Collection essentials #452: Grandia II (DC)

The original Grandia on the Saturn and PlayStation is one of my all-time favorite JRPGs. For the sequel, they opted to do the thing where the second game has zero ties with the original with none of the same characters. But the games still have a lot in common, such as the basics of the battle system, enemy designs, spells, and other such things. Unlike the first game, which had 2D sprites in 3D environments, Grandia II is 100% in 3D.

The protagonist of the first game was a young boy who got to live out his dream of becoming an adventurer. This time around, our main character is quite different. You play as Ryudo, a mercenary accompanied by his talking bird friend Skye who works for money without caring much whether the work is right or wrong. He gets hired to protect a young priestess, and soon gets wrapped up in a struggle to prevent the resurrection of powerful evil being named Valmar whose parts have been scattered across the world. The story isn’t super original, but Grandia II does do a good job with its characters. For example, there are campfire scenes where your party just sits around and chats, helping them feel a little more real. 

Grandia II has a lot of voice acting, and they got a lot of the cast from Metal Gear Solid to voice characters in this game, which is a good thing. Also in the cast is Jodi Benson, the woman who voiced Ariel in Disney’s hit film “The Little Mermaid”, and she voices a VERY different character this time around. From what I remember, the voice acting isn’t quite as good as what you’d expect from a modern game, but back then good voice acting in games was less common so I’d say this game’s acting was above average for the time.

Game Arts was smart not to mess with the turn-based battle system from the first game, as it’s strategic and very fun. It carries the same dynamic of having character turns represented by moving icons on a gauge, and using certain attacks with certain timing can cancel an enemy’s move. You have to consider how fast your character can use the attack, potentially where they are on the battlefield in relation to the enemy, and how fast the enemy’s icon will move on the gauge. It’s one of my favorite turn-based battle systems ever! Outside of battle, they changed the way your characters learn spells, but that’s totally fine.

I first found out about Grandia II over 20 years ago. I asked my late friend Brian Castleberry to recommend me some Dreamcast games, and this was one of his recommendations. It was the first time I had heard about Grandia in general. I managed to find it at a local game store (I believe at the Holyoke Mall). That copy was a loose disc, and I forget whether the disc shown in the photo is my original from back then. Either way, my original save file still exists. It’s been a very long time since I last played through this game, so I may have to give it another go at some point to reevaluate it in adulthood. 

Grandia II has been ported or remade a few times. An HD remake is available on modern platforms, which is great in terms of making it accessible. From what I gather, the original Dreamcast version is still regarded as the best way to play the game, as each port and remake that exists has at least some little minor issue that puts it a peg below. But if you aren’t already interested in getting a Dreamcast, the modern versions should be more than adequate. If you enjoy quality turn-based combat and fun characters in your JRPGs, this is a game you definitely ought to try out. It’s one of my favorite Dreamcast titles and a clear choice for my essentials list.