Grandia II

"The awesome story makes up for this sloppy port"

Grandia II is the sequel to one of my favorite games of all time, Grandia. While this game has more of an adult theme to it, it still is tons of fun. The PS2 port of this game is horribly sloppy. Read on to find out why...

Story 10/10
Amazing. While it has your basic, small town guy, meets girl, goes on quest to save world feel, it has so many twists you can forget what's going on.(a good thing in this case)The story starts out with Ryudo a geohound(bounty hunter thing)who takes a job to escort a songstress, Elena, the heroine to a cathedral a long way away. While on there adventures they learn of battles of good and evil between Granas(good god)and Valmar(bad god)The story is excellent. For every new character that joins your party a new part of the story unravels. Absolutely wonderful.

Graphics 7/10
This game would have received a 10 out of 10 if Game Arts did not make such a sloppy port. The graphics while casting some spells will be over your characters instead of under them or half of a rotating circle instead of a full circle. While it takes nothing from the game itself, it takes away a bit of the battling experience. The other problem with the graphics is on a lead character, Pope Zera. When you meet him for the first time the back of his robe will just keep changing colors and flashing. Its enough to make you want to pick up a rifle and shoot your PS2 three times.

Control 9/10
Nearly perfect but slowdown in some areas is just horrific. It makes you feel like you not holding down run when you are. The average gamer will not notice this so that's why I only deducted one point.

Gameplay 10/10
Holy Cow! Grandia's battle system is back with better ways to do stuff. Now instead of that annoying magic leveling up system in the first Grandia you know use magic coins and special coins to level up your moves and magic. You also get to use mana eggs as a way to use magic not a way to spend to learn a kind of magic. And in this battle system it is actually possible to cancel enemies unlike in Grandia. The battle system is so unique it will leave games like Final Fantasy looking like a 3DO system. You got to play it to believe it.

Replay Value 8/10
The only extra is that all items are placed in different areas after you beat it for the first time. The real reason to play it again is because it is an awesome game and a lot of fun.

Buy or Rent?
BUY BUY BUY BUY!! I can't say it enough. But if you do plan on renting, also plan on renting it more than once to beat it, its 35+ hours.

This is one awesome game. Pick it up, Play it, Beat it, Play it gain. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/01/02, Updated 06/14/03