Grandia II

"My name's Elena. I love all the animals."

From Ubi Soft comes this lazy turn-based role-playing game, ill-prepared for the likes of Final Fantasy 10 and Shadow Hearts.

The characters are overstereotyped. We've got Elena, the teenage songstress who has devoted her life to worshipping Granas. Boy must she look forward to every forthcoming day. OK, she's religious, so of course she is going to be caring and sensitive. But her purity and wholesomeness is so overwhelming that even Rain Man would scoff at her virginity. When she converses with people in the towns who've had some recent troubles, her compassion is so deep it looks phony. Not only that, but tough guys like me roll their eyes at such cacophony and pray that Ryudo would just deflower her, whether or not it's against Elena's wishes. She also sounds about six years old, not 17. I hate her.

Ryudo is a Geohound, Game Arts' name for mercenary. He meets Elena through work, serving as her bodyguard. The God of Darkness is revived, or almost, and they have to stop this evil doing. I'd reveal more of the story, but...that's pretty much it. Speaking of Ryudo, you may have noticed that his name is ''Ryu'' followed by ''do''. He also performs a technique called the ''Tenseiken Slash'' where he spins around, much like Ryu's Dragon Punch. Coincidence perhaps, or maybe the character designer has a certain fetish for Ryu and wanted to ''do'' him. And did I say ''Slash''?

Ryudo really is a cool guy. He's such a smartass with wisecracks sharper than Edward's scissorhands and the minor cursing now typical in RPGs. He is also more cynical than Jerec on a cold day. I like him a lot, and I'd probably hang out with him (Ryudo, not Jerec). And he has a wicked voice. He sounds like that dude from Denver the Last Dinosaur.

Roan is the third member to join the fight. He's a young prince with vocal cords more annoying than The Nanny. He, too, shows more compassion than anyone would comprehend. Through the story the King gets dethroned or killed and Roan becomes the new leader of Cyrum...and he's only 13. It's so asinine for those writers to expect me to believe that all those hard-ass soldiers would grovel and take orders from some dweeb with knee-high socks and buckled shoes whose lights they could easily punch out. I wouldn't. I hate Roan.

Mareg is a big guy with a tail and looks like a lion. His vocabulary doesn't feel totally fitting to his large, muscular body. One look at the beast-man and you'd swear he was late for training with the Dallas Cowboys or missing from the front row somewhere. He does say some nice proverbs though ''Just because the sun sets doesn't mean the day is over...'' type stuff. Don't really like Mareg though, but I'm sure a lot of football players would feel inspired by him.

Millenia is the only other character that entertained me. She's this...I think she's human. Much like Ryudo, Millenia is energetic and has an acid tongue. The actors portraying Ryudo and Millenia seem to have been the only ones happy with their paycheck. Tio, the last to join, is an Automata. A robot. Like Elena and Roan, she's more irritating than Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore. At one point where she first meets up with the clan all she says is ''I do not understand.'' It's brutal. The dialogue is torturously repetitive and Grandia 2 has one of those real corny plots that make you scrunch up your face and turn away from the TV in disgust. I lost track of how many times the words ''heart'' and ''emotions'' were said.

One of my most enjoyed moments was when Ryudo and Elena shared a kiss. It's comical to see two people without mouths do that sort of thing. It was more of an Eskimo kiss the way they pressed their faces against each other...except without the noses, too. Wonder if Ryudo got any tongue action. No, I guess too much work went into the character movement and animation for any facial detail. This is a Dreamcast game after all -- not that I'm making excuses, they really should have touched up the level of graphic detail. At least they have eyes though, unlike in The Granstream Saga where the protagonist had a permanent blank look on his face, even when he DID know what was going on.

The lack of variety in monsters really disappointed me. Creatures are used repeatedly across different dungeons and palettes are swapped, as usual (old habits die hard). The magic system is yet another area I didn't appreciate. Coins are earned after fights, which in turn are used to learn and/or upgrade any spells or moves you'd like. With role-playing games I am never really sure how far I've made it, so I was being really tight with the coins when I didn't have to be. Being a scrooge has its positives in games like Resident Evil. Not so for Grandia 2.

Spells are contained in eggs, and the eggs can be equipped on any character so that any character can use any spell. It sounds convenient, but it's really just a hassle I could've done without. I prefer the old-fashioned ''Level-up-and-take-whatever-spell-you-learn'' experience system. It's the same deal with the ''Adventure Books'' -- pay for stat-boosting upgrades, then apply them to whomever.

Battles take place using a time-based meter so that everyone takes their turn at a different time. Again, I prefer the old ''We attack, the you attack'' method because that way I can set my party all at once, giving me time to change the channel, pick my nose or whatever without having to rapid-fire the X button. The camera angle and position is fine in battles, but outside the ring it's far too close to the party to ever get a good idea of where you are, or where you're going. Even exploring the towns is confusing since houses, stores and inns are always the same colour.

The dialogue can really drag on, and cannot be hastened during the VERY frequent amount of plot advancements -- you know, where the party all spread out and talk by themselves? And they never say what you want them to say? Well, by making me read word-by-word it added around three hours to my game time so...I'm telling you this as a friend. It's a fast reader's nightmare.

Some of the music is moody and catchy, but most of it is forgettable. There are a lot of mistakes made, but the battles are fun and most of the dungeons are linear enough so as not to get that empty feeling that I've missed a really good piece of equipment. Because I really hate those labyrinthine mazes found in other games of Grandia 2's genre. It took me around 40 hours to finish, but I spent a fair bit leveling up like a good perfectionist should. Battles are easy, items are plentiful, bosses: fun. The ending left an empty feeling and not nearly enough CG movies were used. Other than that, an enjoyable game that in no way is worthy of being the immediate sequel to Grandia.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/04/03, Updated 12/23/03