Grandia II

Description

Brand: Ubisoft

Features:

• Sega Dreamcast Grandia II game

Details: Amazon.com See if this sounds familiar: You’re from an outcast mercenary class that upstanding folk don’t want around until there’s trouble. You’re sent on a mission with an innocent, idealistic woman with whom you don’t immediately get along. Forces of darkness, safely contained until recently, have escaped and are threatening a world-ending clash with the forces of light, unless you successfully intercede. This is one of the safest templates for console role-playing games, as well as the story in Grandia II. Thankfully, however, 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 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, though, 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 cruise-control through the rest.Grandia II may just be the traditional role-playing game that Dreamcast owners have been waiting for. The question of whether or not it is too traditional doesn’t matter, since it offers a better experience than most that have come before. –Porter B. HallPros:Battle system creates interesting, complex fights Solid, traditional role-playing game for a system with few others in the genre Cons:Predictable plot and characters Product description Ryudo has been hired to protect a young priestess who must participate in a ceremony to halt the encroaching rebirth of Valmar, the God of Darkness. Embroiled between the forces of good and evil, Ryudo must follow his destiny and save the people he detests so much. Review The Sega fans rejoiced! Finally, the Dreamcast would be blessed with not only a real RPG but the sequel to the Saturn’s most beloved RPG. And then the Sega fans were disappointed. Grandia II is a great RPG, but GameArts has clearly reacted to the market and made Grandia’s sequel a less-risky, more middle-of-the road RPG than its lauded predecessor. It’s not that the first Grandia’s story was original or risky, but what GameArts has come up with for Grandia II is another heard-this-before scenario. Thousands of years ago, Granas and Valmer, the ever-dueling gods of light and dark, engaged in their final battle. The resulting cataclysm shattered the world and created many seemingly impassible cracks in the planet’s surface. While the two gods were slumbering, a church to Granas was erected, and this sacred order kept Valmer’s evil forces sealed away. One young girl, Elena, is the key to keeping the seal intact. Hired to escort Elena to the seal-maintenance ceremony, mercenary heroes Ryudo and Sky witness the ceremony’s sabotage, where evil forces are released onto the world. Pursued by the mysterious and flirty demon-woman Millenia, Ryudo and Elena hurry onward to prevent Valmer’s awakening. Grandia II definitely has some twists, but the overall story is largely uninspired and rehashed. GameArts has opted not to carry on the first Grandia’s story and instead has built a largely unrelated game with a similar feel. Boyish adventurer Justin and sweeth

UPC: 008888260226