Grandia II Author: Drew Lanclos   Publisher: Ubi Soft   Developer: Game Arts Date Posted: August 15th, 2002 SLRating: Bottom Line: A great game gets mired down in a lousy port job. Article Navigation Introduction background Gameplay Graphics/Sound Conclusion/Pros & Cons Rating Breakdown Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> Discuss This Article

Introduction

There haven't been a lot of console ports from the Dreamcast to the PC. It's actually rather interesting, because when Microsoft teamed up with Sega to include Windows CE hooks in the Dreamcast console, the aim was to permit game developers to use those hooks to develop titles easily on one system and port them to the other.

So far, I can only think of one port from the Dreamcast to the PC - Hundred Swords. Hundred Swords came on two CDs, took over a gigabyte of disk space, had no voiceovers, and a rather disappointing amount of material for a gigabyte's worth of data. Comparatively, I can install lots of games that were made this year and last which have almost complete voiceovers, provide longer entertainment, and better graphics.

Now, keep in mind that nobody's comparing console games to PC games as far as what's more fun or anything like that. Each has its place. So when I see a title that's been on one platform for some time and then it makes the crossover, I have a tendency to scrutinize it. Game Arts isn't exactly a *stranger* to the PC platform, though their last real effort was around ten years ago in the form of Zeliard (LINK TO - http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?name=Zeliard). With a critically-acclaimed history of console RPGs under their belt though (the Lunar and Grandia series), they've got little excuse to make anything subpar.

For some time, Working Designs was working on a rumored port of Lunar: Silver Star Story to the PC. If this were the case, then Game Arts (Lunar's original developer) should have gotten a reasonable amount of re-acquaintance with Windows development and console ports. With that in mind, I should expect that Game Arts had everything fresh in their minds when they sat down to work on the PC port of Grandia II. How did it fare? Read on for details.

Background

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Article Navigation Introduction Background Gameplay Graphics/Sound Conclusion/Pros & Cons Rating Breakdown

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