked the story and characters. And the art style. And the combat system is fun

I didn't play Baten Kaitos, but played Grandia 2 so I can only recommend that. The battle system is lots of fun (it's a hybrid of turn base & real time) and I don't go "not again..." every time I see a wandering monster.

You can even determine how the battle starts by attacking the monster party 1st on the map to get an initiative bonus.

Then again, that was 20 years ago and I had lots of patience then

both baiten kaitos games have god tier stories and the first game has one of the best plot twists ever in any medium

Haha people have such strong memories of both these series that I probably will just end up buying both.

comicfire posted...

I'd say Baten Kaitos just because the Grandia 2 port in HD is BAD. Audio levels clip constantly, frequent crashes, introduces lag that wasn't in the Dreamcast version. Love Grandia 1 and 2 to death, but this is not the port to experience them with

This is interesting though. Which platform did you play the Grandia remaster on?

IronTusk posted...

Haha people have such strong memories of both these series that I probably will just end up buying both, ha.

This is interesting though. Which platform did you play the Grandia remaster on?

I played on Switch, but from what I've read, all versions of Grandia 2 post-Dreamcast have some level of stank

comicfire posted...

I played on Switch, but from what I've read, all versions of Grandia 2 post-Dreamcast have some level of stank

Got it, thanks. But Grandia 1 on the remaster is solid?

From what I've experienced, MUCH better. Didn't notice any glaring issues in that one.

Posting to say lunar eternal blue rules

I heard the Grandia Collection has some issues, but maybe it got fixed?

Baten Kaitos games are great but not for everyone. I personally loved them. The collection does not have the English dub. The first game has a very bad dub, and it had sound quality problems as well. The second game honestly has one of the best sounding dubs Ive heard.

AceMos posted...

still bitter the baiten kaitos collection has no english dub

(have it on PC where there apprently is a way to mod that in just need to get on doing that)

any ways i recomend baiten kaitos as both games are FANTASTIC

If you need to get the mod itself, it's on Nexus Mods for download

https://www.nexusmods.com/batenkaitos1and2hdremaster/mods/3

https://bsky.app/profile/jon.gvg.io/post/3m3al654rv22j

the Grandia "remaster" looks TERRIBLE

Oh snap, time to finally buy Baten Kaitos remaster. The first game's English voice acting is awful and is perfectly fine to turn off, but Origins is incredible. I only wish the dub was available in the remaster.

sephiroth068 posted...

If you need to get the mod itself, it's on Nexus Mods for download

https://www.nexusmods.com/batenkaitos1and2hdremaster/mods/3

thank you

Kain_Highwind posted...

https://bsky.app/profile/jon.gvg.io/post/3m3al654rv22j

the Grandia "remaster" looks TERRIBLE

What am I missing here

Another vote for Grandia. That was my favourite PS1 RPG. It is full of cliche and tropes, but I really like the exploration gameplay (enemies not random, visible on the map), progression system (hits with particular weapon/spell types are the way to level those), music and the overall story, although the dialogue is very cheesy.

Unless you're a slow and thorough player, I'd suggest a guide for the mana eggs once you take your first ocean journey.

EDIT: I see the comments about how the remaster looks and honestly it doesn't seem so bad to me. i don't like the overly smooth look but honestly if it means a simpler experience installing and playing the game just go with it.

Grandia 2 is the best out of all 4 games.

VeggetaX posted...

What am I missing here

They put a bad emulator smoothing filter over it

Grandia 1 is one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

Sonic_Cannon posted...

Another vote for Grandia. That was my favourite PS1 RPG. It is full of cliche and tropes, but I really like the exploration gameplay (enemies not random, visible on the map), progression system (hits with particular weapon/spell types are the way to level those), music and the overall story, although the dialogue is very cheesy.

Unless you're a slow and thorough player, I'd suggest a guide for the mana eggs once you take your first ocean journey.

EDIT: I see the comments about how the remaster looks and honestly it doesn't seem so bad to me. i don't like the overly smooth look but honestly if it means a simpler experience installing and playing the game just go with it.

Yeah the remaster ain't perfect, not even great but it is good enough

how is the card system in baten?

Both Grandias are great.

Grandia collection. I never played the Baten Kaitos sequel, but 1 was really good, so you probably cant go wrong with either.

I prefer the gameplay in Grandia games as a whole, but like Baten Kaitos 1's story over all of them.

They're all anime schlock at this point, so I'd just pick Grandia for gameplay.

Kain_Highwind posted...

https://bsky.app/profile/jon.gvg.io/post/3m3al654rv22j

the Grandia "remaster" looks TERRIBLE

It looks okay, it's basically the PS1 port (at least im like 80% sure it is) that got a smoothing filter over it.

Grandia 1/2 are some of my favorite games, always love that combat system too. They get my vote.

Thanks for all the thoughts! Currently 21-14 in favor of Grandia. I don't like the modern pixel smoothing but I've been tolerating it with Suikoden so far. I am intrigued by the Grandia battle system.

Whichever game is winning at midnight PT tonight, I will buy.

Kanaya413 posted...

Posting to say lunar eternal blue rules

Hell yeah it does.
"Taste my refreshment!" "Sample my goods!"

Is batwm kaitis on sale on steam too? I wanna use the English voice mod

It is. $25

Save 50% on Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on Steam https://share.google/HhajqSyLbkNI7J4fY

IronTusk posted...

It is. $25

Save 50% on Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on Steam https://share.google/HhajqSyLbkNI7J4fY

It's tempting lol

Oh one more thing, the Grandia 2 ost slaps.

IronTusk posted...

It is. $25

Save 50% on Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on Steam https://share.google/HhajqSyLbkNI7J4fY

its $17.20 on GMG

No speed up option for the remaster of Grandia is the real bugger.

Grandia.

I would opt to get baten kaitos on steam just to mod the old dub back in.

comicfire posted...

I played on Switch, but from what I've read, all versions of Grandia 2 post-Dreamcast have some level of stank

I played both the Dreamcast version and the standalone Grandia 2 HD release, and I didn't really see a problem with it. The Collection version may be different in some way, but I always assumed it was the same.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/21e94646.jpg

Grandia wins! Votes were 26 to 16.
As promised, purchased and downloading now.

I may still buy Baten Kaitos too before the sale ends on the 31st... >_>

Nice

IronTusk posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/21e94646.jpg

Grandia wins! Votes were 26 to 16.
As promised, purchased and downloading now.

I may still buy Baten Kaitos too before the sale ends on the 31st... >_>

i see you also have suikoden nice really hope i can get that some time

Suikoden is very cool. Feels epic for the time.

Fair warning that the UI/UX in Suiko 1 is rough. There are a ton of character switches or forced party compositions, but the item/equipment inventory and magic allocation are handled at your base. So imagine if in Final Fantasy VIII you had to teleport back to Balamb Gardens every time you wanted to switch out a Guardian Force summon. Then you can't just wholesale switch out equipment between chatacters: you have to manually move each item from one character's inventory to the other's.

Suiko 2 has a bit more quality of life.

I booted up Grandia 1 for the first time to get a feel. Very charming, with that old-school rough-around-the-edges dub. Reminds of 90s anime like Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho or Trigun. I like that the camera rotations remind me of Xenogears. The camera in cutscenes does a weird jittery thing that's hard to describe but having dynamic cinematography for the time is a treat.

IronTusk posted...

Suikoden is very cool. Feels epic for the time.

Fair warning that the UI/UX in Suiko 1 is rough. There are a ton of character switches or forced party compositions, but the item/equipment inventory and magic allocation are handled at your base. So imagine if in Final Fantasy VIII you had to teleport back to Balamb Gardens every time you wanted to switch out a Guardian Force summon. Then you can't just wholesale switch out equipment between chatacters: you have to manually move each item from one character's inventory to the other's.

Suiko 2 has a bit more quality of life.

I booted up Grandia 1 for the first time to get a feel. Very charming, with that old-school rough-around-the-edges dub. Reminds of 90s anime like Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho or Trigun. I like that the camera rotations remind me of Xenogears. The camera in cutscenes does a weird jittery thing that's hard to describe but having dynamic cinematography for the time is a treat.

ive played both before i just really want to replay them

OK cool. If you played the PS1 originals, then the main QoL improvements you'll notice for Suikoden 1 in the remaster are:

1. No more equipping a rune so you can freakin' run. Running is mapped to a button press by default.
2. You can speed up battles. And auto-battle is mapped to a button instead of having to dig through menus.
3. Nearly no load times (at least on Switch 2, can't speak for Switch 1).
4. Auto-save backups.

Is the Grandia 2 HD port that bad? Would it be better to emulate the DC version?

IronTusk posted...

OK cool. If you played the PS1 originals, then the main QoL improvements you'll notice for Suikoden 1 in the remaster are:

1. No more equipping a rune so you can freakin' run. Running is mapped to a button press by default.
2. You can speed up battles. And auto-battle is mapped to a button instead of having to dig through menus.
3. Nearly no load times (at least on Switch 2, can't speak for Switch 1).
4. Auto-save backups.

sounds good now i just need to get the game >.<