# Grandia

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/grandia/

9 people recommended Grandia in Hacker News comments, 6 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 12 months, in 1 thread. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

9 of the 9 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “The Joy of Playing Grandia, on Sega Saturn”.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its turn-based battle system, soundtrack and nostalgic appeal; the most common caveat is that the re-releases were done with little effort and lost quality.

Summary written by Claude from 16 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong turn-based battle system (3 comments in the sample): "The canceling mechanics coming from Grandia would be banger in that sort of more dynamic TRPG." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46210138)) "Grandia's battle system is the best turn based battle system in a jrpg, ever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46208973)) "much more interesting and fun battle system than Final Fantasy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46203214))
- Memorable soundtrack (2 comments in the sample): "The soundtrack and the challenge of beating the game at that age was wonderful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46204897)) "The soundtrack to Grandia lives rent free in my head." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46207148))
- Nostalgic childhood favorite with challenge (1 comment in the sample): "Grandia is one of those games that was part of my childhood so despite having flaws, it transcends ratings in a sense." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46203881))

## What people warn about

- Low-effort re-releases, degraded quality (3 comments in the sample): "they did basically the bare minimum effort to release them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46219839)) "graphical fidelity and effects were lost and audio transcoded in a lossy manner" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46219089)) "they did a really low effort job on it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46207287))

## Other role-playing games people recommend

- [Baldur's Gate 3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/baldur-s-gate-3/): 58 recommend, 11 mixed, 11 criticize
- [Clair Obscur: Expedition 33](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clair-obscur-expedition-33/): 46 recommend, 12 mixed, 9 criticize
- [Chrono Trigger](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chrono-trigger/): 22 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize
- [Disco Elysium](https://hackerapproved.com/p/disco-elysium/): 20 recommend, 3 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Grandia", https://hackerapproved.com/p/grandia/ (9 recommend, 6 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.