Grandia II

"The Grandia series suffers from a "sophmore slide" in this inferior sequel"

When UBI Soft released Grandia II for the Dreamcast in late 2000, it was special for two main reasons. For one, it was the first true epic RPG for the system. And second of all, it was the sequel to a game that many hardcore RPG fans held close to their hearts. When Game Arts (the Japanese company responsible for the game) announced that it was headed for the PS2, I was very happy. I had never played the DC version, and was a big fan of the original Grandia since it first debuted on the Sega Saturn. Unfortunately, Grandia II is not exactly the sequel I had in mind. I also think this game will seem less special on the PS2, now that it is in the same company as Final Fantasy X.

Grandia II puts you in the shoes of Ryudo, a young man who makes his living as a Geohound (It's kind of like a mercenary who will do just about any job as long as the price is right). When the game begins, Ryudo is summoned to the village of Carbo. The Church of Granas has sent asked for him, because they need Ryudo to guide a young songstress named Elena into the monster-infested forest nearby, where a sacred ceremony is to take place. Never refusing a chance to make money, Ryudo reluctantly takes the job, though he finds it suspicious that the church would hire him for such a simple task.

Ryudo leads Elena into the forest to an old tower where the other women participating in the ceremony are waiting for Elena. They take Elena inside to begin the ceremony, and tell Ryudo to stay outside. Hours pass, and Ryudo begins to become impatient as it begins to turn dark outside. All of a sudden, he hears a scream from within the tower. Ryudo heads inside the tower, only to find it crawling with monsters. When he reaches the top of the tower where the ceremony was being held, he finds all of the women dead, except for Elena. However, Elena has a strange light glowing from her. Ryudo takes Elena, and makes his escape, not looking back.

When they return to Carbo, Ryudo finds out from the head priest of the church that the ceremony was intended to seal away Valmar, the God of Darkness, who is prophesized to be reborn on their world. However, something went wrong, and now Elena has been possessed by a part of Valmar. The piece of Valmar within Elena will continue to suck away her energy until she ultimately dies. The priest pleads that Ryudo take Elena to see a priest that can cure her of the deadly curse. So, Ryudo is now forced to accept a mission that he originally thinks has nothing to do with him. Little does he realize, this mission will force him to confront a past he would like to forget.

And so begins Grandia II. One of the main things that made the original Grandia stand out was its brilliant battle system. Game Arts has wisely not messed with the formula. Just like before, you can see enemies on the map, and how you approach them determines who gets the upper hand when the battle begins. If you surprise an enemy or touch them from behind, you get the initiative in battle. However, if the enemy surprises you, they get a head start on you.

Grandia II's battle system is best described as turn-based with an action emphasis. Your characters and the enemies are located on a large battlefield. At the bottom of the screen is an IP Gauge, which determines the order that a character (both allies and enemies) will act. Each character is represented by a small icon on the Gauge that makes its way left to right. When the icon reaches the ''COM'' (Command) point of the Gauge, you can input your character's command. (Attacking, items, magic, etc.) The speed of your icon to reach the ''COM'' point is determined by your character's Agility stat. Your character will then perform his or her action when their icon reaches the ''ACT'' (Action) point of the Gauge.

Another part of the battle strategy is character placement. If your character is too far away from an enemy, he or she might spend his entire turn running across the field in order to reach the monster. Your characters have a limited field of movement, so if they can't reach the enemy in time, they'll have wasted their turn. With the fact paced action, and the slight emphasis on strategy, Grandia II's battles are definitely the most fun part of the game.

In other areas of gameplay, Grandia II is a bit more true to RPG traditions. Your characters grow through the standard system of leveling up by winning successful battles. But, they also grow through Special and Magic Coins that can be found. Special Coins are used to power up skills and tactics, while Magic Coins power up your spells (obviously). You can also learn new spells and skills with these coins.

During your quest, you find Skill Books. When you equip these books to a character, they will learn the special skills and spells within. You then use the coins to either power up the skills you have, or earn new ones. You also earn new skills by leveling up your characters. You can only have a skill equipped to one character at a time, however, so be careful in choosing who gets what.

Well, an RPG can have the best gameplay in the world, but without an interesting storyline, it's not going to work. Game Arts has always been known for their deep and involving storylines with their past RPGs, so I came into this game with high hopes. Unfortunately, I walked away somewhat disappointing. For one, the characters are not very interesting. Take Ryudo, for example. He starts out as a cold, sarcastic jerk who ridicules just about anyone and everyone. (One of my favorite moments is when the priest is talking to him about Elena's curse, and Ryudo says, ''I'm sorry, were you waiting for me to give a damn''?) However, as the game goes on, Ryudo suddenly begins to develop feelings for Elena, and softens up his personality. Problem is, there's never any real explanation as to why he goes through this change. It's almost like Ryudo knows he's supposed to care for Elena, because she's the female lead, so he just does it because it's expected.

Another problem I have is with the story itself. It's just not as interesting and fun as the original Grandia. Grandia was a story of discovery, adventure, and the hero finding himself. Grandia II tries to be a bit more serious and melodramatic (Game Arts was trying for a much ''darker and serious'' story than the original), but it just doesn't work out. The story's central theme of ''we don't need ancient power to defeat evil as long as we have each other, and believe in ourselves'' seems to be lifted directly out of Game Art's Lunar: Eternal Blue. The game's script does have its moments, and is generally well written, but I just found it hard to get excited about the story it was trying to tell.

Now we move onto the graphics, which is the one area that many critics and game players have complained about. They say that the graphics in the PS2 version don't even compare to the Dreamcast version. Now, I have not played the Dreamcast rendition, so I cannot officially comment. But, based on what I see, I don't see anything too awful. Grandia II's graphics are comprised entirely of polygonal characters on 3D rotatable backgrounds. The character sprites are fairly large and detailed, the areas you explore are well designed and feature their own unique look and style, and the game has a good use of color. The game even features some impressive CGI during cinemas and when your characters summon a powerful spell in battle. I don't know, maybe I'd be harder on the game if I had played the DC version, but I didn't see anything awful graphics-wise.

The music in this game is very good, but nothing memorable. The tracks range from fast-paced, heavily synthesized tunes during battle, to soothing symphonic-like melodies. The music covers a wide range of styles, and usually always fits the scene it's accompanied by. It's pleasant to listen to, but not exactly anything I'll be seeking out the soundtrack for.

However, the big deal in the sound department is voice. As just about anyone who played the original Grandia knows, the first game suffered from a horrible dubbing done by Sony of America. UBI Soft knew this, and so they decided to hire professional US voice actors to perform the game's dialogue. These include Cam Clarke (the Ninja Turtles cartoon, Metal Gear Solid, and the original 1980s dub of the anime film Akira), Jodi Benson (best known as the voice of The Little Mermaid), and Jennifer Hale (the original Fox Spider-Man cartoon that was on in the 90s). I admit, the acting is much better than the first game, but I still found it kind of cheesy. For one thing, Jodi Benson's performance as Millenia seems wrong. Her character is supposed to be a wild free spirit, and although she obviously tries, I still thought her performance was a bit subdued. Another thing that prevents you from enjoying the performances is the fact that the music often drowns out the dialogue, so it can sometimes be hard to hear. Overall, I think they had the right idea, but it just did not work out.

In the end, I just did not enjoy this game as much as the first Grandia. The story did not hook me, and I did not like the characters as much as the ones in the original. Another problem I have with this game is the horrible slowdown problem. In towns, and sometimes in battle, the game will slow down when there are a lot of characters on screen at once. Just wait until you reach a heavily populated city like Liligue. With all the activity and the people, the game literally slows down to a crawl the whole time you're there.

Another problem I have is with the game's insanely massive and complex dungeons. They're just not a lot of fun, and they become an exercise in tediousness. Yes, you get a compass that points you in the right direction, but it still seems to take much longer than it should to find your way through. The original Grandia had massive dungeons too, but for some reason, I thought they were more fun. Grandia II's dungeons just are not as well designed.

Grandia II is not a terrible RPG. It's just greatly disappointing, especially after how much fun the original was. I think Game Arts' first mistake was to give the game a more serious tone. The light-hearted, humorous feel of Grandia was one of the things that initially attracted me to it. Game Arts and UBI Soft put up a good effort with Grandia II, but the game just does not feel as ''fun'' as before.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/07/02, Updated 06/09/03