Grandia 2 Is the Best | Forgotten Worlds

[00:00:00] Hey it's your boy Dre off the top here with a warning but also a plea so hear me out okay.

[00:00:06] So the warning is yes there will be spoilers throughout this podcast for Grandia 2 but my plea

[00:00:13] is that you listen to this anyway even if you haven't played the game before because in our

[00:00:19] opinion Grandia 2 is one of those games that can't be spoiled by anything we say here today.

[00:00:24] The story and events of this game are pretty cliche even for the time and it's nothing you

[00:00:31] haven't heard before if you've played like any JRPG ever. So if you're a Grandia 2 virgin we think

[00:00:38] you should listen to this anyway but of course we're not assholes and we're not looking to spoil

[00:00:43] a game for people on purpose even a game as old as this one so this is your first and only

[00:00:49] warning to turn off this episode right now if you really don't want to be spoiled on a 25 year old

[00:00:55] RPG but we really hope you stick around anyway per our recommendation and if you have played

[00:01:02] Grandia 2 before this show will be our celebration of one of our favorite games ever made. And with

[00:01:08] that let's start the show. Fine time is about to- Hello party people hello Grandia people

[00:01:45] it's your boy Dre and I am here with first time guest on fine time I have appeared on his show

[00:01:52] Super Pod Saga before but this is his first time on fine time Aaron. Hello. Hi man it's been a day

[00:02:00] and a half but it's cool to be here finally. Yeah I'm so glad to get you on here for this.

[00:02:08] Since you haven't been on here before I want you to introduce Super Pod Saga to our audience who may

[00:02:16] have not listened to us on there because I've appeared on their solo the three of us me Steve

[00:02:21] and Kevin have appeared on Super Pod Saga as well that was fun so yeah talk about Super Pod Saga

[00:02:26] real quick tell the people about you. Yeah Super Pod Saga it's a funny casual show with

[00:02:33] different video game topic each episode with different guests and yeah there's no scripts we

[00:02:40] would keep it totally free form just off the cuff kind of usually boils down to like our top three

[00:02:45] or five games of whatever the hell the topic is but sometimes we talk about like a single game

[00:02:50] series or something like that. Yeah yeah Andre like I said he Steve and Kevin they we all talked

[00:02:56] about our favorite short games me and Andre and then Thrac and Quest 64 Mike talked about

[00:03:02] the best handheld ports and that was really fucking cool yeah and then Andre is basically my co-host

[00:03:09] for my Patreon series High Score Heroes because we love awesome arcade hidden gems. We do and we

[00:03:15] love them shmups baby god damn I mean I you're like my shmup go to besides well then I'm sure

[00:03:21] you've heard Vin on the show I've known him for 20 years we love shmups but it's like

[00:03:25] I've talked to him about shmups for like forever to have like one other person to

[00:03:30] talk about shmups with is a godsend so I know they're so niche so niche but so fucking good dude

[00:03:37] sometimes yeah sometimes I don't want to sink my my butt into a 60 hour uh what was your what was

[00:03:44] your butt saying again like muddy butt or like wet butt wet butt sometimes I don't want to go full

[00:03:50] wet butt into like a 60 hour RPG sometimes I just want to go dry dry sandy butt to a

[00:03:57] one hour or less shmup and just blast some aliens the dry sandy butt of uh ruined Neo Tokyo

[00:04:05] and Shimagami Tensei 5 all that sand right up there um I was really glad recently you asked me to

[00:04:12] join your super pod network can you can you plug that real quick I haven't had a chance to do that

[00:04:18] on the main show yet as again as of this recording I'm sure it'll happen soon enough but yeah

[00:04:23] tell tell us about what you started before we get going on Grandia 2 here yeah so super pod network

[00:04:28] you can find it of any fuck any browser super pod network.com it's uh just a network of

[00:04:35] podcasts hosted by probably some of my closest podcaster friends of course you've got

[00:04:42] my show on there or like us two shows that do retro rehab with Jerry from Supergross Radio who's

[00:04:49] also on there uh fine time is also on that network as well and bar silence just awesome video game

[00:04:56] music podcast I love bar silence my god it doesn't get any better than that uh Streets of Rage episode

[00:05:04] he just did or the Bomberman Hero episode holy shit so good it's just so good and yeah it just

[00:05:11] like it's just uh just a showcase of like the very best of the indie podcasting community

[00:05:17] and like I said some just really close friends um and I want to I wanted to use what little reach I

[00:05:25] have to like help I guess boost other indie podcasters as well too uh but yeah we also do blogs

[00:05:32] there's been a shit ton of blogs going on Andre and I and two other people were collaborating on one

[00:05:37] kind of and uh yeah just superpodnetwork.com there's a lot of cool stuff on there check it out

[00:05:42] leave a comment I've been telling every I tell everybody every single day make make a discuss

[00:05:48] account so you can leave a comment on blogs and shit because I am a psychopath I'm the only person

[00:05:54] that's leaving comments on blogs I'm just like hey what if we had a community through the website

[00:06:00] I don't know superpodnetwork.com it's really good I do think I do think comments like that

[00:06:06] you've looked at any just I'm trying to think of like um like Nintendo life uh yeah like or

[00:06:12] or uh push square like any of those like you know a particular like platform specific like

[00:06:19] video game blogs I feel like they get a lot of comments you know and I I feel like that stuff

[00:06:24] is important so I hope someday we can have that too exactly yeah right after this episode

[00:06:29] Andre is going to go make a discuss account dsqus.com it's free

[00:06:36] I probably already have one I probably have had one for years or wherever I used to comment before

[00:06:41] like I I'm sure I have one already I think you need discuss for CD romance so you might

[00:06:48] have one if you have a comment on CD romance I don't think I've commented on CD romance maybe

[00:06:53] I have I've commented on a lot of things you know what I used to comment on the most I'm

[00:06:57] reveal is to you and the audience I used to be really big in the last FM

[00:07:04] oh I used to leave comments on like individual songs on album dude the comments on there are

[00:07:11] probably I'm probably embarrassed of them now I don't even remember my username on there but like

[00:07:15] I used to go ham on last FM you're blasting my uh my nostalgia brain man I remember like

[00:07:21] when I first discovered the word scrabble so that was the greatest thing

[00:07:27] oh dude I was a I was a big time scrubber for sure till we got into the smartphone era and it

[00:07:33] just didn't work right anymore for some reason but like no dude I used to if I ever find my old

[00:07:38] account I'll show it to you let's get into grandia 2 here before we get too deep in the

[00:07:57] Scrabble rabbit hole because the Scrabble first Scrabble Scrabble first the Scrabble hole because

[00:08:05] I think put quite simply I feel like this game means a lot to both of us however I would also

[00:08:13] say that both of us feel like it never gets the respect that it deserves like nobody says anything

[00:08:20] like bad about it per se but nobody seems to put it in like the upper echelon like we do either it just

[00:08:27] kind of exists so I think today we want to explore as well as talking about why we love

[00:08:34] the game that's what we're mostly going to do but also explore a little bit here and there why

[00:08:38] we think this game gets lost in the mix and um that's basically the premise of this grandia

[00:08:45] 2 a celebration and discussion yeah exactly it's it's so I still don't understand how it doesn't have

[00:08:54] as much discoverability as say like skies of Arcadia or like because when you ask anybody hey what's

[00:09:00] your favorite like Dreamcast RPG like almost anybody will go right to skies of Arcadia unless

[00:09:06] you get like the one psychopath like me that's like oh what about evolution um but like not a

[00:09:11] lot of people bring up grandia 2 and it's weird because it's just so good and it's not like

[00:09:17] it's not like it came out late in the Dreamcast uh life cycle it was like what one year after the

[00:09:22] Dreamcast came out yeah it was like no october november 2000 so again you know what let's go

[00:09:29] there right now maybe that hurt it because that falls into winter for Dreamcast dude like you

[00:09:36] said skies of Arcadia shin move um like what cap converse is s and k like everything was coming

[00:09:44] out every fucking thing so maybe it just got lost in the sauce somehow yeah I maybe that's it but

[00:09:52] the thing is the reason why that doesn't totally make sense maybe is because the ps2 version yeah

[00:09:57] okay it's not as good as a Dreamcast version but still it's a version that didn't really do a

[00:10:02] whole lot either I feel like that got less recognized in the Dreamcast game that's true

[00:10:08] and I know a lot of people claim like the the flaws the ps2 version have but I guess

[00:10:14] like with as wildly popular as the first grandia game was I'm really surprised the second one wasn't

[00:10:21] as popular it seems like the only people that know about grandia 2 are the people who

[00:10:27] really go digging for these games or like or really really love this I don't know

[00:10:31] yeah yeah no I think you're I think you're right I mean compared to the first one again which had

[00:10:36] so much hype great the first grandia is a totally okay game okay it's fine like it has great

[00:10:44] it has great music and really good production value but like as a game eh you could do a lot

[00:10:50] better on ps1 or Saturn for that matter I know it didn't come here on Saturn but still

[00:10:55] you know I just it's okay but for some reason it has it over people and grandia 2 does not

[00:11:02] and I I think that's strange but let's let's go here for a sec I got this game I got grandia 2

[00:11:09] in October 2003 so like a few years after it came out and Dreamcast games were still readily

[00:11:17] you know you could find them in bargain bins and stuff everywhere are still pretty visible

[00:11:21] and so I got one you said a game crazy remember game crazy holy shag not at all no really maybe

[00:11:28] they weren't a thing out there I'm gonna look at that real fast game crazy do you remember Hollywood

[00:11:32] video oh yeah okay they were attached to Hollywood videos usually always yeah so it's kind of like

[00:11:38] a the same company or like whatever oh my god are you looking up stuff on fine time I forbid you

[00:11:45] do whatever the fuck you want I know I know it's your it's your it's your comfort zone

[00:11:49] look up game crazy you're gonna ban my ip address yes you may never use a Microsoft Edge or

[00:11:56] Netscape Navigator again but um but yeah I got it you said a game crazy and dude this game had me

[00:12:04] gripped I loved every second of it and like I said it was still Dreamcast was already dead by

[00:12:10] that time but it was still somewhat relevant you can find games for it and I'm glad I did

[00:12:15] because holy shit so how did you first play it yeah so I I when the fuck it came out on that

[00:12:24] HD collection on on switch and PC I think back in like it was like 2018 or 2019 I think

[00:12:31] yeah I think that's dude I feel like it may have even been 2020 I feel like it was a lot I feel

[00:12:39] like I played it during the lockdown or something that's yeah because that's when I bought it was like

[00:12:45] 2020 it was like sometime during the pandemic it was on sale because like normally it's 40 bucks

[00:12:50] and I bought it for 20 bucks as I was like yeah that that feels right yeah fuck yeah 20 bucks

[00:12:56] and yeah I played through I think halfway the first one and it got kind of boring

[00:13:05] like uh yeah I don't remember where the fuck I was in that then I was like well let's try the second one

[00:13:10] maybe that'll be a little bit better and then yeah like the visuals we'll get into that those are

[00:13:15] really really good yeah the second game gripped me and it was just insanely good man um

[00:13:22] everything about it blew me away yeah I'm I'm glad to hear that because as someone who didn't

[00:13:28] well I mean yeah I played it a few years later but I relatively played it within the generation

[00:13:33] that I came out you're coming to it like way later in like a new form not very new for I mean look

[00:13:40] it's basically a dreamcast game in 16 by 9 with battles that are 60 frames a second you know it's

[00:13:45] basically the only difference here and I'm glad you had I'm glad you loved it as much as I did

[00:13:52] back then I think that's great yeah man just to summarize again before we get into like the

[00:13:58] nitty gritty like graphics and stuff and music and whatever elements of the game I say this without

[00:14:05] any hyperbole of which I am very prone to do on fine time and in real life I think randia 2 is my

[00:14:12] favorite rpg I don't know about best I mean that's like a different discussion it is my

[00:14:17] favorite rpg every single aspect of this game hits for me graphics exactly what I like music

[00:14:24] exactly for me right presentation voices story the length in pcs the writing battle system

[00:14:31] every single aspect of it and that's the thing about rpgs right there's a lot of things that have

[00:14:37] to go right that's why I think it's like the most subjective genre that we have in video games

[00:14:43] because there's so many things that have to hit for you but when they do oh my god like

[00:14:49] it just comes together and there's something very particular that I want to describe as again as I

[00:14:57] am want to do on the show so follow me down here and see see if you can understand what I'm trying

[00:15:02] to make sense of here because I don't think I understand it myself but I'm just gonna say

[00:15:07] okay so well I was thinking about this in the early CD rom era of rpgs like let's say like

[00:15:16] turbo graphic cd or sega cd right when we were first doing this role playing games really took to

[00:15:22] that medium because it's like okay the characters are talking to you now we can have voice acting

[00:15:27] we can make them talk or you know we can have this killer music playing right off the cd and you

[00:15:32] know we can go nuts with this kind of stuff right all these cinematics right rpgs were like

[00:15:37] the perfect medium for the cd rom but then final fantasy seven changed all that shit

[00:15:45] it didn't have voice acting it didn't even have like red book audio that shit was played off the

[00:15:51] midi on the ps1 right they used the cd rom completely differently all those pre-intered

[00:15:56] backgrounds all like the cg cinematics of like you know almost like a point and click game

[00:16:03] you know like oh this stuff is moving in the background but you're moving the character here

[00:16:07] with your polygonal character like it was totally different right our priorities changed

[00:16:13] so here's what i'm trying to get to i think randia 2's art style and like the way that

[00:16:19] game is is like the last remnant of that old cd rom style because it feels exactly like that

[00:16:25] we're we're east people right and i'm sure you've played versions of east book one and two i just

[00:16:30] got done with a run on like turbo graphic cd right and that's like the it's like the pioneer

[00:16:36] of that of that cd rom style i feel like randia 2 is the descendant of that

[00:16:41] what do you think about my grand uh my hypothesis here that definitely makes sense man because

[00:16:49] yeah i i'm struggling to recall like any ps1 rpg well i guess other than like maybe the legend

[00:16:55] of dragoon that does have uh voice acting but maybe not like yeah it's hard to man yeah that

[00:17:03] i definitely agree dude okay yeah i just wanted i just wanted to throw that out that's those are

[00:17:09] the things that righta lie under my brain anyway sorry for talking so long you you summarize how

[00:17:14] you feel about grandia 2 before we get into the nitty gritty i mean yeah i think it's it's definitely

[00:17:20] i don't even know what what my top five favorite rpgs would be but it'd be pretty close like if

[00:17:26] it's not like into my top five it's in my top seven um and yeah we'll get into why here in a little

[00:17:33] bit because there's a lot that i really like about this game um but yeah everything about there's

[00:17:39] there's so much oh man i don't know where the fuck to begin um i mean yeah first off yeah it's

[00:17:46] definitely a product of its time with you know the goofy voice acting the visuals all that

[00:17:50] stuff people over people it's goofy a lot of people i've tried to talk to you about the game

[00:17:56] they give a lot of gup for that that kind of thing but you know honestly though we you know and me

[00:18:03] me and steve actually talked about this um last year we did a thing in december where we

[00:18:07] where we watched a bunch of fighting game anime from the 90s and we watched the dubs on purpose

[00:18:13] and that's the kind of voice acting here in grandia too that like very 90s anime dub is that fair

[00:18:20] but i feel like a lot of people younger people if you're like under the age of 30 or maybe right

[00:18:25] around it if you ever really experienced that era so you'd have to like have an appreciation for that

[00:18:32] that's true if you weren't around for like like to experience early maybe like shen muu or like

[00:18:39] resident evil like one or two with the campy ass voice acting it's just it's absolutely a product

[00:18:46] of the time and i guess man there's a lot about the game that's so fucking charming also like the

[00:18:53] the way that the backgrounds and like the environments are made where it feels like it's

[00:18:57] just handmade and the engine and all that stuff um the the music is just fucking jamming and slamming

[00:19:05] do the the best the way the the character party kind of are not kind of constantly rotates in like

[00:19:12] different characters and yeah fuck when they sit down for the night for a meal to like eat and

[00:19:19] talk i love that shit so it does not need to be in the game at all but i love it so fucking much

[00:19:24] dude that's so good that's so good i love it that kind of character stuff is like incredible

[00:19:30] that's what i live for you know i always talk about rpgs in the sense of like people that you

[00:19:37] want to spend time with or that you're just interested in you don't even necessarily have to like them

[00:19:42] but you have to be interested in like what they're doing and what they're exactly thinking or

[00:19:47] whatever and that's like the perfect win to win i know it's like such a weird like i guess

[00:19:53] maybe a lot of different kind of japanese games do that not just an rpgs but others

[00:19:57] but it's such a good device and i i feel like if anything should have like remained from this game

[00:20:04] like not everyone takes inspiration from shinmu but the qte lives on forever right i feel like the

[00:20:11] talking at dinner at the end should have lived on forever i wish every game did that yeah there's

[00:20:17] i mean i know there's some games that kind of almost do that like final fantasy 15 you kind

[00:20:23] of have that's like zeno blade 2 i think has that it's you know blade two or three has that but

[00:20:31] many more of that because i really like that or even if you just um just because i'm a sucker

[00:20:36] for cooking mini games if you just go make your bros a meal and then you sit down to eat that meal

[00:20:41] like yeah that'd be cool but i think what's really cool about the game is it's almost like this

[00:20:48] in between point between like like late 90s ps1 because it's got like the the the look and feel of

[00:20:57] like a 1999 ps1 game like final fantasy nine or chrono cross but then it's almost like it almost

[00:21:04] feels like it like a 2001 ps2 rpg but uh we'll we'll we'll get to that we'll get to that yeah

[00:21:12] but i think you know i think you're right though i think it's like i said it's the last remnant of

[00:21:16] the 90s even though it came out in 2000 it's the very last it's the very last thing of its type

[00:21:23] i think almost like i because i can never resist a music analogy like i think of depesh modes

[00:21:31] violator as like the last synth pop gasp yeah it was 1990 but that like that was the very

[00:21:39] end of the 80s to me i don't know i think i think of i did the grandi into is the violator of g rpg

[00:21:47] that's what i'm saying i want to get that on a t-shirt so bad this sounds fucking cool

[00:21:54] but instead of like the depesh mode album it's like it's like violator from the spawn comics

[00:21:58] just for the fun of it i don't know though yes that is so specific to you i i really i really

[00:22:06] like it all right so let's talk graphics let's talk presentation we have a little bit already but

[00:22:29] let's get deeper into it here because one of the things or rather one of the first things i

[00:22:35] noticed about grandia 2 when i first played it was how they fully utilized 3d graphics and an rpg

[00:22:42] for what felt like the first time you know i mentioned final fans he seven earlier and

[00:22:48] you know those are like pre-rendered backgrounds you couldn't really have interactions with them with

[00:22:53] like like real modeled rooms and environments and stuff don't get me wrong that that game's

[00:22:59] presentation is cool i think presentationally final fans he seven is like one of the best games

[00:23:04] of all time maybe not gameplay wise but on a presentation level yes but grandia 2 it's fully

[00:23:11] 3d and they committed to it like we were talking about them sitting around the end and talking

[00:23:16] in that first town when you get there rudo pulls out a chair from the table and like sits down at

[00:23:23] the table i remember being like whoa holy shit we are playing with totally new rules here like i

[00:23:31] know it sounds so simple to maybe like younger people to talk about someone sitting in a chair but

[00:23:36] like we have to remember erin shi like that simply did not happen back then no it just didn't

[00:23:43] happen so to actually like see that and like animations and like them interacting with objects

[00:23:49] like that was crazy to me it is fucking crazy man because to bring up fucking final fantasies

[00:23:57] and uh at other other such rpgs the same kind of thing yeah you just did not fucking see that

[00:24:03] the most you saw was like characters being like here take this item and then they would hover

[00:24:07] hands over the other person's hands and then it'd be like no no no no you got a thing

[00:24:13] or like you would open a door and that's or maybe a table i guess that's about it but yeah this game

[00:24:19] like you can go into a fucking store for instance and like each each item like on the

[00:24:27] counters or like each vase that's like next to a wall like each individual item in that house

[00:24:33] or shop is just like individually like handcrafted it seems like or rendered or whatever

[00:24:39] with the engine and then just placed into that house like like if they if they didn't want

[00:24:44] animal crossing mode with that engine in that house yeah that makes sense yeah no that that

[00:24:50] makes perfect sense it's so cool to see stuff like that it's super fucking cool yeah because

[00:24:55] like the most you would ever have on like ps1 is like maybe like here's a table and then the

[00:25:01] walls were just like a textures like here's a clock or like whatever but not like actual like

[00:25:06] 3d objects yeah the animal crossing analogy is actually perfect that's exactly what it's like

[00:25:13] okay cool cool cool i thought of that like last last second no that's uh but yeah the character

[00:25:19] models too they have this like very like stylized look i think it's like they don't really have

[00:25:27] like mouths they just have like the big eyes and like a rounded face except for marig except for

[00:25:32] marig yeah what exception for whatever reason well yeah i mean you gotta you gotta model that out the

[00:25:39] beast man but uh god damn his hair into his beard like the whole like it's so fucking 90s it is

[00:25:46] so i get it it was the year 2000 but that is the 90s like truly um i forget who did the

[00:25:56] character modeling for this i forget his name sorry i didn't write it down but like alaina and

[00:26:01] millennia honestly look like something out of like pick any 90s shit you want like like oh my goddess

[00:26:08] or like anything like that right like it straight up looks like that and i loved it i really really

[00:26:13] love that style still yeah or like the character portraits when they're when they're talking or

[00:26:19] like uh oh what is it when you go to the pause menu and use an item and like their character

[00:26:25] portrait goes from like sitting still to like ah like their their face moves for like a second

[00:26:31] then it goes back like that's that's so nice this is fucking i love it yeah my favorites of course

[00:26:36] is when uh xiera finally goes berserk and he just gets more and more insane his character

[00:26:41] portraits are crazy i love them they are so good but yeah it's just they're just immaculate

[00:26:49] can we talk about the towns real quick speaking of graphics because you you mentioned them earlier

[00:26:54] about how everything looks so modeled like handcrafted not just the interiors but the

[00:27:00] almost at the outteriors that is not a word

[00:27:06] the out the interiors and the outteriors are both modeled to fuck i love you can tell that

[00:27:12] they're proud of it too because they do these like long camera fly-throughs when you first get

[00:27:17] to a town and they're showing off every house and every stairway and like every water front and

[00:27:25] like it's just like holy shit that you know what they're doing here and i love that and there's

[00:27:31] a lot of good variety too my favorite is how do you say it lelouch the the industrial town

[00:27:41] with the with the railway i forget i forget that one fuck i i'm in my city the guy the guy um

[00:27:49] the guy's taken over by the eyes of almar he's getting really fat eating all the food in the town

[00:27:54] and nobody can eat anything except that crappy food yeah yeah yeah right and then you take the

[00:28:00] railway you know nobody he won't let anyone use it because for reasons right that place is like

[00:28:06] the most dreamcasty town to have ever dreamcasted it is wild it is the most dreamcasty thing

[00:28:15] you've ever seen if someone's making an indie game right now that's trying to look like a dreamcast

[00:28:20] game look at grandia too baby you're gonna get all the sauce that's what you should be shooting for

[00:28:26] you know the thing it's a small detail but i loved it you know the thing in marix village

[00:28:30] where there's like a giant log right there's like the upper half of the town on the bottom

[00:28:34] of math and someone carved a stairway into that log where you just kind of go up it i love that

[00:28:41] thing just i know it's such a weird little touch to remember but like all those geometric details

[00:28:47] like that are so impressive then and now honestly you could you can just see the craft in it

[00:28:53] i uh fuck i i'm really struggling to think of like my favorite town would be because they're

[00:28:59] really really cool but um there was that one like whatever i think it was like one of the very first

[00:29:07] towns you come across where you first meet roan um well the one were probably my favorite track of

[00:29:13] the whole game that's a gear in town or whatever the hell it's called right where that plays and

[00:29:18] yeah it's just um there's that one like the end it's just like this like wagon almost and then

[00:29:25] there's just maybe a couple other houses or something yeah yeah the towns are just the towns

[00:29:30] are all immaculate as fuck man they're so good it's there's some of the i mean like they got to be

[00:29:37] some of the best towns i've ever seen just because like you can tell like they just went over every

[00:29:41] part of it it's like it's got to look exactly like this speaking of roan his castle is immaculate

[00:29:47] oh the texture work in there is crazy like it's so good the texture work in general

[00:29:53] is really good whenever you get to a valmar seal and all that like weird like lines out from the from

[00:29:59] the um what'd you call it the impact point i guess or whatever like i love that style of art

[00:30:07] you know um yeah dude go ahead and it's it's also figure out how to word this the best way

[00:30:13] it's weird how like this game this like what does it do is either 2000 or two or two thousand

[00:30:20] this game either came out 99 or 2000 yeah it's um the character models are just insanely

[00:30:27] ridiculously fucking textured and detailed is so if you go to like Final Fantasy 10 a game that

[00:30:35] came out on the PlayStation 2 like one year later like the character models sure they look

[00:30:41] more humanoid and less like uh disfigured i guess super deformed maybe a little super

[00:30:48] deformed style in here yeah yeah like they look more more human like in Final Fantasy 10 sure

[00:30:53] that's cool but like in grandia too like every single part of each character model is so wildly

[00:31:01] detailed and just ridiculously cool from like uh what was it marig's like the little trinkets

[00:31:09] and like little like rivets and and shit on like marig's armor to like ruto sword so you can see

[00:31:16] like little etches of different runes or whatever and his sores or like little buckles in his fucking

[00:31:21] pants and shirts down to like how skirts on like alaina and millennia they have like this little

[00:31:28] tinge of transparency to them and like those little tiny puff balls at the end of alaina's

[00:31:32] dresses and stuff man it's yeah they didn't need to do that at all they could have just done

[00:31:37] Final Fantasy 10 and just made everything blend together like uh yeah just like play it

[00:31:42] like blend it all together but yeah they were like nope we're gonna individually render each

[00:31:48] thing and make it look great and i appreciate that yeah the the polygon budget whatever it was

[00:31:55] for Dreamcast i don't know how much you could put on screen at once but they definitely hit

[00:31:59] the top of it because man everything is detailed it almost reminds me of like a you know how like

[00:32:07] fighting games back in the day were always like the best looking games because it's like you have

[00:32:11] two characters in a background that's all you had to render so you just pour all this detail into

[00:32:16] all the characters and almost reminds it almost reminds me of that but rpg it's so detailed

[00:32:21] you are you are correct yeah of course that that ties back into the texture work let's talk about

[00:32:27] what is probably my favorite thing about the game i'm not even gonna lie it's the fact that

[00:32:34] during battle and we'll talk about battle system in a bit but the fmv

[00:32:41] what the what this game does with fmv is crazy so like almost every spell yeah there's some real

[00:32:49] time effects too like like burn or whatever the basic fireball spell but most of them have

[00:32:56] a full motion video overlaid on top of the real time graphics to display the spell

[00:33:03] or sometimes i cut to like a whole scene like a whole CGI or animated scene and then it blends back

[00:33:09] with the real time graphics it by striking just the right camera angle to make it looks like it's

[00:33:14] there erin i don't think i've ever seen any game do something like this this is like

[00:33:21] seriously one of the most unique things i have ever seen okay tell me what you thought a few years

[00:33:27] ago you played this for the first time more recently than me did you ever expect anything

[00:33:30] like this like would you look at this and be like what i'm just seeing an fmv now or take me

[00:33:36] through that if you can remember i didn't expect a whole lot from the spells like at all coming

[00:33:43] from like grandia one where it was just like when you cast quake it just makes the screen

[00:33:47] shake and then the ground opens up and then boom damage numbers yeah this game you get marig to

[00:33:54] learn uh whatever the fuck his buff move is and he's just i forget what the fuck he says but then it

[00:34:00] goes through this whole fireball shooting to the sky then it turns into a fire dragon swirling

[00:34:05] around and it shoots back down to everybody and you get a cool damage boost and it's like well

[00:34:10] whatever the fuck that was was awesome or a or to's tornado i think it's what it's called it's like

[00:34:19] tor i think one of one of her like techniques or moves is called tornado and it just it's just

[00:34:25] this gigantic whirlwind and then it shoots up to the you see this this sky and this like big ass

[00:34:31] like fmv cutscene and it's just gigantic the enemies fly up there and then they fall to

[00:34:36] ground and then they take wild amounts of damage and die and it's like i win so crazy that's so

[00:34:46] fucking cool audience think about the first thing erin said he's talking about a dragon a fire dragon

[00:34:55] f and v going way up in the sky and lashing down on the battlefield for an attack buff

[00:35:02] and that's one yeah plus one attack buff that's how hard this game goes on stuff dude what about

[00:35:10] the poison these you know the poison it shows the forest right and then some of the green

[00:35:15] shit comes out of like the swamp or whatever and then like goes on the field it's like a bunch of

[00:35:19] blobs and it's like poof and it's like that's just for poison holy shit dude incredible

[00:35:27] the one for uh oh it's like dragon zap or uh i forget what the i i'm pretty sure it's like

[00:35:35] dragon zap zap maybe or that sounds right the last the last form of zap where it's just like

[00:35:41] um you see like the the the the lightning or whatever in the sky kind of like crackle

[00:35:46] a little teeny bit and then the shoes down a ball of lightning and that ball of lightning

[00:35:51] crashes into the ground and then it zaps the enemies in this like continuous circle it's like

[00:35:56] wow you didn't you definitely didn't need to i was expecting like uh like like pokemon sapphire

[00:36:02] like thunderbolt just bam makes a circle and then they take damage but yeah they go way too hard

[00:36:09] and i love it it's it's incredible man oh one of my fuck one of my favorite ones is burn strike

[00:36:16] with the firebird yes oh god it's so good it's a fire spell done to one enemy where it's just

[00:36:21] like all these firebirds appear with this kind of screech in the sky i love that sound it sounds

[00:36:27] like something out of the a 70 sci-fi movie that sound i love it and then they show all these firebirds

[00:36:33] one by one just smashing on this whoever you targeted with it i love doing that to a boss

[00:36:39] because he just it's just uh it's so good man if anything i can't believe just this aspect of

[00:36:46] the game erin isn't talked about more i know it's crazy if great because we're talking about like a

[00:36:53] legacy like games that maybe aren't that popular but like they leave something behind this should have

[00:36:58] been it and nobody seems to give a shit how cool this was like i get it final fantasy games were

[00:37:04] doing summons and shit in real time but that shit was like ps1 polygons at like 15 frames a second

[00:37:11] these were like full ass CGI overlays mixed with like real time i've legitimately never seen anything

[00:37:19] like this before it's insane yeah like i love final fantasy don't get me wrong i'm not trying i'm not

[00:37:27] here to say that all other games are shit but like fuck would you cast like a blizzaga and you see

[00:37:33] you see vv just go like yeah and then then the enemy just kind of freezes and takes damage

[00:37:39] numbers that's not shit compared to i forget the name of the spell from grandia 2 but it's um

[00:37:45] basically uh crackle crackle maybe i think so it's the last form of that basically like this gigantic

[00:37:55] spiky ball of ice just flies out of the sky and just desks they just lands on the enemies and

[00:38:01] decimates i'm like that's that's that's insanely cool that's so fucking cool it's so good with all

[00:38:08] the misty ice particle like afterwards and stuff like yeah um who i i love that the attack up is called

[00:38:16] wow in all caps wow and like the sleep spell is called like sh i think it's called

[00:38:25] it's so weird i love the i love the spell names basically is what i'm saying

[00:38:30] some of them kind of don't make sense though like uh like i think it's called fiora

[00:38:34] where it like blocks moves or magic or something that took a while to really understand what the

[00:38:39] fuck that move was doing to anybody yeah why is it called fiora that's so weird oh god that's so

[00:38:45] annoying when the enemy does it to you holy fuck it's so obnoxious i love how all ice moves

[00:38:54] or not ice moves i love all all ice spells uh like so each element of spell is represented

[00:39:01] by a different little icon like fire it's like a little fireball um earth is like a little rock

[00:39:07] but ice spells are represented by a little snowman and he's adorable and i love him we must protect him

[00:39:14] i love that one spell i love that one spell ron has speaking of ice where it's like a big snowball

[00:39:21] he's like it's an early winter and he just like tosses this huge and it's like

[00:39:25] this doesn't even do that much damage it doesn't like money's everything yeah oh yeah it does

[00:39:29] cancel it does cancel that is that is very useful in this game as we'll get to um one more thing about

[00:39:35] the fmv spells for you move on you know the wind spell howl where it's like all those cutting discs

[00:39:41] are in the air and it's like and i just cut through them all that shit was a fmv in the original game

[00:39:49] but in this in the hd version it's a real-time graphics spell it's like they recreated it

[00:39:57] which is weird i don't know what happened there maybe they didn't maybe that file was not available

[00:40:02] or that movie or something or i don't know but i definitely did notice that when i played the

[00:40:08] hd i don't know it was a weird little detail but i don't know that's the hd version that was one

[00:40:13] of the things i was worried about because like the original game is four by three this dude went

[00:40:17] 16 by nine how the hell is that gonna work it works out they made it work thank god because that

[00:40:22] is a critical part of the game you're in line for one more five time shall we get to let's talk about

[00:40:47] characters and story and just stuff like that shall we let's let's do anything in that arena

[00:40:54] because that's the heart of grandia too is each character's growth and personal story arc everyone

[00:41:01] has one you know riyuto is an asshole mercenary he was closed off right alaina's the naive church girl

[00:41:08] and to is the robot discovering what human feelings are hey stop me if you've heard this stuff before

[00:41:14] it sounds like standard jrpg stuff right but obviously the plot points are not really yet so much as

[00:41:21] how you like the characters and how you like those people and what they're going through it's

[00:41:26] not really about oh i've seen this before because you know it's we keep talking about how this feels

[00:41:31] like the 90s this game this is definitely 90s anime territory all this stuff for sure and

[00:41:39] shit if there's anything i like it's 90s anime so that's true maybe that's why we love it so

[00:41:45] fucking much i like that the game doesn't waste your time i think that's the best thing

[00:41:51] about the story in this game because yeah it's cliche but it doesn't pretend like it's clever

[00:41:55] or deep or anything like that it's just giving you stuff yeah you know um i love that the opening

[00:42:01] intro explains the entire mythos of the world in like two minutes here's the god of darkness

[00:42:07] here's a god of light they fought a long time ago and now the earth is split with this big sword

[00:42:13] slash and whatever they go through that in two minutes erin and i loved it because like i said

[00:42:18] so many fucking games spend so much time on this shit and their prophecies and lore and

[00:42:23] whatever and it's just like it's never really that interesting because you know what's going to happen

[00:42:28] grandia 2 doesn't do that to you they they're they're not trying to trick you in that regard they just

[00:42:33] here it is now play the game that's so fucking true man i think that i think about it it's it's

[00:42:40] kind of a little bit similar to zoonoblade chronicles i think but that doesn't matter

[00:42:44] though yeah yeah it is true no i i've played zoonoblade no you're you're right they just

[00:42:48] kind of set up the world here are the two here are the two things that fought you go play the

[00:42:52] game yeah it is really fucking quick right as soon as you get done with that that two minute cut scene

[00:42:58] what is it it goes right to uh right to riyudo mr geo hound mr pus hound himself and he's like

[00:43:06] man i hate work and i hate the full garfield mode i hate monday so i hate working i hate women

[00:43:12] i hate god i hate everything he literally does say that folks he does he have a line that says

[00:43:19] i can't stand god or women that is literally a thing that said in the game

[00:43:27] it's like weird in our in our chat i think you sent me a message of riyudo saying something

[00:43:35] about women or something and we were like god he's he's such a cock in the coolest ways like

[00:43:42] i wish i remember what words we used but yeah riyudo is a fucking huge douche

[00:43:47] cock i remember the word cock so you you did yeah again going along with the brevity of the game

[00:43:54] like they they make no attempt to hide that alaina is millennia they don't even try you know many

[00:44:00] stupid games would spend like 12 hours i wonder what's going on here when you already know

[00:44:05] they don't even try to do that i love that um they also don't really dick you around about

[00:44:11] riyudo's brother melphys and reveal pretty much right away that it's riyudo's brother

[00:44:15] you deal with him probably what like halfway through the game and that's done with so it's like

[00:44:23] you know like that whole arc is done it's like okay ed marig can smell him all the time for some

[00:44:29] reason he's like melphys that smell i could smell his axe chocolate body spray

[00:44:41] uh you were talking to someone to hell you sat back in the day

[00:44:45] after those commercials where like dudes were just getting ladies after ladies and the every

[00:44:52] dude in the universe was oh i have a hell of like the chocolate one man that was good that and like

[00:44:59] i know it's not called spicy dragon but it's like something like that it's like

[00:45:05] like weird like spice something it was a very spicy scent i'm whatever it's called spicy dragon now

[00:45:11] um and like it's spicy dragon i made a new uh almost said flavor whatever and you made a new

[00:45:17] flavor for ack anyway um i do again i mentioned that this is game is under 40 hours you can

[00:45:23] beat it about 30 35 hours and that is fucking incredible erin i think there's so many games

[00:45:28] out there that would spend like 50 to 60 hours looking at you every tales game on something like

[00:45:34] this and you don't really need to they just kind of trim all the fat give you all the important

[00:45:38] stuff that's also why it's one of my favorite games in my favorite rpgs because like they just

[00:45:43] don't waste your time at any point in the game they don't waste your time and i just appreciate

[00:45:47] it i know in the cut scenes and like story segments aren't that long which i really

[00:45:54] really appreciate like they will spend probably more time going through dungeons

[00:46:00] again not not trying to say that i hate these games or like trying to bash on them but i just i

[00:46:07] cannot persona man like shit shit just takes too fucking long in a persona game and sometimes i

[00:46:14] just want to whoop ass so yeah i yeah i i really appreciate how grandia is just like

[00:46:21] bad stuff is happening let's let's fucking do or two or and then then you're off

[00:46:26] yep that i just i really appreciate that stuff too i do like persona um myself i do like very

[00:46:32] long rpgs i love dragon quest 11 i love octopath traveler 2 if you have a lot to say then say

[00:46:38] it you know i don't think there's anything wrong with that however if you're just going to be

[00:46:42] like cliche rpg anime like type of thing don't waste your time give us a 30 35 hour game max

[00:46:49] and grandia 2 did that um we talked about the voice acting someone already but the voice lines

[00:46:57] it's not just the quality of the acting it's the voice lines whereas like any game that has great

[00:47:03] deliveries they just live in your head forever dude i hadn't played grandia 2 before the hd version

[00:47:11] came out in 2020 i hadn't played grandia 2 since that time in 2003 and i remembered all those

[00:47:16] lines it's just incredible um i remembered one particularly um they have a line when you get

[00:47:25] knocked down in battle and you get back up they always say something a couple of them are really

[00:47:30] funny roan is just very petrified he's like stop that or something like that look tales dude yeah

[00:47:35] such a tales definitely that's definitely a woman doing a little boy's voice for sure right

[00:47:42] it's got sand out

[00:47:47] marig of course is like you'll regret that it's very snarling and fun i love it

[00:47:57] roan's lines are really funny in general i love when he casts like i don't know if it's like

[00:48:01] hell nato or one of those like wind ones and he's just like you cannot get away with that

[00:48:08] it's like shut up twerp

[00:48:12] you little fuck i mean if if some little kid said that to me and then i died i would be pissed

[00:48:17] i would haunt his ass forever what are my favorites that doesn't make any fucking sense at all is

[00:48:25] this one millenia casts uh or when she does it's like grudging scratch or grudging claws

[00:48:32] i think yeah grudging claws yeah she goes fresh ground hamburger and then like

[00:48:37] then just does her attack but i don't i don't get it man what is she grinding them to hamburger

[00:48:44] i guess it shows the shot of like the teeth sort of mashing right at some point that fmv so maybe

[00:48:51] that's it she's turning the hamper i don't know man it it made it made some of them kind of lose me

[00:48:56] i never really thought about it until you just said that honestly i just kind of went

[00:49:00] along with it millenia's voice actress is incredible she's awesome dude probably my favorite line ever

[00:49:07] in it in a jrpg is when she does her when she does any lightning spell she's like deep fry goodness

[00:49:19] it's just the if the shit just happens like yo man that is some 90s i should i should have done

[00:49:26] this we usually do this when we look at when we do like um anime and stuff i should have looked up

[00:49:33] the voice actress for that i bet she's like a top quality of the time like anime actress she has to

[00:49:39] have been all that stuff did you like any other lines in here teal's lines are really funny

[00:49:44] because they're weird i guess yeah yeah they're super weird yeah that's just oh what was ice was

[00:49:53] like she just goes blue and then she'll do like crackle or whatever the fiora or something or uh

[00:50:00] when she goes to do a critical strike she just she just goes critical strike and like

[00:50:07] i guess she's a robot yeah they some of those got kind of like phoned in and weird but it's

[00:50:13] it's still funny it's still fun like the colors are weird like you said i think she says like

[00:50:17] when she does healing i think she's like light blue i think light blue i guess that represents healing

[00:50:22] or the really the weirdest one so when she just says random numbers like when she does like um

[00:50:27] i forget what spell but she's like water zero zero seven four or some shit it's like are you just

[00:50:34] dialing up a weird like what what does that mean she's calling up dominoes or something she's

[00:50:41] she's getting uh i almost said a 40 a two leader of like sprite or something

[00:50:49] oh my god these pepsi came in like a 40 that would be amazing oh fuck man holy shit but uh

[00:51:00] so my favorite lines are uh our marics though i fucking love how how ham his voice actor when

[00:51:06] like beast fang god i'd be a lot louder but i want to wake up my kids no it's it's it's excellent man

[00:51:15] oh what's his uh fuck i already forgot what he said for the uh for the buff movie it doesn't

[00:51:20] it's like oh oh here now the lion's roar and like it's always the last word where he just or yeah

[00:51:28] yeah it's it's good he's really good he was really good um rpg's basically need good voice

[00:51:37] callouts for spells you have to have that stuff you know all the best games in my opinion have this

[00:51:43] because that like that's character that's like half the character for me um i don't know how much

[00:51:48] you've ever played octopath traveler or two maybe um never or have you i played i got a

[00:51:54] halfway through the first game i haven't touched a second one though okay yeah that game is really

[00:51:59] good at those both of them are because they just all the stuff it in and out of battle after battle

[00:52:05] during spells after it's just there's so much to it and that's the closest thing to grandia

[00:52:11] two for me is the octopath stuff i really feel like i mean i don't know i don't know whoever if

[00:52:16] if they were inspired by that but honestly it just feels like the spiritual successor of that

[00:52:21] we talked about dialogue i love that npcs have a lot to say you can keep talking to them like

[00:52:27] two or three times and they'll say new stuff and the characters that are in your party at

[00:52:31] time will talk back to them they're not just talking at you and i think that's like a grandia

[00:52:37] hallmark i think that's like one of the best things about the first game so like the fact

[00:52:42] that they carried it over to this i think was like cool i really enjoyed talking to like

[00:52:46] every person in a town i did the only one that really comes to mind for me for

[00:52:50] something like that would be like no i guess maybe not even chrono cross because the only

[00:52:55] cool thing is you can just walk away from people while they're talking if you don't give enough of a

[00:52:59] shit yeah you could just you could just leave yeah oh god what game was that where you said do that

[00:53:05] where you could just fucking go not just chrono cross i think chrono trigger you could also do

[00:53:11] it up yeah yeah you can just leave on a trigger yeah that's so you can start a conversation

[00:53:16] and just fucking walk away oh my god that is uh that's yeah it's like chrono's just like buy

[00:53:22] bitch karma's a bitch and it's like out of here shows up mother fuckers starts a conversation

[00:53:31] bye bitch um there is some we mentioned some of it already but there is a smattering of like

[00:53:38] weirdly misogynistic dialogue in this game it's it's bizarre oh what's that uh the captain who like

[00:53:46] floats you around the up the river or whatever he said something to alina one time he's like

[00:53:51] women should laugh if you'll cry you'll only drive men crazy it's like yo i don't mean to laugh at

[00:54:00] that but holy fuck no it's like but it's true i mean the year 2000 everybody like that's true

[00:54:07] holy shit dude man i spoke about character arcs earlier and i wanted to talk about one in particular

[00:54:15] that really turned the game for me because i was when i first played it because i already

[00:54:19] was enjoying myself going along but i was like okay where's this going how is this gonna end up

[00:54:25] and it's when you get to the town with the blind girl riyoto actually gives a shit about

[00:54:32] something for like the first time in the game you but it's not like made explicitly like oh now he's

[00:54:40] turning uh not so much of an asshole you just kind of see it play out and as as you're going through

[00:54:47] the scenario you're like wow he actually really gives a shit it's not just about his mission or

[00:54:52] he's gonna get paid or like whatever he's actually giving a shit about someone who isn't himself

[00:54:58] or alina sometimes when he isn't saying like dumb shit to piss her off

[00:55:03] right but it's just like i'm sure you notice the same thing to me that was like the turning

[00:55:08] point of the game where it's like huh so what are they where are they going with it that that whole

[00:55:14] situation was pretty fucked up in in general and you get introduced to a lot of uh other stuff

[00:55:20] in the game including that bitch saline holy shit i can't stand her she is the worst the

[00:55:26] lady with the with the knights falling her falling around the white knight dude the literal white knights

[00:55:33] dude oh my god and that's um that part where it's before they summon valimar's body or whatever

[00:55:41] and saline is like haha i'm actually uh evil i'm gonna sacrifice this night uh to summon valimar's

[00:55:49] body and then i just like t poses up of a cliff basically like he just just walks to a cliff

[00:55:55] and then falls it's just the funniest shit ever it was kind of it was kind of it was a very like

[00:56:02] final fantasy ps1 a type of animation for sure it was very like weird oh dude well what about like

[00:56:09] one of the craziest things in the game where she like kind of falls on the swords of the knights

[00:56:14] it becomes like what is it valmar's heart or something like that it was that was wild

[00:56:20] sold oh that's another thing too the fucking uh fights against the different parts of valmar those

[00:56:28] are so like like almost like i'm sure you've seen the movie akira the the anime movie akira yes of

[00:56:34] course it's some of the most like grotesque like akira asked shit ever like yeah uh i forget

[00:56:40] what the fuck it's called it's inside the body it's like the core of valmar's body or something

[00:56:45] like it's just like it's these two tentacles with eyeballs on them and then like the there's this

[00:56:51] weird like sucker mouth thing i can't properly explain it but it's really like just grotesque

[00:56:56] and disgusting and i love it that is exactly my flavor no it's it's it's really weird it's really

[00:57:02] weird all the weird shit that um i know you didn't get to complete this run for this podcast

[00:57:08] but do you remember what the very last boss looks like i don't remember so it's zara but he's in some

[00:57:16] sort of winged butterfly thing and his head comes out of like the base i don't know how to say it

[00:57:23] the vagina of this butterfly basically and it's like talking shit to you while you like fight it

[00:57:29] or whatever it is so fucking weird and disgusting it is awesome i fucking love it it is looking

[00:57:37] up right now a dude okay i'm gonna sit and wait i'm actually gonna sit and wait i want you to see

[00:57:42] it what the fuck the little face he's just like i'm trying to go cross-eyed like yeah and he's like

[00:57:50] saying all his voice lines and his mouth is like actually articulated and moving like during this

[00:57:56] like while he'd like says shit to you it's so fucking weird um dude fine i was already enjoying

[00:58:22] the game like pretty much um i don't know 20 hours in or whatever but then you hit a point

[00:58:27] i think it's basically after you leave marix village where the game just goes off the rails

[00:58:35] like non-stop all that shit is over there we're talking about talking at dinner and going to

[00:58:40] ends and going to this town and that town solving the problem of moving on that shit's done

[00:58:45] because then you are like the escalation happens so fast this is one of those rpgs where you go to the

[00:58:53] moon by the way and it's insane and it's but here's the thing erin by the time that happens

[00:59:01] you're just like of course yeah we're going to the moon yeah that's that's of course we're doing

[00:59:07] that why not we've done everything else at this point we've done every anime ass thing at this

[00:59:13] point of course we are oh this is so random but you know what seeing i love you were talking about

[00:59:21] that we're the night sacrifices and stuff but what about the part where saline slits her wrist

[00:59:26] and the blood comes out and it runs down the mountain that fmv plays and then it wakes up like

[00:59:32] what is that valmar's body or something or yeah all this like black goo shoots out from the

[00:59:38] ground and then you see like this giant blob thing i was burped yeah it was really okay on fine time

[00:59:45] yeah that was such a cool fucking scene dude basically all this stuff in the third half of

[00:59:52] the game happens because anime reasons you're just gonna have to turn off your brain a little

[00:59:56] bit and let it happen like that part where like millenia i guess elenia and millenia are

[01:00:01] finally split but millenia stuck in that thing with zara then she's like no i'll save you

[01:00:05] and millenia teleports the rest of the party outside or whatever how did she do that with

[01:00:10] the power of love or friendship or something like i don't even know how that happened what what the

[01:00:17] fuck is so again with valmar's body or i think it was valmar's body at some point where like um

[01:00:25] they uh the party needs to yeah yeah it was the party needs to go to valmar's body

[01:00:31] and kill it from the inside basically so elena's like we'll need some help from millenia and then

[01:00:37] she turns into millenia at will and then flies them she grabs the the party like with her arms

[01:00:43] and flies them to the body why haven't you been doing that the whole fucking game like why

[01:00:47] couldn't you just fly us anywhere else the rest of this game how the fuck does she how could

[01:00:53] she lift marig this big gigantic beef cake it's so weird it's so weird it's insane man i don't know

[01:01:02] it's crazy i don't even know oh yeah i did you know when that happened in the my current playthrough

[01:01:09] i was like dude i don't even what okay i but that's the first time i thought about it

[01:01:15] yeah ever maybe i'm just i don't know just the first job is like sure whatever just take them there

[01:01:21] okay um there was also a thing that i thought about for the first time is at the very end of

[01:01:26] the game after the final battle's over and they're just like in space because of course the last

[01:01:31] battle's in space right so you're hanging out in space after you kill the zera vagina thing

[01:01:36] and you're just and they're just like talking and chit chatting and i'm like thinking to myself

[01:01:40] you guys are in motherfucking space and then they're like okay let's go home and they just kind of zip

[01:01:46] back down to the earth just like fly back it's like what are you talking about you're in space

[01:01:53] this is so anime does anyone give a shit that we're in space it's so cool dude oh my god i love it

[01:02:00] i love it one more thing i want to say before we move on to battle system is about the

[01:02:06] linearity of this game and i'll just say this and see i'll see if you agree or disagree because

[01:02:13] grandia 2 is a very linear game there's there's no side quests there's no reason to go back

[01:02:18] to previous towns there's like no real exploration there's like explorative there's like big areas

[01:02:24] you know from town to town right but that's kind of it yeah and quite frankly it's a very

[01:02:30] move forward game that go to the next go to the next there are other games that get dinged for

[01:02:37] being linear like final fantasy 13 for instance and don't get me wrong i fucking hate final

[01:02:43] fancy 13 okay i'm not i'm not here to defend that game but i'm just saying it doesn't make

[01:02:50] any sense that people said that because they said that about final fantasy 13 but they will sit

[01:02:54] right down on their couch and play the most linear triple a they'll play a call of duty

[01:02:59] campaign which is like the most linear thing you could ever play yep right they'll never call that

[01:03:04] linear and they might say that about something like grandia 2 if they had played it right if anyone

[01:03:08] really played it back in the day that's probably something we should have researched i actually

[01:03:12] i tried to i tried to look up sales figures on this game and i really couldn't find any sales

[01:03:17] figures from back then are just impossible you know so it's like forget it but however many

[01:03:22] people played this game i don't think people would have complained about that back then

[01:03:26] because there's no world map really you just kind of select a thing and you go to the next thing

[01:03:31] and even then like i said you can't really go back to a whole lot of previous stuff

[01:03:36] so i guess what i'm trying to say is that like i think we should give rpg is a break for not

[01:03:42] being exactly like the thing you played a million times before i get it here's your castle here's

[01:03:48] your world map here's your whatever it's okay not to like stuff but i really don't like when

[01:03:54] people dismiss stuff for being quote-unquote linear when they don't actually have a problem with that

[01:04:00] in general that's just my that's my mini rant i'll shut the fuck up no i feel that man like

[01:04:08] games don't always have to be open world and have like eight million fucking side quests or

[01:04:15] like like games can be linear dude i don't understand why everybody like i can't think

[01:04:24] or it's still be good man it's it's mind boggling i like open world games like uh like i've never

[01:04:32] finished the witcher three or skyrim or any big game like that because i get way too fucking

[01:04:38] fatigued with all this how much shit there is to do in that goddamn game it's cool but other

[01:04:42] people like it but final fantasy seven rebirth will break you then okay thank fuck that

[01:04:50] that game don't don't play that if you don't want that i loved it but you know i guess like in this

[01:04:58] game it kind of makes sense though because it's like it's anime as fuck you show up to a town they

[01:05:03] have a problem you solve the problem and you move on and there's no reason for you to go back there

[01:05:07] but yeah i i didn't mind how linear the game is it reminds me a lot of like

[01:05:14] i if i'm a fantasy 10 was linear too wasn't it because you went from like

[01:05:17] town to town with the dotted line and yeah and there was no world map in that game and people

[01:05:24] bitched remember people oh god final fantasy dentist never world map anymore the world is ending

[01:05:29] and it's like nah i don't think you actually care about that and then we get to final fantasy 16

[01:05:35] final fantasy is not turn based anymore it's not a real rpg not my final fantasy hashtag

[01:05:41] i thought it was so and i i shouted about it on fine time i thought it was so fucking insane it

[01:05:47] drove me crazy that people were saying that about final fantasy 16 it's like dog did you play

[01:05:53] final fantasy 15 right did you play final fantasy seven remake what the hell are you talking about

[01:06:00] we have been here already have they not played the mmo's or like final fantasy 12 or it's

[01:06:08] basically not at all turn based final fantasy 12 is more like

[01:06:12] fucking zeno blade chronicles than it is anything else

[01:06:15] yeah and it's just like it again i'm not a fan of 12 but like yes that is exactly what that is so

[01:06:21] it's like i thought that whole conversation was silly but anyway it's very silly yes yes yes

[01:06:26] erin oh shit look out what's that behind you looks like a bunch of enemies

[01:06:55] what you are hearing now is maybe erin the best battle theme of all time let's face it we'll get to

[01:07:02] mute we'll get to all the music later but like Jesus Christ i think it's hype as fuck dude it's

[01:07:08] unbeatable it's unbeatable and again i know i've been saying a lot of this is my favorite

[01:07:14] whatever in this podcast but truly absolutely if i can if i will probably never change my mind on

[01:07:21] this now and forever grandia 2 is the best battle system of all time yes yep i a quick shameless plug

[01:07:30] i just recently did an episode on super pot song about our our favorite combat systems and in grandia

[01:07:37] and grandia 2 right there i think those are like my number one because it's it's awesome so good

[01:07:45] so awesome so how do we begin though because there's a lot here but

[01:07:50] okay i'll start our i'll start here i'll start us off here so in jrpg's you have the traditional

[01:07:57] setup of like the enemies line up on one side you line up on the other side and then you

[01:08:03] like you fight right because it's video game but obviously in reality in quote-unquote real life

[01:08:09] it wouldn't just be two rows of people fighting it would be like an actual skirmish people

[01:08:13] running around slashing and doing this and that oh helping out each other whatever grandia 2 has that

[01:08:20] brawl feel that like all out fight right with people running all over the place but it's not

[01:08:27] just for show your positioning and how you use it matters in a way that i don't think i've ever

[01:08:34] seen in any game before or since like it's fun to watch and it's even more fun to play it is

[01:08:41] incredible i think we can start with the fact that you have two regular attacks not just like attack

[01:08:49] but you have combo and you have critical combo is exactly what it sounds like you do you do two three

[01:08:55] or four slashes or whatever your weapon is and you do that but critical is useful for

[01:09:04] how do we say it there's an action bar at the bottom so you can see when everybody enemies

[01:09:08] or yourself is going to attack and so you can cancel an enemy's action whatever it is whether

[01:09:15] it's like just a regular attack or a giant spell if you can pull that critical and get to them

[01:09:21] and slash them in time with it it will cancel it out and they won't get to do it now they can

[01:09:27] try to do it again but you can that's like the whole soul of it i think we should say that's

[01:09:32] the whole basis for grandiato's combat is doing attacks plus preventing them from doing theirs

[01:09:39] is that fair to say yeah yeah and then the the um what the fuck the combo is is really handy for

[01:09:48] for delaying attacks as well too so like say an enemy is like an enemy is just about to where

[01:09:56] so the timeline is split into weight and then calm where you enter a command and then

[01:10:03] then action i think is what the last part's called or something and when the enemy is like really

[01:10:08] close to the last part where they're just about to get into the part where they do their move

[01:10:12] you could have an ally do a combo on an enemy delay him a little bit or send them back on the

[01:10:18] timeline um and then have somebody have marig charge above beast fang cut and then

[01:10:24] cancel out their fucking move yeah yeah this is weird that yeah so you can you stacking those

[01:10:30] things is very key you see it's like okay i'm not really going to get a chance to cancel in the

[01:10:35] time because the cancel again you have to physically move over to the enemy and then wind up and

[01:10:42] then do the cancel so you also have to weigh positioning so it's like okay if i'm really far

[01:10:47] away shit i don't think i'm gonna quite get there in time right or you can think okay i'm

[01:10:53] really close i can but he's also about to do it so i can do this little combo and the next person

[01:10:58] can cancel them out stacking those things on top of each other and figuring that stuff out on the fly

[01:11:03] is so intuitive that you don't need a tutorial you don't need to watch a video on it you just

[01:11:10] need to actually just play the game and you'll see how it works and it's so it's so intuitive for

[01:11:16] something that is pretty dense sometimes okay it's not final fantasy tactics right but like

[01:11:22] it's a lot and to stay alive in this game that is the whole way you can do that so positioning plus

[01:11:30] action bar plus combo plus cancels and critical all that stuff comes together to create even just

[01:11:36] like the most basic fights in the first part of the game to be super engaging at every time

[01:11:43] every single fight bosses to just just crappy uh i don't know what's a good uh mooks

[01:11:52] you know it's great it's so so so cool i love that all the spells are not just

[01:12:01] aoe it's also like here's a lion attack i love lion attacks in games i don't know why

[01:12:06] i do well why do i love that shit i love those aoe ones that you could do or it just has some enemies

[01:12:16] do i hit them yeah it might hit him it might not that's another cool thing too so like other

[01:12:21] rpgs you could just pick like whichever spell uses the most mp that's gonna do the most biggest

[01:12:28] numbers the biggest numbers but in grandia two and i guess by extension grandia one or whatever

[01:12:35] like you can't always use the most powerful spells like if an enemy is charging up a move or

[01:12:40] going to attack you there's a potential they could delay and or cancel that spell and just waste

[01:12:45] your fucking turn basically waste that character's entire action yeah so you have to use your best

[01:12:51] judgment to be like well should i charge up like a really big really powerful ice spell

[01:12:57] or should i just maybe evade and then use like a level one ice spell or some shit or like

[01:13:05] sometimes like if a character needs to be healed but your healer is about to be attacked it's like

[01:13:09] okay well maybe i should save some mp not do a big heal spell maybe i should just use an item

[01:13:16] because items are like basically instant almost especially when you get the skill equip where

[01:13:22] you can literally use items like yeah so like instantly supersede everyone's turn so yeah it's

[01:13:30] so yeah all those things you're saying are so like there's just so many layers to it and you can

[01:13:34] play the way you want to play and have your expression about it's like okay these are the

[01:13:39] kinds of things i like to go for and these are or you could play very passively and be like

[01:13:43] okay i won't try to do big stuff i'll try to like you know do a lot of you know that's one

[01:13:49] thing that's really great about this battle system too is that defend is very useful whereas i feel like

[01:13:54] yeah in most jrpg systems they're not that useful but in this one it is because it's like you can

[01:14:01] again you can see the action bar if you know you can't cancel something in time and they're

[01:14:06] about to do some attack to you you can be like okay fuck it just let me choose to fend here

[01:14:11] and i'll i'll soak it up and i'll get them on the next round because there's nothing you

[01:14:15] can do about it anyway that's yeah so you may as well just like okay fuck this i'll just hunker down

[01:14:21] and the fact that you get the just oh man every single thing just feels so

[01:14:27] considerate in a way that i just don't think a lot of them are and that's not necessarily bad i just

[01:14:33] think a lot of jrpg's in the 90s are basically just dragon quest attack defend spells fire

[01:14:39] and that's great i love that stuff i will love that stuff forever i love basic bitch

[01:14:45] like rpg battle systems i do but when something goes for it like grandia 2 and every single

[01:14:52] aspect of it works shit i mean what can i say right then once you really get a feel for how

[01:15:01] everything in the combat system works like it's just most of the time it's a piece of cake unless

[01:15:07] you get to a boss it's a pure dickhead but yeah man the combat system is just so rewarding and so

[01:15:12] cool like like yeah would you win a battle or no or not when you would when you when you kill an enemy

[01:15:17] and then like spin and then disappear and then like a bag of money falls on the ground or like

[01:15:22] a like a ride i love them the coins the coin spill like it's so good or like a potion sometimes

[01:15:29] a point it just shows up i love it it's so video game it is incredible it's so video game as fuck

[01:15:37] i love that shit man yeah if this sounds complicated if you're listening to this and it

[01:15:42] sounds overwhelming i promise it's not it's really not yeah i promise just play it yeah

[01:15:48] just play it it's it's so good i also have to commend real quick the camera work during

[01:15:52] battle because it's like very dynamic and it's it always gives you like the correct

[01:15:57] view of what's going on because think about it in the year 2000 camera systems were not always

[01:16:02] the best right we were still figuring stuff out so to have something this dynamic and actually have

[01:16:08] it work was man it's it's something you don't even think about because it's so good right because

[01:16:15] yeah yeah it's and it's so smooth man like it'll be you'll go go from uh from to do a combo

[01:16:24] the camera will like zoom into her roll fast she'll do her attack it'll zoom out and then you go to uh

[01:16:30] to i almost forgot his name riyudo doing the flying tense a can it zooms in on him and then

[01:16:36] it zooms all the way up to sky and then it's just it's also fucking smooth dude like

[01:16:42] i don't know how to explain it better than that no it's it's it's great um can we talk

[01:16:48] about some of the character special moves you talked about a lot of f and v's earlier but like

[01:16:52] i really love some of the character ones my favorite is millennia's fallen wings because it blew me away

[01:17:00] when i first saw it because it's like the moon shows up behind her in silhouette and it becomes

[01:17:06] like a full moon and then it cuts to like an anime like actual like hand drawn anime part of

[01:17:13] her sprouting her wings she's like this is my way of thanking you and then it just like

[01:17:17] she cast the spell it's so fucking cool it's it's cheesy but it's so cool so good it's so good i know

[01:17:27] we keep talking about anime here but if that were like the intro to like a i don't know some if if

[01:17:32] that were like some like sailor moon villain or something for the season i mean that's what

[01:17:37] it reminds me totally could be dude yeah she totally fits into that right it's man it's so good

[01:17:44] yeah that is such a good one man i i can't think of the voice line for it but i really love marigues

[01:17:55] it's the one he does that sends out that like big fire wave where he he has his spear right and he

[01:18:01] goes and then bam right into the ground and it's just like blast i think blast yeah beast king

[01:18:08] blast yeah dude that was so fucking cool looking i don't know why that actually has an aoe because

[01:18:14] it covers the whole fucking field it may as well just be like a whole enemy everywhere yeah i've

[01:18:19] never missed with that attack so whatever um i love that little twerp roan i can't help it

[01:18:27] because he has my favorite attack he has my favorite uh attack because it's like when you

[01:18:33] first uh have him in the party he has a attack called dragon rise but he leaves the party late

[01:18:39] and comes back later and then he has true dragon rise and true dragon rise is my favorite i love the

[01:18:46] voice clip if i can find the voice clip i'll play it right here the ultimate secret true dragon rise

[01:18:54] true it's it's great oh one more i i gotta mention one more millennia's heel crush

[01:19:02] because that's like the scent move because she does it she's like betcha like this you pig she

[01:19:08] like steps on him with her high heels and shit basically the step on me mommy move of 2000 yeah

[01:19:14] dude it's it's so good man they're so they all all of them are great the fucking purple

[01:19:20] lightning one i never get tired of that where he like ruto splits up into like five like four i think

[01:19:27] i think four yeah and it's just like take that and that and that and then and then it's over i mean

[01:19:35] it's it's it's cool it's dumb but cool no it's so it's so good yeah i like the last one where he

[01:19:40] hops up in the air is like yeah slash down yeah it's it's good oh and the the victory animations

[01:19:47] millennia's victory animation is so like goofy where she's just like checky she's just doing

[01:19:52] her lipstick with her non-existent mouth or like or merit going bam yeah swinging the

[01:20:00] swinging the axe around boom nothing withstands my blade yeah your ruto uh you'll have to do better

[01:20:08] than that to be me and he's also doing the same thing i love it um dude it's so cool

[01:20:14] it's so good i think that's actually the name of the song for the victory theme is like

[01:20:21] you can't defeat us just like that or something like that i think that's like an actual translation

[01:20:26] of what he says in japanese if i'm not totally mistaken with my shitty japanese i'm pretty sure

[01:20:31] that's what he says i wrote it down yeah you won't be able to kill me just like that that's

[01:20:36] basically the same yeah basically the same thing i'm pretty sure that's why it's the song is named

[01:20:41] but um before we move to music and we're gonna talk about that i want to talk about

[01:20:48] dungeons real quick because i don't really know where else i'm going to because i think the

[01:20:52] dungeon design in this game is like perfect it's exactly what i want out of an rpg because they

[01:20:57] all look really great they have with these mod modeled like pillars or cave walls who talked

[01:21:02] about the texture work before and it's really in full effect in the interiors versus what did

[01:21:07] i say outteriors before um there's some white puzzling and there's just like it's a it's enough

[01:21:14] to feel like you're figuring something out without getting too stuck or whatever and um it's great

[01:21:20] but the main reason why i wanted to mention them is because this is something that sort of lost the

[01:21:24] time we have to remember that grandia 2 again was maybe the first rpg of this type in full

[01:21:32] 3d that allowed you to rotate the camera and shit so like this was a really really big deal

[01:21:39] that you could do this because like i don't know think about even stuff after this like tales of

[01:21:44] symphony or whatever it's like a fixed perspective game or like and there's nothing wrong with that

[01:21:48] right but this game but grandia 2 really wanted you to like use that camera and the dungeons

[01:21:54] make you do that because there's all these like twists and turns and stuff and the camera

[01:21:58] doesn't like keep up with you you have to like manually like manipulate it to see where you're

[01:22:02] going or looking around corners to see if there's a treasure test or whatever like i think all of

[01:22:07] that's like super intentional and i think if somewhere we were to play it today erin i feel

[01:22:11] like they might think like shit do i really have to do all this like weird camera stuff because

[01:22:15] like games don't make you do that anymore but i think it's cool in this game it's part

[01:22:20] of the exploration is rotating the camera and like oh look down there there's like a money bag

[01:22:25] or like oh yeah around that corner there's a treasure test or something which you're not

[01:22:30] going to see if you don't rotate the camera so i think it's fun but i think i could understand

[01:22:36] of some like people might be like this feels a little fiddly or something how did you feel about

[01:22:42] it i think like sometimes i got kind of aggravated trying to figure out where to go in a few

[01:22:48] but that's just kind of me being like compass points up i go up but no find and what fuck but

[01:22:56] that's something too so like the entire time there's a compass i forget that's like the top

[01:23:03] left or top right corner of the screen that shows you basically where to go and yeah don't

[01:23:09] ever try to just try to just follow the compass through a dungeon like you'll have to go like

[01:23:14] up different levels and shit but the dungeons yeah i think they look awesome once you once

[01:23:21] you actually figure out where to go it's like oh i'm a piece of shit i should have just

[01:23:27] just completed all the puzzles or or beeped all the buttons stuff like that yeah it's really fun

[01:23:34] i never had to like pull out a faq or what would i have done in 2003 game faqs or something

[01:23:40] like that and figure out where we go i never i never got like that stuck in this game but

[01:23:43] definitely be like oh yeah i can just press a saying and you know they're pretty straightforward

[01:23:50] man it's not like it's not like the um the weird orb puzzles not to keep bringing up final fantasy

[01:23:57] fucking 10 but it's not as like confusing as some of the fucking orb puzzles in final fantasy 10

[01:24:03] those were kind of hilarious oh god me and a friend play through that game like together

[01:24:08] and i will never forget us sitting there forever being like oh my fucking god because like again we

[01:24:14] got it when it came out and back then you didn't have guides on the internet the day something came

[01:24:18] out that just wasn't a thing so we were just like trying to bumble around like oh my god we did

[01:24:24] figure it out but shit some yeah those are just a big fucking pain in the ass but grandia it's

[01:24:31] just like the end is there somewhere you just need to open up a new pathway or just go until you find it

[01:24:39] and then that's there's not a lot to them but i kind of like that like sometimes i don't know i mean

[01:24:48] sometimes it's just good to just turn the old brain off and just blast through a dungeon kill

[01:24:52] enemies find cool loot and then just be done all right erin it is finally time to talk music in

[01:25:18] this game because we absolutely have to again i know i keep saying the best this and the best that

[01:25:23] this is my favorite jrpg soundtrack hands down it's not even a question it just is and it was

[01:25:31] composed by a man named noriyuki ibadari who i've been a fan of even before grandia 2 and then

[01:25:39] when he did this i was like oh yeah um because i knew him from the lunar games he did those

[01:25:44] basically he just worked at game arts and just did game art stuff so we did the lunar games and

[01:25:50] he did the first grandee of course and he did grandia 2 after that he went on to do like the

[01:25:55] ace attorney series after uh from trials and tribulations onwards is basically ibadari music

[01:26:01] and i know you're a phoenix right person as well as i am so yeah so and of course

[01:26:08] shit i mean we love phoenix right music too but um this game grandia 2 my favorite work of his

[01:26:17] and shit i think he's one of the most underappreciated composers ever i can't believe he doesn't get

[01:26:23] put up there with the greats he should he's incredible especially for especially for lunar

[01:26:30] man or lunar however you say it i know a lot i don't know how to say it

[01:26:37] let's go based off of what other people say so so i guess for now i'm going with lunar

[01:26:41] until somebody corrects me but i'm surprised he doesn't get more recognition for those and

[01:26:46] and yeah for the phoenix right games that are incredibly popular like yeah i don't know it's

[01:26:52] put a shit up on spotify please i would listen to this shit i would listen to this shit day and

[01:26:58] that while i do anyway i play phoenix right music all the time when i'm doing my japanese lessons or

[01:27:03] something i like to have like background music phoenix right music is like perfect for that

[01:27:07] it's it's good stuff um but so we're some of these grandia tunes oh yeah oh shit let's talk

[01:27:14] about some of our favorites okay because one of my favorite songs let's start here there's in the

[01:27:19] adventure fields there's like a couple different main songs at play but i really like that one

[01:27:24] called have faith in yourself it's like the more upbeat one this one oh okay i know this one

[01:27:42] it just gives you that like adventurous feel man it's perfect and it's like for like a basic

[01:27:48] like field of like grass and like oh fighting some enemies along to the next town it's pretty

[01:27:54] fucking jamming it's super jammed dude tell me one i don't know what's your favorite song in

[01:28:18] the game can we can we do that whatever you want to say i i'm stealing the one that you put next

[01:28:23] in town a gear this is one of the first tracks um from the game that i doubt that i saved to my

[01:28:29] playlist on youtube i was like holy fuck this track is so fucking good because i really love me

[01:28:35] some some chill jammy jams and this one was like just like i've tickled my lips a little bit on

[01:28:42] accident but like i was trying to do the chef's kiss and i don't know what the fuck i'm doing no man

[01:28:47] i don't know how to be a human no man it's great this shit's jamming the percussion i'm a good i i love

[01:29:29] when there's like in music in general i love when there's like real quote unquote the drums

[01:29:36] and then there's like a bunch of percussion on top of it dude it and it's so 90s yes so incredibly

[01:29:44] 90s yes very damn i love this fucking track so much too uh i wish we could sit here and listen to this

[01:29:54] shit forever so good so this is my favorite song in the game and it's not the main battle theme

[01:30:11] and it's not the boss one either like when you fight a valmar piece it's the mid boss theme

[01:30:16] this one i think i know this one those but that beat right there dude oh yeah it's so good

[01:30:31] there's something about it that gives me like that oh man here the fuck we go again and not

[01:30:39] here we go again in like a bad way like oh man i'm tired of this it's like get fucking ready for some

[01:30:45] shit you know actually just one more battle theme since we're since we're on these that's fine

[01:31:11] the final one the final battle theme is so good i love the way it starts and it just it gives you that

[01:31:20] like oh shit like it makes you feel like a fucking let's hear it this this sounds like a bravely

[01:31:36] default track to be honest man holy shit yeah you're not you're not wrong fuck yeah

[01:32:00] holy shit that baseline yeah oh my god dude it's every i'm sorry we're i'm gonna invoke anime for

[01:32:09] the 14th other time on the show but it's every anime final battle in the 90s i've ever loved

[01:32:15] it's it's this song it's every oav i've ever loved in one song i'm old everybody i'm sorry

[01:32:35] oh man i'm sorry i need to recover talk talk about one you like give give me another that's okay man

[01:32:40] i would have also had another one but i couldn't figure out which one it was because a lot of the

[01:32:45] tracks we discussed this in our chat a lot of the tracks aren't like in the official sound track

[01:32:50] or they aren't named for some reason yeah um but there's a track that plays when you're in

[01:32:56] the great rift that was really good but fuck that i instead went with the uh the fight and jingle

[01:33:03] or whatever you want to call it you won't be able to kill me just like that wait for it hold on

[01:33:20] these fucking trumpets dude god damn he went so fucking he didn't need to go so hard

[01:33:31] for an end fight tune but he did okay who who's voiced you here when you hear this because

[01:33:42] i hear roan going we won i every time i hear that no no no no no no i immediately hear uh

[01:33:50] immediately hear ryu doh going you have to try harder than that to beat me

[01:33:55] the sword goes to that yeah always good um those fucking trumpets oh my god man well i had my own

[01:34:03] search odyssey and i bugged you for it and we both went out of search for this but there's a

[01:34:09] song that plays there's a scene where ryu doh and alana they have a nice scene they get marooned on an

[01:34:15] island because reasons and they have a nice little thing the moon's out and they have their first

[01:34:20] kind of heart to heart you know what i mean ryu doh really gives a shit and whatever they wake

[01:34:25] up the next morning after presumably fucking or whatever they were doing and they realized

[01:34:31] that the big pearls on the island they are not pearls they were hatching eggs of insects and then

[01:34:39] you hear this song is that just a piano yeah i think so or organ uh maybe a bunch of panel

[01:35:03] yeah there we go listen to this shit man listen to this shit they went crazy

[01:35:12] they didn't have to do this for like this one scene i think it plays one other place in the game and

[01:35:18] it's not even on the official soundtrack i had to go digging it on like what like zofar or

[01:35:23] kingdom hearts insider or something to find like all the tracks in the game by number

[01:35:28] to find that it's like what are you come on you you wrote down one more though that i want

[01:35:57] to that i want to talk about because it's a song i really like too oh i forgot to put one

[01:36:02] down actually yeah the moon of almar yeah that one's real jammy yeah it's so good because when you

[01:36:08] get because like i said it's so wild that you go to the moon in the first place and you get there

[01:36:12] it's like okay what is what the fuck is this gonna be like and you get this shit so good

[01:36:31] damn space rules dude space is so cool yeah that's why they spend forever there at the

[01:36:36] ending just chit chatting about the state of the world before they just it's just so ridiculous

[01:36:41] or like okay let's go home how do we do that anyway i already talked about that i can't go over that

[01:36:48] again but yeah man bell mars moon what a fucking song oh i forgot about that guitar sting dude so many

[01:37:03] of these songs they have just ridiculous guitar stings like the very the beginning of the

[01:37:10] fucking battle theme oh it's so good just excellent stuff again i hope you enjoyed your

[01:37:21] little showcase or a little miniature extended play the music in this game is wild if that you

[01:37:27] should play it just to hear this stuff honestly if anything and we haven't even touched like most of

[01:37:33] it there there's way better tracks and we're just i just picked like three that's not the most to

[01:37:39] me but like honestly they're all pretty good yeah we not pretty good they're all really good

[01:37:44] we're just scratching the surface here there's so much for you to hear in this game it's incredible

[01:38:04] um just some random stuff real quick because i don't again this i don't even know where to

[01:38:08] fit this stuff in how the hell did this game fit on one disc there are so many fmvs especially

[01:38:15] once you get like the game starts ramping up and there's so all those fmv spells like

[01:38:21] how did that happen like i understand how it fit on a dvd a ps2 how did that fit on one dreamcast this

[01:38:28] it's not that much bigger than a cd let alone not having to like to to load into it i mean i don't

[01:38:36] i don't know how the fuck programming a game works but like i figured especially for the uh

[01:38:42] millenia's wings fallen wings or whatever i figured it would have had to load for at least

[01:38:46] like a second into that like anime cut scene but well it does load as they're like zooming in on the

[01:38:53] character to do the thing and that's why they kind of do that and then they say that whatever

[01:38:57] and then but it's very short though it's not like they're just sitting there for five seconds and

[01:39:01] then it happens right so yeah it's it's very brief it does load but it's so short it's incredible

[01:39:09] but yeah i was always amazed how this how this fit on one disc the only other thing i want to

[01:39:14] mention is that millenia has a rage system that they completely do not explain to you at all

[01:39:23] and never make any attempt to at some point during a fight sometimes she just gets pissed off

[01:39:28] and starts acting on her own yeah the first time that happened to me too i was like what the

[01:39:35] fuck is happening i think because what is it just has that weird like spinning ring yeah the

[01:39:42] around her portrait yeah i think it's just when she takes damage or i don't know yeah the game

[01:39:49] doesn't explain it i had to look it up i've never bothered but i i understood what's happening is okay

[01:39:55] she's pissed and then she goes back to normal but it's like dude you just spent like all my sp like

[01:40:02] yeah don't don't even explain it then the story like maybe she's just a hothead i guess she

[01:40:08] has anger issues i don't fucking know yeah it's it's weird um oh i think they show these in the

[01:40:15] beginning of the game but also a couple times during but you know those fmv's where they show

[01:40:20] the world before valmar and it's like this peaceful utopia and like all these like rock

[01:40:25] formations and stuff why is it always like a bunch of white people in the like these very ornate

[01:40:30] robes like east does the same shit like it's it's i don't know why that's always like

[01:40:36] paradise it looks like a jojoba's witness pamphlet or something

[01:40:42] it's weird oh my god i could see that i'm sorry i just had to mention it it's just stuck out to me

[01:40:52] do you have any criticisms about grandia too because honestly i only have like a couple

[01:40:58] like and they're so minor that they're barely worth mentioning but it's been all positive here

[01:41:03] i i got it i don't know the only real thing i could say i didn't like about it is that i didn't

[01:41:09] care for the boss rush at the end we have to fight all the valmar parts like again

[01:41:14] i just didn't really think that was necessary to ramp up to fighting vagina's era

[01:41:19] i just thought like that's his name now i don't know what else to call um but like it just

[01:41:25] stuck out like a sore thumb and a game that's so perfectly paced at every turn that was like

[01:41:31] the only thing where i was like okay come on like but other than that if that's like the

[01:41:37] worst thing i can say about the game like that's pretty fucking good in my opinion yeah i think

[01:41:44] i think one of the main things for me is that i mentioned this a little bit earlier

[01:41:48] sometimes the dungeons can be kind of confusing trying to figure out where the fuck to go

[01:41:53] because sometimes it seems like sometimes it seems like the game is trying to take you

[01:41:58] out of the dungeon like like out the way you came in and that's confusing sometimes yeah but again

[01:42:04] maybe that's just my dumb fucking kid brain in an adult air and going like compass say compass

[01:42:11] say go this compass say up yeah i go up why no dungeon end but of course there's multiple levels

[01:42:19] to dungeons and different doors and shit but there's pointing at the door and how you get to the

[01:42:24] door right so yeah i do like that they have that they do they did realize that they okay we

[01:42:29] we have dungeons and full rotating 3d so you can get turned around pretty quick so the compass

[01:42:35] was obviously a great call you know and it can you can you put you can press i forget

[01:42:41] which button it is but it'll you also press a button to have a point back to where you came

[01:42:46] from in case you wanted to go back or something like that yeah that's yeah it's very useful

[01:42:51] in town too because you keep pressing the button to show different things or the castle or the shop

[01:42:57] or whatever like yeah you can point to like different things in town and then go to it

[01:43:01] yeah we just obviously clutch um the only other thing i can really say and it's so minor i really

[01:43:07] wish alania or millenia is like accessory and mana egg and stuff wouldn't get de-equipped every

[01:43:12] time they change personalities because i fucking go with yeah because you go into it and it's like

[01:43:17] oh shit she doesn't even have a mana egg right now fuck i forgot right i think it de-equips all her

[01:43:23] skills too you have to put all that shit back on i don't know why they couldn't just remember

[01:43:28] okay elena was wearing this and millenia was wearing this like i i don't know again that's so minor

[01:43:35] though that yeah that's like again if that's like the worst thing i can say about the game

[01:43:40] fuck you were the best game ever you know those are legit the only criticisms i have

[01:43:49] yeah like i'm i'm struggling to think of anything else i guess like sometimes the number of like of

[01:43:56] skills that you can buy in books and the number of uh of different mana eggs the game gives you

[01:44:01] is sometimes a little too much but i mean after after you use after you have like the same

[01:44:07] skills on a character for so long it's like fucking like i'm whooping ass who gives a shit i'll just

[01:44:11] keep these yeah and like just keep using the same fucking mana eggs like who gives a shit yeah i

[01:44:17] think that's i think that's purposeful though because it's like you can just again the customization

[01:44:21] and a and a pretty linear game you want to have as much customization as possible and

[01:44:26] that is one way to do it you know you can kind of trick the trick up the characters

[01:44:30] the way you feel like the way they should play depending on them anna egg that they have

[01:44:36] in the spills you want them to do whatever so it's i i do like that i guess but yeah it is a lot

[01:44:42] but i understand why it's a lot too yeah like when i when i first played the game i guess

[01:44:49] having the hd collection i don't know if it explains how any of that shit works in the

[01:44:54] manual for the the original version but like in the hd version it didn't really say what

[01:44:59] like when you go to the pause screen and you go to i think it's called like power up

[01:45:02] i was like what the fuck does any of this mean and then and then you get a book and it's like

[01:45:08] you can unlock new skills now so i was like how the fuck do i do that and then i stumbled upon

[01:45:13] the power up menu again and learn how to do it but um i guess that's one criticism another

[01:45:20] criticism i have that sometimes the game itself doesn't explain how to do stuff

[01:45:26] which i guess isn't its own fault because it wasn't programmed to do that it was

[01:45:31] designed for for you to read the manual to figure that out so right there is tutorial guy though in

[01:45:36] the shops but he just explained some stuff about combat i don't think he explains like every

[01:45:42] fucking you know i guess you could talk to that guy i only ever talked to him in my original

[01:45:48] playthrough of dreamcast i never have and neither subsequent playthroughs but yeah if i

[01:45:53] guess that guy if you really are not grasping the combat which again we think it's easy to

[01:45:57] pick up and play but really if you need those intricacies that we talked about he'll explain

[01:46:02] them to you and they're pretty good so yeah there is there is that now a lot of games from back then

[01:46:08] don't have in-game tutorials like that so it's true yeah um shit i think i've said all the

[01:46:15] things i could say about grandia i think the only thing i have left for you is like

[01:46:20] i would like to talk briefly about why we think grandia 2 doesn't get the same respect

[01:46:26] as its peers and we talked about it a little bit at the beginning but

[01:46:33] the dreamcast like at that time everything was coming out like i said shinmu sky's rickadia

[01:46:40] capping recess and k that fall into winter was so packed like i i like i said i myself

[01:46:46] didn't play grandia 2 until 2003 because that shit there was so much coming out i didn't play

[01:46:51] sky's rickadia actually until like 2002 or three myself too so like it was just a lot man

[01:46:59] and for a system that wasn't lasting that long like i kind of this might piss people off but

[01:47:04] i don't really care i got to say something contrarian on the show every show i hate that we

[01:47:10] live in a world where sky's of arcaedia is considered like top tier on that system

[01:47:15] and no one gives a fuck about grandia 2 i like sky's of arcaedia a lot don't get me wrong i'm not

[01:47:22] trying to dunk it's just that like this game is way way way better than that and it's never

[01:47:28] talked about that way and it never will be talked about that way and i think that fucking sucks

[01:47:33] straight up it does fucking suck man like there is a lot of cool shit the sky's of

[01:47:39] arcaedia does but there's also a lot that i mean people can judge by by how much we've

[01:47:46] we've blabbed on and on about in this episode but there's a lot that grandia 2 does that it

[01:47:51] doesn't get a lot of recognition for and it's yeah yeah it blows man like i would maybe maybe

[01:47:59] no i don't know i would kind of rather go for a third play through of grandia 2 then go all

[01:48:05] the way through fucking final fantasy 7 slog fast dude i don't know what a fan final fantasy the final

[01:48:14] fantasy seven is i mean it's a great game but like there's just so much about grandia like

[01:48:20] the combat like it deserves so much more praise for the combat because it's i know

[01:48:25] like everything else around that time was just fucking turn based like i can't recall any

[01:48:33] rpg or jrpg whatever i can't recall any other rpg from around that time

[01:48:39] that wasn't turn based because i'm pretty sure that pretty much all were um yeah but i mean like the

[01:48:46] fact that the turns and the real-time elements of it matter too i've just never seen that and

[01:48:52] although the only thing that remotely gives comes closely to me that feeling is octopath

[01:48:56] traveler and that is completely turn based but like the decision making there the way you can set

[01:49:03] up stuff the way you can go for stuff in that game reminds me a lot of grandia 2 that's like the

[01:49:09] only thing that gives me that i think while while being completely turn based and again i don't

[01:49:14] have a problem with i i'll love turn based rpgs to the end of time and grandia 2 is one but

[01:49:20] that just that mix of that real-time just gives it that flavor that unmistakable flavor or

[01:49:25] just like adding adding adding more to the turn based combat like like shin megami tense we're both

[01:49:33] shin megami tense fans the press turn system is just so fucking good yes the bravely defaults

[01:49:39] turn based combat it's basically octopath traveler kind of amped up well no octopath traveler is

[01:49:46] that yeah whatever yeah you know what you mean yeah turn based combat but like add more to it and

[01:49:52] i don't know i gotta get to i gotta get to bravely default too i gotta get that on steam deck or

[01:49:57] something i i definitely have to get to that one it's great man like yeah it's uh not not to get

[01:50:02] us even more off topic but like once you mix and match jobs in bravely default two and you break

[01:50:07] the fucking game because the game gives you all the tools you need to break the fucking game

[01:50:12] then become a fucking killing machine it's it's so fun dude it's so good that's the great

[01:50:17] thing about octopath traveler as well you feel like you're breaking the fucking game once you get

[01:50:22] that skill that's like you can do more than like 9999 damage or whatever oh fuck like you can really

[01:50:31] do some wild shit oh my god it's so good we should do an episode on this kind of shit too

[01:50:37] like just do another another favorite uh like a part two to best combat systems or like

[01:50:44] best turn based combat systems or some shit i would love to talk about that mechanical that

[01:50:49] mechanical stuff yeah turn based that's actually a good caveat best turn based combat systems i think

[01:50:54] that could be a thing anyway yeah i shit thanks for joining me for this i think where we've set

[01:50:59] all the grandia two things we could say uh erin thanks for coming on fine time finally i i roped

[01:51:05] you into fine time happy to be here man anytime at all anytime you need me just flash the uh

[01:51:12] the uh the super pod just flash a chili dog in the sky and i'll be there i don't know i don't know

[01:51:17] what my luck would be i'll flash a valmar's uh the symbol the valmar symbol the valmar vaginas

[01:51:23] roan's castle and then in the sky you'll come here thanks for joining me catch us on twitter at

[01:51:30] fine time podcast catch us on blue sky the links will be in the description of this podcast

[01:51:34] also catch us on the super pod network at super pod network dot com we'll see you next time bye

[01:51:42] this is