Was Grandia II better or worse than the original Grandia? Let me know in the commments. Please consider supporting me at www.patreon.com/xygorgaming OR through RUclips membership by clicking the JOIN button above!
I'm tempted to say Grandia 1 overall: while Grandia 2's battle theme is my favourite RPG battle theme and it's easier to target enemies with AoEs in it, the game is also shorter and a lot easier (getting the drop on enemies and hitting them with an AoE spell will generally end the fight outright, or at least weaken them enough for 2 or 3 combos to kill the survivors). Grandia 1 also had 3 optional dungeons while the closest 2 has to one of those was a rehash of an earlier area where the only real change was the labyrinth with those BA-BOOM!-spamming Devils, which was admittedly an interesting area due to how dangerous the Devils are. Admittedly Ryudo's snarky dialogue makes me laugh so 2 has that going for it (and it's still a really fun game).
Well ok, I think it is technically better yeah. It plays a lot better and I think the customization was right there! However I do think 2 lost a bit of that naive charm that made the first game a real standout. You can tell they were definitely responding to critiques of the first game feeling too "Disney" safe. 2 is much edgier with dark moments and a Raphaelic protag who is rude but cool. Yeah, I think I like it more overall but I do miss that feeling of optimism from 1.
I wish Game Arts were still around... I miss all the games they made... Lunar... god... I want Lunar again. Dreamcast was way ahead of its time unfortunately.
One of my all time favorite games. For me it’s one of the best examples of a traditional RPG: fantastic battle system, well-told (if slightly rote) storyline, and a colorful cast of lovable characters (particularly Ryudo and Millenia). The pacing is so good as well, and you have just enough customization over the characters with the mana eggs.
My favorite game of all time hands down. Just played it again after 18 years ... partly because I was afraid it was mostly nostalgia and I would hate the game now... but my god it brought back all the right feels. I LOVE that game to bits.
This was a fun watch, thank you. I grew up a Sega fan, and was really disappointed when the Saturn failed in North America and Grandia was not brought over. When the second game landed on the Dreamcast, I did not pick it up because I'd not played the first. I ended up getting them both on Switch when the remastered versions came out, and played them back to back. I loved them both dearly for all the reasons you mentioned. I thought the only major flaw with the first game was how easy the combat became once I got the system down. It kept me engaged in each battle, but there was rarely any tension. Because of this I played Grandia II on the new harder difficulty option in the remaster, and boy - it was definitely much harder. I think I enjoyed the second game even more than the first overall for that reason - nearly every area was pretty tense because the enemies packed much more of a punch, and the final battle was one that took several attempts as I dialed in my strategy. I still think about the characters from both games, a testament to how strong the writing and design was. I plan to revisit both again pretty soon.
It's nice to see that such a classic after so many years is still known and attracts new players. The soundtrack is great and the idea behind the story is quite deep too. Yes, the battles are very easy, yes you can use Valmar's powers against Valmar in the very final battle, but that doesn't spoil the fun at all. I recommend it!
Grandia II is one of my top 10 RPGs, of all varieties mind you from Japanese to Western, of all time. The pacing is perfect, the characters are all endearing, the voice acting is really good, the music was amazing, the story is the best in the whole series with ease, and it has imo the best turn based combat system ever to be made. I liked the original Grandia but LOVED Grandia II. Grandia was a great RPG but not without its flaws. For instance leveling up magic was a pain in the ass in the first game and required a stupid amount of grinding especially since this series loves to do that thing where a character you have been building up for 20 hours just leaves and gets replaced by someone weaker with level one magic across the board. They got rid of that for 2 and it perfected the experience.
I'm currently playing this game for the first time using the remaster on Switch. I'm enjoying it but damn was it lazy of them to not even include a combat speed increase or an animation skip button! Its exhausting sometimes watching the Magic animations take forever. Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure had some long ass spell animations which are awesome the first few times around but thankfully the ports allow you to speed up or skip the animations. Soooo very much appreciated.
Man I used to love this game. I had it on Dreamcast. I remember it was the rainiest summer I remember so I got a lot of time to play it. Awesome game and story
Played Grandia II last year and enjoyed practically every aspect of it except for the tropey ending. Combat system is one of the best ever; cast of characters and their interactions throughout made me care; OST, Dreamcast graphics, setting, etc were all amazing.
One of my favorite games of all time and I might be due for yet another playthrough. I have the Switch remastered collection, but I dunno, certain graphical glitches made it feel like I was playing on a PS2 emulator rather than an actual remaster. No idea if it's been patched since I last played, but I might pick up the PC version to see if it's any better, or to at least play at higher resolution.
I triple dipped with grandia II 😂 bought it on dreamcast and was love at first sight. Bought it again on ps2. Then again with the HD remaster. Funny I just hooked up and beat my dreamcast version again earlier this year
Been recently playing through this again. Loved it to bits on the Dreamcast (the audio cd that csme with it which had been lost thanks to shitty parents, was a main stay in my CD player at the time.). Dragon ZAP and Ba-BOOM were some of my favorite spells. And always felt great to hear that gingle that played when you got through a fight flawlessly. As well as the quip. "Ha! You guys were no real challenge!" Oh... And how could i forget the long dialogue trees with almost every NPC and the dinner scenes.
I remember having practically played this one twice over because I both played it entirely myself and helped my friend through it whenever I spent the weekend at his house in high school.
I love grandia 2 i remember playing it for the dreamcast only played it cause i was bored and ended enjoying it. This game and legend of dragoon are one of my favs
I loved the Dreamcast! Honestly, early PS2 games weren't very impressive to me (both the titles available and from a graphical standpoint) compared to DC though they definitely improved. Skies of Arcadia was my favorite DC RPG though. Grandia 2 was awesome as well! Having played Grandia 1, this was an awesome follow up.
This game was awesome. I still own the dreamcast copy that came with a soundtrack. Still a game I will often play again from time to time. The soundtrack I do still play and copied it to my pc.
@@Xygor it still is. Even had a RL friend who was once nicknamed millenia years before the game came out. Would always joke that the game took their nickname for the game(though we all knew it was just a coincidence)
I think Grandia 2 is better in pretty much every way. When I compare 2 to 3, it's more varied, in that 3 is better in the presentation and gameplay, but 2 is better in the story and soundtrack.
Fantastic game. I do agree about the spell animations, though. I'd have liked a toggle option similar to what Final Fantasy IX offered for summons, so it didn't feel quite so drawn out. Aside from that, Grandia II was a wonderful experience through and through.
Loved this game. I never played the dreamcast version but I was told that it preformed better than the ps2. The remaster on Steam preforms way better than the ps2 port for sure.
Easily my favorite RPG. Its linear and not much to do outside of progressing that story, but that combat system and music REALLY sells it. Tho I will say that I wouldn't exactly call Grandia II easy....at least not on the first playthrough. Its one of those games where at surface level it does provide a decent challenge.....until you understand everything going on under the hood and know exactly which skills/magics to pump up which then it'll go into a highly optimized set ups with only the skills that actually matter while ignoring everything else. First playthrough, Eye and Melfice were notorious difficulty spikes for nearly everyone that I knew that played it. Tho hilariously, Eye also gave the games single most busted skill which trivialized literally every boss you were able to use it on, but that loops back to understanding everything that goes on under the hood.
Howlslash (also bugged in OG - hits all, not line!) and Burnflame being the most fp/dmg effective spells and being able to farm +def seeds (and xp!) right after you got Pirate's Ring (and *very* efficent too!). Hilarious being immune to phys dmg.
@@5chneemensch138 howlslash and any line attack like Lotus Flower or DragonZap all did that, but I think it was cause of how the camera worked cause I've had them straight up miss targets that were in the AOE line, usually cause the target was actually too close and if they weren't on screen during the animation, it'd "miss". I only noticed it with Tio cause I'd throw lotus flower and it'd occasionally miss when I needed the cancel and it would only happen when an enemy was close, then other times it hit more than intended (like how you said)
@@Trent957 No, Howlslash exclusively did that in both my OG copy and my game collection copy. Only characters that are hit are on the screen, that part makes no sense.
What a blast from the past, I played the heck out of this game on the Dreamcast! It does have its downsides: the plot is largely predictable (saw the big twist coming a mile away), the characters could mostly be more likable and yes, it is not particularly challenging BUT boy is it FUN!! If you want a fun, short, low stakes kind of jrpg romp that offers you fantastically satisfying mechanical feedback then I highly recommend it! Anyway now I need to buy the remaster pack so I can finally play the first one! Cheers Xygor!
The story and lore in this game is just too good, and all the characters are so well nuanced and interesting. I truly believe the highlight of this game is the universe it's set in.
Absolutely loved Grandia2. The story collapses in the end for me with the granasabers and stuff but thats a minor complaint. Characters are awesome, music is great and the combat system is perfect. I always thought Zera was based on James Cosmo for some reason
Grandia II is awesome. Sadly another game that kind of suffered the same fate of being on the Dreamcast was Skies of Arcadia. At least Grandia II got a PS2 release, but Skies got double screwed with it’s second release being on the Gamecube. Hopefully Sega puts out a Switch port so more than 5 people can finally experience the game.
Brought me back to the time I learned to speak/read english. You have to know I'm from Germany and the only copy we got was in english only VO and Text. So I didn't knew what I actually had to do. So everytime I couldn't understand what someone said I asked my dad what it meant. I'm glad I played it made me learn english while having a blast with a really good story. SPOILERS FOR WHO HAS NOT PLAYED THE GAME . . . . . . . . I sobbed so hard when Marek died
Is a tough decision overall, hehe. I felt like the original Grandia is the very soul of what adventure feels, is very very gorgeous, the characters are very memorable and the battle mechanics are the best of any turn based rpg series ever. On the other hand, Grandia II has more of the same good points. The adventure feeling is not like in the first one, but the best quality graphics were awesome in the time, and today still looks good. The music is beautiful and the battle theme is on my top 3 of all time. The battle mechanics in the magic and skill part are improved, or at least I liked more than the original one, without loosing what makes the battle in Grandia the best one. Last but not less, the characters are very memorable too and I think that fits better in the plot than the first one. As I say, is a tough decision haha. I can't choose one between them because I love both. But I prefer Ryudo over Justin, and Feena over Elena. Love Feena!!! Thanks for the video and all your awesome work!
With how many times I played Grandia 2, and only beat Grandia 1 once, and was begging for claustrophobic zoomed in view of the first to be over, I'd consider 2 largely an improvement. I like the spell system from the previous a bit better in concept, but I felt it nearly impossible to max them out unless you did all the side content I'm guessing.
i think Grandia 2 is the only Grandia game i have actualy beaten. I had Grandia 1. But after some time, because of my brothers. I lost the game. So i couldnt complete it. But then i bought Grandia 2 for the pc. And damn. It was good. As good as the first game, where i was actualy. The music was damn good, the story was awesome. But the english voice acting anoyed me. Makes me want to look up if there is a moded one where you can play the game with japanese voice acting. But english text. Something i found a whille back on some games. Like Grandia 1. It just felt like much of the charm and passion is gone when its localized into English. But still. Great game. I need to get the remaster collection. But sadly short on cash for now.
The first without doubt is one of the finest 'coming of age' stories ever crafted .. Music seals the deal as every detail showcases the love put into the product. (Minus some slightly cringe VA in English) Should be every bit as famous as Chrono .. What I crave is some Lunar ..& wth is our G.Seku1&2 remake I wonder?
I like this one considerably more then the first one (I played it on the Dreamcast right after it came out). Your main character didn't look like some sort of odd court jester as in G1, and Mareg was a great character. Just an excellent game all around.
Grandia: Fantastic story, wonderful characters, solid play, great music & character writing. Grandia: Parallel Trippers: Pretty meh, really. Good for a GBC game, but a lousy Grandia. Grandia II: Same as the first, less emphasis on "exploring for fun" for a stronger narrative. Grandia Xtreme: Screw everything (mostly) to focus on boring dungeons and refined combat. Yay? Grandia III: Pretty, most refined of the IP systems...the rest is utter _dogshit_ & killed the franchise.
Wish they could've ported it to the GameCube back in the day. It was another great RPG Nintendo fans could've enjoyed playing on their system of choice back then!
0:16 You didn't play the original Grandia first on the Sega _Saturn?!_ 😮 1:26 I feel so sorry for anyone who played it first on the PS2 rather than the Sega Dreamcast... 😬 You butchered Ryudo's name by the way. And thanks for giving the voice cast credit where it's due; They did a stellar job at voicing Grandia II.
started to play 1 of these games last year and it was a love at 1st try..Unfortunatly i dont remember which it was of the 2 i got.. it was w ryudo(or how its spelled)and he is hired to protect a daughter or something and i got to a hotel n there a demon gorl showed up...hard to explane n in english its even worse trying toooo...Anyway i went to the cave and in there i never found my way out again n stoped playing after a few hours trying to(just went roun n round n maybe that i didnt see where i could go into next screen or i didnt know where to go....Anyway i loved the story n for me to like this game was a very very huge longshot...But i really did like the story(so far i got atleast,but have a hard time thinking it would get bad at that early place i was.....?) Thanks 4 video(think it was 2nd game,but not sure?)
The best turn-based JRPG battle system ever! Grandia 2 improved on everything Grandia established and is the better game in my opinion. Both are great, but 2 is a notch above and one of my favorite games ever!
After playing and loving the first one, This was a huge letdown to me. Perhaps I never gave it a fair shot but I dont think I made it past a couple of hours. Felt too easy, I grinded mybway into White Apocalypse really easily I think, that or some other powerful spell, and It just felt worse. Maybe next time, no grinding at all and Ill see how it plays.
If you know the game systems, the game is incredibly easy. Try the game without farming. It makes you do actual decisions as you would not be able to max everything. Should be around lvl 50 at the final boss and multiple spells and skills still unleveled. White Apocalypse is kinda bad regardless. The bubble sleep is OP.
The sequel is fantastic but I forgot what a huge jerk Ryudo is in this game! I thought he was so cool when I first played the game in my 20s but now as a middle-aged adult with a kid, all I can do is shake my head and sigh at his emotional immaturity! C'mon Ryudo! Be true to your feelings! Let the light in man! Also, there is one unforgivable moment in this game that I dare not spoil but you know what it is don't ya Xygor? A certain shakeup to the party shall we say?
A reddit atheist murder hobo and a prudish priestess forced to go on a road trip and end up killing god (not a spoiler, it's a jrpg after all) One of my top 10 games of all time, amazing story with memorable characters and great combat. And this is coming from someone who hates turn based combat, so you know it's good.
I'm playing grandia 2 right now, just after I finished the first title.. grandia 1 was the best jrpg I ever played.. including final fantasy and sea of stars. I just started the 2cnd grandia and so far I am very disappointed. The skill progression sucks in comparison... The 3d everything of the time of ps2 didn't age very well compared to the 2d pixel art sprites of the first one. Since it's still a good game, with a well written story, I will continue to complete it. Just a bit let down compared to the first title.
Dude, The Dreamcast had a little game called SKIES of ARCADIA, like hell no Grandia 2 is better when literally has no post game and is "Easy" Grandia 2 is a fantastic game, long animations don't bother me at all.
Love the game hated the final villain though Spoilers….. I felt the brother should have been the final villain cool design looked like a threat but instead it was an old fat priest other than that game is awesome
I love this game and I wanted to love the video but your mispronunciation of almost everything takes me so far out of the video that I just can't do it.
Oh Yeah I played the2-3 in PS2 years ago(Well finished the 3 first,reaaally Good Story) but when I started playing the 2 I was kinda dissapointed at the graphics but HEY the story is really good too.Really deserves a remake or something,jrpgs are the best games I ever played :3
Was Grandia II better or worse than the original Grandia? Let me know in the commments.
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Impossible question
I'm tempted to say Grandia 1 overall: while Grandia 2's battle theme is my favourite RPG battle theme and it's easier to target enemies with AoEs in it, the game is also shorter and a lot easier (getting the drop on enemies and hitting them with an AoE spell will generally end the fight outright, or at least weaken them enough for 2 or 3 combos to kill the survivors). Grandia 1 also had 3 optional dungeons while the closest 2 has to one of those was a rehash of an earlier area where the only real change was the labyrinth with those BA-BOOM!-spamming Devils, which was admittedly an interesting area due to how dangerous the Devils are. Admittedly Ryudo's snarky dialogue makes me laugh so 2 has that going for it (and it's still a really fun game).
Well ok, I think it is technically better yeah. It plays a lot better and I think the customization was right there! However I do think 2 lost a bit of that naive charm that made the first game a real standout. You can tell they were definitely responding to critiques of the first game feeling too "Disney" safe. 2 is much edgier with dark moments and a Raphaelic protag who is rude but cool. Yeah, I think I like it more overall but I do miss that feeling of optimism from 1.
I wish Game Arts were still around... I miss all the games they made... Lunar... god... I want Lunar again. Dreamcast was way ahead of its time unfortunately.
@omidiartgaming4102 same here. It was one of my favorite companies back in the day.
I love this game. It wasn't as grand adventure wise as the first game, but it is still an adventure, and that battle theme...my god.
Lots of great qualities to it for sure!
One of my all time favorite games. For me it’s one of the best examples of a traditional RPG: fantastic battle system, well-told (if slightly rote) storyline, and a colorful cast of lovable characters (particularly Ryudo and Millenia). The pacing is so good as well, and you have just enough customization over the characters with the mana eggs.
So good all around!
Absolutely love this game, it’s an all time favorite of mine.
Glad to hear it! It was one of a kind.
My favorite game of all time hands down. Just played it again after 18 years ... partly because I was afraid it was mostly nostalgia and I would hate the game now... but my god it brought back all the right feels. I LOVE that game to bits.
That's some high praise! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it.
This is a game that I wish so many people didn’t miss. Idk if it came out at the right time in my childhood or what but it’s one of my favorites
So true!
Picked this up for like $10 after the Dreamcast was discontinued, well worth it. Love this game
Sounds like a great deal to me!
This was a fun watch, thank you.
I grew up a Sega fan, and was really disappointed when the Saturn failed in North America and Grandia was not brought over. When the second game landed on the Dreamcast, I did not pick it up because I'd not played the first. I ended up getting them both on Switch when the remastered versions came out, and played them back to back. I loved them both dearly for all the reasons you mentioned.
I thought the only major flaw with the first game was how easy the combat became once I got the system down. It kept me engaged in each battle, but there was rarely any tension. Because of this I played Grandia II on the new harder difficulty option in the remaster, and boy - it was definitely much harder. I think I enjoyed the second game even more than the first overall for that reason - nearly every area was pretty tense because the enemies packed much more of a punch, and the final battle was one that took several attempts as I dialed in my strategy.
I still think about the characters from both games, a testament to how strong the writing and design was. I plan to revisit both again pretty soon.
Glad you liked it! Thanks also for leaving your memories of these games.
Loved it right alongside skies of Arcadia. Haven't played any of the ports but looking forward to a physical switch copy. Great review as always.
Thank you!
@pop2uno skies of Arcadia is one of the most best games ever made
Looks like I'm playing this next. Thanks for showing off some awesome games of the past, Xygor!
Glad it looks cool to you!
Grandia II shows what a terrific RPG Skies of Arcadia is.
It's nice to see that such a classic after so many years is still known and attracts new players. The soundtrack is great and the idea behind the story is quite deep too. Yes, the battles are very easy, yes you can use Valmar's powers against Valmar in the very final battle, but that doesn't spoil the fun at all. I recommend it!
Grandia II is one of my top 10 RPGs, of all varieties mind you from Japanese to Western, of all time. The pacing is perfect, the characters are all endearing, the voice acting is really good, the music was amazing, the story is the best in the whole series with ease, and it has imo the best turn based combat system ever to be made.
I liked the original Grandia but LOVED Grandia II. Grandia was a great RPG but not without its flaws. For instance leveling up magic was a pain in the ass in the first game and required a stupid amount of grinding especially since this series loves to do that thing where a character you have been building up for 20 hours just leaves and gets replaced by someone weaker with level one magic across the board. They got rid of that for 2 and it perfected the experience.
Thanks for leaving your thoughts. Definitely a good case to be made for both games.
An awesome game. One of my favorites of all time! Great review, by the way.
Thanks for watching!
Great effects far ahead of it’s time, grandiose music, fantastic story and a jewel for the Dreamcast…better than the PS2 version!
Glad you like it!
I just got the physical copy of Grandia 1&2 for Switch this year, will be playing it soon.
Good call!
I'm currently playing this game for the first time using the remaster on Switch. I'm enjoying it but damn was it lazy of them to not even include a combat speed increase or an animation skip button! Its exhausting sometimes watching the Magic animations take forever.
Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure had some long ass spell animations which are awesome the first few times around but thankfully the ports allow you to speed up or skip the animations. Soooo very much appreciated.
Man I used to love this game. I had it on Dreamcast. I remember it was the rainiest summer I remember so I got a lot of time to play it. Awesome game and story
Thanks for leaving your memories of it!
Glad i was recommended your channel 😊 enjoy your vids 👍
Awesome, thank you!
I am thorn because i love the Grandia series, but i feel like Skies of Arcadia is an overall better game and the best rpg in the DC.
Both are solid!
Played Grandia II last year and enjoyed practically every aspect of it except for the tropey ending. Combat system is one of the best ever; cast of characters and their interactions throughout made me care; OST, Dreamcast graphics, setting, etc were all amazing.
Lots of great qualities! Thanks for leaving your memories of it here.
One of my favorite games of all time and I might be due for yet another playthrough. I have the Switch remastered collection, but I dunno, certain graphical glitches made it feel like I was playing on a PS2 emulator rather than an actual remaster. No idea if it's been patched since I last played, but I might pick up the PC version to see if it's any better, or to at least play at higher resolution.
I triple dipped with grandia II 😂 bought it on dreamcast and was love at first sight. Bought it again on ps2. Then again with the HD remaster.
Funny I just hooked up and beat my dreamcast version again earlier this year
Excellent!
Been recently playing through this again. Loved it to bits on the Dreamcast (the audio cd that csme with it which had been lost thanks to shitty parents, was a main stay in my CD player at the time.).
Dragon ZAP and Ba-BOOM were some of my favorite spells.
And always felt great to hear that gingle that played when you got through a fight flawlessly. As well as the quip.
"Ha! You guys were no real challenge!"
Oh... And how could i forget the long dialogue trees with almost every NPC and the dinner scenes.
Thanks for leaving your best memories of it here!
I remember having practically played this one twice over because I both played it entirely myself and helped my friend through it whenever I spent the weekend at his house in high school.
I have been reluctant to give this a try, but I own the Grandia HD Remaster on Switch so may as well load it up! Thanks for the thorough review!
No problem! I think you'll like it.
If you somehow find a OG PC release copy from 2002, that is the definitive.
played this game when i was kid on dreamcast, and is still one of my favorite jrpgs today.
I love grandia 2 i remember playing it for the dreamcast only played it cause i was bored and ended enjoying it. This game and legend of dragoon are one of my favs
I just reviewed Legend of Dragoon and it's available for early viewing for my channel supporters! Both great games.
Best Game on Dreamcast
I can understand those who think so!
One of my favorite RPG combat systems. Would love for a Grandia 4 or a spiritual successor series.
Me too!
I love this game, it actually came with a music cd.
I loved the Dreamcast! Honestly, early PS2 games weren't very impressive to me (both the titles available and from a graphical standpoint) compared to DC though they definitely improved. Skies of Arcadia was my favorite DC RPG though. Grandia 2 was awesome as well! Having played Grandia 1, this was an awesome follow up.
This game was awesome. I still own the dreamcast copy that came with a soundtrack. Still a game I will often play again from time to time. The soundtrack I do still play and copied it to my pc.
Right on, it was a great experience!
@@Xygor it still is. Even had a RL friend who was once nicknamed millenia years before the game came out. Would always joke that the game took their nickname for the game(though we all knew it was just a coincidence)
I think Grandia 2 is better in pretty much every way. When I compare 2 to 3, it's more varied, in that 3 is better in the presentation and gameplay, but 2 is better in the story and soundtrack.
Makes sense, thanks for your thoughts!
Fantastic game. I do agree about the spell animations, though. I'd have liked a toggle option similar to what Final Fantasy IX offered for summons, so it didn't feel quite so drawn out. Aside from that, Grandia II was a wonderful experience through and through.
Agreed! They should have added that as a feature.
Loved this game. I never played the dreamcast version but I was told that it preformed better than the ps2. The remaster on Steam preforms way better than the ps2 port for sure.
Right on, glad you like the remaster too!
If you get your hands on the OG PC release from 2002, that is the definitive edition!
Definitely one of my favorite games. Sad the Grandia series has been left in the dust in recent years besides being remastered
So true! Hopefully it will be revived in some way.
Easily my favorite RPG. Its linear and not much to do outside of progressing that story, but that combat system and music REALLY sells it.
Tho I will say that I wouldn't exactly call Grandia II easy....at least not on the first playthrough. Its one of those games where at surface level it does provide a decent challenge.....until you understand everything going on under the hood and know exactly which skills/magics to pump up which then it'll go into a highly optimized set ups with only the skills that actually matter while ignoring everything else.
First playthrough, Eye and Melfice were notorious difficulty spikes for nearly everyone that I knew that played it. Tho hilariously, Eye also gave the games single most busted skill which trivialized literally every boss you were able to use it on, but that loops back to understanding everything that goes on under the hood.
Glad you like it so much! Thanks for leaving your memories here.
Howlslash (also bugged in OG - hits all, not line!) and Burnflame being the most fp/dmg effective spells and being able to farm +def seeds (and xp!) right after you got Pirate's Ring (and *very* efficent too!). Hilarious being immune to phys dmg.
@@5chneemensch138 howlslash and any line attack like Lotus Flower or DragonZap all did that, but I think it was cause of how the camera worked cause I've had them straight up miss targets that were in the AOE line, usually cause the target was actually too close and if they weren't on screen during the animation, it'd "miss". I only noticed it with Tio cause I'd throw lotus flower and it'd occasionally miss when I needed the cancel and it would only happen when an enemy was close, then other times it hit more than intended (like how you said)
@@Trent957 No, Howlslash exclusively did that in both my OG copy and my game collection copy.
Only characters that are hit are on the screen, that part makes no sense.
I wish Grandia III had also been included in the HD edition
That would have been nice!
What a blast from the past, I played the heck out of this game on the Dreamcast! It does have its downsides: the plot is largely predictable (saw the big twist coming a mile away), the characters could mostly be more likable and yes, it is not particularly challenging BUT boy is it FUN!! If you want a fun, short, low stakes kind of jrpg romp that offers you fantastically satisfying mechanical feedback then I highly recommend it!
Anyway now I need to buy the remaster pack so I can finally play the first one! Cheers Xygor!
Thanks for leaving your thoughts here. Yes, check out the remaster pack!
The story and lore in this game is just too good, and all the characters are so well nuanced and interesting. I truly believe the highlight of this game is the universe it's set in.
best RPG on the dreamcast, huh? how do you feel it holds against Skies Of Arcadia?
I like both, but I like this one a little more.
Absolutely loved Grandia2. The story collapses in the end for me with the granasabers and stuff but thats a minor complaint. Characters are awesome, music is great and the combat system is perfect. I always thought Zera was based on James Cosmo for some reason
Thanks for leaving your memories of it here!
Speaking of Dreamcast you have to talk about E.G.G is such an awesome adventure RPG
Not sure what that stands for
E.G.G. is a very rare Dreamcast game; only a handful of people ever heard about it.
@mushy i love that game to death 😍
I feel like Skies of Arcadia was the best RPG on Dreamcast. I loved both.
Ive played this on both consoles and PC. I absolutely love this game.
Right on!
Grandia II is awesome. Sadly another game that kind of suffered the same fate of being on the Dreamcast was Skies of Arcadia. At least Grandia II got a PS2 release, but Skies got double screwed with it’s second release being on the Gamecube. Hopefully Sega puts out a Switch port so more than 5 people can finally experience the game.
True, yet another game that was very overlooked for some similar reasons.
Such great content. So glad I found this channel. My wallet isn't happy with you though.
Haha, I appreciate the kind words! Many more videos to come!
I just couldn't find grandia 1 and 2 here in brazil :/
tbh I finished this game on Dreamcast ages ago and I completely forgot the whole story of the game. But Grandia 1, that one was unforgettable
i still love this game XD
It's still great all these years later!
Brought me back to the time I learned to speak/read english.
You have to know I'm from Germany and the only copy we got was in english only VO and Text.
So I didn't knew what I actually had to do. So everytime I couldn't understand what someone said I asked my dad what it meant.
I'm glad I played it made me learn english while having a blast with a really good story.
SPOILERS FOR WHO HAS NOT PLAYED THE GAME
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I sobbed so hard when Marek died
Nice review!
Thanks, glad you like it!
I love this game definitely top 5 rpg in my book ,I still have it on Dreamcast
Wasn't it great?
@@Xygor amazing and like u mentioned the music alone is top notch like ff7
Is a tough decision overall, hehe. I felt like the original Grandia is the very soul of what adventure feels, is very very gorgeous, the characters are very memorable and the battle mechanics are the best of any turn based rpg series ever. On the other hand, Grandia II has more of the same good points. The adventure feeling is not like in the first one, but the best quality graphics were awesome in the time, and today still looks good. The music is beautiful and the battle theme is on my top 3 of all time. The battle mechanics in the magic and skill part are improved, or at least I liked more than the original one, without loosing what makes the battle in Grandia the best one. Last but not less, the characters are very memorable too and I think that fits better in the plot than the first one.
As I say, is a tough decision haha. I can't choose one between them because I love both. But I prefer Ryudo over Justin, and Feena over Elena. Love Feena!!!
Thanks for the video and all your awesome work!
Thanks for the props and your memories of this gem!
With how many times I played Grandia 2, and only beat Grandia 1 once, and was begging for claustrophobic zoomed in view of the first to be over, I'd consider 2 largely an improvement. I like the spell system from the previous a bit better in concept, but I felt it nearly impossible to max them out unless you did all the side content I'm guessing.
Thanks for your thoughts!
i think Grandia 2 is the only Grandia game i have actualy beaten. I had Grandia 1. But after some time, because of my brothers. I lost the game. So i couldnt complete it. But then i bought Grandia 2 for the pc. And damn. It was good. As good as the first game, where i was actualy. The music was damn good, the story was awesome. But the english voice acting anoyed me. Makes me want to look up if there is a moded one where you can play the game with japanese voice acting. But english text. Something i found a whille back on some games. Like Grandia 1. It just felt like much of the charm and passion is gone when its localized into English. But still. Great game. I need to get the remaster collection. But sadly short on cash for now.
Thanks for your thoughts!
The first without doubt is one of the finest 'coming of age' stories ever crafted .. Music seals the deal as every detail showcases the love put into the product. (Minus some slightly cringe VA in English) Should be every bit as famous as Chrono .. What I crave is some Lunar ..& wth is our G.Seku1&2 remake I wonder?
Thanks for your thoughts on it!
i love this game so much, it's one of my favourites
I like this one considerably more then the first one (I played it on the Dreamcast right after it came out). Your main character didn't look like some sort of odd court jester as in G1, and Mareg was a great character. Just an excellent game all around.
Agreed, thanks for leaving your memories of it here!
Grandia: Fantastic story, wonderful characters, solid play, great music & character writing.
Grandia: Parallel Trippers: Pretty meh, really. Good for a GBC game, but a lousy Grandia.
Grandia II: Same as the first, less emphasis on "exploring for fun" for a stronger narrative.
Grandia Xtreme: Screw everything (mostly) to focus on boring dungeons and refined combat. Yay?
Grandia III: Pretty, most refined of the IP systems...the rest is utter _dogshit_ & killed the franchise.
Thanks for your thoughts on all of them!
Wish they could've ported it to the GameCube back in the day. It was another great RPG Nintendo fans could've enjoyed playing on their system of choice back then!
This and Legend of Legaia are my fav of all rpgs
It's probably a vain hope, but I do wish for a HD Remaster of Grandia Xtreme as well.
Good video, tho.
Thank you! And hopefully!
I remember i got Grandia 2 for ps2 in a bargain bin for $2 back in highschool and i totally scored!!!
Can somebody explain to me what are the problems of the PS2 version? Is it that bad? I'm considering getting the game for it. Thanks =)
My favorite rpg look wise I just love the visuals
0:16 You didn't play the original Grandia first on the Sega _Saturn?!_ 😮
1:26 I feel so sorry for anyone who played it first on the PS2 rather than the Sega Dreamcast... 😬
You butchered Ryudo's name by the way.
And thanks for giving the voice cast credit where it's due; They did a stellar job at voicing Grandia II.
started to play 1 of these games last year and it was a love at 1st try..Unfortunatly i dont remember which it was of the 2 i got..
it was w ryudo(or how its spelled)and he is hired to protect a daughter or something and i got to a hotel n there a demon gorl showed up...hard to explane n in english its even worse trying toooo...Anyway i went to the cave and in there i never found my way out again n stoped playing after a few hours trying to(just went roun n round n maybe that i didnt see where i could go into next screen or i didnt know where to go....Anyway i loved the story n for me to like this game was a very very huge longshot...But i really did like the story(so far i got atleast,but have a hard time thinking it would get bad at that early place i was.....?)
Thanks 4 video(think it was 2nd game,but not sure?)
Game was 9 at the time. 8ish now for me
It's different, but memorable. ^_^
True!
I played the first one I wish I could had played part 2
The best turn-based JRPG battle system ever! Grandia 2 improved on everything Grandia established and is the better game in my opinion. Both are great, but 2 is a notch above and one of my favorite games ever!
You forget Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast. 😊
After playing and loving the first one, This was a huge letdown to me. Perhaps I never gave it a fair shot but I dont think I made it past a couple of hours. Felt too easy, I grinded mybway into White Apocalypse really easily I think, that or some other powerful spell, and It just felt worse. Maybe next time, no grinding at all and Ill see how it plays.
Thanks for leaving your thoughts on it!
If you know the game systems, the game is incredibly easy.
Try the game without farming. It makes you do actual decisions as you would not be able to max everything. Should be around lvl 50 at the final boss and multiple spells and skills still unleveled.
White Apocalypse is kinda bad regardless. The bubble sleep is OP.
Great game, my favorite in the series. Too bad they dropped the ball story-wise in 3, because the combat in that was still fun.
True, it was downhill from here!
Man, sadly Dream cast in America and EU, has the censured versión of Hundred Swords, a good JRPG X RTS.
This is the one the got away for me. 😂
The sequel is fantastic but I forgot what a huge jerk Ryudo is in this game! I thought he was so cool when I first played the game in my 20s but now as a middle-aged adult with a kid, all I can do is shake my head and sigh at his emotional immaturity! C'mon Ryudo! Be true to your feelings! Let the light in man! Also, there is one unforgivable moment in this game that I dare not spoil but you know what it is don't ya Xygor? A certain shakeup to the party shall we say?
True, it's cool to see Ryudo's development unfold as a character though!
@@Xygor he does grow! I like that and in fact all the characters pretty much do have an emotional arc now that I think on it!
Lol please always post your vids to be fresh for 4:20 viewing.
This was a nice surprise
Actually not sure what you mean, but I'll take it!
Man I play this game on switch and it crashed more than 10 times in my 60 hrs playtime.
Wow, that sucks!
Being able to paralyze the bosses, including the final boss kinda ruins things
True, I didn't really recall that but thanks for noting this!
In 2000 when both Grandia and PS2 released - the PS2 wasn't known for its RPGs because it had jack shit for titles, lol.
A reddit atheist murder hobo and a prudish priestess forced to go on a road trip and end up killing god (not a spoiler, it's a jrpg after all)
One of my top 10 games of all time, amazing story with memorable characters and great combat. And this is coming from someone who hates turn based combat, so you know it's good.
I'm playing grandia 2 right now, just after I finished the first title.. grandia 1 was the best jrpg I ever played.. including final fantasy and sea of stars.
I just started the 2cnd grandia and so far I am very disappointed.
The skill progression sucks in comparison... The 3d everything of the time of ps2 didn't age very well compared to the 2d pixel art sprites of the first one.
Since it's still a good game, with a well written story, I will continue to complete it. Just a bit let down compared to the first title.
Dude, The Dreamcast had a little game called SKIES of ARCADIA, like hell no Grandia 2 is better when literally has no post game and is "Easy"
Grandia 2 is a fantastic game, long animations don't bother me at all.
Love the game hated the final villain though
Spoilers…..
I felt the brother should have been the final villain cool design looked like a threat but instead it was an old fat priest other than that game is awesome
I love this game and I wanted to love the video but your mispronunciation of almost everything takes me so far out of the video that I just can't do it.
Oh Yeah I played the2-3 in PS2 years ago(Well finished the 3 first,reaaally Good Story) but when I started playing the 2 I was kinda dissapointed at the graphics but HEY the story is really good too.Really deserves a remake or something,jrpgs are the best games I ever played :3