is an

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

. The game was the first 3D title developed by Shade, a development team within

Quintet A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

led by graphic designer Kouji Yokota. It is an intended

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

to their previous

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

titles, ''

Soul Blazer ''Soul Blazer'', released in Japan as , is a video game for the Super NES developed by Quintet and published by Enix. ''Soul Blazer'' was scored by Yukihide Takekawa. It was released in 1992 in Japan and North America, but not released in Europe u ...

'' and ''

Terranigma is a 1995 action role-playing game developed by Quintet for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), with manga artist Kamui Fujiwara acting as the character designer. The game tells the story of the Earth's resurrection by the hands of a b ...

'' (involving

Tomoyoshi Miyazaki was a Japanese video game developer, founded in April 1989. The company name is derived from musical terminology, as well as five elements of game design—planning, graphics, sound, programming and producing. Quintet was most active in the 19 ...

and Masanori Hikichi). The game was first published in Japan by

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

, then given a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

release by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

. ''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 is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

-style cutscenes by

Production I.G is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise, founded on December 15, 1987, by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. The letters I and G derive from the names of the company founders: producer Mitsuhisa Ish ...

. 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. 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.

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

Upon release, ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' scored it 5 out of 5, stating it is "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 Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

/ fighter genre" make it a fun and challenging adventure. ''

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it two stars out of five. They considered the game as average and inferior to other titles like ''Final Fantasy'', Konami's ''Suikoden'', or Capcom's ''Breath of Fire''. The game holds an average score of 66% at

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

, based on an aggregate of 9 reviews. ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' gave it a positive retrospective review, commenting its combat system, story and presentation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Granstream Saga, The 1997 video games Action role-playing video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation (console)-only games Production I.G Quintet (company) games Role-playing video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games THQ games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Miyoko Takaoka Single-player video games