Grandia II: Hands-on impressions

[07.24.00] » Dreamcast to Houston: the epic has landed.

   This past weekend, the GIA was fortunate enough to have some hands-on experience with Game Arts' Grandia II--as well as meet producer Takeshi Miyaji and director Katsunori Saito. Make no mistake about it: Grandia II is easily the most impressive next-generation RPG we've seen, and the first true RPG epic for a next-generation console. Sega's Skies of Arcadia and Phantasy Star Online may compare, but Grandia II is complete, playable, and shipping first (August 3rd in Japan; December in the U.S.)

   Our Grandia II experience began, fittingly enough, with the introduction. This brief anime clip sets the stage for the epic story of Grandia II. 10,000 years ago, the God of Light, Granas, battled the God of Darkness, Valmar. Their struggle left a giant scar across the face of the world: the Granacliff. This scar scattered people across the continent, leading many to believe that while Granas triumphed over Valmar, he then abandoned the world to its own devices. Now, in the modern day, many things are beginning to go wrong--"bubbles of evil" are popping up all over. Why is the dark rising once again? The story of Grandia II has no connections to the first game; like Square's Final Fantasy titles, the world and characters of each game stands alone. Game Arts has promised a more complex, adult adventure than the first title's "Let's Positive Adventuring!" tone--and with a new scenario designer on the job, it may be more than just talk.

   The main character, Ryudo, is certainly a good start. In sharp contrast to Justin's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed personality, Ryudo is a jaded, cold-hearted individual who sees his "adventures" as little more than a job. He works as a Geohound--a mercenary-for-hire who quells the constantly increasing monster uprisings. He fights alongside his eagle friend, Skye. Skye is forty years old, serious to a fault, and constantly dispensing advice to the impulsive Ryudo. After years of cooperation, the two are good friends, but frequently squabble on the surface.

   Joining Ryudo and Skye are a Motley Cast of Characters (tm). The female roles are nicely filled by the virgin/whore dichotomy that makes for good romantic tension. On the side of purity, we have priestess Elena. Near the beginning of the game, she travels to a nearby church to perform a ceremony to seal away some of the rising evil. Ryudo, her freelance bodyguard, escorts her to the ceremony through the increasingly dangerous wilderness. On the side of so very bad, we have naughty, winged Millenia. Her flamboyant, fiery nature and sexy appearance should make her a fan favorite. Other revealed characters include the crude beast-man, Mareg; the fastidious, 13-year-old Roan (who's a stickler for proper manners); and the cute animal sidekick, Carro.

   Game Arts has a well-earned reputation for personality and character design, and the crew of Grandia II looks to uphold the fine tradition. One scene early in the game takes place around a dinner table. Each character has their own mannerisms and eating style which reveals much about their personality. Ryudo eats crudely, oblivious to his dining faux pas. Mareg scarfs his food like a hungry savage. Meanwhile, Roan is determined to eat his meal with the correct utensils, no matter how his cohorts may be butchering dining etiquette. Little touches like these help bring the characters to life throughout the game.

   And the game itself is simply beautiful. The field screens control much like the first Grandia--only now, environments feature colorful, high-resolution textures and run at a constant 60 frames-per-second. The environments feature lots of details that the player can interact with--the developers wish to make a more "lively" game has definitely been realized. Buildings aren't just trussed-up boxes; surfaces intersect in a variety of creative curves and angles. The intelligent camera follows your characters around towns and dungeons, zooming out and adjusting the view as necessary to provide the player with the best possible view. Players can adjust the camera position using the Dreamcast's analog shoulder buttons. Pressing the shoulder buttons slightly moves the camera around your characters; pushing them in all the way begins a rapid circular pan.

   Miyaji and Saito frequently mentioned how they hoped to make Grandia II more cinematic than the first adventure. The films of Akira Kurosawa (The Seven Samurai) and Kabuki and Noh play were named as influences. While the character models and camera work help set the stage, the pair felt that it was dynamic lighting which brought the most sense of "depth" to the title. Whether it's a spooky forest or a crackling bonfire, careful attention has been paid to Grandia II's light sources and how they affect the mood and tone of a scene.

   Visually, the battles are simply the finest the genre has ever seen. Grandia II, like the first, dispenses with the "enemies on the left, party of the right" conceit that has marked the genre since the first Final Fantasy. Instead, we get full freedom-of-movement within the battle environments with a combination of real-time and turn-based fighting. The first Grandia used sprites for its characters; in Grandia II, everything is full 3D and well animated. Watching the characters attack, feint, cancel, and dodge in real-time is visually astounding, especially when the entire party works together to take out a boss several times their size.

   Your party also has a variety of magic attacks at their fingertips. Most of the lower-level spells are handled in-engine using polygonal wizardry. The more powerful attacks, however, are rendered in FMV. While this might sound like a logistical nightmare (and a major shift in style), the effect is mostly transparent--literally. Game Arts' has used a new feature of the Dreamcast's MPEG functionality to overlay the FMV spells onto the polygonal battle arena and characters. Since you can usually see your party and the enemies through the FMV effect, it's not as displacing as you might fear.

   Game Arts confirmed that the experience system of Grandia II would be similar to that of the first title. Repeatedly using a weapon or spell causes a character to become more proficient at that weapon or spell. New techniques are learned upon reaching certain levels of proficiency in individual or combined abilities. The developers stated that they hope to "emotionally" involve the player in the battles, and that they won't be seen as just another obstacle on the way to more story. Since the battle system and experience system were one of the best parts of the original Grandia, it's refreshing that Game Arts has left the mechanics mostly untouched for the sequel.

   Grandia II looks great, but how does it sound? Fortunately, the music, sound effects, and voice acting are receiving the same careful attention. The original Grandia's music composer has returned, and music plays a major role in the title. The virtuous Elena also enjoys singing, a trait which is used throughout the game. Don't think Rhapsody-style musical numbers, however; Elena's songs are more subdued, solo affairs. The sound and music teams spent a long time listening to music and singing in different languages from around the world, searching out the ideal sound. In the end, they settled on Portuguese, and all of Elena's vocals are in this Romance tongue. Savvy RPG fans can get a feel for the language by listening to the ending theme to Konami's Suikoden ("Avertuneiro Antes Lance Mao"), or by listening to French and Spanish simultaneously.

   The game also features about 90 minutes of voice acting to highlight key sequences. While UbiSoft's Evolution 2 was subtitled, Grandia II will be dubbed. But don't be afraid: the dub is being handled by vocal producer Kris Zimmerman. You may know her work from a little game called Metal Gear Solid. No voice actors or actresses have been announced yet, but it's clear that UbiSoft is taking this property seriously.

   Will we see Grandia II on other platforms? For now, it remains a Dreamcast exclusive. The game was custom-tailored to the Dreamcast hardware's strengths, so any port to another system would likely be long, involved, and difficult. (But if the original Grandia's trip from the Saturn to the PlayStation proved anything, it was to never assume that "difficult" means "impossible."). Game Arts is currently uncertain what other platforms the game may see--if any. Producer Miyaji suggested that the issue may be ultimately resolved via a game of janken (rock-paper-scissors).

   Two years in the making, and with a staff of over 200 people, Grandia II is clearly a cut above what we have seen so far on next-generation consoles (the game itself uses all but a single megabyte of the GD-ROM). The first Grandia garnered favorable comparisons to Square's Final Fantasy, but failed to ignite the interest of U.S. gamers. But the blame for that falls squarely on the shoulders of SCEA's botched localization and non-existent marketing efforts--two mistakes which UbiSoft has no intention of repeating. Game Arts estimates the title will take betwen 40-60 hours to complete on a first-time through, but that the chance to use different characters in battle may encourage players to play the title multiple times.

   Before playing Grandia II, this GIA agent was looking forward to the game--after playing it, however, he's started obsessively counting the days until the Japanese release. The graphics and sound are already confirmed as stunning. If Game Arts can successfully add great gameplay and a more mature storyline to this strong presentation, Grandia II may be the RPG to watch this holiday season. Grandia II will be released on August 3rd in Japan and in December in the U.S.