Let's end this debate once and for all:
Is The Granstream Saga part of the Soul Blazer series? What are pro arguments, what are contra arguments?
Yes:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/quintet/quintet4.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Granstream_Saga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Blazer#Legacy
The only counter-argument is that you can make a case that there actually is no Soul Blazer "series," just a collection of similarly themed games from a conceptual standpoint. The premise of the games are loosely similar but gameplay and plot are different.
If you accept that Soul Blazer is connected to Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma, then it is also connected to Granstream Saga. If you do not accept this, then it is a stand-alone title like the others.
>>2736287
Thanks for the input. I knew about the links, but are there any direct references in Granstream Saga to the other games? Like Illusion of Gaia had Solid Arm from Soul Blazer, and the in-game development team in Terranigma referring to it as Illusion of Gaia 2?
I gues the first boss of Granstream kinda resembles the first boss of Illusion, withe the two hands, the horns and the third eye in the middle
>>2736323
>>2736287
More like "the only argument for it being part of the series is because HG101 said so".
How about we pay attention to what the actual guy who wrote and designed Granstream Saga said about the series instead?
>JS: Fans regard Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma, and Granstream Saga, as a loosely connected four-part saga.
>KY: Yes, I think there was a common custom or thread shared among the games, in terms of scenario writing, such as like the delivery of the dialogue, and so on. So in that effect I think there was some resemblance. Starting with ActRaiser, and followed by Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia, the games are definitely connected, in Miyazaki-san’s mind, at least. Whereas Terranigma and Granstream Saga are somewhat different. Because I was the one who came up with the basic idea for Granstream Saga. I don’t know about Terranigma though.
The games don't even have concrete connections beyond a cameo and a developer joke, it's all thematic. The only actual connections you can make are between the Actraisers and Soul Blazer. Everything else makes absolutely no sense, since the worlds, gods, universes and characters are completely different.
TL;DR: There's no debate, it never was part of any series beyond that shitty HG101 fanfiction article.
young me was not prepared for that ending choice
>>2736323
This game needed an escape command.
>>2736337
I like that there's no "right" choice, it all boils down to what you personally prefer and think is better.
I did kinda dislike how it was delving dangerously into waifu territory. but the choice itself had bigger implications regarding the world and everybody's lives, it was nice balance.
>>2736323
>but are there any direct references in Granstream Saga to the other games
No, no direct references at all.
Not even thematically beyond a very very faint plot about recurring cataclysms, and even then it's so basic and universal you may as well say it's related to, say, Secret of Mana or something.
If anything the game "references" or mirrors Ys 3, given how the characters look and interact and how the plot develops for half the game.
>>2736369
Oh brother, if anything it goes into the total opposite direction. The final stretch of the game is a gradient of increasing wtf proportions, but it never relates to our own world at all. It does however play with realities. It's not a bad twist, it's just really startling.
If you're ONLY playing it because Hardcore Gaming told you it was a sequel, you won't like it. Because by its creator's own words it isn't, and it never feels even remotely like one, and if you keep going on you'll realize this on your own once the credits roll. But if you like the game by its own merits keep playing, it's quite good on its own. Just don't expect something like Gaia or Terranigma or you'll be disappointed, it just isn't like that.
Also while Gaia and Terranigma had silly stuff, most important events were fairly somber or serious. Granstream, on the other hand, gets cheesy as hell during the regular continent events. It's only at the very end that shit gets real. Just not, you know, real as in real-world.
If you think you can enjoy it by what it is, by all means keep playing.
>>2736398
I expected that.. I think I was just starving for a game that gave me the feelings Terranigma and Illusion of Gaia gave me 17 years ago, so my logical conclusion was to play a game made by the same people.
I guess I'll finish it regardless, maybe it will grow on me. At least I already saw Laramees sideboob, so that's a plus.
>>2736330
You might want to read that quote a little more carefully. Specifically the first two sentences, where he acknowledges the links as a four part series.
>>2736436
>So in that effect I think there was some resemblance
>Terranigma and Granstream Saga are somewhat different
Where does he say the games are part of a series? He's saying their styles resemble one another. And even then he clarifies that Terranigma and Granstream are different.
