Grandia 2 (PS2)

Game Arts' RPG Grandia was (at the risk of making a sweeping statement) one of the best games ever made. Sadly, it is also among the most criminally overlooked. It was first released in Japan in 1997 on the ill-fated SEGA Saturn before belatedly reaching our shores in 2000 on the PSOne format. Behind its cute, dated visuals lay an adventure of epic proportions with magical design, spellbinding storytelling and a battle system that was sheer brilliance. In its day, only Final Fantasy VII could live with Grandia in the role-playing genre... ...Which is why I was suitably enthused when a follow-up was announced. Like its predecessor, Grandia 2 first took the SEGA ...

i picked up this game while, yes, you guessed it, waiting for FFX Though some of the game's dialogue is spoken, most of it is written out on the screen, subtly yet irritatingly pausing at times to give a sense of how the characters are inflecting. Some of the dialogue is actually quite good though, considering some of the poor voice acting the genre has been plagued with. Also, you'll likely enjoy the game's occasional use of full-motion video, either for cut scenes or even right in the middle of battle - some spells feature suitably dazzling, drawn-out effects. You don't need to be familiar with the original Grandia to get into Grandia ...