Wow, what a great story!
Not only does the game have an extrordinary level of customization, but it also has a truly breathtaking story. I'd have to say that this is near to being my favourite storyline of all time. One part in particular made me cry and cry and cry. I'm not talking about the "little bit of eyes watering" type of crying either, but literally full-blown crying. It really is truly astounding how a story can impact you, and Grandia 2 definitely excels at what it does in terms of story. If you're the type of person who enjoys a quality story, go out and buy Grandia 2 as fast as you can! The twists and such in the game will blow you away!
One other thing that I really enjoyed in the game is the fact that there are no random encounters. Instead, when you are walking around, you will see enemies moving around. Running into one of these enemies will trigger the battle, and you'll be taken to the separate scene where you fight the enemies. It's like Tales of Symphonia's method of enemy encountering, which I really liked. Overall, the gameplay in Grandia 2 was truly astounding!
Graphics: The graphics in Grandia 2 were decent, but not really anything special. I think that a lot of this comes from the fact that Grandia 2 is a port of a Dreamcast game, so not only does it have Dreamcast graphics (which are still pretty good, just npt as good as most PS2 games), but it also suffers from a lot of the visual glitches that some ports have, such as an akward framerate at times. Even so, the game is still pretty good to look at, and a lot o the environments are visually great. However, if you just concentrated on the gameplay graphics, you'd only be looking at half of the picture. Grandia 2 also contains around 20 minutes of high-resolution CG cutscenes, which all look superb. These cutscenes have excellent graphics, and are a joy to look at. Overall, the graphics in Grandia 2 were good, just not mind-blowing.
Sound: Wow. Just wow. Grandia 2 has excellent audio throughout it! The battle music is especially phenominal, especially the boss battle music, as well as the various other tracks that play throughout the game. Some of the music even brought tears to my eyes, it was that good! This is the type of game that you'll want to buy the soundtrack to, it's that good! The game also contains voice acting at several parts in the game. The voice acting was very well done, and each character sounds even better than you'd expect them to sound had there been no voice acting. There aren't any weak voice actors in Grandia 2, which is a phenominal accomplishment for a game to do. Overall, the audio in Grandia 2 was amazing!
Value: Grandia 2 is no short game: it took me about 40 hours to beat. While that may seem to be about average in terms of RPGs, for a video game it's still a long game compared to nearly every other genre! The one thing that I felt kind of took away from the value though is the fact that there weren't really any side-quests to undertake had I wanted to extend my playtime, as the game is quite linear. As a result, there isn't really much incentive to go back and play through it a second time, unless you'd like to relive the storyline again. Still, when all is said and done, while the game may not contain a whole lot of replay value, Grandia 2 is quite a lengthy game.
Tilt: Overall, Grandia 2 is, simply put, a masterpiece. It surpassed every possible expectation that I could have had for the game, and it truly blew me away in nearly every way possible. The battle system is deep and engaging, the audio is some of the best I've heard in a while, the storyline is full of twists and surprises (and most likely ranks among my top 15 favourite stories of all time - quite an accomplishment, considering how many storylines I've seen), and at 40 hours, you can be sure you won't be finishing the game anytime soon after you get it. Grandia 2 is a must-have title for any RPG fan. A game this good only comes by every so often.