Cheap Grandia 2 (Video Games) (PlayStation2) Price
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Thankfully, everything else in the game is fresh and provides hours upon hours of fun. The backdrops and character designs are colorful without being flashy, the game has a great pace (for an RPG), and players never have to stand around too long looking for the next thing to do. Even the writing, within its cookie-cutter plot, is smart, well translated, and occasionally funny.
The game's strongest element, however, is its battle system. Taking the best of turn-based and real-time battle engines, Grandia II forces you to choose your moves carefully with respect to timing and position. The battles are very simple in the beginning, but grow increasingly complex as you fight larger numbers of monsters with a growing party of allies. How you meet your encounters--whether you initiate the fight, are ambushed, or meet head on--affects both the timing of the blows and the positions of the contestants. Battles emphasize counterattacks and combination blows, but you'll soon find that movement and defense keep you alive against the tougher enemies. Elemental magic, items, and skill books are just icing on the cake. Even if the battles do grow old, the random fights are fairly easy to avoid, and a versatile AI option lets you use cruise control through the rest.
Grandia II may be just the traditional role-playing game for which Dreamcast owners have been waiting. The question of whether it's too traditional doesn't matter, as it offers a better experience than most that have come before. --Porter B. Hall
Note: This review refers to the Dreamcast version of the game.
Pros:
- Battle system creates interesting, complex fights
- Solid, traditional role-playing game for a system with few others in the genre
- Predictable plot and characters
| PLATFORM: | PlayStation2 |
| AGE GROUP: | 13 years and up |
| CATEGORY: | Video Games |
| MANUFACTURER: | UBI Soft |
| ESRB RATING: | Teen |
| TYPE: | Video Games, PS2 (PSX2), Sony Playstation (Play station) 2, Playstation2 (Play station2), Role Playing Games (rpg, rpgs) |
| MEDIA: | CD-ROM |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| ACCESSORIES: | |
| UPC: | 008888320159 |
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Customer Reviews of Grandia 2
One of the most underappreciated games on PS2 Grandia II is a great game. Not because of its story (pretty lousy, with only decent voice acting), or its graphics (ugly), but because of its battle system.
The battle system is an absolute blast. The battles are the best part of the game. Each character is represented on a meter in the lower right corner of the screen. When they get to a certain point on that meter, they get to attack. For some spells and moves, there's some time between selecting a move and the execution of the move. By selecting a Critical hit, you can completely cancel out the other guy's spell while he's preparing it. So far, it doesn't sound like much, but I assure you that it's a lot of fun. If you need an example, it's somewhat similar to Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy X-2.
Graphics are ugly. The characters are blocky and have no faces (although they do have eyes). Texturing is pixelated and for some reason there's a lot of fog during battle. I'm told that at least some of this is due to a bad port from the Dreamcast version. Oh, well. The important thing is that is doesn't detract from the gameplay.
I don't know what happened to the music. The original Grandia had some catchy tunes, but these are terrible. What's surprising is that the music for both games was done by the same music company. Voice acting is good, but not great. Four voice actors from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 are in the game: Cam Clarke (Liquid in MGS; Ryudo in Grandia II - a very talented actor), Jennifer Hale (Naomi in MGS:TTS; Elena in G2), Paul Eiding (Colonel Campbell in MGS, Skye in G2), and John Cygan (Solidus in MGS2; Melfice in G2).
Pretty good for a port and even better for an RPG
I still think its sad that people don't know of RPGs such as Grandia or Grandia II. I think its even sadder that people think the only good RPG out there is Final Fantasy when Grandia II is a gem.
Anyway, while the graphics lack a little (Its a port of the 1999 version on Dreamcast so I understand that), the plot/story is solid and the battle system is awesome, and character developement is very much perfect.
As said, graphics are good, but for the 1000th time. Its not the graphics but the story thats important, and not just what the story is but how it is told, and Grandia II does this very well. While the story is something I've seen before (but then again so was FFVII and I loved that...) it was played out to its full extent. And this time unlike most RPGs, the story focuses more on the characters rather than the enviroment that surrounds them, which helps character developement.
The battle system is unique and with the exception of the first Grandia and FFX, actually requires me to use strategy and think before I act, unlike most other RPGs that forces me to see how fast I can end a battle (hence more Final Fantasy). However, while the battle system is very good, if you exploit it, the game becomes very easy. In fact not once did I ever see the words "Game Over" or ever get a single character KO'd throughout the game.
The Characters actually shine with an Aura that makes them memorable characters much like in the first Grandia. Magic animation is beautiful and not to mention that each character gets there own skills, making them more unique than before.
Also, while it doesn't seem like much, I was disappointed after playing the first Grandia with how many spells were in this one. While 40 spells is indeed a lot, the first 80 spells the first Grandia had gave me more time to tweek with my characters stats. Not to mention that in this one everyone only has four moves. In the first one they had 12 each.
The music, while not as good as in the first Grandia, really sets the mood. Boss fight music (especially when fighting parts of Valmar) is very good, and I find myself humming the tunes.
Using moves is done by using SP and learning moves requires SC. This is like expeirience points only more like coins to learn and raise levels of the move.
Anyway, the game is extremely good and I happen to like Grandia more than Final Fantasy. Not because of battling, but because of freedome as well. You won't be wrong in choosing this game.
A Mixture of Great Things!
More than just a few good Sonic games came from the Dreamcast. Grandia II, a compelling RPG by Game Arts is not only for the Dreamcast anymore, but also Playstation 2 and PC. The Playstation 2 version also includes all new, never seen before cinematics. If that's not enough, it's certainly okay because Grandia II has much more to offer.
First of all the battle system: I find many RPGs to be quite similar to one another. Their battle system is overall the same. This is not the case for Grandia II. It is a mixture of active time and turn base battle. There is one time bar that enemies and allies share. Everyone has his or her own icon on that bar. When they reach a certain point on the bar, a menu appears for that character. This is when the turn base battle takes place. You can take as long as you like to carefully choose your attack. Pick the correct attack and you could even destroy the enemy or send them back to the beginning of the time bar.
Overall, the battle system makes this game unique and addicting. Not only that, but the much dreaded "random battles" is eliminated. You see the enemies before you go into battle with them. And if you wish, many times you can simply run from them.
Next, the graphics and sound: In Grandia II, there is voice acting during many of the cutscenes. Voices are also heard during battle. I find them to be well done unlike some of the cheesy dialog in games. It's not the best voice acting around, but certainly didn't make me cringe as much as in the first Grandia. The graphics are also done well in the 3D world. Everything is colorful and carefully done.
The only complaint I have in this category is some of the battle animations were long and drawn out for what they were. Even the skill of poison had a long animation.
Finally, the story: I think that every RPG needs to have a decent story. Grandia II definitely has a deep story. It starts out with Ryudo the GeoHound and his bird companion Skye. They meet up with the talented vocalist named Elena, (part of the Sisters of Granas) who needs to be escorted to another location. From then on, the story unfolds. The story touches a lot on being yourself, the lighter side of evil, a church betrayal, love triangles, and alter egos. Even if it is a little predicting, it is still satisfying.
Pros:
Innovative and addicting battle system
Wonderful 3D graphics
Great level up system for skills
Great story and characters
Cons:
Seemed pretty short, (took me 34 hours to complete)
Long battle animations