IC_Freeze

This is an amazing RPG, I've been playing it for the past 2 weeks and really like it alot.
It is similar to FF7 except I think it's better. The battle system is awesome, there's no random worthless battles that alot of RPGs have. The character's are cool too.

RJainMJ

Similar to FF7?? Hmm may have to pick it up. BTW, there is nothing better than FF7. If you didn't play the first one, is it hard to understand the story/plot?

Chris_D

It's a completely different world / story with different characters so you don't need to have played the 1st one at all. The style is the same as the first one though so if you like II then I would definitely recommend you play Grandia even though it's a psx game.

Chris

Dragon Fly

yeah, grandia 2 is pretty fun. Kinda cruddy story, and a little too easy for my liking though. Skies of arcadia is fun though .

todd

MWoody

Arcadia is great fun, but I've sort of lost interest midway through the second disc, thanks to the combination of an emphasis on exploration ("discovery" system) and the ridiculous number of random attacks while in the overworld.

If the redhead didn't have that cheap, powerful, hit-everyone fire attack thingy that toasts low level creatures quickly, I would have stopped playing altogether long ago.

Bought Grandia II a while back, but never started it. Does it have prerendered backgrounds, a la FF 7-9, or a 3d world like Arcadia?

happypants

Backgrounds are 3D. Battles are mainly 3D, although some of the battle spell effects are prerecorded animations. Graphics overall are colorful and sharp.

Love the battle system! The FF series could learn something from this battle system.

It's about time to end the random battles once and for all. In fact, I will not play another FF title until the random battle system is trashed.

Chaos

What is the random battle thing?? Super Mario RPG and Grandia II (30 hrs. and I'm still obsessed with it) are the only RPG's I've ever played. Also, how many hours did you put into Grandia II?? I'm approaching 30 hrs., and I just hope the game goes on forever. Fantastic story, great characters, and the battles don't look like everyones standing around to get wacked, they actually MOVE!! So what is the random battle??

MWoody

Following the trend set by FFI and Dragon Warrior (and, I'm sure, others before them) most "cRPG-lite" type games (i.e. "like Final Fantasy") do not show you monsters until you fight them. You'll just wander around dungeons, forests, whatever, and every so often you'll be jumped and attacked by creatures you can't see until you enter battle mode. The rare exception to this rule is the occasional boss character that can be seen before battle, although some games omit even that. It gets old very fast, especially when you're searching an old dungeon for missed spoils.

Shuki

Chaos, Is your DC fixed? How'd you do it?

Also, don't be like me and rush through Grandia 2. I finished it in like a week. Though I had around 60 hours of game time I wish I would have relished it more. I just now finished Skies of Arcadia and though it was OK, Grandia 2 simply rocks. I mean you can't even look around in SOA without entering a battle scene every 10 seconds or so, if that long! At least with G2 you can see your enemy and avoid them instead of always being attacked (i.e. SOA) and automatically entering the battle scene.

Mitsurugi

Is it me or does Ryudo sound like a ninja turlte?

Chaos

Not yet. It plays better at night since its cooler. A friend told me I should just buy another one, switch the two and send back the old one in place of the new one. I've been thinking about it, but I'm not too sure. I think I'll just use some alcohol and rub the lens clean instead though.