Grandia is an amazing game. It shows its age technically even in the HD collection, but it still manages to hold up. The story and characters are as good as ever.
I wouldn't hold it against you. Dungeon exploration and battles in Grandia are hard graft. Not on the level of an Atlus game but definitely more involved than the average JRPG.
Funky Kong has one of the worst hidden stat totals of all Mario Kart Wii characters, and the Flame Runner is a very average vehicle, but they're the best character-vehicle combination in the game, now stick with me.