Grandia II

"A Great Game, but can it measure up to the Original?"

Grandia II is nothing like the first Grandia, save for a few familiar musical tunes and the battle game play. Nothing wrong with that, it is still a good game in itself. Though when I have to make a decision, I would say that I like the first Grandia better. The characters are much more memorable in the first Grandia, and the storyline intrigued me much more. So if you are looking for some sort of extended video game gratification from the first Grandia, you might be a bit disappointed.

Graphics/art - 6/10
Though there is no comparison with say, Final Fantasy X or whatever RPG with the top graphics of today, Grandia II is not all that bad. There isn't as much sophistication in the graphics, with every room in a dungeon looking almost the same, but the colors are very bright and lively, and the images clear-cut. A little blockiness still exists, but everything looks very clean. I do have to say, however, at the start of the game the scenery looks very plain and empty. As the story goes on, the decor of the game improves very much so. The characters look very blocky with even no mouths, but I'm ok with that since in my personal opinion is that that adds to the ''chibiness'' and ''fun'' of the game. (If you understand what I mean)
There are many cut scenes where the games go to outside cartoon animation and outside computer animation. These scenes usually are descriptive; telling the player what something is suppose to look like. The art in this is splendid and very captivating. Though there aren't many of these scenes, the few that are there are very wonderful. I do have to complain, however, that a few of these cut-scenes are extremely blocky and horrid to look at. It almost seem like it belongs in the sega genesis rather than the PS2. But over all the art is great. One BIG complaint I have is the frame rate in this game. It can be absolutely TERRIBLE at times where there is a lot going on. There can be points when the characters are running and it seems like they are slowly galloping through a field of flowers. EVERYTHING slows down. It can be VERY annoying and frustrating.

Game play/controls/Battle System - 9/10
This is where Grandia really hits the spot! The game play, controls, and battle system are all A+! First the controls. Easy as cake! You run wherever the joystick is pointed to and you can adjust the camera angle with L1 and L2. It is so handy when you want to look around a corner or see what's ahead of you. The menu and options for the game is also superb, much better than the first Grandia. Here you earn coins to level up your skills and among other things. You can also level up ''mana eggs'' which contains magic spells or ''skill books'' which improves your characters' status. There is so much you can do and customization is wonderful since you have full control on who gets what spell and what each character¡¦s full potentials are. It is very fun and a great improvement of the first Grandia.
What's even better is the battle system. It is the exact same thing as the first Grandia, and I think the Grandia's have the absolute best battle system ever in any RPG. There is a meter on the bottom right hand corner of the screen and two thirds of the way from the beginning of the meter there is a ''command'' point. When your character icon reaches the ''command'' point, you can thus activate an execution. When the character icon reaches the end of the meter, the execution is delivered from your character. Very fun indeed. You can also equip items or level up to improve the speed at which your character moves on the meter. The best battle system I have ever experienced, Great fun. You can also monitor the enemies' movement on the meter and make a judgment call on whether to launch a combo attack or a critical attack or a magic spell. The battle stage is on a 3-D platform, and the way the characters move around to get to or far from an enemy is crucial. Great battle system, I love it!

Story Line/Characters - 7/10
Now I am going to try my hardest not to compare the characters in this game to the characters in the first Grandia, but to some extent I must. The characters from the first Grandia I loved. They were very original, crafted with such uniqueness. They were adventurous and their optimistic attitudes really gave the game a push. There was always a mystery to get at or an adventure to conquer. It was great. Though Grandia II tries to capture some of those feelings, it goes off into another direction. This game is more of a spiritual examination, discovering the heart of the human soul and glamorization of humanity. Now I'm not trying to get all theoretical; hey, to many of you it is just a game. And very well it should be. But you cannot escape the symbolism and deeper meanings this game presents. The first Grandia also includes a lot of the same teachings as Grandia II, (hope is in humanity, nothing can beat the human heart and will, etc) but Grandia II seem to really go out of its way to emphasize on things much much more.
Now the charcters in Grandia II do have distinct personalities, but they are much more ''run of the mill'' and stereotypical. There is the main character boy with a terrible past and is cold and harsh towards others, a clueless robot doll that has yet to learn the true feelings of a heart, etc etc. Even with this formula it is not impossible to make a decent and original story, but it is a lot harder. Again and again you cannot help but feel like, ''haven't I heard this story somewhere?''
The story they go through is pretty decent. There are a lot of mysteries that you ache to know the truth to, and the twist and turns in the story keeps you hooked. The first Grandia was more carefree and easy going, but Grandia II is more rigid and there are many times when you felt like you were sitting through a sermon about humanity¡¦s will. Over all, even with the predictable characters, the story is still interesting enough to keep you involved.

Sound/Music/Voice Acting ¡V 9/10
The voice acting is not all that bad, to tell you the truth. I have heard much worse. The voice acting is not all bad, but honestly not all that great either. They did a pretty good job fitting the right voice, I cannot complain. The sound is average. Not too much to talk about. A few boings and dings here and there, it is all good. The music, I am surprised to say, really was great! Though at times it repeated itself in a continuous loop and can drive you crazy, over all the music composition was wonderful! The tunes set the mood (a few coming from the first Grandia), and I actually found myself humming at times to the songs! Call me crazy, but I just might get the soundtrack to this game. Over all great.

Conclusion ¡V
Grandia II is a good game for those people that just like to have a good time fighting in RPG battles. If you do not like to take storylines to heart, you can easily overlook the spiels and whatnot. Do not count on anything remotely similar to the first Grandia, otherwise you will be greatly disappointed. This game is great casual fun with magnificent battle systems.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/23/02, Updated 11/23/02