There's a fan theory that Grandia II is a prequel to Grandia set in the far, far, far distant past. I think the main basis is from one of the final scenes in Grandia II, involving two people with wings - possibly be very first Icarians (Grandia's ancient nonhuman civilization).
She does this thing where she wants to start games over and over again from the start, play them for a bunch of hours, then start it again.
The soundtrack and the challenge of beating the game at that age was wonderful.
I beat it a few years ago for the first time all the way through again. Really enjoyed it, but never played the sequel.
I find a lot of modern games unisnpiring. Too much focus is on creating a general great game, rather than focusing on story / mechanics.
Thanks for the post!