Grandia II introduced me a marvelous and inventive combat system, a rocking soundtrack, and some fun character dynamics. Despite all this though, what I really remember most about Grandia II is the story. Grandia II tells the tale about Ryudo and Elena as he takes her across the world in order for her to complete her ritual after a botched ceremony erupts into chaos; what follows is a bunch of mishaps and badly timed events that eventually led to the gang finding out the true nature of everyone's actions and what they should do to stop it. It's really compelling to see how this story unfolds and it's honestly highlighted by the rough nature of each character as they try to get along, but ultimately aren't friends at the beginning. The actions of the characters feel real, and to see characters leave or change can be heart breaking at times, while still giving proper reasons for why each character must leave. Not to say that anything else in this game isn't stellar in it's own right, combat is very easy to pick up and provides a good enough reward system that often getting good at the game means breaking it. I can see some people being put off by Grandia II's easiness, but honestly it reminds me of Paper Mario's friendly approach and frankly we need more baby's first JRPG. It's hard not to recommend Grandia II to anyone that owned a dreamcast, and it's sad to see it gets so little attention on the switch, but Grandia II remains the hidden gem that it is