“The day of Darkness is at hand,” states Father Carius. “The world groans with the heaviness of Valmar’s rebirth.”

Ryudo looks somewhat thoughtful as he says, “This is new …”

The only problem is that this is definitely not new, not the storyline anyway. Grandia II, from Game Arts and Ubi Soft for the PC, is a role-playing game that features stunning three-dimensional Japanese anime graphics. Not even poor sound effects, a cliché-ridden narrative and tired plot can take away from the look of the game.

You have probably heard all this before, though the names have been changed to … well, they’ve been changed. Ages before the time of this tale, Granas, the God of Light, and Valmar, the Devil of Darkness, battled. Granas won and Valmar was imprisoned. Well, he’s coming back. Monsters are on the loose, and evil doings abound.

Into this steps a young Geohound (think of him as a mercenary) named Ryudo. He gets a job as the bodyguard to a young church songstress named Elena. He is to escort her to an ancient tower where she and sisters of her church will perform a binding ceremony to seal Valmar away. Oops, it goes awry and Elena is possessed by the “wings” of Valmar, which will destroy her soul, leave her empty and then move on to another victim. Elena’s only hope is a trip through dangerous territory to see the pope of the Granas church. Well, Ryudo, despite his crudeness toward her, has been smitten by her spunk. He is the guide on this perilous journey.

Before he can leave, he meets up with a powerful, somewhat nasty woman – a red-headed vixen named Millenia, who possesses a fighting spirit and some very strong magic – and who has a crush on him. She likes to drop in and torment him, or fight at his side from time to time.

There are underlying character sub-plots that do enliven the game, but at its core, Grandia II is a tired tale retold.

The control elements take a little getting used to. Rather than use some of the hotkeys more familiar to players, these keyboard-driven controls make use of the Z and X keys for action and cancel. The fight system has an arcade style and is turn-based, with recovery time built in and chances to counter also present. You merely select your attack; select your target and watch. Each hit registers with the number of hit points taken during the attack, and characters move off on their own after striking.

The same keys used for general game play are used for the fight selection, which is nice. Once you have those down, you don’t have to learn another set for combat. There is a swiveling camera, which players will need to understand and use in order to navigate around scenery that will block your view.

The sound features a decent, if only average, musical score and a combination (it goes back and forth) of voice acting and typed narrative. The voice acting can be lacking at times, and there are instances where the narrative contains grammar and spelling mistakes. “I didn’t want …” says Ryudo at one point.

While the game does have more than its share of clichés, there are a number of clever lines like “Hey! Princess! The power of darkness isn’t coming this way to tell us about the neighborhood bake sale. We need to leave.”

Sound effects are a combination of arcade-like zings (which work well in the combat portions of the game) and horrible general effects. Footsteps sound like elephants walking in clogs.

There is lag in the game play as the action moves throughout the realm, and your party transitions from one area to another, or enters combat; and the typed narrative can take time to weed through – not only in reading it, but for it to be displayed. There are ample save points along the way though.

This is a linear game, which will hamper replayability.

That brings us to the graphics. The environments are well done and at times look like watercolors. The animation is very good, but the character portraits are simply gorgeous. The game seems to have a variety of looks, from illustrated three-dimensional rendering (general game play) to modeled characterizations (at key, narrative-driven points in the game) to a flatter look (in combat) that still maintains a sense of three dimensions but isn’t as strong as other parts of the program. All in all, this is a beautiful-looking game.

Grandia II is not likely to be the type of game that plot-driven, hard-core RPGers will appreciate. However, there is a certain addictive quality to the game generated by the graphics that spur you along the well-trod storyline just to see what the game will look like in the next scene.

This game is rated Teen, presumably for mild violence, suggestive themes and language.

Install: Medium
This game will eat 850 megs of hard-drive space, plus a little more for saved games.

Gameplay: 7
There are load times inherit in this game, not only for scene changes but for the fight sequences as well. The different levels or scenes are not that big, and there is usually only one path through an area.

Graphics: 9.5
This is one of the best-looking games to feature Japanese anime in all its glory. You want eye candy? This is a candy store!

Sound: 6.5
The voice acting is not all that terrific, the typed narrative lacks originality and emotions are lost in the poor use of punctuation (think comic book, but not from one of the top illustration groups), and the sound effects are a mixed bag, beginning at not very good and working up to average. The musical score is only average.

Difficulty: 6.5
This game is linear, there are no difficulty levels, and veteran RPG players will not be challenged. The controls are different and will take a short time to get comfortable with. The good news there is that the control elements are kept very simple.

Concept: 6.5
Same old storyline, simplified controls, and a narrative that stumbles at times add up to a lack of originality.

Overall: 7.2
Several elements of this game try to offset the graphical beauty of this game and can’t quite do it. Grandia II is remarkable for the look of the program if nothing else. It is a simple game to play, but a delight to look at.