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Grandia II PlayStation 2
  • Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Release Date: Jan 28, 2002
  • Also On: PC
Metascore
71 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 19
  3. Negative: 1 out of 19
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  1. GameZone
    83
    It's got excellent battle mechanics, plenty of character building choices, a bright airy feel, some witty interjections from Ryduo and Skye, and has hours and hours of gameplay.
  2. PSX Nation
    80
    Enjoy Grandia II for its appealing characters, interesting story, 30+ hour length and the best active-time battle engine in the business.
  3. GamerWeb Sony
    80
    The battle system still rocks the house if you're a fan of fast-paced turn-based systems.
  4. GamePro
    80
    The voice-acting is noteworthy, but there are some just rudimentary audio effects and the music is sometimes dramatic, sometimes just unexciting...Good, basic RPG fare.
  5. Adrenaline Vault
    80
    Grandia II happily dwells in a genre where its players will sacrifice a bit of visual quality for a compelling story and excellent combat and character mechanics. Luckily, these are delivered in spades.
  6. Gaming Age
    75
    Grandia II still stands out as a fantastic RPG...[though] the graphics took a punch in the teeth in the translation.
  7. GameSpot
    74
    Grandia II may not look like much from a technical standpoint--disappointingly, the game actually looks a bit worse than the original Dreamcast version--but its visual design is well done.
  8. GameBrink
    72
    It's not the best RPG out there, far from that. But it's still pretty fun o play, although it might need some getting used to.
  9. GameSpy
    71
    A great game... that you should be playing on another system.
  10. PSM Magazine
    70
    The biggest feather in the game's cap lies in it's amazing battle system. [Feb 2002, p.42]
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  11. IGN
    70
    It has its ups and its downs, and it certainly isn't the equal of its predecessor, but it's a good-looking game and an absolutely great-playing one.
  12. Electric Playground
    70
    The graphics are dated and Ryundo's bad-boy character has been done to death. But those are only small faults in an otherwise excellent game.
  13. TotalPlayStation
    70
    A fantastic break from the Final Fantasy-dominated RPG genre.
  14. Official U.S. Playstation Magazine
    70
    To put it bluntly, this game's graphics are a mess...still a great RPG. [Feb 2002, p.107]
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  15. TotalGames.net
    69
    An above average RPG when released on the lesser Dreamcast system, on the PS2 it is merely average.
  16. Game Informer
    65
    Tie the archaic visual presentation to the nauseating plot and uninteresting character personalities, and the end result is yet another RPG that doesn't live up to the expectations. [Mar 2002, p.79]
    All this publication's reviews
  17. Yahoo! Games
    60
    It has an original take on the combat system but its average graphics and strictly linear gameplay will not guarantee a long shelf life.
  18. Armchair Empire
    55
    The game suffers from slowdown that drags the game to a slowdown, clipping, and worst of all it has a tendency to freeze up, requiring the PS2 to be reset.
  19. Electronic Gaming Monthly
    40
    Inexplicably horrible graphics completely ruin an otherwise splendid title. [Feb 2002, p.156]
    All this publication's reviews
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. RPGROB
    10
    This is one of the best RPG games I've played. Without giving away too much, you go around destroying different parts of an evil god. He needs to absorb all of these pieces to become whole again. Where the game really shines is the battle system. Your characters and enemies are constantly moving around, though the game pauses to give you a chance to give commands to your characters. Depending on how far away a character is from an enemy depends on how long it will take to attack them. You can use "critical" attacks to cancel out an enemy's move if timed carefully. You should know this is a Dreamcast port, so the graphics are Dreamcast era. This is one of those games that would have been better by not using 3-D real-time graphics. However, the characters are animated well, doing everything from scooting out of bed to going into an angry pose while speaking. For people that like to read, the characters consistently have outrageous and funny puns to say. An alter ego of one of the characters flirts with the main character, who likes to think of himself as a tough guy, but he eventually softens up. The dialogue reminds me of that written for Disgaea. It would be unfair of me to rate the game lower because of the technical flaws, but it's way TOO noticeable. The graphics clip in and out constantly, there's MASSIVE slowdowns within towns and a few dungeons. Fog and reflection effects double the slowdown. There's even glitches that affect the menus and text sometimes, but they are not deal breakers. Gold coins that appear after defeating enemies turn black half of the time. To be fair, the game never froze once. I give this game a 10 despite its technical flaws, which I feel shouldn't detract from the game. It's definitely worth trying, but pickup the Dreamcast version if you can.… Full Review »
  2. Thebest
    9
    As a RPG Grandia is as good in the battles as they get. FF battles feel boring and slow after this masterpiece. The story keeps you on track, and brings up many suprises. The end games big pile of bosses are too easy to beat, but whoever you look at it, the battles are so amazing, the all not-so-good parts are forgotten and hidden under the chair.… Full Review »
  3. CloudStrife
    9
    I really like the game even if the graphic are not that good. But when we play a RPG we leave the graphics to be the last one. The game has a Very good story. one of the best i can say but i believe that the Dreamcast version is much better than PS2. PS2 machine is just another slowdown invention by SONY! i cant wait now for Grandia 3!!!! :D… Full Review »
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