Grandia> Skies

[Tsubaki]

Originally posted by sggg
Unless I missed a memo, Grandia 2 is only out on Dreamcast and PS2 (not GCN)...

and PC :P I wonder if you use a mouse o.o;;

Grandia Xtreme is basically Grandia 3

... except that it isn't. *sigh* It's like GameArts took out everything good about the other two games and came up with Xtreme.

[Will]

Grandia 2 and Skies of Arcadia were my first RPG purchases and I love both of them equally but I'm leaning more towards Skies since it has a great 3D exploration aspect intead of the normal top view that most rpg's had at the time.

The characters in Skies were more fun loving, charismatic and funny(Gilder is badass). Grandia 2's were more edgy and angsty which I still liked because of the voices and their personalities like Ryudo and Millenia but it was more of a darker world than Skies. Regarding the battle system, Grandia 2's are the best of any RPG I played so far(not having played X-Treme) because it was always fun, involved strategy especially Valmar's eye , and it never got tiring. The magic spells were awesome looking even though it took long to load, it was a great mix of real time and fmv.

Skies had a good solid battle system and it involved strategy in the much later battles so I don't know why people would call it junky compared to other rpg's. Sure the random battles were a bit much but I thought the real problem was just loading the whole thing up which will be hopefully remedied by the GC version as well as there being less battles. Both had great soundtracks especially Grandia's battle song(gotta love that bonus soundtrack cd ).
Storywise it was epic and I liked the way every element had it's own world like the desert levels, forest levels, water, ice and other types.

The levels were very diverse and I thought it used all those often used elements of worlds/stages very well because it mirrored ours but obviously did it more over the top being on floating islands and lands. It just felt like a huge living breathing world, and it felt like you were in the age of exploration where you make discoveries and long for adventure in the skies instead of the seas. I always loved those kind of swashbuckling stories of danger and action that make me feel like a kid at heart.

The only reason I still prefer Skies of Arcadia is because it's more fun loving, adventurous and the characters were just spot on likable for me. Maybe it's because I don't play RPG's with as much frequency as you all do and it was one of the first few I owned but I still think it's one of the best RPG's and games out there.

[Yoshi]

Originally posted by Frogacuda
tri-Ace

Oops. You're right. Let me include Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile in the list of games that are not as good as Lunar and Grandia.

[Freeter]

Skies is bigger and better than Grandia 2. Plus it has replay value, something G2 sorely lacks(the extra dungeon is a cakewalk if you come prepared).

[Tracer]

The battles in G2 and SOA were poor IMO. I like the original better because you could position your characters without wasteing a move.

G2 was also preachy. SOA was simply typical.

A good action battle system is more apparent in PDS though its failing was the absurd amounts of cinema. Good FMV, but not something one should have to clog a game up with. If Saga had used a lot of what Orta does it would have been much better. I would go far enough to say Orta is an action RPG leaning more to action. The story has greater presence than Zwei or the Original (though Zwei could be haunting at times where Orta lacks this so far) while it manages to be more intence than the first two games. With a little more work, Orta could have been the best damned RPG I've played since Morrowind (my favorite). THAT BTW has a better battle system than the two prescribed in this thread. Tedious, yes... especially when it come to slashing, but the use of magic, items thrown around with thust of a good spear or long sword or a swing of a heavy hammer (for knock down!) is not unsatisfying.

Simply put - G2 and SOA are ok games, but compareing the two (to me) seems aribitrary and besides the point

[edit] Forgot - SO2 and Valkyrie Profile are also better than SOA and G2 (and the original Grandia).

IMO of course.

[johnk_]

one of the main reasons why skies is so widely appreciated is that the main characters aren't the whiny, bitching type found in almost all other RPG's, and the way the story progresses with all the memorable characters was unforgettable..

i couldn't put skies down when i started it, random battles or no (i'll admit they got annoying)..
but i have yet to go all the way through Grandia 2, so i'll hold my comments on it for later..

but i'm quite sure it's just a matter of preference.

[xS]

Originally posted by Yoshi
Oops. You're right. Let me include Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile in the list of games that are not as good as Lunar and Grandia.

Really? How are they not better?

[kabuki]

Anyone who thinks Grandia II is a better game than Skies of Arcadia deserves a swirlie in a public toilet.

The storyline in Skies is fully engrossing with characters you grow to love and care about, and the world you explore is captivating and charming. Skies of Arcadia is what I would call a perfect game.
- Kabuki

[Tsubaki]

Originally posted by xS
Really? How are they not better?

While I absolutely love the presentation of Valkyrie Profile, I actually find the battles extremely limited cuz once you find your combo, you pretty much do the same thing every battle until you get a new party member, or get a new weapon. Strange how everyone loves the VP battle system, but I think it's the only weak link in the game.

SO2 is flawed IMO because it's real-time. Part of this is the action-oriented vs strategy-oriented preference, but the second part is that SO2 has AI-controlled characters which further screws up any strategy you want to employ, so you're often fighting against your stupid party AI as well as the enemy. (Ditto with Tales series)

[Ranji]

Skies and Grandia 2 are both good games, but they hardly represent the apogee of RPG history. The best console RPG's are the 16-bit Super Famicom/Mega Drive classics. I don't see much innovation since then, except in terms of pyrotechnics. The most stagnant vg genre.

Still, Grandia 1 should be a part of this conversation. Or perhaps part of another thread contrasting it (favorably) with Final Fantasy VII.