Grandia is a unique game, more of a collaboration of successful elements from classic RPGs than an altogether new game unto itself. There are elements of multiple Square and Enix role players in here, as well as aspects of several other games I'm sure I've overlooked. Still, despite borrowing so much from its predecessors, Grandia II remains a fresh play.Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the storyline. This is about as mediocre of a plot as I've ever run across. Your focal character, Ryudo, is a warrior for hire, trying as hard as humanly possible to come off like a real badass but failing miserably. The number of times he says "damn" becomes almost comical by the time you're a couple hours into the game.
Pretty much every RPG cliche is handled in this one. There are a few moments where I think a little bit of religious commentary is trying to peek through, but they're smothered very quickly by the horrendous writing. Four hours in, and I'd already quit speaking to non-central characters. A lot of time and effort went into giving the regular townsfolk a lot to say, but I quit caring after the first village. None if it's important, or even interesting.
The dialogue is almost painful at some points. Writers try their damndest to borrow from Shakespheare at one point, completely butchering the quote in the process. I kid you not, a character actually utters the infamous phrase "he's got intestinal fortitude." That's right, they jump from Shakespheare to Gorilla freaking Monsoon. Once you make that leap, there's no going back. Believability just flew out the window.
There's voice acting in key moments of the game, which varies from good to downright awful. Ryudo's voice sounds hauntingly similar to Kaneda's in the original English dub of Akira, complete with the occasional squeak and squawk of puberty. Come to think of it, all the game's voice acting sounds like it came straight out of an anime. I'd be surprised to find out otherwise. Still, for the most part the voices match the characters and I found myself enjoying the actor's struggle to make poorly written lines work in a dramatic context. Unfortunately, whoever was in charge of the final mixing didn't share my enjoyment, as he put the background noise and music WAY up. There are points where I can't understand the spoken dialogue thanks to the overpowering musical score or sounds of the villages. Thank god for subtitles...
Speaking of anime, the game's spells and graphics offer something unique in this realm. There are portions of Grandia II where live-rendered game graphics interact with pre-rendered, animated material.. and, god help me, it actually seems to work. This is something that could've been really, REALLY over the top if done too often, but the team surprisingly used the effects sparingly, maximizing their effect. It's an interesting interaction, and I can't say it's without it's quirks, but I've got to give them credit for trying.
Truth be told, I really enjoy the battle system we see here. There are shades of Star Ocean: the Second Story, mixed with touches of Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger and Dragon Warrior. There's no such thing as a random encounter in this world, monsters appear on the maps just the same as your playable character does. If you're running low on life, you can try to avoid confrontations, or if you're looking for experience you can hunt down every last monster in the area. If you steer into the backside of a monster, you'll be granted "initiative", or first strike. If a monster catches you from behind, they've "surprised" you, and gain first strike themselves. It's easy to understand, and works flawlessly.
The system works, despite being somewhat shallow. Rather than the Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior method (all your guys line up on one side, all their guys line up on the other), they go instead for a strange mix of Chrono Trigger and Star Ocean's styles, everyone interacts with everyone else. It's still turn-based at heart, but there are new factors you have to compensate for.. it's possible to catch a monster in-transit from his position to the spot he's chosen to attack, disrupting his turn. Even if your sword is in mid-swing, inches from an adversary's head, if they get the spell off, they get the spell off. Time effectively freezes when a spell or special attack is used, which can be both very useful or really annoying. It's a fun system that almost completely makes up for the sharp lack of a story.
Graphically, this is CERTAINLY a Dreamcast game. Everything moves almost too smoothly, characteristic of the system in my eyes, but it's better than anything you'd have seen on Playstation at the time. It's like if Square had released Final Fantasy VII on the PS2. Textures look much better, polygons are much, much smoother, but what it all boils down to is somewhat blocky figures with no nose or mouth. Moments in the game are downright beautiful; the reflections on the floor in the cathedral, the mist coating the floors of a later dungeon, but they could've pushed things it a little further.
If music is a factor, you'll want to skip this entirely. The score is downright awful, almost a mockery of itself. Songs mismatch horribly with their surroundings, attracting attention to themselves rather than blending into the background and setting a tone for the scene. When you're drawn into a battle, I half-expect giant, computer-rendered footballs to fly across the screen. The guitar and horn-driven rock sounds like it leapt directly from Monday Night Football into the score of Grandia II. While playing, we've actually started coming up with our own, sports-related lyrics. It's that bad.
What it all boils down to is a really, really fun battle system, nice graphics that can't possibly compete with the stuff we're seeing on the shelves today, a nasty musical score, and a forgettable story.
