Amelia Earhart. Jimmy Hoffa. The Roanoke Colony. Grandia II. All
vanished mysteriously, but only one has been found -- Game Arts recently
re-announced its Dreamcast sequel to Grandia, after keeping the game completely
under wraps for under a year. During that time, the game has undergone
signifcant graphical improvements, but its core remains the same: an exceedingly
happy journey through a brightly-colored world.
Like most RPG sequels, Grandia II takes part in a completely different world,
which none too surprisingly played host to a cataclysmic battle between good and
evil one thousand years ago. For once, evil won, and its gods assumed control of
the world. Now, a new battle is set to begin, stemming from the continent of
Granacliff. A massive ravine, likely a result of the ancient struggle, runs
through the center of Granacliff. The adventure begins in the hero's home town
of Shurisen, located on this continent.
Four main characters have been announced so far: Rudo, a pragmatic monster
hunter; Elena, an apprentice priestess ("Diva") at Granas church;
Millenia, a mysterious magic-user; and Sky, an anthropomorphic, talking hawk.
Yuushi Kanoe is designing the cast; Grandia's Noriyuki Iwadare is providing the
musical score. (Iwadare is also responsible for the music in the Lunar games.)
Gameplay features are still very sketchy. The semi-real-time battle system of
the original Grandia is confirmed as returning, though possibly in a modified
form. Game Arts' original series of announcements concerning the game touted a
two-player mode; whether this feature is still in the game is uncertain.
Despite the lack of concrete facts on the gameplay, Grandia II is already
shaping up to be a promising title. The graphics are outstanding, and the
character designs seen thus far are appealing. UbiSoft has picked up the North
American publication rights, and the game should be arriving in English December
8th, 2000.