Grandia 2 Coming to PC

I don't know dink about it but it sure does make former Dreamcast players swoon:
http://www.pcgamer.com/grandia-ii-an…er-this-month/

(Actually reported by GameSpot but PC Gamer has a nice picture.

-> it is called Grandia 2

D'oh! See, I told you I don't know much about it!

Now out on GOG and Steam for $20. First week is 25% off ($15).
https://youtu.be/BdqKEQ0ZtM4

Bought it because a few friends said I'd love it.

Is it TB or is it ATB?

Who cares. It's checkpoints game. Usually I'd say skip that garbage but this game has something most of other console crapware doesn't.
Grandia 2 contains of the best game soundtracks ever made.

Originally Posted by Edgy
Is it TB or is it ATB?

A Steam review says its a mix. It seems tactics and positioning are important.

Judging from this years old video it looks like the game plays in real time until one of your characters has a turn, then it pauses for as long as you need to input your command.

From what videos I've seen, having the Japanese voice option is going to be a big plus. Some of that acting… ouch.

P.S. There's been some griping about controllers not all working right.

Fortunately I don't care about controller issues, as long as the keyboard works. I'm assuming it will be much like some of the Sega old school rpgs on Steam, and the keyboard seemed to work fine with those. I didn't realize it was a checkpoint save system though, that's a bummer.

Originally Posted by Zloth
From what videos I've seen, having the Japanese voice option is going to be a big plus. Some of that acting… ouch.

Yeah, the voice acting was absolutely terrible. I used to own the old PC version, and dear god the voice acting was terrible. But it was not "funny terrible" like House of the Dead 2, it was just terrible.

Got it, played half of it, and I think I'm done with it.

The story seems OK but I'm not really impressed with it. The graphics are fairly good given the age of the game. There were some serious bugs with the game early on but the developers have patched the game up pretty nicely now.

The combat system isn't all that big of a deal. Positioning of your characters is important but, unless you're willing to blow a turn, you don't get any choice about what that position is! Still, they give you the ability to use special 'critical' attacks that, if used at the right time, will cancel an enemy's attack so there is more to this battle system than your typical JRPG. Unfortunately, the combat system is undermined by another issue…

This game is EASY! It's a little rough right at the start when you're low level and can only cast a few spells between checkpoints but that doesn't last long. Then the vast majority of the battles become trivial and boring. The boss battles are still exciting and quite interesting but you only get one of those every 7 or 8 hours. I definitely recommend playing on the PC-exclusive hard difficulty.

The real torture for me, though, is the music. The quality of the playback is great but the actual music is the worst I've ever heard. I hated towns and talking to people mostly because the music in the background was so dreadful. I really should have just turned it off.

It also has a problem that has been an issue in JRPGs for ages: you don't know when the chatting stops. You talk to a person and they tell you something. Talk to them again and they might tell you more, or might say the same thing all over again (possibly a few bubbles worth). There's no way I could see to tell if the person was going to have just one thing to say, two, three, five… you just have to keep talking with them until they start repeating themselves. Given the number of people there are to talk with, that's a BIG waste of time. Especially when you're being tortured by elevator music while they say it.

On the plus side, there's some really good humor in there.

….. joxer is going to die when he reads this……

Your taste in music is quite weird BTW.

Originally Posted by Zloth
This game is EASY!

This was the main problem with the original game IMO. I always found the battle system in Grandia games fantastic but more often than not the difficulty is not there to push you to experiment and master the system. I'm glad there is a Hard option.

I really really disagree with the music though but there is no accounting for taste I guess.

I enjoyed this game a lot, but you are correct when you say that it gets very easy later on. About the music I have no idea, but I think I had Tool and Cradle of Filth going for this one, as I turn off any and all game music immediately and just use my own. 99% of game music seems aimed at 5 yr olds, imo….a notable exception would be Vampire Masquerade, where I distinctly remember some Lacuna Coil blasting! Goddammit that game rocked!!

Fun game though and some of the named fights were quite involved, especially near the end. I've certainly paid more and gotten less for some bigger titles, I got my moneys' worth out of Grandia.

I think this is actually the first game where I haven't liked the music. There have been plenty where the music was just kinda there and plenty of games where the music was good but got repeated so often it got bad. But hearing this on a loop the whole time I'm exploring a town… that just hurts.

(This, however, is pure awesome.)

P.S. No posts from Joxer. I'm afraid I killed him. Sorry Joxer… really. Umm, how much xp was he worth?

Originally Posted by Zloth
I think this is actually the first game where I haven't liked the music. There have been plenty where the music was just kinda there and plenty of games where the music was good but got repeated so often it got bad. But hearing this on a loop the whole time I'm exploring a town… that just hurts.

Ugh, I had forgot how annoying the music could be in Grandia 2. Thanks for bringing back bad memories

Originally Posted by Zloth
I think this is actually the first game where I haven't liked the music. There have been plenty where the music was just kinda there and plenty of games where the music was good but got repeated so often it got bad. But hearing this on a loop the whole time I'm exploring a town… that just hurts.

(This, however, is pure awesome.)

P.S. No posts from Joxer. I'm afraid I killed him. Sorry Joxer… really. Umm, how much xp was he worth?

Ahh, well, don't let that particular tune set the standard of the music in the game…….. I also think it was annoying because it played too much in town, there are a lot of great stuff though.

Hahaha, how many XP is Joxer worth that is the only thing you can think about after inflicting such a mortal blow to him….. I guess I have to submit this to those networks in the US who thinks gaming is the devil……….