Granstream Saga?

[Yet One More Idiot]

I just decided - after beating Illusion of Gaia again just the other day - that I'd quite like to try the fourth and final installment of the Soulblazer trilogy, The Granstream Saga.

But I don't know where to look - and I don't own a Playstation; I really can't afford to be buying consoles and cartridges at the moment, so I was hoping that there might be a Playstation emu around somewhere that I could use to try out the game.

But again, I don't know where to look. I tried looking for Granstream Saga fansites, but if it has a following at all, it's much much smaller. All I could find were various online reviews of the game (most of which, incidentally, heavily panned it because of it's early 3D graphics).

Soooooo......does anybody have any ideas that could help me to find a copy to play? I would be very grateful.

[psychokind]

maybe try google... nothing @ rom-freaks.com, that's the only ps site I know that's still working. I can help you with the emulator though.

[Yet One More Idiot]

psychokind wrote:

maybe try google... nothing @ rom-freaks.com, that's the only ps site I know that's still working. I can help you with the emulator though.

Cool, that would be appreciated. I did a search for PS emulators, but several came up, and I couldn't decide which one would be best to use.

[tay120n64]

I wouldn't, personally. It kinda sucks. The FMV sequences are cool, though.

Anyway, we have a copy at my store, but A) it's $15 (overpriced) and B) its NTSC, and I'm pretty sure PS1 & PS2 consoles are region-locked.

[Yet One More Idiot]

tay120n64 wrote:

I wouldn't, personally. It kinda sucks. The FMV sequences are cool, though. Anyway, we have a copy at my store, but A) it's $15 (overpriced) and B) its NTSC, and I'm pretty sure PS1 & PS2 consoles are region-locked.

Well that's alright Tay, 'cos as I said, I don't have a PS1 console anyway (and couldn't afford to buy one either).

Eh. I like kinda sucky games though, for the nostalgia-y feel they have.

[EverPhoenix]

if you can find an iso for it, i can provide an emulator. i play ps1 and ps2 games on my computer

best place to look would be the various p2p networks (torrents, etc) but even then it might be difficult. things like this, it is probably easier to buy. and $15 isnt that much for a game. i mean, i spend that much on cards, and im not likely to use like 50-60% of my collection in anything but novelty games in which we try to make bad decks

[Yet One More Idiot]

EverPhoenix wrote:

if you can find an iso for it, i can provide an emulator. i play ps1 and ps2 games on my computer best place to look would be the various p2p networks (torrents, etc) but even then it might be difficult. things like this, it is probably easier to buy. and $15 isnt that much for a game. i mean, i spend that much on cards, and im not likely to use like 50-60% of my collection in anything but novelty games in which we try to make bad decks

Actually, I think I did find an ISO of it on bittorrent just the other day. I shall return and start to download it in the morning.

I really don't have money to spare, sadly. Being jobless since June 2007, I have little money; I get £45/week unemployment benefit, of which I give my dad £40/week for the privilege of living in his house (to cover my share of all living costs). XD My bank account is currently at about minus £50.

[EverPhoenix]

when you have the iso (or before, even) i can send you whatever you need with some helpful instructions on getting it to work. although for that, google is quite friendly

[inferiare]

Granstream Saga ain't part of the trilogy though.

http://romhustler.net/roms/psx/g

You can find it there, aaaaand I do believe that zophar.net would have emulators to use.

[EverPhoenix]

rainichan wrote:

Granstream Saga ain't part of the trilogy though. http://romhustler.net/roms/psx/g You can find it there, aaaaand I do believe that zophar.net would have emulators to use.

maybe they might, but you need a ps1 bios as well. that is a lot more difficult to find. luckily, i did that work a while back

[Shiva Indis]

rainichan wrote:

Granstream Saga ain't part of the trilogy though.

Thankfully.

It ain't part of a series either. Even calling it a Quintet game is a stretch. (Despite the claims of people who write for HG 101... arg.)

[tay120n64]

It was intended to be part of the series and was developed by leftover members of Quintet (following its closure) with that idea in mind, but it shares no common ground with any of the three games.

Though one could consider it a part of the series, one would also have to include ActRaiser, as it actually has more in common with the trilogy as well as being developed by the same team.

[inferiare]

I dunno if it was intended to be part of the series. I mean. Quintet had a part in the first Ar tonelico (I'd have to check for the second part) but Ar tonelico is more part of the Atelier series than anything, you know?

[Shiva Indis]

tay120n64 wrote:

It was intended to be part of the series and was developed by leftover members of Quintet (following its closure) with that idea in mind, but it shares no common ground with any of the three games.

One problem with this claim is that Quintet was still developing two years after the release of Granstream Saga (per Wikipedia, Nov. 1997 in Japan), and probably longer still. They even released two solo-developed games, Solo Crisis and Code R, in 1998.

The way the primary developer of Granstream Saga, Shade, is painted as an offshoot of Quintet is also problematic. Shade was (as HG 101 says) founded by a guy who did graphics work for Quintet. Not a key creator. He took a couple other people with him; hardly an exodus. Tomoyoshi Miyazaki, the scenario writer for Soul Blazer, etc, worked on the scenario for Granstream Saga, and that, I'd say, is the number one thing linking this game to Quintet. Except that the game doesn't have many of the hallmarks of his work. Miyazaki wasn't a Shade employee either.

BTW, Shade is still around. They made a WiiWare FPS last year, and they've made a lot of anime license games, including the Orphen game that was a PS2 launch title in the US.

[Yet One More Idiot]

I actually started the debate over whether Granstream was a part of the series a while back, and I think we concluded that it wasn't. I just wanted to see what it was like anyway. ^_^

Thanks for the info, I shall follow the advice given above by y'all. *Hands out some caek*