Games Happy

This yr marks the twenty third anniversary of Grandia II‘s launch for the Sega Dreamcast. The short-lived console had a shocking variety of RPGs; however for me, Grandia II was the large motive  I wanted a Dreamcast. It was the sequel to Grandia, a recreation I had solely performed the yr earlier than when it was ported over to the PlayStation for a Western launch. Since then, Grandia II itself has been ported a couple of instances – most just lately to the Swap in a remaster that includes the primary two video games. Replaying it forward of its anniversary helped me understand that Grandia II is an ideal slice of early 2000s RPGs.

Grandia II sees gamers controlling Ryudo, a mercenary often called a “Geohound.” Ryudo is employed to accompany a gaggle of younger girls — together with a songstress named Elena — on a mission journey for his or her deity, Lord Granas. When finishing a ritual, the group is mysteriously slaughtered however for Elena.

It’s shortly revealed her physique possesses one of many items of Valmar, the darkish god who opposes Granas. Elena occurs to share her physique with Milennia, a haughty demoness who is named the “Wings of Valmar.” Whereas Milennia is initially hostile to the group as an unwilling participant, her angle in direction of Ryudo and the remainder of the get together softens over time. From there, Ryudo and Elena go on a mission to gather the items of Valmar’s physique in an try to forestall his awakening. 

The story is pure RPG, leaning into tropes so exhausting it virtually falls over. Whereas it could be fundamental, the strong characterization of those archetypes and story beats makes the characters partaking (and at instances, amusing). We’ve a sarcastic mercenary with a coronary heart of gold who unwittingly turns into a god-defying hero. It may simply as simply have been the plot of an anime from 2000, however the characters are earnest sufficient to promote them as plausible, regardless of a localization deeply rooted within the early 2000s. The script has at the very least a number of situations of barely problematic language, which can hassle.

Much like the primary Grandia, the spell names are obnoxiously cutesey, with spells like “Zap!” It’s typically tough to determine what a spell does, with some debuff talents given complicated names: the spell “Freeze!” reduces enemy motion whereas “Crackle” causes ice harm. The sport has persona, if nothing else. This minor quibble apart, the story and localization doesn’t take itself too severely, and the sport is extra gratifying consequently. 

The script is supported by strong voice appearing that includes some iconic actors – from earlier than the times of extremely public social media personas. Ryudo is voiced by Cam Clarke who’s notable for, amongst many different roles, voicing Leonardo within the traditional 1980’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection. The forged additionally options the skills of Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, in addition to Jennifer Hale, who is likely one of the world’s most prolific voice actors. Some performances might sound stiff by right now’s requirements, however there’s one thing about this voice forged that triggers these nostalgia receptors, as if I’m watching Saturday morning cartoons. There has to be an anime adaptation of this someplace, proper? 

The graphics are one of many areas the place Grandia II reveals its age. The character fashions, particularly exterior of fight, are a bit ugly. A mixture of chibi and extra refined physique fashions topped off with spherical faces utterly barren besides for 2 eyes, even for the principle characters. It reads as chunky and blocky and has not aged in addition to the graphics of the consoles that got here earlier than and after. It lacks the timeless 2D sprite types of the 16-bit period and is a era or two away from the ornate designs or photorealism players have come to anticipate. They remind me of graphics from a couple of different video games of this period, like Evolution for Dreamcast. In a approach, Grandia II jogs my memory of Wild Arms – kinda ugly on reflection, however rattling if I wasn’t smitten 20 years in the past. Even the menus and fonts really feel classic in a approach that’s exhausting to understand except you keep in mind when it was new.  

The sport’s fight is frantic and enjoyable, counting on a motion gauge fairly than pure turn-based mechanics to permit gamers to time their assaults. Gamers can see every get together member and enemy on a line, every shifting in response to their motion/motion pace. After deciding on an assault or capacity, the motion is finally executed when every participant icon reaches the tip of the motion gauge (you must think about mannequin positioning on the battlefield as properly). Characters can do a fundamental or essential assault or depend on abilities or spells in fight. The power of the spell or capacity immediately impacts the charging time, throughout which enemies can assault and interrupt and even cancel the transfer.In reality, Grandia’s timeline-based fight has turn out to be seminal within the style, many video games with a passing resemblance to its mechanics are sometimes described as having a “Grandia-like” battle system, even right now.

Fight is action-packed and requires considerate technique to successfully handle the get together, particularly keeping track of MP and SP to make use of magic and talents. That is very true throughout boss fights which generally contain a small handful of limbs or appendages to combat. It is almost unattainable to blindly cost and anticipate environment friendly outcomes. As a substitute, gamers can establish which physique half to strike as a way to delay or cancel some devastating assaults. Fight additionally options the sport’s excessive and low factors: it is fantastic to see a number of the animated spell assaults over the 3D graphics – it was clear they needed to showcase the console’s energy – whereas listening to the identical assault sound shouted repeatedly turns into tiring. That is offset by an incredible soundtrack by Noriyuki Iwadare, who additionally labored on nice RPGs together with the Lunar collection.

Grandia II is an gratifying blast from the previous and a private excessive level within the collection. Whereas Grandia III got here out almost 18 years in the past, exterior of the remastered port of the primary two video games, the collection has remained nearly silent. There’s been no sequel, reboot, and even flash-pan cell gacha recreation. Maybe it’s for the very best, in spite of everything. Grandia II is a lot enjoyable to revisit as a result of it is simply that: a return journey. I could also be charmed by this recreation however acknowledge a big a part of its attraction could also be nostalgia. Newcomers to the collection however not be as enamored by the graphical quirks or awkward slang. However for me – and I think, many others – Grandia II is an ideal slice of nostalgia pie, even when a couple of components have gotten a bit of stale.