Grandia II - Same Adventurous Spirit, Wildly Different Story 

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 RU-vid membership by clicking the JOIN button above!

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.

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

Absolutely love this game, it’s an all time favorite of mine.

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.

Picked this up for like $10 after the Dreamcast was discontinued, well worth it. Love this game

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.

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.

Great effects far ahead of it’s time, grandiose music, fantastic story and a jewel for the Dreamcast…better than the PS2 version!

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

I just got the physical copy of Grandia 1&2 for Switch this year, will be playing it soon.

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.

An awesome game. One of my favorites of all time! Great review, by the way.

Looks like I'm playing this next. Thanks for showing off some awesome games of the past, Xygor!

Grandia II shows what a terrific RPG Skies of Arcadia is.

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

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 i was recommended your channel 😊 enjoy your vids 👍

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.

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 Played Grandia II on Dreamcast cuz my mom bought it for me for my Birthday ..i Spent Hours playing this game non Stop ..And I enjoyed every Minute Of It =D

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

One of my favorite RPG combat systems. Would love for a Grandia 4 or a spiritual successor series.

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.

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.

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.

Definitely one of my favorite games. Sad the Grandia series has been left in the dust in recent years besides being remastered

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

Such great content. So glad I found this channel. My wallet isn't happy with you though.

I wish Grandia III had also been included in the HD edition

played this game when i was kid on dreamcast, and is still one of my favorite jrpgs today.

Nice review!

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!

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

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.

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 feel like Skies of Arcadia was the best RPG on Dreamcast. I loved both.

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.

i love this game so much, it's one of my favourites

Speaking of Dreamcast you have to talk about E.G.G is such an awesome adventure RPG

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

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.

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!

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 =)

I love this game, it actually came with a music cd.

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

Ive played this on both consoles and PC. I absolutely love this game.

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.

It's probably a vain hope, but I do wish for a HD Remaster of Grandia Xtreme as well. Good video, tho.

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.

I love this game definitely top 5 rpg in my book ,I still have it on Dreamcast

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?

Best Game on Dreamcast

I just couldn't find grandia 1 and 2 here in brazil :/

i still love this game XD

best RPG on the dreamcast, huh? how do you feel it holds against Skies Of Arcadia?

I remember i got Grandia 2 for ps2 in a bargain bin for $2 back in highschool and i totally scored!!!

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?)

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.

It's different, but memorable. ^_^

This is the one the got away for me. 😂

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!

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.

Game was 9 at the time. 8ish now for me

Lol please always post your vids to be fresh for 4:20 viewing. This was a nice surprise

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?

I played the first one I wish I could had played part 2

Man, sadly Dream cast in America and EU, has the censured versión of Hundred Swords, a good JRPG X RTS.

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.

Being able to paralyze the bosses, including the final boss kinda ruins things

Man I play this game on switch and it crashed more than 10 times in my 60 hrs playtime.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.