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Big fan of the first episode, I
was eagerly anticipating the moment I would get my hands on a
copy of Grandia 2. Little did I know that it was far from living
up to its mythical predecessor. I was expecting a masterpiece
I'd never forget: I got an average game that hardly deserves a
place in my rpg collection. To say I was disappointed would be
an understatement, but luckily this game does have a few
redeeming elements that saved it from the horrible fate reserved
to the games I dislike (the trip back to the EB shelves).
Strangely enough, Grandia 2 reminds me of another controversial
rpg that divided the masses, that is to say Final Fantasy VIII.
The two titles' plots bear a striking resemblance and both
include a boring story focusing on love triangle, a faceless
hero trying to become an adult and plot twists that will make
you shake your head in disbelief. Yes indeed, the story just
bored me. I felt no incentive for playing more and find out what
was going to happen to the cast for three main reasons.
First, the plot is unbelievably predictable. It's nothing that
hasn't been done a hundred times: hero saves girl from bad guy.
Girl falls in love with hero. Together, they kill bad guy and
save the world. Hero falls in love with girl. To put it bluntly,
the love story is boring and seems to be aimed at children.
Also, the developers somehow managed to totally destroy the
beautiful world described in the first game to create an insipid
pseudo-dark environment that is everything but exciting.
Secondly, I didn't care for the characters at all for the simple
reason that the entire cast is so clichéd it's not even funny.
Miss Perfect, Mr. I-have-a-heart-after-all, Mr. Happy brat, Mr.
Ugly-but-nice, Miss I-have-no-free-will... They're all in there.
The main character, Ryudo, seems promising at first: he's
extremely cynical and a hilarious toward the beginning of the
game, but in typical Squall fashion he soon becomes boring.
Elena, his love interest, has the personality of a mouse. Even
the bad guy, Melfice, is a pale copy of FFVII's Sephiroth and
doesn't play an important role in the story. The only character
with a bit of charisma is Millenia, the evil incarnate... Too
bad you don't get to play as her most of the time. Oh, and don't
be fooled by the nice box art: the character design is actually
sub-par.
Finally, the pace of the story is terrible. One of the reasons
why Grandia 2's story fails to catch the interest of the player
is because it doesn't contain any mystery. See, there
isn't a point in the game where you'll be anticipating an
upcoming event or trying to understand one part of the plot. The
game tries a (Xenogears-like) serious approach to religion but
fails miserably and ends up sounding more cheesy than
metaphysical.
As if that wasn't enough, the dungeons are awfully repetitive,
like in the first game. For a Dreamcast title, this is
disappointing, to say the least. Linearity seems to be the key
word of the series since Grandia 2 has no world map neither.
You're always told where to go and little exploration is
required, which is nonsensical for an rpg. This game is tedious
to play.
Then why bother playing it, you ask? The answer to that question
is very simple.
Grandia 2 has a remarkable battle system, much like its
predecessor. Game Arts actually made a smart move by keeping the
original engine... It's much more dynamic that the usual gauge
system you can see in most rpgs: there's an initiative gauge
that displays the order in which your characters and the
monsters take action. Knowing when your opponent will attack
opens a lot of strategies: for instance, will you go for the
most damaging attack or will you choose the move that will
affect the monsters' gauge the most? The fights are actually
fun, although more variety for the monsters would have been
welcome.
The problem is that the game is incredibly easy... Even the last
boss is a wimp! The major problem is the monsters' AI: they are
just stupid. Very often the fights depend more on luck than on
actual skill (e.g. ''Will the boss use his supreme attack twice
in a row?''), which gets tiring after a while. Toward the end,
you'll just be regretting that the game was so unchallenging and
waiting for the conclusion of the battles. There are save points
almost everywhere and not much leveling up is needed. That's a
good thing, though, since there are no random battles and you
can avoid most enemies easily.
However, from a technical point of view, Grandia 2 is simply
awesome. Although they don't have mouths, the character models
look very impressive and the same goes for their shadows. The
level of detail on the characters is unbelievable, but most of
all it's the complexity of the environments that makes Grandia 2
one of the prettiest games ever. One of the later dungeons, in
which you're inside a gigantic monster, is particularly
impressive. The special effects during the battles are among the
best I've ever seen. What's more, the camera is flawless, which
is a rare thing nowadays. The animation is at the same level:
the characters look somewhat realistic and everything moves very
smoothly. To make it short, this game is a pleasure for the
eyes.
Alas I can't say it's the equivalent for the ears. The voice
acting, despite being better than in the first episode, is
desperately bland and corny. The voices don't match the models
and they will surely get on your nerves very fast. Hopefully,
the music is not bad: I even liked a few tunes, but the
soundtrack (included with the game) truly lacks variety. While
the music always matches the mood of the game, it's nothing
unforgettable.
What really kills Grandia 2 is something else: the game
is too short -about thirty hours- and has no replay value.
Playing through it a second time would be a pain, really. There
is no extra dungeon, no special weapon, nothing to spark your
interest once you've seen the (disappointing) ending...
Overall, Grandia 2 appears to be a nice pastime but an average
rpg, especially when compared to the most recent productions.
The first episode, despite having many issues, had a certain
charm that its sequel lacks. To be honest, I can't possibly
understand how one could prefer this to Skies of Arcadia... Game
Arts managed to get rid of most of the things that made the
first Grandia an extraordinary game and turned it into a FFVIII
ersatz. I say this game is only worth a rental, unless you can
find it for a cheap price -rpgs are a rare sight on Dreamcast-. |
