DISCLAIMER: This review is basically based on me playing the PS2 port, way back then. A game, I feel, consists of two things: The core, the concept, the bare bones that is the center of the game. And then the flesh, what turns the game from a concept to a full game. And Grandia II had bones big enough for a whale. Unfortunately, it only had enough flesh for a squirrel. The bones in this case are represented by the combat system, and even to this day, I find that it's one of the most immersive and action-filled turn-based combat system I've ever played; requiring actual player skill no matter how much you strengthen your character... And leveling up is just the start of this, as you also acquire special and magic coins, which you then use as you wish to strengthen your special and magic attacks. And if that's all you require from a JRPG game, then BY ALL MEANS, do play this game; you'll probably like it more than I did. For what I didn't like about this game was that it didn't have -anything- else than a great combat system. See, at this point (early 2000s), I was used to JRPGs generally having subplots, at least limited exploration, sidequests, minigames... And this game has practically none of this -at all-. And it also didn't help that the dialogue (and the voice acting of such) made Final Fantasy X look like it was an Oscar-worthy Hollywood movie in comparison. Of course, in these days, most JRPGs doesn't seem to have anything but the "bare bones" (even Final Fantasy games no longer have real side-quests and minigames), so for those of you that enjoy games like The Legend of Heroes and other modern JRPGs... You will probably not be disappointed, for you don't know what you're missing. You should feel free to enjoy the game for what it is, rather than lamenting what it lacks; and you should leave the curmudgeonly opinions of an "old" gamer behind.
The Dig was one of my absolute favourite adventure games back in the day. When similar games were often going over-the-board with being wacky, The Dig remained mostly serious. Now don't get me wrong, it still had plenty of humour in it (as opposed to what some have been claiming), it just wasn't the main focus of the game; and most of the humour was found through quips and sarcasm, as opposed to having a moose randomly dropping on your head (or whatever tended to happen in Sam&Max and Monkey Island and all those games). Instead of all that, this game's story got its heart and soul from three humans stranded in one of the most atmospheric backdrops one could ever hope for (and you can tell that this game was clearly an inspiration for Wadjet Eye's adventure games when they started out). Of course, as with all 10+ year old games found on GoG, there is another aspect to it, and that is this: How well has it aged? And the answer is "very well indeed". The voice acting is still mostly very solid (with the occasional moment of... not being solid); the atmospheric backdrop is still stunning; and the story still remains a story like just about no other story ever told in a video game. The puzzles are also remaining solid, with a fair bit of mechanical puzzles thrown in to get a bit of variety from "put X on Y"; and if this is your first time (or your memory's nowhere as good as mine), you will be severely stumped every now and then (though nothing is truly illogical). And furthermore, it's a story that -precisely because it's -not- based on being too wacky and full of gags - still holds up when being retold. You'll want to replay this game after beating it once, so you can get the full story in one big go. And a point-and-clicker that has good replay value is extremely rare, and worth its weight in gold! So savour this game like the fine, aged, and intensely atmospheric wine that it most certainly is.
So, this is low-end "remastering", huh? Now, on one hand, I'm perfectly fine with the main characters being nothing but slightly spruced up (and backgrounds not being spruced up at all) in themselves; though I wish that at least some of the animations had been spruced up to become more fluid and less "character's hand sticking through someone's head" type of animation that was the hallmark of the early 3D games. And keeping it so close to the original does let me experience it as I did all those years ago, with what is still one of the best stories told amongst video games, and with some fine and clever puzzles that I admit I rely on my memory for most of the time. And yeah, I do remember most of the puzzles after all these years. Now, I'll be the the first to admit that my memory, good as it is, still is very fallible. But even so, I can't seem to recall that it was that important to frequently save, because you'd never know when you'd encounter a bug that would make it impossible for you to proceed the game. I'm about halfway through, and I've already had to replay scenes I've already done about half a dozen times due to sometimes downright stupid bugs, such as Manny simply disappearing completely. As I have said before, what Tim Schaefer really needs these days is a better team than Double Fine Productions; as a company, it simply doesn't have the resources needed turning his otherwise brilliant ideas into full, proper, and above all -working- games.
Now, this isn't the most fantastic game ever, but it's a very decent experience, with some tricky puzzles, a very unique setting, and basically everything that makes for a good, solid four-star point-and-click experience (though without the things that could make it turn into a five-star gem). Sadly, there are some bugs that makes me take off a star; mainly the fact that the game hangs up on me. Now, it's not too bad, because all you need to do is to go back to the main menu and reload the game. And since the game auto-saves, that means you hardly ever lose any progress to speak of. But still, between that and also missing soundbytes, these are annoying aspects.
Dust: An Elysian Tail is a game that carries on for a bit too long for what it is. Yes, the combat's perfectly fine, the voice acting is average, the story... so-and-so. But the thing is, it's not a very deep game in any of those aspects. And since it's not very deep, that means it eventually - especially if you try to get everything - turn rather repetitive. If the game had less cannon fodder, more enemies that needed tactics, and cut out a fair few areas that didn't really have much reason to be there, then I'd really, really have liked it. And I wanted to like it too, especially because of the beatiful scenery and designs. But apart from said design, there's nothing to make this game stand out for anyone who's played a fair share of similar games. At best, you might consider it a way to shorten the waiting time for Kingdom Hearts 3.
That is, for what it's offering, it's actually just as well that the main game isn't any longer. Since it lacks the depth in story, characters and gameplay to justify being any longer than it is, this game being as short as it is - about six hours or so - IS A GOOD THING! Why? Well, because then the game stops before we start getting too damn tired of it. We don't get hours of repetitiveness designed to unnecessarily drag out the experience. Instead, we get a nice little turn-based RPG game that does what it does well enough, with just enough challenge to stop you from feeling like you're going completely auto-pilot. Miss a few opportunities when defending, or come to the boss fights with the wrong costume combination and you'll be in a world of hurt. In closing, the little world in here actually feels a bit less weird than what I expect from Double Fine games. So if you're looking for a true Tim Schafer-must-be-on-drugs experience, this isn't it, neither in plot, design, or execution. But it's silly, and pretty lighthearted, and a good afternoon's turn-based fun. Two if you play the second adventure that's included in the game.
And the thing about Tim Schafer's games is that almost everything about them is well done. The world, the characters, the story, the voices... All of these things are, once again, made to create an experience that few other people can do. I don't know what's going on inside Tim Schafer's psychedelic brain, but most of it is delicious... ...But sadly, Schafer needs access to a team that knows how to do the -gameplay- part of a game well. Because take away everything surrounding the gameplay, and what you get is... mediocrity. A lackluster open-driving part, a action-adventure combat game without anything special, and this RTS light thing that just serves to slow down what should've been an experience that's meant to be Epic all the way to 11. If Schafer only had access to a team that makes gameplay wonderful... Imagine Psychonauts 2 made with the people behind the Super Mario Galaxy games. Or if Brutal Legend had been made with the guys who did Kingdom Hearts 2... Just the thought of that is almost enough to give me a nerdgasm...
I'll be honest, I stopped about half-way into the second level, so take this comment (I won't insult anyone by calling it a full review) with as many grains of salt as you wish. But here's the reason I stopped playing so quickly: Take away the cute design and the sister-changing mechanice, the actual gameplay is extremely slow-paced and feels uninspired from the get-go. The reason for this is simple: The main goal of a level is to collect all the gems the level has. Now, I most certainly like collecting in games... as a side project, and with a reasonable amount of collecting per level. A reasonable amount would be one to three big things that may give bonus levels or whatever, and small things that may give one-ups or lets you buy stuff; and that's it. When it becomes the main project to collect 378 gems in one single level, it means that each level is progressed with a snail's pace, because you want to absolutely make sure you didn't miss anything in every section. And if you don't feel like doing this and decide to just finish the level, you'll find that at least half of the challenge of the game will disappear in a blink. Platform games of this type just can't afford to be that slow, especially not when the one and a half levels I tried were really uninspired. Oh, and the noises the sisters make when they jump and attack are horribly annoying, and grates on my brain even now.
Well, to be fair, it's also a few other things where this game fell a bit flat compared to the first game in this series... But one of the things that made the first Unwritten Tale so great was the gnome with the German accent! I loved him. All video game gnomes should hereby have German accents! (I speak of actual German accents, mind you, not the stereotypical "accent" that American actors adopt when they're playing Nazis). Apart from missing gnomes with Germans accents - WHY ISN'T HE IN THE GAME?!?!?! - the game also suffers from a couple of other issues. Like the original, any puzzles that's not about using things on other things are too few and far between. -Unlike- the first game, it's re-using the same area rather too much. And this area is a rather boring one, being mostly made out of ice. Finally, much of the game is played with a character that doesn't speak intelligibly. I guess this was an attempt to obscure the puzzles by not having the character give hints on what one can do with each item... But what it mainly achieved was that I ended up doing more tedious trial-and-error style of gameplay. All things considered, this ends up a perfectly average and adequate game in the point-and-click genre. But this is also a bit disappointing because there's a game in the series that already did things quite a bit better. Oh, and where's that gnome?!?!?!
After having played through average and disappointing recent P&C games, it was really nice to finally get a solid experience again. So what makes this game so much better than other recent games, such as Deponia, or the really bad Runaway games? Well, to start with, you play a gnome with a noticeablen (but not too strong) German accent. You also play other characters that are decent enough, but there's just something about that gnome that makes everything better. I haven't loved a main character so much in a looong time. In addition, the atmosphere for this game is amazing. Everything just looks right, and the design team really earned their pay with beautiful areas to explore, and good music to boot. Now granted, this game won't tread any new ground in the genre. It has a few neat mechanisms, but it's still a P&C game. However, it's one where everything's done so solidly - the amount of humour and references, the logic of the puzzles, etc - that you will easily be able to overlook the rather clichéd main story. In short, if you like P&C games, buy this one!
