Grandia II: Difference between revisions

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'''''Grandia II''''' was the only game in the series on the [[Sega Dreamcast]], and has been praised as the second best RPG on the system, after ''[[Skies of Arcadia (Video Game)|Skies of Arcadia]]''. Also one of the rare [[Eastern RPG|JRPGs]] on the PC. It was later ported to the [[PS 2]].
 
The plot kicks off with a Geohound (read: [[Anti -Hero|mercenary]]) named Ryudo being hired as a bodyguard to a girl named Elena, a Songstress of Granas (read: nun) who is taking part in a ritual to renew a seal that is [[Sealed Evil in A Can|secretly holding one of the pieces of a fallen evil god]]. Things don't go according to plan and Elena [[Demonic Possession|is possessed]] by the sealed evil ("the Wings of Valmar"), which manifests itself as a [[Enemy Within|seperate personality]] calling herself Millenia. With the destruction of this seal, the other pieces of Valmar sealed all over the world have gotten loose too, and both Ryudo and Elena are tasked with hunting them down. Naturally, it's not quite as simple as that and the game mostly deals with a [[Deconstruction]] of [[Black and White Morality]].
 
''Grandia II'''s most notable aspects are the battle system -- a refinement of the battle system from the original ''[[Grandia (Video Game)|Grandia]]'' and arguably the benchmark for successful merging of real-time and turn-based battle -- and the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|music]]. Particularly the battle themes. Yes, the battle system was so popular that [[Grandia Xtreme (Video Game)|the next game]] was almost entirely built around it (with less-than-stellar results).
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* [[Catgirl]]: Mareg is a part of a [[Petting Zoo People]] race full of adorable catgirls... and, you get the big, smelly, ''male'' one in the party. But what's bad for [[Fan Service]] is good for combat, as Mareg is a massive, [[Super Strength|super-strong]] lion-man.
* [[Church Militant]] / [[Malevolent Masked Men]]: The Cathedral Knights are personal stormtroopers of High Priestess Selene. These big guys are positioned around villages suspected of harboring evil, giving Selene ample room to "purify" everyone inside. Other than that, the Knights aren't terribly useful; Ryudo suggests that ''they'' go marching in search of the Granasaber instead, but it's [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|outside their purview]]. {{spoiler|They eventually go crazy, slaughtering everyone in their way when the Day of Darkness comes. And they're not human.}}
* [[Clipped -Wing Angel]]: Valmar's final form is much weaker than the form before the Boss Rush.
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Each character gets their own color-coded status window in battle.
* [[Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like]]: Skye letting go of Ryudo in mid-flight due to the latter's complaining. Skye never hears the end of it.
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* [[Demonic Possession]]: A side-effect of using a piece of Valmar.
* {{spoiler|[[Devil but No God]]}}: {{spoiler|Granas is long-dead, while Valmar is merely dormant -- ironic, since the church espouses a doctrine saying that the opposite is true.}}
* [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?]]: Millenia mistakenly outs herself as the Wings of Valmar by delivering a [[Badass Boast]].
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Ryudo -- kicking the Devil's ass one bit at a time.
* [[Disposable Woman]]: Ryudo witnessing his brother, Melfice, running his own fiancé through with the sacred sword he stole.
* [[Doing in The Wizard]]: Tacked on near the end.
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* [[The End of the World As We Know It]]: The "Day of Darkness", foreshadowed by a miasma that spreads famine and drought.
* [[Environmental Symbolism]]: Mirumu's town hall is filling up with comatose villagers. If you take a look at the outside, you'll notice the roof shingles visually resemble {{spoiler|eyes}}.
* [[Et Tu, Brute?]]: The word "monster" inadvertently passes through Sandra's mind when she glimpses {{spoiler|her child's third eye}}; this last betrayal causes her to retreat back into her dreamspace.
* [[Eternal Engine]]: The Underground Plant, a facility for building Automata soldiers.
* [[Eureka Moment]]: Roan has one when Ryudo, speaking of Valmar's army, says aloud "We need to <small>BURY</small> them." This jogs Roan's memory about Cyrum's royal mausoleum, which contains records of Valmar from the time of the war. "That's ''it''! Graves!"
* [[Evil Redhead]]: Subverted. Millenia is a piece of the world's devil, so many think Millenia is evil, even herself. But helping Roan shows early on that she might be something else.
* [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]]: Garmia Tower
* [[Exact Eaves DroppingEavesdropping]]: Ryudo accidentally lets slip his affection towards Elena while she pretends to be asleep. Elena keeps silent on the matter, but her impression of him greatly improves as a result.
* [[Expendable Clone|Expendable Clones]]: The party comes across a desert full of dismembered automatons resembling Tio. While scanning the memory of one of her "sisters", Tio reports thet were ordered to charge into the wind barrier protecting the Granasaber, knowing that [[Suicide Mission|they would all die]].
* [[Extreme Doormat]]: Mirumu's chief is a basket case during a crisis, and is easily railroaded into Selene's witch hunt. Once Ryudo sends her packing, the chief matures into an assertive leader.
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* [[Fish People]]: Troglodites.
* [[Fission Mailed]]: No matter how you answer {{spoiler|Valmar}}'s questions, he makes it seem as though Ryudo has failed to resist the evil inside him. When the lights turn on, Ryudo sees {{spoiler|he's been fully corrupted into a demon}}. Cue [[Skyward Scream]].
* [[Five -Man Band]]:
** [[The Hero]]: Ryudo
** [[The Lancer]]: Millenia.
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* [[God and Satan Are Both Jerks]]: It's implied (though not directly stated) that Granas and Valmar were originally {{spoiler|mere mortals who somehow elevated themselves to god-like beings via technology}}. The pair of them more or less enslaved humanity, eventually pitting them against one another in an apocalyptic war. Though Granas was {{spoiler|killed, his followers continued to dupe the world into believing that he will someday rise again to save them}}.
* [[Goldfish Scooping Game]]
* [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking]]: Capt. Bakala's corncob pipe.
* [[The Goomba]]: Mottled Spider.
* [[Gotta Kill Them All]]: The parts of [[Satan|Valmar]]. It's never explicitly made a goal of your travels, but you run into all seven of them eventually.
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* [[Hallucinations]]: One NPC in Liligue is so delirious from hunger that he mistakes Mareg's mane for whipped cream and, later, cotton candy.
* [[Harbinger of Impending Doom]]: Valmar's Moon undergoing a full eclipse. Hey, who turned out the lights?
* [[Have You Seen My God?]]
* [[Hellish Pupils]]: Valmar's Eye.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Ryudo briefly experiences this after watching {{spoiler|Millenia}} get devoured by Valmar's innards.
* [[Hey ItsIt's That Voice]]: [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Leonardo]] must help a young girl possessed by [[The Little Mermaid|Ariel]], and along they way they help restore a kingdom ruled by [[Voltron|Princess Allura]].
** Don't forget Leonardo's pet bird, [[Metal Gear Solid|Roy Campbell]], who also goes by [[Ben 10 Alien Force (Animation)|Grandpa Max]].
** Elena is also [[Metal Gear Solid|Naomi]] and [[Spider Man the Animated Series|Felicia Hardy]].
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* [[I Know What You Fear]]: Valmar's Eye spawns eyeballs-shaped bats that fly into surrounding homes at night, staring into the minds of townsfolk. First the victim is plagued by their darkest memories; if the bat isn't dispatched with, that villager sinks into a permanent sleep state.
* [[I Will Wait for You]]: In the epilogue, both {{spoiler|Elena and Millenia}} are shown waiting for Ryudo as he embarks on a [[Journey to Find Oneself|Journey To Find Himself]].
* [[I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin]]: Inverted with the dying Melfice, who inadvertently {{spoiler|passes the Horns of Valmar on to Ryudo}}.
* [[Improvised Zipline]]: During his flight from Garmia Tower, Ryudo hoists Elena in one arm and slides down a rope in epic hero style.
* [[Inn Security]]: Mirumu Village.
* [[Instant AI, Just Add Water]]: {{spoiler|Mareg [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifices himself]] to get the party off the Moon of Valmar. After trying to teach Tio what freedom and emotions are, it takes his death to ''actually'' give her emotions and free will.}}
* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEH4Hye3Kdg "The Garden of Dreams"], Aira's theme.
* [[Irrelevant Sidequest]]: Lampshaded by Ryudo by the time he and his group finally reach St. Heim.
{{quote| '''Ryudo:''' And so the mighty warriors come to the end of their lengthy, needlessly complicated journey!}}
* [[ItsIt's All My Fault]]: Aira blames her own blindness for her mother's hardships.
** Elena declares this while witnessing the attack on Cyrum by Valmar's monsters, having been duped into lying to Ryudo and cooperating in the dark god's revival. (Justified in that, well, it ''is'' all Elena's fault.)
* [[ItsIt's Up to You]]: None of the guards in Cyrum Castle lift a finger when Melfice tries to restart a robot factory beneath the building. That's because ''it's up to you''.
** Justified with Ryudo embarking to kill Melfice, as he's [[Only I Can Kill Him|the only one]] who can match his brother in swordplay.
* [[Just Whistle]]: Ryudo and Skye in the opening sequence.
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* [[Living Statue]]: The stone gargoyles in Garmia Tower start coming to life somewhere around floor 3.
* [[Lizard Folk]]: Dragonians.
* [[Load -Bearing Boss]]: Defeating the Core causes Valmar's Body to start collapsing. Millenia negates this by absorbing the Body in the same manner as Valmar's other parts, leaving the party to awaken in an empty field.
** Killing the [[Final Boss]] of the game results in New Valmar tearing itself apart from the inside.
* [[Love Triangle]]: And both women share the same body {{spoiler|(for most of the game)}}. Awkward.
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* [[Marshmallow Hell]]: Millenia does this to Roan when they first meet. No wonder he takes to her so quickly.
** Roan experiences this again in the epilogue, this time with Elena. [[Book Ends|Symmetry!]]
* [[Man -Eating Plant]]: Valmar's Eye exhibits a plant motif -- a twisted parody of {{spoiler|Aira}}'s love for flowers.
* [[Mauve Shirt]]: Elena's friend Tessa is bumped off within a scene of her introduction.
** The Seal Guardian of Cyrum Castle, Menory, pretty much exists to be killed so villains can get the door open.
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** The [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] is hanging in the sky, the whole world is pleading for the party to save the day... and the merchants still insist on charging full price.
* [[Noob Cave]]: Garmia Tower.
* [[Not Now, Kiddo]]: Mirumu's villagers blow off Ryudo's report of a dream garden, claiming it's just a bedtime story. Aira is practically waving her arms and shouting, "{{spoiler|I'M POSSESSED}}", but her mom tells her to pipe down in front of her guests.
* [[Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here]]: Quoted by a few citizens in St. Haim Papal State, or as Ryudo calls it, "the dinner plate of Granas". The church's followers huddled here to seek protection from the prophesied Day of Darkness. {{spoiler|In a sick twist, Selene and her Cathedral Knights butcher absolutely everyone in the town.}}
* [[Oh Crap]]: Ryudo realizing they're all trapped on a monster-infested reef in the middle of the ocean, and their only escape route is underwater -- the tide's come in.
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** When Ryudo is forced to relive his memories of Melfice stabbing Reena, he discovers that Reena had been possessed by Valmar's Horn, which then transferred into Melfice when he killed her out of mercy.
* [[One Sided Arm Wrestling]]: Ryudo is forced to arm-wrestle Hemble as part of a spur-of-the-moment bet, with Skye as the wager. Elena breaks Hemble's concentration by exclaiming that [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|his nosehairs are sticking out]].
* [[One -Winged Angel]]: Each of Valmar's hosts.
* [[Only the Chosen May Wield]]: For generations, the villagers of Garlan trained as swordsmen to protect the "Idol" of a nearby mountain. Legend says that the Idol Sword was put in place to keep evil from escaping. Melfice stole the sword when the Horns of Valmar took him over.
* [[Order Versus Chaos]]: Elmo's version of history paints Valmar as an opponent to Granas' benevolent dictatorship, which bestowed such unlimited power to humans that they no longer needed to build anything, able to summon up entire cities on a whim. From Valmar's point of view, Granas was making the human race [[We Have Become Complacent|complacent and self-indulgent]].
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* [[Patrick Stewart Speech]]: Ryudo, Elena, and Millenia deliver one to {{spoiler|Zera/Valmar}} before entering the last dungeon and, later, at the game's closure.
* [[Percussive Maintenance]]: The Granasaber automatically shields itself behind a tornado if it senses Valmar's old military is nearby. Ryudo fixes this by smashing {{spoiler|a derelict ship's computer}}, thus {{spoiler|turning off the power}} and signaling the sword to lower its defenses.
* [[Percussive Therapy]]: Disgusted by what he sees, Roan angrily punches a console in the automata factory, accidentally causing the place to [[Self -Destruct Mechanism|self-destruct]].
* [[Pet the Dog]]: Millenia has a few of these, despite her [[Puny Earthlings|open disdain]] for humans. After extracting Valmar's Eye from {{spoiler|Aira}} and leaving her in a coma, she makes amends (more or less) to {{spoiler|her mother}} by suggesting that if she somehow converts the icy, inhospitable village into a flower garden, that {{spoiler|Aira}}'s soul might come back. Ryudo knows this is nonsense, of course, but he slyly holds his tongue.
** While spending the night with Elena on Ceceile Reef, Ryudo finds her staring apprehensively at the reflection of Valmar's Moon on the water. Ryudo says he knows a way to make it disappear, then chucks a stone at the water, its ripples dissipating the Moon's image. Elena is quite moved by this gesture.
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{{quote| '''Ryudo''': For a priest, [[Star Wars a New Hope|your lack of faith is most disturbing]].}}
** And another one in Agear:
{{quote| '''NPC:''' You call them [[NamesName's the Same|sandmen]]? How original. I bet they travel single file to hide their numbers, too. }}
** And again in Cyrum, as Ryudo boards the Captain's ship:
{{quote| '''Capt. Bakala:''' [[What a Piece of Junk|She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts.]]}}
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* [[Weakened By the Light]]: Subverted (and played for laughs) when Millenia exits the Durham Cave at daybreak. She cries, "Aaaa! The accursed light of the sun! It burns! It burns!" (Kidding.)
** Ryudo uses {{spoiler|the Granasaber}} to [[Cue the Sun|cut a swath of light]] through the sky, the sunrays shooting through Valmar's body like arrows. This effectively halts Valmar's advance on Cyrum.
* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]
* [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?|Who Names Their Ship "Dude"?]]: While examining the hull of the ''50/50'', Ryudo guesses that it must be #50 of fifty ships or perhaps that's its registration. No, the Captain corrects him, that be the name of the ship, matey!
{{quote| '''Ryudo:''' Must be a cultural thing.}}
* [[Wolfpack Boss]]: The first one (a pack of Gargoyles) actually constitutes the game's [[Warmup Boss]].
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* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: Valmar's possession of {{spoiler|Aira}}. This runs counter to Gadan, a previous victim who more or less invited his fate. According to Millenia, Valmar feeds on ''all'' desire -- good and bad.
** One of the grave markers at Garlan Island belongs to Sasha, a little girl who couldn't believe that Melfice would turn evil. She trusted him until the end.
* [[Yin -Yang Bomb]]: The ultimate message of the game is that good and evil must coexist. Both are necessary to win the game, as your final party arrangement consists of a holy priestess (Elena) and {{spoiler|a servant of evil (Millenia)}} -- and Ryudo, the hero, is kind of a neutral mix of both.
* [[You Can't Thwart Stage One]]: Ryudo corners {{spoiler|Zera}} in Valmar's womb, but finds himself separated by a transparent dome. He can't do anything but watch as Elena is forced to re-conceive Valmar.
* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: During the climatic scene on the moon, the party is surrounded by the Valmar's hatchlings, their escape vehicle is low on energy and the horde is closing in. {{spoiler|Mareg}} orders his friends to run, then creates a choke point between the baddies and the ship. {{spoiler|Just before he's overwhelmed, he makes a prayer to Granas, who is a) a god he doesn't believe in, and b) a god which has been dead for thousands of years, to deliver his friends to safety.}} [[Deus Ex Machina|It works]].
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* [[Your Little Dismissive Diminutive]]:
{{quote| {{spoiler|Zera}}/Valmar: "Insolence...[[Patrick Stewart Speech|power of the human heart]], indeed! I spit upon your feeble strength."}}
* [[You're Insane!]]: Ryudo uses this phrase at {{spoiler|Selene}} and {{spoiler|Pope Zera}} when the full scope of their plan is exposed.
** Millenia shouts this ad nauseum during the final boss fights, complete with the following pot-kettle line:
{{quote| '''Millenia:''' "Hah, you really ARE completely nuts! WHOOOOO! You'd better reel yourself in, YOU PSYCHO!"}}
* [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]]: No sooner does Ryudo drop Elena off at St. Heim as promised, he gets volunteered to ''lead a crusade'' for the Sword of Granas.
** That finished, Ryudo heads back to St. Heim to report on a job well done. His arrival times perfectly with the advent of the Day of Darkness ([[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|ahead of schedule]]).
* [[Zombie Apocalypse]]: As quoted from scripture by Elena (a bit late, but still), Valmar becomes quite capable of raising a zombie army during the Day of Darkness. When the bodies of human casualties hit the ground, they are enveloped in darkness, and then turn into demons.
 
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