Grandia II

"Not perfect - But still a quality port of a solid game."

I only played the PS2 version. But if you played Star Ocean 2 for PSX - you know that some copies of that game had a flaw which made the screen go black after some battles, which required reset.

Likewise, SOME copies of Grandia II's port on PS2 - during gameplay do get an occasional faded menu, unpainted character, or get stuck [seldomly] during a fight.

These are rare, and hardly justify calling this a horrible port.

Now, as to my review. I rated this game overall as 'solid', because considering the PS2's abundance of resources - Grandia II looks, sounds, and feels much, much more like a PSX game. Otherwise I would have rated it as 'great'.

It barely holds its own on PS2, graphic wise. The DC's power is arguably less than PS2, so that may have had something to do with it. Here's my criteria by criteria breakdown of the game --

GRAPHICS - 6/10

This is a PS2 game now - port or not. It is certainly capable of much better. It is not unreasonable to expect the company to 'up the ante' a notch or two, for such an upward port. They could have, but unfortunately they didn't.

We PS2ers were probably too impatient - so they rushed it.

SOUND - 8.5/10

Great, especially the battle music. Some of the town themes too. But not quite Squaresoft quality [my standard].

CONTROL - 8/10

It IS Analog controllable, but you cannot customize the button arrangement. Also, the [start] button is the one for the menu. Why?

GAMEPLAY - 9/10

Grandia I was a 10. Grandia II is good, but not quite as perfect as the original. Also, Grandia II didn't have analog camera movent. It's the analog age, folks.

STORY and PLOT - 8/10

At first, it's the typical good/evil, boy hero with a past, protects girl savior, type game. Soon, though, there are major plot twists -- and how. Pretty good.

CHARACTERS - 8/10

Ryuodo needs his butt kicked. He gets 7/10. Justin was more fun.

The other guys, and the girls are the most interesting characters in this game, as well as the wise talking pet-bird 'Skye'.

REPLAY VALUE - 5/10

An extremely linear game, with only one minor sidequest. There is some ability and magic customization - but that isn't so fun as to make one wish to tredge through the journey a second time.

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OVERALL - 8/10. Buy or Rent, whichever is cheaper.

You SHOULD NOT miss this game, though. Regardless of which system you prefer to play it on.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/02, Updated 02/21/02