Grandia = not fun; Driver = damn fun!

[RCmodeler]

I played Grandia 2 about a year ago, and I really enjoyed the battle system. The story was not great, but good enough to hold my interest. And then I saw reviews that basically said: "If you like Grandia 2, get the original Grandia. It's awesome!"

 

Well after a day of gaming, I've concluded that Grandia for the original PS1 is NOT awesome. Yeah sure, the great battle system is still there, but what's the deal with the story? Or I should say, lack of story. Nothing's happening... just wander around going from one place to another... and also do annoying fetch quests. Ugh.

 

Long story short, I ejected the disc and put it on ebay. I'm not sure why people think this Grandia 1 is so great, but to me it's rather boring. Maybe, like FF7, it's just nostalgia coloring people's memories.

 

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And then there's Driver. I played that today, and it's pretty cool. I've tried Grand Theft 3, but did not like the idea of blowing people's brains out. I don't consider killing innocent people fun. This Driver game is more moral in the sense that you're an undercover cop, so everything you do is for the good of humanity (or something like that).

 

Driver is a lot faster paced than Grand Theft too. Not as immersive, but at least the missions oly take ~5 minutes to complete... whereas Grand Theft you can spend up to half an hour wandering around trying to figure out where to go next. For me, aimlessly wandering is boring. I prefer Driver's straight-to-the-point, let's-not-waste-any-time style.

 

And of course, there's the sheer thrill of running away from the cops while 70's-era music plays in the background. Overall, a very fun and challenging experience!

 

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Bottom Line: Avoid Grandia and buy Driver. Also Grandia 2. Sure Driver is an "old" game with primitive graphics, but who cares? It's the GAME that matters, not the pretty pictures.

[Foxy Cleopatra]

Good luck if you actually make it to the last level (in Driver). It is without a doubt the most impossible final mission of any game ever. And the missions get longer if I remember correctly. (Or did they just seem longer because we fucked around so much playing it )

[Brad2600]

Driver looks painfully outdated in graphics but the gameplay is still quite solid for an older title.

 

Driver 2 is a run of the mill sequel that does nothing to maintain the charm of the original. Lots of POP UP in this one.

 

I hear Driver 3 is shaping up to be good..as long as they don't base it on Stuntman..which was incredibly hard.

[JB]

I ALMOST had fun with Grandia 1.

I had to quit playing the game because it made me want to cut my ears off.

 

DAMN THE ATROCIOUS DUBBING!

[liveinabin]

I'm way too married now to be able to devote the time needed (and to have access to the TV long enough) to play things like Grandia.

I liked the characters though.

[Shannon]

Driver was ok until I realized that the police AI cheat like anything to get you. Sucked the fun right out of the game.

[RCmodeler]

Cheat? How so? I thought the police AI was rather stupid (like running directly into a pole).

[bargora]

I liked Driver a lot, but I agree that the final mission is friggin' impossible. It drove me to use a cheat code just to see the game's ending (which I now no longer remember), and I'm not usually the cheatin' kind.

 

Driver 2 is not only riddled with pop-up, but it also is so difficult that I regularly set it down for three to six months at a stretch between beating missions, just because it's so damn frustrating. Maybe I just suXx0r.

[Shannon]

Cheat?  How so?  I thought the police AI was rather stupid (like running directly into a pole).

 

Granted, this was on the PC version so the playstation version may have been different, but in scenarios when the police started chasing you and you destination was on the other side of town (where you had to cross the bridges).

 

If you watch the radar the police had this habit of just "magically" appearing on the bridge in front of you making it near impossible to avoid them running into you head on.

 

It annoyed me cause it was obviously cheating. After I went through all the trouble to shake some off my tail, all of a sudden one would pop up driving AGAINST traffic and slam into me headon. Now what kind of public safety is that?

[RCmodeler]

I see... that stuff doesn't happen in the PS1 version. The police can be seen ahead of time and avoided.

[Foxy Cleopatra]

I see... that stuff doesn't happen in the PS1 version.  The police can be seen ahead of time and avoided.

 

Actually it does happen in the PS1 version... you just have to work out a pattern to try to avoid them.... I remember I think it was in Driver 2, there was one mission on the highway that took forever to get through, we tried all different ways to get through it and it ended up being pure luck that we got through it.

 

@bargora... I think the only way to actually get through the final mission is to cheat, I've never heard of anyone making it without it... I even read an article (can't remember the mag) where the reviewer said it was the most impossible mission to get through and even he used the cheat.... if anyone out there got through it without it... you will henceforth be known as "The Gaming God"!

[somePUNK]

played the last mission for a mounth on and off and i cheated in the end

[Shannon]

I see... that stuff doesn't happen in the PS1 version.  The police can be seen ahead of time and avoided.

 

Actually it is like foxy cleopatra said but in my case the police were magically appearing on the bridge while I was on the bridge, so there was no escaping them. It was one of those scenarios where you are supposed to "take care" of the vehicle you are in or you fail the mission.

[Foxy Cleopatra]

I see... that stuff doesn't happen in the PS1 version.  The police can be seen ahead of time and avoided.

 

Actually it is like foxy cleopatra said but in my case the police were magically appearing on the bridge while I was on the bridge, so there was no escaping them. It was one of those scenarios where you are supposed to "take care" of the vehicle you are in or you fail the mission.

 

Oh yea they did that too, when we were playing. It took 3 of us to finish that game, because it was so frustrating. Of course it didn't help that I was a really bad navigator. Most of the time my job was to watch the map and tell whoever was "driving" which way to turn, when the turns were coming up..... they finally figured out when I said "Go left, now!" what I really meant was "Go right, 5 seconds ago!"

[RCmodeler]

I get frustrated when I encounter the roadblocks. I don't know how to get around them except to just ram straight through them like a tank.