It was back in those days when the PS2 was the hottest thing on the market, and it had just gotten cheap enough that I decided to buy one. I saved up some money, took the time to finish the last of my PS1 games, and off I went to my favorite video store. At the counter stood the owner himself, the greatest video store owner I know. "One PS2, please!" I said, and he came up with a very surprising answer:
"Sorry - we're out!"
Well, THAT was unexpected. You see, I have never been a technology freak. I have never seen a commercial for some new gadget and screamed, "I NEED one of those - N O W ! ! !" I played Super Mario World on the SNES until PS1s became available at the grocery store, a large stack of them being displayed next to the cheap VHS movies. I used my first portable telephone for nine years. I had just assumed that, since the PS2 had gotten old enough to look interesting to me, any major fuss about it would almost certainly have died down.
Anyway, the video store owner said he was expecting a new shipment next week. Sure enough, the shipment arrived on time - but in the meantime I had spent some of the money I needed, and asked him to hold one PS2 for me until I got my next paycheck a few days later.
He agreed to this, but forgot to notify his staff or something, so when I showed up that Friday, money in hand, the PS2s were sold out again.
Then, he ordered another PS2 just for me and called me when it arrived. It was Thursday afternoon, and I knew I would be too busy to pick it up during the weekend. "Great", I said, "I'll pick it up next week!"
So, the following Monday, I showed up at the shop - much to the owner's surprise, as he had assumed that "next week" meant some time around the MIDDLE of the week. Around the time he was expecting another regular shipment of PS2s. And so, he had expected that it would be perfectly OK for him to sell my PS2 to someone else. Hooray.
And the next shipment was severely delayed! Wohoo!
Now let's skip back to day 1 of this process. I came home with no PS2. As I mentioned before, I had already finished (or given up on) all my old PS1 games, and had some difficulty trying to decide what to play. As I went through my stash of PS1 games, I came across a game I'd almost forgotten that I owned. I had given up on it because I got to a boss that I simply couldn't beat.
That game was the original Grandia.
I vaguely remembered that, until that one boss made me ragequit, I'd been having considerable fun. I decided to start over, beef up the characters a bit more than last time, and take another whack at the foul beast. Thanks to the intuitive combat system, I remembered right away how it worked.
It soon occurred to me that, on my first playthrough, I had been unaccustomed to the combat system and, consequently, tried to avoid combat as much as possible. My theory that this may have been why that boss was so tough, was confirmed a few days later, when I realized that I was way past the point where the boss creature appears - and couldn't remember having fought it! With some effort, I did remember an encounter with something kind of boss-like that died after three attacks or so.
Once the unbeatable boss had been dealt with, the forgotten joy of Grandia hit me full force. I was overjoyed by the colorful, richly varied landscapes. The urge to explore welled up within me (incidentally the same urge which motivates the protagonist, Justin, to travel the land in the first place). I was now well and truly in love with Grandia, and I eagerly kept playing to see where the story would take me next.
After a month or so, I finally got a PS2 - and found myself playing nothing but Grandia for ANOTHER month!
