I've been craving replaying Final Fantasy 7 or 9 lately, but decided to try something new and picked up
Grandia II Anniversary Edition. I'm two hours in and ugh I don't know if I can continue. It's the most generic JRPG experience ever. Generic Good vs. Evil plot, generic annoying male "im too cool" protagonist arguing with female lead before inevitably falling in love with her, generic starting village and evil forest, generic music, generic voice speech and voice acting...
I mean, christ, even the first evil demon is a goddamn fan serviceI switched to Japanese voices and dear lord, she actually says "Kawaii" in a cutesy schoolgirl voice within a minute of showing up...
The combat is at least a bit wee interesting with timing and cancels, but leveling up and skills seem like they'll go down generic jrpg battle route.
It also made me think how the FF series really excel at great openings. From FF6s Magitek March, through FF7s bombing terrorist run or FF9s kidnapping of a princess. It makes you want to keep playing. Here, you just plop in boring village with no incentive to explore or follow on your "first job." Bleh. But hey, Geohound (the protagonist jobs) is kinda like a JRPG version of a Witcher, heh.