Grandia II

"Very good RPG that offer's a console point of view in a PC world"

Not many would argue that a Role Playing Game on a PC varies significantly that those found on a console, but perhaps a PC RPGer would aruge that console games are child's play, or mundane; on the other hand a Console RPGer would argue that it takes an act of the Lord to understand the in's and out's of a PC RPG. Enter Grandia 2.

Grandia 2 is not going to win any fans over from the PC style of RPG games; however, it does offer great humor and an all around good taste in fun. It's simple, easy to play and is an RPG that doesn't involve $10.99 a month to play..

Grandia 2, like it's name implies is a sequel;however, one needs not know anything about the first game in order to enjoy the 2nd. Perhaps this is a good thing, since the Grandia 1 was never ported over to the PC.

GAMEPLAY-

The game consists of two views. The overworld sequence, and the battle sequence. Of the two, the battle's look much better graphicly. In the overworld view, you talk to people with a simple swipe of the keyboard(Z by default). I won't lie, their isn't much to really do outside of talk to people; the random event of being able to push things over for what seems to be no reason is neat. I made it a point to knock over every hat rack in every house I walked into. This was to mark my territory.
The battle sequences are quite intresting and definatly the heart of Grandia 2. Picture a big circle in your head, now in that circle you have 2 dots, both located at opposite ends of the circle. One dot being you(Ryudo), and the other being the monster. You have a gauge at the bottom right hand corner of the screen that when full, Ryudo will run and attack the monster either by using a combo of attacks or by using a ''critical'' attack*the player chooses obviously*. This all occur's in one big circle. Of coarse their's swordplay and magic involved in the game, and while the spell effects can look a little blurry they are far from bad. That's basically how Grandia 2 plays. Now as you move along in the game the circle gets bigger and bigger as more and more monsters(dots) are added.

The ability to save is far and few between, so if you've never played a Console RPG, remember that youre playing a game that you cannot save anytime you wish.

SOUND

Well Grandia 2 true to it's name is a console RPG. UbiSoft decided to go with the basic ''happy go lucky'' tunes. Not that I wasn't impressed, it fit the mood just fine. And honestly if asked to do better, I couldn't. I did pay special intrest to the battle music however, obviously since most of the game is spent fighting.

Walking around town has never been more painful though. The footsteps are very loud. Actually, ridicously loud. Also while walking around towns doors tend to open and shut, fast. Needless to say, this is just as loud as the footsteps. This is obviously bearable, though I would advise turning the volume down.

Ahh alas however, turning the volume down would involve missing one of the finer points of the game, that finer point? Cam Clake! Who is this person you may ask?(go ahead), For you console buffs out their, Cam Clake was Liquid Snake from Metal Gear Solid. Great job by UbiSoft getting Cam Clarke in the game. His voice is a welcome addition to the Grandia universe. The voice overs themselves were entertaining as well. Definatly a good thing.

GRAPHICS

Lets get one thing straight, Grandia 2 was ported from a console(Dreamcast, then it hit the PS2)..so the graphics are going to be about as good as they would be on a dreamcast. If youre expecting to use Pixel Shaders/Vertex Shaders or DOT 3 Bump Mapping, well..this game is probably not for you.

It does offer great low res 3D graphics, and I have to say that the backrounds in shops were stunning. The actual dungeon maps left a little to be desired, but when it comes down to it, they aren't bad by any means. Just go into it expecting decent graphics and I do not think you will be dissapointed. Though it should be said this game requires no more than a AMD Duron 650mhz(= to a Intel 400) to run properly.(assuming you have a decent graphics card).

Perhaps as well Grandia 2 should be given a special award for portaying great looking characters without a mouth..yes I kid you not, nobody has a mouth. I'm not going to knock the game for that, if anything I find it very neat to say the least.

Unfortuantly, Grandia 2 gets the bad JuJu award for not including an options screen to adjust the sound manually. This is a horrible exclusion. Hopefully this can be addressed with a patch in the future.

STORY

I'm not one to spoil anything, but basically the story involes youre classic console RPG tale. Man(in this case Ryudo) wants nothing but money, meets girl..does not get along with girl..and well you see where I'm going? Also something about fighting the forces of evil, and pizza. No wait, that pizza had nothing to do with the game. It's enjoyable, just do not take the story very seriously.

Overall, I think Grandia 2 is a great game. That coming from a hardcore PC gamer. The games pretty long at about 30 hours if you want to level up your fighter or not. Though the game is pretty linerar it does portay a great sence of fun. And since comapies seem to forget about the fun factor, I give this game a 9. Good job Ubisoft.

Pros-
Good battle sequences
Decent length of the game
Funny dialoge
Cam Clake being in the game gets 5 points alone.

Cons-
Linear
Very easy(though this could be good to)
No improvements graphically over the Dreamcast version
Footstep and door sounds!!!!!
No option screen for tweaking.

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Sytem Grandia 2 was Reviewed on

Amd Athlon XP 1600+ (1416)
ATI Radeon 8500(128ddr)---(9013 Drivers)
Asus A7v-266-E
512 DDR (Micron)
Sound Blaster Audigy

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/02, Updated 03/20/02