Granstream Saga
Granstream Saga is little more than an action RPG that tried to cash in on the popularity of Playstation RPGs that began
with Final Fantasy VII. The game's premise is that four floating continents are slowly sinking to the infinite seas below.
To prevent their demise, Eon (the hero) leaves on a quest to discover all the lifting verses to keep the continents afloat.
Although the plot itself is standard at best, the unique battle system is what makes this game stand out.
Even though Eon can battle with an ax, a sword, or a dagger, each kind of weapon adds a certain amount of strategy to
battles. While an ax is usually stronger than a sword, it also requires twice the time to swing it. A dagger, on the other
hand, is faster (but weaker) than a sword. There is magic, but no spell other than healing is worthwhile to cast. While
many of the early fights take a minute at most to emerge victorious, the later, more complex battles can take up to
forty-five minutes (the last two levels took as long as the rest of the game combined). This repetitive fighting becomes
more of a task than fun by the end of Granstream Saga.
On the regular Playstation, I couldn't manage to keep an interest in this game with its pathetic graphics more than half
an hour. But bleem! shows its strength with titles like this. Granstream Saga, with all the enhancements of D3D
acceleration and higher quality of sound, is transformed into a game that almost rivals the quality of classic PSX
titles like Metal Gear Solid.
| Game motivation |
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D3D acceleration is almost flawless in Granstream Saga. Missing textures (even at the maximum resolution) are few and far
between, and the once miserable looking graphics are now on par with even the most recent Playstation titles. Every minute
detail is now rendered quite well, and using a 3D card actually speeds up the game.
This isn't the best looking game around, but bleem! certainly allows this game to shine with all of the upgraded graphics.
Every character - and even the towns - look much better. They almost appear realistic, with the exception of a lack of a
face (this is not a bleem! error, however).
| Graphics |
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The music and sounds (when the speed limiter is not on) are done surprisingly well in bleem! Other than when a character
speaks that is not in an anime scene - which doesn't happen until the game's very last level - and the inevitable sound
degeneration, everything sounds as good as it does in the Playstation - or better. While it's not as obviously better as
the graphics, this is easily one of the best sounding games on bleem!
This is a game that looks and plays much better on bleem! than it ever did on the Playstation. Better than that, it can
be finished on bleem! 1.4. It doesn't get any better than that. Well, at least for Granstream Saga. The very few problems
bleem! has are nothing in comparison to the initial game's flaws.
| Gameplay |
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| b! rating |
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| VGS rating |
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| Quick facts |
Granstream Saga
Retails price : unknown
| Motivation |
2 |
| Graphics |
4 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Gameplay |
3 |
| |
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| b! rating |
4 |
| VGS rating |
4 |
| Pro |
 Great sound
Well painted graphics
Almost flawless 3D
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| Contra |
Few motivation
Bugs left
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| Result |
Very well for a PSX game. The optional deathmatch mode rocks - Something every
Quake fan should check out.
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