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Grandia 2 Anniversary Edition on August 24, $20 (25% off sale at launch)

patapuf

Member
How has Grandia 2 held up?

I remember loving 2 back in the day on the PS2 while being disappointed by 3 (and Xtreme was just trash) but I'm worried it will not hold up on a revisit.

after having replayed a couple hours i think it still holds up - if you are into command based RPG's. It had one of the better combat systems back in the day and i don't think many have surpassed it since.
 

Shinrin

Unconfirmed Member
Our main concentration right now is to make sure everyone is satisfied with Grandia II and looking to address as many issues/bugs/glitches/etc as we can so people can enjoy the game =D

If i haven't bought this game already, I would of bought it again.

It's great to see a company fixing things before moving on. A certain company by the initials SE needs to learn from you and fix performance issues with their games.
 

enigmatic_alex44

Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
after having replayed a couple hours i think it still holds up - if you are into command based RPG's. It had one of the better combat systems back in the day and i don't think many have surpassed it since.

Oh that's good to hear.

What about the dialogue/writing? That's always the thing I find that ages the most in an RPG
 

Nordicus

Member
What about the dialogue/writing? That's always the thing I find that ages the most in an RPG
The writing in terms of story kinda dips in the latter half, but the dialog?

Someone in the localization group certainly loved their job. (old version screenshot)
5yOCtOK.jpg
 

Tenck

Member
Looks like uninstalling and reinstalling the Xbox One controller drivers puts an end to the spinning camera problem.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
The writing in terms of story kinda dips in the latter half, but the dialog?

Someone in the localization group certainly loved their job. (old version screenshot)
5yOCtOK.jpg

Ryudo is such an awesome character, I love his snark.

At least until
he turns into a nice guy at the end, anyway.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Replaying Grandia 2 actually has me itching to find a copy of Xtreme. It sounds right up my alley.

Xtreme is a lot of fun, I've been playing it. Mark Hamill playing a bad guy too, heh.

Don't expect anything like G2 or G1's plot, but it isn't bad... just, kind of there.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
Xtreme is a lot of fun, I've been playing it. Mark Hamill playing a bad guy too, heh.

Don't expect anything like G2 or G1's plot, but it isn't bad... just, kind of there.

Well Mark Hamill made a fantastic Joker voice in the 90's Batman Animated series, so he can do the villainy roles rather well.

There was also that odd one-off role in that Jay and Silent Bob movie too but lets forget that even existed.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
Caspel has been doing a fabulous job of fielding questions (as always), but I wanted to let you all know I've also been pokin' around the forums and made a handy little FAQ thread:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/330390/discussions/0/521643320372815158/

That is all!

It's too bad. Guess I'll keep the DC version after all.

No widescreen is a huge bummer for me as well as the sound glitches and the untouched UI (which doesn't look too hot at 1080p). I also only have an Xbox One controller that is apparently not recognized by the game at all.
 

BONKERS

Member
And what's the excuse for the 30fps lock?

Oh I don't know, it's a 15 year old CONSOLE game. Where they hardcoded everything to run at 30FPS.

As much as I would love 60FPS for this game. It's just not a dealbreaker
I guess I'll have to use Steam Refunds. It fucking sucks, I actually can't believe they let a bug from 2002 in this game. Talk to the tutorial guy? Breaks your game. And thanks to unskippable cutscenes and dialogues, I'm already tired of this. Doesn't help the port runs at 30 FPS compared to 60 FPS from the original PC port. Pretty botched release IMO.

The original port runs at 30FPS. And is far worse in every imaginable way.
Hi all;

I want to help clarify misinformation that has been spread about the Hard Mode. Yesterday, saw the erroneous information being spread that we only added 20-25% more health to bosses and called it a day -- that information is wrong. Below is an official statement on the topic from our developer to help clear it up:

"Yes, there was a lot of work done for Hard Mode both for regular enemies & for bosses. It's not just the raw health & defense numbers that are different, but also the speed of the opponents attack bar (frequency) that have been adjusted. As the user starts to progress the boss battles will start to become very challenging. Some battles later on that may have took 20mins on Normal Mode before could last 45-60mins+ mins on Hard Mode.

General world enemies in Grandia II Hard Mode are more difficult because of an increase in their frequency of attacks, their increased HP, and in some instances their ability to take damage. This makes each enemy engagement more risky for the player, while still providing the same reward and XP curve, ensuring that enemy difficulty does not outpace player advancement. Combat has not been ramped up overly excessively for world enemies, as the player is never a great distance from a save cone and we don’t want Hard Mode devolving into a constant shuttling between the save cone and the next world enemy.

Bosses in Grandia II HD Hard mode however, have been made significantly more difficult. Their attacks are much more frequent, forcing the player to make constant decisions about when to heal, boost, or attack; balanced against the player’s capacity to counter boss attacks with defensive maneuvers. Bosses also have large boosts to HP, defence, and in some cases even their base damage values. Vulnerabilities to specific attacks have also been decreased, but not so much that enemies lose their “personality”. This ensures that players still have an avenue to attack bosses in specific and tactical ways. Regardless of these increases though, players should be able to beat any boss via a tactical approach, regardless of the leveling up choices they’ve made prior to that point in the game."

I hope that helps.

AWESOME. THANK YOU for clarifying this. This makes it all the more sweeter!
It's too bad. Guess I'll keep the DC version after all.

No widescreen is a huge bummer for me as well as the sound glitches and the untouched UI (which doesn't look too hot at 1080p). I also only have an Xbox One controller that is apparently not recognized by the game at all.

The UI doesn't look that bad honestly. Emulating it won't look any better. And we can and we WILL eventually solve that problem.

Widescreen is expected. Every video of Widescreen i've seen of the DC version emulated looks terrible.


I'd also like to say thanks again for actually communicating with the users and listening to feedback. I wish some other, HUGE big name companies would do the same with their own AAA brands *cough* *cough*.
 

Neoweee

Member
They have another 2 projects for pc, i wonder what is it

I'd put money on Lunar 1 and Lunar 2. I have no idea how the rights work for the localized scripts. What version of the dialogue/voice did the iOS version work?

Overall, of the games on the list, they likely are the best combination of popularity and work to port over. Silpheeds would likely be the next up, and Grandia 1 & 3 given the success of Grandia 2.

Why wasn't Grandia Xtreme on the survey? Is the US port still owned by Enix?
 

King Al B

Member
I might get my 19inch crt monitor out of the basement and see how it looks on that? Since the game has kepted its original aspect ratio it will probably look and play very nice.
 

Prodigal

Banned
Man oh man I wish I had the money for this gem of a game. Selling Steam cards is inching me closer though! So many fond memories from the DC days.
 

Fularu

Banned
According to the 30 FPS curator, the game is 30FPS, is it fixable or will it stay that way no matter what? (I know some games could be fixed but most don't).
 

OmegaDL50

Member
According to the 30 FPS curator, the game is 30FPS, is it fixable or will it stay that way no matter what? (I know some games could be fixed but most don't).

The original Dreamcast release was 30fps, this port is based on the Dreamcast version.

It's unknown as of this point if the framerate is tied to the logic of the game. Even so, It's not really a deal breaker since the combat system is command based and not some real time action system that requires meticulously timed inputs.
 

Fularu

Banned
The original Dreamcast release was 30fps, this port is based on the Dreamcast version.

It's unknown as of this point if the framerate is tied to the logic of the game. Even so, It's not really a deal breaker since the combat system is command based and not some real time action system that requires meticulously timed inputs.
I know, I own the original (well all 4 games actually, Grandia, 2, 3 and Xtreme) i just wanted to know if that was changed or not
 

BONKERS

Member
According to the 30 FPS curator, the game is 30FPS, is it fixable or will it stay that way no matter what? (I know some games could be fixed but most don't).

At this point no. It's 30FPS. There may be some way to make it work with some problems. But time will tell. I'm more interested in replacing the low res 2D assets at this point.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I will buy Lunar Sega CD ports so fast it will make Bernie Stolar's head spin. GungHo: PS1 versions are widely accessible. The originals need the attention, go get'em.
 

Maou

Member
I will buy Lunar Sega CD ports so fast it will make Bernie Stolar's head spin. GungHo: PS1 versions are widely accessible. The originals need the attention, go get'em.
If only. A lot of us who followed the sad saga of Studio Alex's failed lawsuit against Game Arts in the late 90's and subsequent obliteration in a Game Arts countersuit have long assumed that the Mega CD versions they worked on together are completely out of reach as a result. I'd love to be proven wrong and noted it with interest when Gungho listed the MCD versions in their poll.
 

Kasper

Member
I'm so happy to see Grandia 2 re-released. Loved it on the PS2 where I've replayed it several times. I hope this paves the way for a re-release of Grandia 3.
 

Saikyo

Member
There wasnt problems with studio alex about the LSS ost?

Anyway liking the port, hope the devs can find a way to unlock 60fps on battle.
 
I will buy Lunar Sega CD ports so fast it will make Bernie Stolar's head spin. GungHo: PS1 versions are widely accessible. The originals need the attention, go get'em.

Eh, the SCD & PS1 versions of the game are both about the same price on the used market. It's not like the PS1 versions are widely accessible these days seeing as how you need a PS1 or PS2 to play them (or mobile if you want the first game, but mobile's a poor alternative for some people).
 

cj_iwakura

Member
There wasnt problems with studio alex about the LSS ost?

Anyway liking the port, hope the devs can find a way to unlock 60fps on battle.

TSS and SSSC's OSTs are pretty different. EB and EBC are pretty much the same, just remastered(though I prefer the original).
 
Eh, the SCD & PS1 versions of the game are both about the same price on the used market. It's not like the PS1 versions are widely accessible these days seeing as how you need a PS1 or PS2 to play them (or mobile if you want the first game, but mobile's a poor alternative for some people).
The PS1 (disc) versions would work on any PS3 as well. A PS Classics release would be kinda nice.
 
The PS1 (disc) versions would work on any PS3 as well.

I feel foolish forgetting that seeing as how the last time I played both games was on my PS3. Still, the point stands that with the exception of the mobile port of the first game, you're currently looking at spending a minimum of $40-$50 for a hard copy to play on a last-gen (or older) game console. Affordable downloadable copies on the PC would be great.

SteamSpy has an estimate for Day 1 now: 2.3k-9.1k sales.
 

Neoweee

Member
I feel foolish forgetting that seeing as how the last time I played both games was on my PS3. Still, the point stands that with the exception of the mobile port of the first game, you're currently looking at spending a minimum of $40-$50 for a hard copy to play on a last-gen (or older) game console. Affordable downloadable copies on the PC would be great.

SteamSpy has an estimate for Day 1 now: 2.3k-9.1k sales.

Not bad at all for Day 1.

Is there a "normal' ratio for this kind of game in terms of the split between GOG & Steam?
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Oh that's good to hear.

What about the dialogue/writing? That's always the thing I find that ages the most in an RPG

I think it's really good actually. Definitely a highlight in its time and probably still entertaining today. I don't know if it's Persona 4 quality or anything like that.
 

Shinjica

Member
The UI doesn't look that bad honestly. Emulating it won't look any better. And we can and we WILL eventually solve that problem.

Widescreen is expected. Every video of Widescreen i've seen of the DC version emulated looks terrible.

And for the bugs who are still in the game after those years, what's your excuse?
 

BONKERS

Member
And for the bugs who are still in the game after those years, what's your excuse?

Still in the game? They are new bugs. The fact that there is a similar bug to the old PC release means only that perhaps the way something was done during porting caused the same problem. Or it arises from how the original code works. It's a problem sure.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/330390/discussions/0/521643320372815158/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/330390/discussions/0/521643320369988504/

They are aware of the issues and at least are communicating.

That's more than you can say for some much larger, more well known game companies and their own AAA IPs *Cough*
 

Falk

that puzzling face
And for the bugs who are still in the game after those years, what's your excuse?

His excuse hahahah.

Yeh Bonkers, why didn't you fix all these bugs in the intervening 15 years?

HUH?

Thread is a non-sequitur comedy goldmine.

SPEAKING OF NON-SEQUITURS

I nearly got steamrolled by
Eye of Valmar
. Good Lord hard mode makes you choose between AOEing to get rid of at least one of the floaters ASAP so they can't Delta Attack, or cancelling the obious big attacks, and it still hurts anyway. edit: Pumping the shit out of Burnflame and the three Book of Wizardry skills that increased MAG/Fire damage/Fire damage finally did the trick.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
So what's your excuse for that one?

don't hurt me

edit: As far as I can tell the transition to ogg seems to have introduced quite a few bugs, like aforementioned looping and timing issues. These seem like they require one to be more than at least moderately familiar with the original to catch, so oh well, hopefully they're expedited in good time now that it's pointed out.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
It adds to the stylized charm tbqh. Although if you wanted better results with the kind of 3D modeling the game has try lower opacity and more diffusion
 

Llyranor

Member
According to the 30 FPS curator, the game is 30FPS, is it fixable or will it stay that way no matter what? (I know some games could be fixed but most don't).
Having played a bit, the 30fps seems fine to me. I'm a 60fps (144 on pc) action snob/purist, but when it comes to command-based RPGs, it doesn't really matter to me.

So if I have never played any of the grandiaseries is this worth getting?
Absolutely. As long as you enjoy charming games and amazing combat systems.
 
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