Grandia II

"A problematic port from the DC which you'll love or hate."

It seems all RPG is lost until Grandia II came to the Dreamcast. How does it fare? Most surprisingly, I'm very happy and very pleased with this game.

Find my quote above familiar? Well, if you're a fan of my reviews, then you should be aware that this quote was taken from my DC- Grandia II review.

Now PS2 users will rejoice! Why? Because the game has been released for the PS2! But how does it fare? Is it an excellent translation port from the Dreamcast? Or is it a terrible port which hurts the players?

Master LL is about to find out...

NOTE: Since this is going to be a nice ''comparison'' to the DC version, on each rating.. I will place the Dreamcast grade in italics so you can tell what I gave the DC version. Also, read my DC- Grandia 2 review to see how great this game is!

- CATEGORY- [PS2 grade / DC grade]

-GAMEPLAY/STORYLINE- [06 / 08]
Story-wise, it's nothing you've never heard of before. It's the same GOOD vs EVIL.. but with some nice plot and twists. What makes the storyline interesting is the twists AND character developments which keeps the interests in the player's mind (you'll WANT to know what happens).

Gameplay, it's very simple to learn and such. Unfortunately, puzzles are not what you expect. Most are fairly simple and the rest are too easy. What makes the game challenging is probably the BATTLE SYSTEM. Unfortunately there is a downside to this port.. in some battles and cities.. there are MAJOR SLOWDOWN which really hurts the gameplay. Why is there slowdown when it didn't exist in the DC version?!

-CONTROLS- [08 / 09]
It has great controls, which shouldn't give you any problems at all. The only complaint is that the Equipping screen and such could've been implanted better or easier to organize. Also, while the controls are basically the SAME as the DC version, the response time isn't as ''quick'' as the DC.. BUT it will NOT hinder any gameplay at all.

-GRAPHICS- [07 / 09]
For a game like this.. I'm surprised that Game Arts used lots of polygons in the game! Characters and enemies are greatly detailed and even the battles are very smooth with good details! With a good and unusual style of CG and animation mix in the battle system (spell and technique casting) it looks very compatible AND improved from the DC version. There ARE problems with the graphics though: color programs, graphical popups, glitches and more.

-MUSIC/SFX- [06 / 08]
The music, although is not something you'll remember for a long time (like Aerith's theme or Celes's Opera House Song), the songs here are great and lovable. From Cancao do povo to A Deus, from the battle theme to the town themes... they are well composed. What's best is the dubbing of the voices! It's VERY good and well spoken.. plus it's something that will NOT hurt your ears! Unfortunately, the SFX has problems which happened on some of the various copies I have. Some copies will play a SFX ''out of nowhere'' while others seems to have it's volume increased by 3x which will cause annoyance or hearing problems.

-REPLAY- [07 / 07]
The only 2 problems with this game is the linear gameplay and lack of challenges. You can barely go anywhere in this game, especially when going to a different legion. You're usually limited to SOME places you can choose to go.. but regardless, it's always the same path. For challenges, it's too low thanks to the abusive save cones that's posted at nearly every area.. which you can keep healing and saving. This game maybe good enough to play again due to it's FUN battle system and storyline.. also to see if you can beat it with a higher challenge (like NOT using the Save Cone to recover at all!).

-THE FINAL GRADE- 04 {OK for PS2} / 09 {HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for DC}
My best advice is the RENT first. If you like it, then you buy it. While the difficulty in beating the game is low, it makes up for the plot, fun battle system and music. The music is also great to listen to although it isn't what I would consider the best ever. Unfortunately the port for the PS2 version isn't quite to what gamers expected. Problems with graphical glitches, constant SFX problems and MAJOR SLOWDOWN. Last, the game will probably take around 30-50 hours depending if you like to level up a lot or don't. Oh yea, there are about 3 bosses that can be hard.. if you're not prepared to fight it AND have a good strategy to kill it (so it isn't that 100% super easy ^-^).

Luckily, for those who NEVER played the game.. try it out and you'll probably gain a good love for the game (since you never played the DC version.. so the problems will not effect you that dramatic unlike a DC user)! As for those who already did played it on the DC.. don't try playing it.. you'll most likely cry from the terrible problems this game has compared to the DC version.

For me, I tried, believe me, I tried... I just couldn't stand the problems I've experienced after exchanging over 3 copies of the PS2 port. IF Ubisoft did a better job in porting it to the PS2, I wouldn't be disappointed right now. It's just not fun.. and was annoyed too by the problems.

Overall Summery for PS2 version [+/-]
+ Battle System (#1 best battle system in my book now)
+ Characters Development (Good plot development between the 2 main characters)
+ Plot Development (some nice twists)
+ Music/Voice acting
- Save Cones abusive
- Easy to Under Average difficulty
- Linear Short game (30-35 hours average)
- SFX popping & loud volume problems (Varies on each PS2 disk)
- Graphical glitches & color problems (Varies on each PS2 disk)
- Major Slowdown (Varies on each PS2 disk)

NOTE: I stated ''Varies on each PS2 disk'' because I have tried over 3 copies of Grandia 2.. and each has some or all of the problems.

Master LL- thinks UbiSoft did a terrible port for the PS2!

Grade Scale (01-10):
01- Avoid like plague
05- Average
10- Perfect

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 02/01/02, Updated 02/01/02