Grandia Online

Gameplay screen from Grandia Online

Grandia Online was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game presented using completely three-dimensional environments and characters. Before playing, users were required to create a GungHo ID from the game's official website, as well as register an account used to log into the game's server.[3] After logging in, players created a character from one of three available races, whose appearances can be customized in a number of ways, including face, hair, eyes, gender, and initial statistics, which determine a their specific strengths and weaknesses.[4] When entering the game world, a character's appearance could be further customized by obtaining new equipment and using special dyes to alter their color.[5]

Characters were controlled from a third-person perspective, with the camera being completely movable by the user, and basic movement consisting of walking, running, and jumping. The game's user interface contained a text box for chatting with other players, as well as a mini-map for navigation that shows the location of objects and building in the vicinity of the character.[6] All actions are performed by using a combination of keyboard shortcuts along with the mouse, and players could customize macro commands for single-click movement, communication, or combat abilities through the game's configuration menu, which could be placed on interface's hotbar for later use.[7] A player may interact with static, non-player characters found in towns or throughout the game who expanded the game's story and could offer quests which could be completed for helpful rewards.[8] In addition to a main character, players were given the option to be joined by a single, computer-controlled partner using the game's Partner System, whose actions were customized by using the appropriate menu.[9] Players could also group with one another to form a party of up to eight individuals, who each shared access to a special chat channel and were able to view each other's current status. With each player able to have their own computer partner, the total group size could reach a maximum of 16 characters.[10]

Grandia Online was set in a fantasy world that occupies the same universe as the original Grandia video game, and took place many years beforehand during the fabled "Age of Genesis".[13] All players began their journey as an escapee from a village that has been mysteriously overcome by a dark force, becoming petrified and unlivable. Meeting with a powerful sorceress named Liete, the player learns that similar events are happening across the world, and an investigation as to its source is taking place.[14] Venturing into the game's world, players traveled across the land interacting with playable and non-playable characters to expand the game's story, leading them to numerous locations including the Pulse of Gaia, a blighted land believed to be the source of the corruption, and the homeland of the ancient Icarians, a race known for their prowess with magic.[15] GungHo games plans to introduce new plot points that expand the story of Gaia and the Icarians through regular updates.[14]

Players chose a character based on one of three races who inhabit the world: Humans, a small, bushy-tailed raced called the Coltas, and the imposing, tribal Ralgas. Other inhabitants of the world included the diminutive rabbit-like Mogays, who acted as merchants and guides, and numerous species of monsters and animals that serve as the game's primary enemies. Ruins from past civilizations appeared as additional areas, and included opponents such as automatons and robots from a bygone era. As the player ventured further into the game, they encountered progressively more difficult enemies and boss characters who required large groups to defeat.[10]

Grandia Online was first announced by Game Arts in late 2004 as a collaborative effort between their company and GungHo Online Entertainment under the codename "Project: GO".[13] The game was first revealed during a GungHo Games panel at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show in Tokyo, Japan, where the company announced that they would be working with Game Arts to bring their Grandia role-playing game series to the PC as a "real adventure-themed MMORPG."[13] Development for the game began shortly after completion of Game Arts' previous endeavor, Grandia III, released earlier that year in Japan, and was overseen by GungHo president Morishita Yoshikazu and Game Arts producer Yoshitada Iwata.[13] Inspiration for the game came from Gravity Corporation's Ragnarok Online, as well as to fill the need for "Japan's increased demand for online games."[13] The following October, one month after the game's announcement, GungHo announced plans to become a majority shareholder for the Game Arts corporation, turning the company into a subsidiary and making Grandia Online an in-house production.[16] An open beta test period was originally planned for the first quarter of 2006, with the game's final release following later that year, which was pushed back to the following September, and then an undetermined date due to development issues.[17]

GungHo would remain quiet on Grandia Online's progress until early 2007, when Game Arts announced that the title had been sold by GungHo to online software producer Online Game Revolution Fund Number 1 for ¥2.6 billion, and that development would continue under the game's new name, Grandia Zero.[18] Game Arts would later re-acquire the game's production rights some time later, as well as return the game to its original title, yet development activities remained undisclosed for several months. During this period, industry rumors began to surface that the game may have been cancelled.[19]

In April 2009, news of Grandia Online's progress was finally made public, with the launch of an official countdown website that opened on April 21, revealing that the game was not only still being produced, but that a new open beta test would be launched the following July.[19] To celebrate the occasion, Game Arts announced they would be re-releasing the original Grandia on Sony's PlayStation Network download service, as well host a limited, 60-person public test period for a demo of the game the following May in Tokyo's Akihabara district.[20] The game utilized the BigWorld Technology Suite, which was previously used in GungHo's Hokuto no Ken Online, and "promise[d] a development solution specifically for scalable next-gen MMOs and virtual worlds."[21] The company had planned to release the game commercially by the end of Q2 2009,[22] with a public beta test instead pushed back to July and the launch version arriving in August.[1]

The game operated for three years until it was eventually shut down on September 28, 2012.[2]