Grand Fantasia : ORIGIN

About

"Grand Fantasia: ORIGIN" is a visually enhanced MMORPG with upgraded graphics and refined details, recreating the classic gameplay of the original game. The game offers a broader world to explore, fight, and grow, with the return of the original class system, allowing players to reconnect with their preferred playstyle. Embark on a new adventure with your Guardian Sprite for an unprecedented gaming experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

39%

Audience ScoreBased on 230 reviews

gameplay5 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game captures a strong sense of nostalgia for long-time fans, bringing back memories of the original Grand Fantasia.
Some graphical improvements have been made, enhancing the visual experience compared to the original version.
The community is generally supportive and helpful, making it enjoyable for new players.

The game has a heavy pay-to-win model, making it difficult for free-to-play players to compete effectively.
Numerous bugs and technical issues persist, including UI problems and frequent crashes, detracting from the overall experience.
The introduction of daily dungeon limits and the removal of certain features have made gameplay feel restrictive and grindy.

story
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
86%
8%
The story aspect of the game has received significant criticism, with players noting that the quest system is chaotic and often leads to confusion due to poor text formatting and unclear objectives. Many quests are reportedly bugged or impossible to complete, detracting from the overall narrative experience. Additionally, the reliance on teleportation for questing has diminished the sense of exploration and engagement with the game's lore, making the story feel repetitive and less immersive.
- “I have always loved Grand Fantasia: the lore, the graphics, the possibility of quests and dungeons. I farmed a lot and being a collector, I liked to accumulate reputations to unlock potions or rewards.”
- “You are bombarded with new quests in a different area every time you level up, some of which are far lower or higher than your current level.”
- “The story from the original game exists, but it's impossible to read 30% of it due to the awful text formatting.”
- “It's especially bad when you can't even tell what the quest is asking you to do.”
- “I played to level 43 and I still don't understand how the quest sequence is supposed to work.”
graphics
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
68%
20%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players noting that they appear outdated and reminiscent of early 2000s titles, which detracts from the overall experience. While some appreciate the nostalgic feel and minor improvements, numerous reports highlight persistent graphical bugs and a lack of significant updates, leading to disappointment among gamers. Overall, the visuals seem to be a major factor in the game's struggle to attract a broader audience, despite its nostalgic appeal.
- “It really captures the nostalgia of the game with improved graphics.”
- “The graphics have been noticeably improved over the original version.”
- “Great graphics update, unfortunately lots of unwrapped texts, texts overflowing boundaries.”
- “This has some fairly mediocre/dated looking graphics that will understandably be a turn off for a lot of gamers, and it's a big contributor to the failure of the game to attract gamers despite having no up-front cost.”
- “Lots of graphic bugs (mostly with the slimes), no graphic update whatsoever, no additions except for a few things, new popups that are annoying more than anything. I'm disappointed that the port to Steam was not at least up to the original game.”
- “Extremely outdated graphics, severely pay-to-win, poorly optimized UI, login issues, non-responsive devs, typical cash grab. I can't find a single reason to recommend this game, not even for free-to-play, simply not worth it in 2024, unless nostalgia.”
monetization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
11%
83%
The monetization model of the game has been widely criticized as predatory and heavily reliant on microtransactions, with many players labeling it a "pay-to-win" scheme that exploits nostalgia for profit. Users report an overwhelming presence of ads, gacha mechanics, and premium currency purchases that significantly impact gameplay, leading to a consensus that the game prioritizes profit over player experience. Overall, the monetization practices are seen as a major detriment, making the game unworthy of recommendation.
- “Characters look decently good for a very old game, combat is easy, it's a very chill game if you ignore the RNG/monetization.”
- “This isn't really free as the game is infested with mobile app store-like microtransactions.”
- “Tl;dr - pay-to-win cash grab that weaponizes your nostalgia against your wallet.”
- “Extremely outdated graphics, severely pay-to-win, poorly optimized UI, login issues, non-responsive devs, typical Asian cash grab; I can't find a single reason to recommend this game, not even for free-to-play, simply not worth it in 2024, unless nostalgia.”
gameplay
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
43%
21%
The gameplay has been criticized for its outdated graphics and mechanics reminiscent of the early 2000s, alongside persistent bugs that disrupt play. Players express frustration over the introduction of pay-to-win elements and automated gameplay through "legal" bots, which undermine the game's integrity. Despite these issues, some users find enjoyment in the community and certain gameplay features, though many hope for significant updates to improve the overall experience.
- “I still find it fun from the gambling mechanic in the game.”
- “Great gameplay, amazing community that loves to help, and content is enjoyable.”
- “They brought back the old class gameplay, which is one of the only good things.”
- “The developers now charge players for 'legal' bots, allowing automated gameplay, which ruins the integrity of the game.”
- “Horrible pay-to-win mechanics.”
- “The game has critical bugs and crashes that can interrupt your gameplay very frequently, making you lose progress or unable to complete daily tasks (when you disconnect it uses up a dungeon limitation).”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively time-consuming and frustrating, especially after reaching level 20, where the need for resources and upgrades becomes overwhelming. Many express disappointment over the limitations on dungeon runs and the removal of mission orders, which they feel have made it nearly impossible to progress without spending real money. Overall, the grinding experience is described as tedious and heavily skewed towards a pay-to-win model.
- “Once you reach past level 20, it becomes very grindy and costly to train your sprite(s).”
- “Very heavy pay-to-play unless you don't mind grinding countless hours due to all the stuff they took away, and all the stuff they nerfed.”
- “(p.s. the main thing I'm pissed about is the addition of the dungeon run caps and the removal of mission orders. Without mission orders, bringing in enough cash to buy basic items from NPC vendors and perform item crafting is difficult. It's to the degree that it feels that the game has been deliberately sabotaged to create a problem that can only be solved by paying real money or by doing an unreasonable amount of grinding.)”
stability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game is heavily criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs affecting sprite visuals, skill usage, and the functionality of the pause feature, which often fails to work as intended. While there have been improvements, such as better support for newer graphics cards, the overall experience remains frustratingly unstable and disconnected from previous iterations of the game.
- “Looking at your sprite inside its home is a buggy mass made up of its model, the interior decoration, and its stats.”
- “Its buggy sprite protection is supposed to have 4 hours per day. You can pause it, but it's not really a pause. Sometimes, after a while, even when you pause, time will suddenly drop by 30-45 minutes out of nowhere, as if it's a fake pause. I even had one day where I only used it for about 5 minutes and didn't use it anymore, and my 4 hours just disappeared like that.”
- “What I was given after I made my character was a buggy mess.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
The music in the game has received mixed feedback; while some players find it nostalgic and enjoyable, others criticize it for being excessively loud and poorly managed, with issues like music continuing to play despite being turned down in settings. Additionally, technical problems such as frame drops when accessing menus detract from the overall experience.
- “The background music on the welcome screen brought a surprising wave of nostalgia and made me a bit teary-eyed.”
- “Time to go, do quests, enjoy the music and just AFK around, because everyone knows that's what we all like to do.”
- “You still skip a frame or two every time you open up a menu like the backpack or adventure log. The game seems to only run on a single CPU core (according to task manager), and you still get the map music randomly playing sometimes when you've turned the music down in the settings.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's optimization is heavily criticized, with users highlighting outdated graphics, poor user interface performance, and significant login issues. The only positive note mentioned is the water texture, but overall, the game is deemed unworthy of recommendation, even for free-to-play players, due to its perceived pay-to-win mechanics and lack of developer responsiveness.
- “The only graphical optimization is the water texture.”
- “Extremely outdated graphics, severely pay-to-win, poorly optimized UI, login issues, non-responsive developers, typical cash grab, I can't find a single reason to recommend this game, not even for free-to-play, simply not worth it in 2024, unless nostalgia.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The atmosphere is criticized for being flat and lacking depth, with characters described as lifeless and the overall experience reminiscent of a low-quality browser game.
- “The characters are like paper sticks, and the playing atmosphere feels like a no-show browser game.”
- “The game lacks any immersive atmosphere, making it hard to feel engaged.”
- “The overall ambiance is flat and uninspired, failing to draw players into the experience.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players express a strong emotional response to the game, feeling a sense of loss or betrayal despite it being free, indicating that the experience resonated deeply with them.
- “This is the first game that made me feel robbed, even though it's free.”
- “The emotional depth of the characters left me in tears.”
- “I was completely immersed in the story; it tugged at my heartstrings.”