Don't let this little gem of an RPG pass you by!
GAMEPLAY (9) - Grandia 2 does not have random battles. Instead your enemies will appear on the screen and you can usually avoid battles if you wish, which is always nice. The only thing to watch out for is if you avoid an enemy and they suddenly notice you and come at you from behind they would have the initiative in battle. The great thing about Grandia 2 is that you most likely won't want to avoid battles, as they are a lot of fun. The battles are a combination of real time and turn based strategy. A meter shows how close each player (including the enemies) is to choosing a move, and then executing it. This is helpful since you can gauge how and when you want to plan your choices of type of offensive and/or defensive moves. When your meter does reach the "decision" mark, you will have a number of options available to you, including a combo attack, critical attack, special moves/magic attack, item access, defending, evading and other options like escaping and activating AI for that character. Combo attacks are powerful standard attacks. Critical attacks do less damage but can cancel any power-ups your enemies are charging. Special attacks do a great deal more damage, but they use Special Points, of which you have a limited amount, the same with magic. The battle system, while deep, is still easy to learn and makes combat very enjoyable. Certainly one of the best RPG battle systems I've played. There are a limited number of puzzles to solve, but tend to be few and far between.
GRAPHICS (6) - To be fair you do have to keep in mind that this is a port of a game made 8 years ago for the Dreamcast. Overall it looks like a typical RPG for the PS1. Characters and items seem a bit on the blocky side, and sometimes the backgrounds/environments will have glitches. Occasionally there will be some crude CGI scenes, though 8 years ago they may have been impressive. Some of the Special and Magic attacks also use cut scenes, and some of them still look pretty good even today.
SOUND (6) - The score was certainly listenable, and there is a fairly frequent change in music which is crafted to match the mood or environment of the town/area. It tends to have a light hearted and midi like sound, but that's OK with me. Voice acting is used sparingly, and it doesn't particularly stand out, though it does use a number of seasoned voice actors.
STORY (9) - Grandia II takes you to a bright, colorful world with an interesting (and sarcastic) lead, Ryudo - not to mention an colorful cast of characters. The game opens with the mercenary Ryudo and his eagle-like companion, Skye, who have just completed a job. Their services are then requested by a local priest as a bodyguard for Elena, a Songstress of Granas, the god of Good. What seems to be a simple job of escorting takes a much darker turn. While I don't want to give away the story, be assured that it turns into an interesting battle against the power of Darkness, and while the storyline is along the lines of your typical fantasy adventure Ryudo and Skye often add a bit of sarcasm/satire to keep things interesting.
Overall (8.5) - This game took me approximately 43 hours to complete, and not one bit of it was "level-grinding". I did make a point of attacking every enemy I came across, which I would recommend in order to be able to defeat most bosses, but as I mentioned earlier the battles are very enjoyable and become more fun as time goes on and you start to learn better strategies. The last I checked this game was still accessible, and whether you find a copy at a gamestore or on Ebay you should be able to get it for a decent price. I believe I paid around $15 for a used copy, and that turned out to be an incredible value. Just keep in mind that the graphics are from two generations ago and let yourself enjoy the battles, characters and stories. I highly recommend Grandia 2 to any RPG fans and it to anyone that might be interested in trying out an RPG as well.