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This game is almost perfect!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Grandia 2 is a fun game! I really did enjoy playing it. There are a few flaws that keep it from a perfect score; however, it is still an excellent and enjoyable experience overall. Let's begin the review!

Graphics (8/10): The graphics are somewhat similar to FF7 in that your characters are composed of simpler shapes and only have eyes on their faces (no mouths, folks!) However, the graphical world of Grandia 2 looks a lot smoother than FF7's and is less pixelated. Some people may not enjoy the simple graphical design after having seen more realistic looking games, but it didn't perturb me one bit, the graphics are bright and colorful. If you need further information about what this game actually looks like, just take a gander at some screen shots. Note, there are some graphical glitches from time to time, but they do not affect gameplay in any real way.

Music (7/10): Hmmm... is is just me or is the same song used for every dungeon? Why yes! Well, aside from the lack of variety, the music isn't too bad. It's nothing to run out and buy the soundtrack for, but it's not so annoying as to make your ears bleed. Also, the game features voice acting during some (but not all) dialogue. The voice acting is decent, and there was no one whose voice I really hated.

Characters (10/10): Yes, I know these characters are basically stereotypes; you've got the innocent, naive female character, the tough-acting mercenary, the strong, noble beast-man, etc. Even though I realized I had seen all this before, they didn't feel like stereotypes to me. The fresh interesting dialogue really made me fall in love with these characters. There was never a point in which I said, "gee, these people bore me". Personally, I think Ryudo steals the show. I know some people won't like his pessimism and sarcastic wit, but personally, I found his comments to be really funny.

Story (9/10): You start the game as a cold-hearted mercenary who takes a job escorting a young naive girl to a tower to perform a religious ceremony. Along the way, ancient evil is released and you discover the truth behind the ruling religion, etc. Sound familiar? Just like the characters, the story, too, has been done before. However, I still felt that the story was very interesting and entertaining, even if you may have an idea of what's going to happen next. Grandia 2 does a good job of re-telling this archetypal RPG story, such that it feels fresh and interesting. Plus, for an "already-done" plotline, at least it's more interesting than most.

Battle System (10/10): Grandia 2' battle system is more complex than your average turn-based affair. You actually have to factor in things such as range of spells/attacks and timing of attacks. There is a small bar at the bottom of the screen that tells when you or the enemy will take their turn, if you do certain attacks and hit the enemy while they are in the red section of the bar, it will cancel their attack, forcing them to wait longer to get off a move. This works in reverse, too, of course. This system really adds more depth to the gameplay. Another plus to the battle system is that your characters will move around on the screen during battle, eliminating the "let's all line up and attack" feel of other turn-based games (by the way, I'm not bothered by attacking in lines, but others may enjoy getting away from that). Also, because you move around and spells and attacks have ranges, factoring in how close you are to the enemy and how bunched together the enemies are (which means you can hit them all with one spell) is important. Overall, I found the battle system to be fun and interesting.

Gameplay (7/10): This is a bit of a catch-all category for me. Let's see... I really enjoyed the "meal conversations". This is where the character's are further developed by allowing you to choose people to talk to while having dinner. I feel this aspect really does enhance character development. On another note, the linearity of the game really hampers it. You can't ever backtrack to previous places past the last two places you visited. Even if there is no logical reason you couldn't return to the first town you were in (not like it was destroyed or anything) the game never allows you to. In fact, you don't have free travel even by the time you get to the end of the game. That, and the fact that the world map is a point and click to the next place sort of deal, might turn people off. There's also a disturbing lack of sidequests and mini-games available. I recall there only being one side dungeon and one minigame. Hmmm... The menus and controls are fine, and other than the points I've already mentioned, there's really nothing else that's note-worthy.

Overall (8/10): NOTE this score is not an average, it's my subjective overall score. Personally, I derived great enjoyment out of this game despite its flaws. It would have a perfect score if it weren't for the lack of sidequests and the linearity. Whether you not these limitations will prevent your enjoyment of the game is a matter of your own personal preferences, but I found the overall Grandia 2 experience to be worthwhile.

One of the best Grandia games ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I thought Grandia was a blast, but Grandia 2 proves the same fun as the first one. The main characer is a hoot, and the other characters are just as enjoyable.

I enjoyed the mana egg system in this game, instead of running around looking for them, like you did in the first game, you get one that you can power up and learn new spells. :D

The story is great, it's dinamic and keeps you in tune with the game. The theme around it was unique too, making this game the best, so far, in the series!

With a dinamic story, rememberable characters, and fun magic,talents,abilities level up system this game is sure to be a wonderful sucessor to Grandia.

Good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

From what I've experienced in this game, it is rather a great game despite the slightly aging graphics. What holds you on for more is the actual storyline which can give you a good 30-35 hours of gameplay.

It may be a port from the Dreamcast version but it still holds up rather well storywise like Final Fantasy 7.

Yet another Rip Off

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: July 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Again just like final fantasy VII dont spend tons of money when you can get the very same game for only 12.99 at gamestop.

I dont understand why people post this for 50 and 60 bucks..
Its an old game, yet a very good game.

If you wanna save money go to a game store and buy these hard to find games, cause on here they just want your money.

I liked it, but it had the worst ending ever.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game was pretty amusing.

Had some funny moments, good costumes, generic characters you've come to fall in love with (Millenia and Elana or basically Tenchi's Ryoko and Ayeka).

Enjoyed the scenery, don't recall the gameplay too strongly, but that didn't stop me from beating it.

I give it 4 stars overall because remembering this game gives me a sense of euphoria and quaintness, which are two things a game should always leave you with.

But I wish I didn't beat it.
The ending was terrible.

MILLENIA: I think I see what I have to do now.
(Sprouts wings)

ELANA: What...about me?

MILLENIA: Don't you get it by now?

ELANA: Of...of course (sprouts wings).

That's around the point I was a bit sad.
That's just as bad as the cheesy ending in Jade Coccoon.

Grandia II

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have Grandia II for both PS2 and Dreamcast and have enjoyed this game imensly. Since i'm a younger, not so advid gamer, it could be challenging at times.

The graffics are great compared to alot of RPGS that came out around the time grandia II did and most of the music seemed to fit the game. I noticed that many of the scenes look the same in for example, Roan's fathers castle where you go into the dungeon-like area, and it's easy to get confused on which way to go next if you have to stop playing for some reason.

The charricters were all great and felt like friends but Millenia wasn't used enough in my opinion.

The battle scenes were exellent in graffics and very intence during boss battles making you feel as though your life depended on defeating them.

Ideal for RPG beginers

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have passed this game playing it when I can. Took me about a month and there are a few things that I noticed in this game that kepted me from enjoying it.

First, the compass within the game is useless. If there is a logical way to understand it then I'm at a loss. I bought a used copy and so there were no manual associated with this game but a compass is a compass and I had a hard time knowing where I was heading and where I already was.

Second, the game lags a lot. Walk into a town and you will notice a lot of eye candy but then you start to walk around and your running speed is that of a normal walk. The camera angles in towns and dungeons were also very restrictive, not allowing me to see what is on the other side of the street because a tall building was blocking my view of what is underneath it.

Third, I would like to mention that this game is very easy. There is no need to draw out maps or anything and hardly any needs to fear exploration. This is because there is about 2 save points that allows free restoration in each location. One is at the start and the other is right before a hard part. What smart players are going to do is clear the whole map and then go for a heal before meeting the boss. There is no need to be efficient about your magic since you can easily restore it.

The game, I believe was made for beginners. There is an auto-fight command but there is very little need for it since there is little need to level your characters up. The only use for this auto-fight command that I can think of is if you wish to accumulate a lot of money to buy the best set of armor that the current town sells to stay within level of the monsters (or if you didn't find the 500 gold treasure box within the map.

COOLER ACTION-PACKED RPG but lacks fun!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I remember the first Grandia. It had SOO MUCH FUN and ADVENTURE!!! The characters could crawl inside the air ducks, fly in the sky to get to the evil skyship, runing on a railroad, escaping from the big explotion of the skyship, hiding in a boat, breaking a fast runing train so the bad guys couldn't get them, sailing alone in the sea, escaping from prision, climbing a gigantic wall and spying from the roofs.
BUT the game had bad graphics, stupid characters, terrible voice acting, so so powers and a very childist style.

This game improved the graphics to 3D, the powers were SOOO COOOL and very well animated like Final fantasy 7, the characters are even COOLER like Chrono Trigger but not like Akira Toriyama style and the voices were SOO MUCH BETTER.
BUT this game doesn't have to much fun and adventure like the first Grandia.

Just imagine the RPG Chrono Trigger with good 3D graphics, predictable story and without cool fun adventure. This game concentrate only on the action! but is one of the BEST ACTION-PACKED RPGS I EVER PLAYED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adios.

The Grandia Legend

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've played all three Grandias to date and this one has the best story (which people say FFX ripped off its story from). The long, difficult journey of Ryudo, Elena, Millenia, Roan, Mareg and Tio is a memorable one packed with sweet cinematics and awesome battles. The battles are made even more fun thanks to the power up system. Using special and magic coins to improve special attacks, magic and skill books makes for an RPG that relies heavily on preparation to ease the extreme difficulty of the bosses. Basically the more you power up, the better off your group will be.

Speaking of which, the original Grandia 2 on Dreamcast didn't have the cinematics that this version does. They're great eye-pleasing masterpieces. Some of the spells and special moves are also cinematized and man, do they rule! Only a few of the moves and magic in Grandia Extreme look this good. The voice acting is nice too and each character has the best suited man or woman for the job.

However, the game has its faults. This mostly comes from the lagging that happens due to the PS2 having to process such massive amounts of data in towns and dungeons. The text speed isn't much better. Just be advised of these problems or you might quit the game too soon because of them. I really don't mind the way everyone looks in the game with their simple "eyes only" faces (I draw like that myself!). The leveling up is fun and makes this Grandia the most entertaining of the three. If you want EVERYTHING including all the equipment, magic, books and items as well as intense power training, you're looking at over 40 hours of gameplay.

You won't hate this Grandia. It's a treasure among RPGs!

A Mixture of Great Things!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

More than just a few good Sonic games came from the Dreamcast. Grandia II, a compelling RPG by Game Arts is not only for the Dreamcast anymore, but also Playstation 2 and PC. The Playstation 2 version also includes all new, never seen before cinematics. If that's not enough, it's certainly okay because Grandia II has much more to offer.

First of all the battle system: I find many RPGs to be quite similar to one another. Their battle system is overall the same. This is not the case for Grandia II. It is a mixture of active time and turn base battle. There is one time bar that enemies and allies share. Everyone has his or her own icon on that bar. When they reach a certain point on the bar, a menu appears for that character. This is when the turn base battle takes place. You can take as long as you like to carefully choose your attack. Pick the correct attack and you could even destroy the enemy or send them back to the beginning of the time bar.
Overall, the battle system makes this game unique and addicting. Not only that, but the much dreaded "random battles" is eliminated. You see the enemies before you go into battle with them. And if you wish, many times you can simply run from them.

Next, the graphics and sound: In Grandia II, there is voice acting during many of the cutscenes. Voices are also heard during battle. I find them to be well done unlike some of the cheesy dialog in games. It's not the best voice acting around, but certainly didn't make me cringe as much as in the first Grandia. The graphics are also done well in the 3D world. Everything is colorful and carefully done.
The only complaint I have in this category is some of the battle animations were long and drawn out for what they were. Even the skill of poison had a long animation.

Finally, the story: I think that every RPG needs to have a decent story. Grandia II definitely has a deep story. It starts out with Ryudo the GeoHound and his bird companion Skye. They meet up with the talented vocalist named Elena, (part of the Sisters of Granas) who needs to be escorted to another location. From then on, the story unfolds. The story touches a lot on being yourself, the lighter side of evil, a church betrayal, love triangles, and alter egos. Even if it is a little predicting, it is still satisfying.

Pros:
Innovative and addicting battle system
Wonderful 3D graphics
Great level up system for skills
Great story and characters

Cons:

Seemed pretty short, (took me 34 hours to complete)
Long battle animations

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