Volume 8: Putting it to bed
Dear reader, I am breaking my golden rule for this go around. I am a staunch believer in playing a series from the beginning, if I possibly can. I will painstakingly go out of my way to play a classic series from the start if the option is presented to me. Alas, that rule breaks today. I started my Grandia journey with Grandia 2.
But this wasn’t without reason; Grandia 2 is surprisingly significant, even if I didn’t realise it until recently. In fact, I’ve seen this game before. It was one of the first games I saw my cousin play on her Dreamcast when I was too young to really understand what an RPG was, much less remember the title itself. Years later, I worked out the game with a Bat Girl and a girl with a red bobble hat (Apparently “bobble hats” aren’t a thing overseas, American fashion is behind.) was actually a cult-classic RPG with a dedicated following.
Having finally played it, Grandia 2 is a brilliant RPG that proves being predictable isn’t necessarily a negative; just because I could tell you from the minute that “Zera Innocentius” was mentioned he was the main villain didn’t mean I had any less fun on the journey. The world of Grandia 2 is fluent in convention, but it means new ideas carry far more weight when they do emerge.
The core premise of travelling across a broken world with the ultimate goal of sealing away an ancient evil is a well-worn one, but a focus on the people of the world helps to make the journey much more engaging. Ryudo has all the personality of Sonic the Hedgehog, but he grew on me. Each member of the party very much has their lot, and never really deviates from their archetype. Elena is the thoughtful one, Roan is the polite optimist, and Millenia is the sultry foil to the politeness Elena embodies. It’s rote, but again, not necessarily a bad thing.
Comfort food is comfort food for a reason, and an easily digestible plot is one I’m more than happy to take right now.
The journey to escort songstress Elena to Pope Zera Innocentius (seriously) takes the party through town after town, each with their own troubles. A town’s residents losing the ability to eat food, another with spontaneous comas, and a city with a frankly concerning taste for underground weaponry. Each is a self-contained arc which functions as its own “monster of the week,” while also contributing to the main plot.
Grandia 2’s greatest moments are found in these smaller arcs, and are what have sat with me after rolling the credits. The story of a young child who, confused and scared, was forced to sacrifice herself for the sake of saving the world, and a mother forced to let it happen. For all of its clunky writing and stilted voicework, I found myself pushing forward feeling invested, helped by the inspired visual direction, only somewhat hampered by the HD remaster.
Considering I remembered only a few things from when I was a kid, I’m stunned I wasn’t left with nightmares from some of the more bizarre animated cutscenes dotted throughout. Key story sequences, and particular moves in battle, are punctuated with ambitious 3D animation that leans heavily towards the uncanny, with an odd penchant for body horror. Between those, and a dungeon built around a lake of blood and upside down buildings, there were moments that aesthetically pushed the boat out further than what I was expecting based purely on first impressions.
The HD remaster unfortunately makes the disconnect between gameplay and cutscene quite stark, which sucks, because I imagine these must have looked incredible on the Dreamcast. Going from high-resolution jagged overworld models to incredibly compressed animated cutscenes never felt smooth, and was an unfortunate consequence of playing this one on a modern platform.
Grandia 2 also managed to impress me with its incredibly expressive battle system, which rewards mindfulness and paying attention to the field. Choosing to play Grandia 2 as a straightforward RPG misses the point, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to embrace its unique mechanics. Being able to interrupt enemy attacks through clever spacing and movement essentially takes what would be standard turn-based combat and injects it with an action element that is unlike anything I’ve played before.
Each member of the party certainly has an intended “role,” but each is also pretty malleable in what you want them to do. Elena is your plot-prescribed magic user, and Mareg is your tank, which isn’t a surprise when you see how the guy is built. This, in and of itself, isn’t interesting, but the Mana Egg and Skill Book system allow you to fine-tune each character’s stats and move spreads as to make up for weaknesses, or capitalize on strengths.
I’ve always gravitated towards this kind of flexibility, because it rewards engaging with what’s given to me, and Grandia 2 is very happy to let you snap it over your knee. By the time I had the currency, I’d equipped Mareg with abilities to make him practically unkillable in a one-to-one scrap. Elena became a one-trick ticking timebomb, where Tio was my agile support mage who filled in the gaps.
With how your main party is dictated completely by the story, it means you’re always playing with limitations, which then means you’re never too far away from success. One particular boss managed to throw me into a brick wall, but clever tweaking meant I pretty well beat it after one more attempt. It was nice to feel encouraged to actually use all of my spells, rather than just going with a default option.
If nothing else, Grandia 2 made me feel good. It felt nice to finally play the game that had so haunted me for decades, and it made me feel even better to know it was a pretty great game too. I don’t know if it’ll sit with me for the rest of time, but it’s good to play something simple for a change, and I’m very pleased to have taken the recommendation! A younger me is feeling very happy, because after all, it’s never too late to play!
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