Reviews of Grandia II

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Ok I was a little mad when I saw the reviews of this game. How can you write a review when you don't even HAVE this game? Well I have this game and I am here to tell you how good it is. First of all this game is fantastic, the graphics are the best for Dreamcast yet and the battle system is completely amazing. The best way to describe the battle system is like lunar: SCCC's battle system in 3D. Also in the battles everyone can be moving at the same time. Another thing about this game is it is SO detailed. In some of the stores you can knock over bottles or knock a picture out of place. Another example of the great detail is in the battles. When a character hits a bad monster, the character blinks there eyes, and when you hit them, you might yell AAAHHHHH or another thing. These are just some of the great things about this game. I won't keep going on telling you how good this game is, you will just have to play it for yourself. This game took me about 30 hours to beat and I literally spent about 10 of my hours battling because it was so fun. Now after you read this I hope you buy this game, the story is excellent and it can be emotional at times. Do not pass up a great game like this, because I can not tell you how good it is and how it changed my life.

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At first when I played this game I wasn't that impressed. The story and characters tended to be your standard RPG fare: a young, arrogant, spikey haired hero who yields a big sword; a young beutiful innocent female sidekick who knows magic; typical good vs. evil storyline. However, several hours into the game I got hooked. The graphics don't start out that impressively, but by the time you get to the meat of the game and experience the battles for the first time, I was really impressed. The music is standard RPG fare with a mix of pop, rock, and classical. By far the big draw of Grandia 2 is it's amazing battle system. For the first time in an RPG, I actually look forward to battling monsters. In fact, I'm actually running into monsters on purpose in order to experience a fight. The battles load fairly quickly and are beatifully presented in 3-D. There's a great mix of real time 3-D and prerendered FMV in the hundereds of spells that you can cast. The FMV is refreshingly unique and makes it appear as if you're looking at an anime movie. This battle system should be the standard for all future RPGs. Its that good.

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"Grandia II." What else is there to say? The original Grandia was an instant masterpiece (the Saturn version, mind you). Does this one live up to the first? Hmmm....

To start off, the story (spoiler-free) is as follows: Ryudo, a cold-hearted, cynical Geohound (a mercenary for hire), is entrusted to bring Elena to a ceremony. However, something goes wrong, and Ryudo must go on a journey to protect those which he hates the most.

The gameplay is very straight-forward and linear. Alright, let's compare it to "Zelda: Majora's Mask." in Zelda, you could go ANYWHERE in the field. In Grandia II, you are only allowed a choice of going to three places in the entire game. Which is truly sad, because that could have made this a much better game.

The character development in this game is something that is truly rare. You will see romance blossoming between Ryudo and Elena, and many other relationships with the other members of your party. Not to forget the truly sad and dramatic interaction between Ryudo and his brother.

Now, here's the highlight of the entire game: the battle system. It combines real-time and turn-based fighting into the best system ever invented ever. Here's a brief description of how it works:

All the members in your party are located on a bar that has COM in the middle-right, and ACT at the far right. Once your character reaches COM, he/she can input a command. The character then moves from COM to ACT and right when it reaches ACT, the character will perform the command. Amazing, isn't it?

The graphics in this game are awesome. Not in the realistic way, as you might think, though (like in "Shenmue"). The characters have no mouths (which is also kinda good, as there is more flexibility in voice-acting translation). Most Special and Magic moves have CG effects and the actual overworld has some great cinema movies.

The replay value is so-so. Once you beat the game, there are no real reasons except just to fight some enemies (which is still fun).

Overall, this is a great RPG that has no equal on Dreamcast, save for "Skies of Arcadia" and "Phantasy Star Online." If you have Dreamcast and are a RPG fan, you'd be an idiot to skip this one.

Honest reviews on Grandia II

After beating ... out of Skies of Arcadia twice, I told myself, "Self? You need another RPG." So I picked up Grandia II. Good points first. The battle engine is excellent. Characters just don't run up to the enemy, strike, then go back to their original position. They are moving around, which makes you think out a battle strategy. Everything from which magic our item to use, down to the basic question in this game, especially when fighting bosses, "Do I have enough time to cancel this guy's attack before he wipes me out?" The graphics are very good, too. It's a funky mix between polygons, CGI, and Japanese anime. pretty wicked. You'll understand what I mean when you use Ryudo's Dragon Zap, or Millenia's Fallen Wings. The storyine starts out great, but somewhere along the line it turns into a theological discussion on good, evil, and religious beliefs. But it was enough to keep me interested. To this date, other than Soul Reaver, I haven't heard better voice acting in a game. you will definitely be suprised. By far, my biggest problem with this game is that it was way too short. Ususally, when I play an RPG, I like to fight whatever I can, whenever I can. Being that in this game, you can see where you enemies are, I was in heaven. By doing that I put myself slightly ahead of the game. Beating bosses were not a problem. So, in the end, I ended up clearing Grandia II in 3 days (it didn't help that I purchased the game on a Friday. I played it all weekend). Also, don't be fooled. The jewel case says that there are 2 discs. This is true, but one disc is the game's soundtrack. But all in all, this game is great. But to this date, Skies of Arcadia is a better game. If you have neither game, buy Grandia II first, then buy Skies, so you won't be dissapointed.

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I don't know what kind of personal vendetta the above reviewer has against Grandia 2. Whether the game beat him up, or peed in his shoes is beyond my knowledge, I have to step up and defend this aweseom Dreamcast game.

As one of few stellar and eagerly awaited RPG's for the system, and for it's time. Grandia 2 shines. Whether it is the deeply constructed battle system, or the better than ever voice acting, Grandia 2 was a game that I couldn't stop playing.

The story, while it was not up there with the giants like Chrono Trigger, Panzer Dragoon Saga, or Phantasy Star, it had it's moments to be remembered. Despite being typical RPG character cliches, (The female healer, the angsty young buck that'll save the world once he confronts his feelings, the huge axe wielding silent guy) they do an above average job of fulfilling these requirements.

Get this game, especially since its cheap now.