Grandia II: Difference between revisions

The plot kicks off with a Geohound (read: [[Anti-Hero|mercenary]]) named Ryudo being hired as a bodyguard to a girl named Elena, a Songstress of Granas (read: nun) who is taking part in a ritual to renew a seal that is [[Sealed Evil in a Can|secretly holding one of the pieces of a fallen evil god]]. Things don't go according to plan and Elena [[Demonic Possession|is possessed]] by the sealed evil ("the Wings of Valmar"), which manifests itself as a [[Enemy Within|seperateseparate personality]] calling herself Millenia. With the destruction of this seal, the other pieces of Valmar sealed all over the world have gotten loose too, and both Ryudo and Elena are tasked with hunting them down. Naturally, it's not quite as simple as that and the game mostly deals with a [[Deconstruction]] of [[Black and White Morality]].

''Grandia II'''s most notable aspects are the battle system -- a refinement of the battle system from the original ''[[Grandia (video game)|Grandia]]'' and arguably the benchmark for successful merging of real-time and turn-based battle -- and the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|music]]. Particularly, the battle themes. Yes, the battle system was so popular that [[Grandia Xtreme|the next game]] was almost entirely built around it (with less-than-stellar results).

* [[Acceptable Feminine Goals]]: In the epilogue, Tio has become a {{spoiler|nurse even though her encyclopedic brain would more than qualify her to be an actual doctor}}, Elena becomes a {{spoiler|traveling singer}}, and Millenia, despite her volatile temper and being a manifestation of the world's equivalent of the devil, is now a {{spoiler|kindergarten teacher}}.

* [[An Aesop]]: The Aesop of Liligue is... [[Greed]] is bad? Money so important to the engineers here that they refuse to desert the town (and their jobs), despite slowly dying of starvation.

** [[Playing with a Trope|Played With]]: [[Genre Savvy]] Players will notice that Millenia only joins your party when there's a major boss coming up. So, players may (correctly) feel that something is amiss when {{spoiler|Elena is in your party for the battles against Melfice and the Heart of Valmar.}}.

* [[Angst Coma]]: Defeating Valmar's parts causes their human hosts to fall into an unshakable catatonia. {{spoiler|At the end of the game, they each [[Unexplained Recovery|recover]].}}.

* [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]: Millenia confesses her love to the unconscious Ryudo after she finds herself unable to {{spoiler|absorb Valmar's Horns from him, taking his soul with it}}.

* [[As Long as It Sounds Foreign]]: The ending theme, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhruIbjXSI "Canção do Povo"]. This goes beyond merely singing with a Japanese accent, the singer doesn't even try to sound Portuguese, as the lyrics had probably been converted to kana for her to read.

* [[Awful Truth]]: See "[[Once More, Withwith Clarity]] below."

* [[Bad Moon Rising]]: Valmar's moon, as shown in the header picture.

* [[Batman Can Breathe in Space]]: Tio and Roan floating in space unharmed. [[Hand Wave|Hand Waved]]ed by Tio's glowy green force field, though how they survive reentry is left unmentioned.

** The heroes are able to breathe, fight, and even ''sprint across'' the surface of Valmar's Moon (though it isn't a moon so much as {{spoiler|Satan's Womb In Space}}).

** Heck, after {{spoiler|1=Pope Zera/Valmar is defeated, the three herosheroes other than Roan and Tio are in space, having a ''very lengthly discussion'' on what happens next, let alone breathe, before flying off}}.

* [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]] / [[Dream Land]]: After {{spoiler|Aira}} retreats into her own subconscious, the party must follow after her.

** Elena and Millenia both enter Ryudo's mind after {{spoiler|he is infected by Valmar's Horns in order to seal it away}}.

* [[BFS]]: The Granasaber, which is so huge it could cleave mountains (literally; it's that huge). {{spoiler|Subverted. Turns out it's a spacecraft.}}.

* [[Big Eater]]: Ryudo pokes fun at Elena's huge appetite [[Running Gag|throughout the game]]. She has a rival in Mareg, though, whose meals consist of giant platters of steaks.

'''Mareg:''' I beg your pardon, Elena, but I must note that had your ear been more alert, you would have marked that [[Too Slow|I had requested seconds]]. }}

* [[Blade Spam]]: Melfice's Wailing Sword Slash and his brother's equivalent, Purple Lightning.

* [[Blind Seer]] / [[Creepy Child]]: Aira, a little girl in Mirumu village, has been blind since birth. She mysteriously regained her sight, along with some sort of clairvoyance. {{spoiler|(Sheshe's possessed by the Eye of Valmar.)}}.

* [[Blond Brunette Redhead]]: Elena (the good), Selene (the bad), and Millenia ([[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others|the naughty]]).

* [[Body Motifs]]: Valmar's parts inflict side-effects on their hosts, as well as on surrounding villages. The Tongue reduces Gaden to a corpulent money-grubber, and robs people of their sense of the taste; the Eye grants {{spoiler|Aira the gift of sight}}, but also invades people's dreams with their darkest memories; the Horns turns the peace-loving {{spoiler|Melfice}} into a bloodthirsty killer; the Heart fills {{spoiler|Selene}} with an abundant love for Pope Zera, but zero compassion for everyone else.

* [[Bonus Dungeon]] / [[Remixed Level]]: Raul Hills Labyrinth, which hides key items that double the amount of experience and SC you receive after battle, in addition to the best accessories in the game and a Mana Egg. It's also full of demons that can wipe out your entire party with one attack.

* [[The Bridge]]: The hilt of the {{spoiler|Granasaber}} is actually its flight control room -: a floating platform surrounded by a spherical viewscreen.

* [[Broken Bridge]]: The ''entire continent'' is split in half by a broken bridge --... namely, the Granacliffs. According to the doctrine of the Granas Chruch, the fissures were formed by Granas' sword when it struck through Valmar.

** The greedy manager of the Skyway refuses to allow passengers aboard, preventing you from crossing the Granacliffs. Ryudo gets around this by, err... killing him.

* [[Bubblegloop Swamp]] / [[Jungle Japes]]: Ghoss Forest, which encompasses the Beastmen village of Nanan.

* [[Bubbly Clouds]]: The first level of Aira's dreamspace looks like it influenced ''[[Robot Unicorn Attack]]''.

* [[Burn the Witch]]: When a sleep curse starts tormenting Mirumu, the village chief reaches out to nearby Granas Cathedral for help. Who ya gonna call? [[Principles Zealot|High Priestess Selene]], who promptly surrounds the village with her knights and prepares to "purify" the town --... [[Kill It with Fire|with fire]].

** {{spoiler|This is just Valmar's attempt to corrupt Ryudo's soul.}}.

* [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp]]: St. Heim is home to the "squeak-baa" --... basically a miniature sheep.

* [[Capital City]]: St. Heim Papal State. This title goes to Cyrum Kingdom later on, once the former is {{spoiler|wiped out by the Pope's troops}}.

* [[Church Militant]] / [[Malevolent Masked Men]]: The Cathedral Knights are personal stormtroopers of High Priestess Selene. These big guys are positioned around villages suspected of harboring evil, giving Selene ample room to "purify" everyone inside. Other than that, the Knights aren't terribly useful; Ryudo suggests that ''they'' go marching in search of the Granasaber instead, but it's [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|outside their purview]]. {{spoiler|They eventually go crazy, slaughtering everyone in their way when the Day of Darkness comes. And they're not human.}}.

* [[Clipped-Wing Angel]]: Valmar's final form is much weaker than the form before the [[Boss Rush]].

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Each character gets their own color-coded status window in battle.

* [[Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like]]: Skye letting go of Ryudo in mid-flight due to the latter's complaining. Skye never hears the end of it.

'''Ryudo:''' You're missing the point. }}

* [[Con Man]]: Roan makes fun of Gonzola when the latter offers a coin toss to determine whether they part ways. As Roan good-humoredly notes, it's a trick coin, and Gonzola would've let him go no matter what.

* [[Contractual Boss Immunity]]: With one major exception; {{spoiler|none of the bosses -- up to and including the final boss -- are immune to Spellbinding Eye's paralysis effect.}}.

* [[Corrupt Church]]: {{spoiler|Not only is "god" dead, the Pope ''knows it'', and is manipulating the entire church as a vehicle for seeking out and absorbing the parts of Valmar.}}.

{{quote|'''Gadan:''' [[Bastardly Speech|Perhaps the others have sinned before Granas. Perhaps I alone remain blessed.]]. [[In Mysterious Ways|Who can fathom the mind of God?]] Ah, Delicious!}}

* [[Darkest Hour]]: {{spoiler|Mareg}} is dead, {{spoiler|Millenia}} is dead (or so it seems), Valmar is awake, the {{spoiler|Granasaber}} has been smashed into itty bitty pieces, the entire city of {{spoiler|St. Heim}} has ''melted'' into a howling, black wasteland, Cyrum Kingdom is burning, and the dead now walk. But the ultimate insult comes when Ryudo remembers he's still holding a {{spoiler|piece of Valmar}}, which Valmar is still looking for --... and is putting the whole city at risk just by ''being there''. It's time to retreat.

* {{spoiler|[[Devil but No God]]}}: {{spoiler|Granas is long-dead, while Valmar is merely dormant --... ironic, since the church espouses a doctrine saying that the opposite is true.}}.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Ryudo --... kicking the Devil's ass one bit at a time.

* [[Disposable Woman]]: Ryudo witnessing his brother, Melfice, running his own fiancéfiance through with the sacred sword he stole.

* [[Doing inIn the Wizard]]: Tacked on near the end.

* [[Dug Too Deep]]: Liligue's problems started with Gadan complaining about the stone pillars rooted deep into the ground. Looking to excavate them, he instead unearthed the temple containing Valmar's Tongue and was possessed.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: Valmar's appendages fit the bill. The reassembled body is, funny enough, comparatively normal: a flying [[Hybrid Monster|chimera]] with five heads, one of a lion, an insectoid, a dragon, and two others.

* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: The "Day of Darkness", foreshadowed by a miasma that spreads famine and drought.

* [[Et Tu, Brute?]]: The word "monster" inadvertently passes through Sandra's mind when she glimpses {{spoiler|her child's third eye}}; this last betrayal causes her to retreat back into her dreamspace.

* [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]]: Garmia Tower.

* [[Expendable Clone|Expendable Clones]]s: The party comes across a desert full of dismembered automatons resembling Tio. While scanning the memory of one of her "sisters", Tio reports thetthat were ordered to charge into the wind barrier protecting the Granasaber, knowing that [[Suicide Mission|they would all die]].

* [[Faceless Eye]]: The Mirumu quest takes this trope [[Up to Eleven]].

* [[Fetch Quest]]: Refreshingly spare --... but only due to most of the quests involving a piece of Valmar (see "[[Gotta Kill 'Em All"]] below). In Agear, Ryudo gets roped into retracing Roan's whereabouts after the boy goes missing. {{spoiler|It turns out that the whole middle portion of the game was really just the [[Big Bad]] manipulating your party to fetch the pieces of Valmar for him.}}.

* [[Fiery Redhead]]: Millenia.

** [[The Hero]]: Ryudo.

** [[The Smart Guy]]: Roan.

** [[The Big Guy]]: Mareg.

** [[The Chick]]: Elena.

** [[Sixth Ranger]]: Tio.

* [[Forbidden Zone]]: The Great Cleft Island of Arachna is so named for being the nexus of the Granacliffs, a.k.a. the "Great Rift". The site is sealed off by a perpetual tornado. This is a security feature of {{spoiler|the Granasaber}} to prevent Valmar's troops from entering.

* [[Foreign Queasine]]: Arum root. The most tasteless, gag-inducing vegetable around is, ironically, the only food Liligue's citizens can now eat.

* [[Full-Moon Silhouette]]: The animation for Millenia's Fallen Wings attack.

** In the first battle against Millenia (a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]), the battle is scripted to end when Millenia casts her Zap! spell. She can get caught in an AIA.I. loop that causes her to ''never'' use Zap!, and it's impossible to end the battle in any other way (her HP doesn't decrease, and you can't escape the battle).

** The Crimson Claws of Ceceile Reef. (see "[[That's No Moon")]] below).

* [[Giant Eye of Doom]]: [[Inn Security|While spending the night in Mirumu]], Ryudo has a nightmare of being chased by floating eyeballs. He stops in his tracks, looks around. Ahh, safe. He turns around --... to face an even bigger eyeball staring ''right at him''.

** The '''Forest of No Return''', a.k.a. the Great Rift.

* [[I Know What You Fear]]: Valmar's Eye spawns eyeballs-shaped bats that fly into surrounding homes at night, staring into the minds of townsfolk. First, the victim is plagued by their darkest memories; if the bat isn't dispatched with, that villager sinks into a permanent sleep state.

* [[Instant AI, Just Add Water]]: {{spoiler|Mareg [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifices himself]] to get the party off the Moon of Valmar. After trying to teach Tio what freedom and emotions are, it takes his death to ''actually'' give her emotions and free will.}}.

* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEH4Hye3Kdg "The Garden of Dreams"], Aira's theme.

* [[It's All My Fault]]: Aira blames her own blindness for her mother's hardships.

* [[Large Ham]]: Jodi Benson (Millenia) has the time of her life chewing the scenery in the English version.

* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Contrary to its name, the {{spoiler|Church of Granas}} turns out to be helping to revive Valmar. {{spoiler|The Pope}} could actually be said to be ''much more'' evil than Valmar, as he seeks to absorb Valmar's power in the same manner as Millenia and make himself {{spoiler|a replacement for the long-dead Granas}}.

* [[Living Bodysuit]]: Once they've broken free, the pieces of Valmar hide inside the bodies of ordinary humans, then set to work gathering the other parts.

* [[MacGuffin Delivery Service]]: Millenia is on the hunt for pieces of Valmar, absorbing them into herself and learns their abilities. Gee, what an impossibly convenient way of gathering of all Valmar's parts in one place! {{spoiler|This is the entire reason why Pope Zera wanted Elena to go with Ryudo.}}. Later subverted by Ryudo after he kills {{spoiler|Melfice and absorbs ''his'' piece of Valmar}}.

* [[Madness Mantra]]: After having his soul stolen by Melfice, King Cyrum is reduced to a jibbering shell of his old self, endlessly repeating "We shall regain our pride.... We shall...".

** [[Marshmallow Hell]]: Millenia does this to Roan when they first meet. No wonder he takes to her so quickly. Roan experiences this again in the epilogue, this time with Elena. [[Book Ends|Symmetry!]]

* [[Mauve Shirt]]:* Elena's friend Tessa is bumped off within a scene of her introduction.

* [[Meaningless Meaningful Words]]: Alas, invoked quite a bit in the game's last couple of hours. The heroes continuously say things like "True power... true justice is in the heart" and talk an awful lot about "the power of the human heart"."

{{quote|"Ma'am, we do that to our pets, not {{spoiler|our '''children'''}}!" }}

** It's suggested that Melfice killed his fiancée not out of malice, but to free her from Valmar's Horn. An apparition of Melfice later appears to Ryudo and regrets having done this, saying he was overzealous in his fight against evil.

** Similarly, {{spoiler|Selene}} shows up at the exact moment that Ryudo finds the Granasaber. Well, if it's so easy to sail around the world, why don't ''you'' look for the sword?

* [[Motor Mouth]]: When the party reaches Cyrum Castle the first time, one of the ladies-in-waiting who serves as the castle guide has a rather unique way of giving directions --... she takes a deep breath, then babbles out the entire guide to the castle as quickly as possible in one breath.

** At one point during Ryudo's test of character, he's flung down a bottomless pit with Skye flapping nearby, snarky as ever. This calls to mind a similar scene in ''Grandia'', where Justin and Feena bicker as they're falling into a volcano.

* [[No Hero Discount]]: Gadan initially charges 10,000G to ferry your party over the Granacliffs, citing his overhead costs.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Ryudo realizing they're all trapped on a monster-infested reef in the middle of the ocean, and their only escape route is underwater --... the tide's come in.

* [[Old Friend]] / [[Retired Badass]]: Vyx, innkeeper of Agear and war buddy of Ryudo. He's hinted to be a ex-Geohound. (Whichwhich would make him and Ryudo the only two Geohounds in the world, if this game is anything to go by).)

* [[Ominous Fog]]: The party is enveloped in this while stumbling into the Garden of Dreams, a fairy tale setting that has mysteriously come to life in an otherwise-snowy forest.

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting|Ominous Portuguese Chanting]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Asw9ZLf86M "Granas' Sanctuary"].

* [[One-Sided Arm Wrestling]]: Ryudo is forced to arm-wrestle Hemble as part of a spur-of-the-moment bet, with Skye as the wager. Elena breaks Hemble's concentration by exclaiming that [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|his nosehairs are sticking out]].

* [[Our Fairies Are Different]]: {{spoiler|Aira}} is responsible for the sleep curse placed on Mirumu. If the villagers fail to wake up, they emerge as "fairies" in her garden and exist in a state of permanent bliss. (Thatthat is, until their real-world bodies atrophy and die.).

* [[Patrick Stewart Speech]]: Ryudo, Elena, and Millenia deliver one to {{spoiler|Zera/Valmar}} before entering the last dungeon and, later, at the game's closure.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Millenia has a few of these, despite her [[Puny Earthlings|open disdain]] for humans. After extracting Valmar's Eye from {{spoiler|Aira}} and leaving her in a coma, she makes amends (more or less) to {{spoiler|her mother}} by suggesting that if she somehow converts the icy, inhospitable village into a flower garden, that {{spoiler|Aira}}'s soul might come back. Ryudo knows this is nonsense, of course, but he slyly holds his tongue.

* [[Prophetic Name]]: {{spoiler|Aira}}.

* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: Cyrum Castle's guardsman, Commander Paulk.

* [[Religion of Evil]]: In the old days, Valmar had followers of his own. Their descendants founded {{spoiler|the kingdom of Cyrum}}, where they cultivated a margarita-soaked party-image to conceal their shameful legacy.

** Late in the game, Ryudo discovers he's even more of a puppet than he thought: the {{spoiler|Granas Seals are all fakes --... machines designed to keep Valmar in hibernation, ''not'' imprisonment}}.

* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: The "Seals of Granas" imprisoning Valmar's body parts --: only ''one'' is intact by the time you discover it, but it gets released almost immediately anyway.

** Cyrum Castle is built atop a centuries-old factory that produces automata soliderssoldiers. It was created by Valmar's followers during the war with Granas.

{{quote|'''NPC:''' You call them [[Name's the Same|sandmen]]? How original. I bet they travel single file to hide their numbers, too. }}

{{quote|'''Capt. Bakala:''' [[What a Piece of Junk!|She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts.]].}}

* [[Slow Motion Fall]]: The heroes collapse in dramatic slow-motion when they lose all their HP.

* [[So Long and Thanks For All the Gear]]: Notably averted with {{spoiler|Mareg}}'s death;: you even get all of his skill coins back. Played straight with Millenia and Elena, though they switch out so often that it's almost a non-issue. They don't take accessories or Mana Eggs, though.

* [[Sound of No Damage]]: During the few [[Hopeless Boss FightsFight]]s, any attack produces just a metallic clanking sound without dealing any damage.

* [[Tron Lines]]: Present in architecture built during The War, most notably in the Granas Seals.

* [[Unwitting Pawn]]: Ryudo was sent to find the Granasaber not for the sword itself, but to {{spoiler|uneseal the Body of Valmar}}.

** Valmar was merely waiting for {{spoiler|Millenia to collect all of his parts before reactivating}}. By {{spoiler|defeating the game's major bosses}}, Ryudo was turning up the clock on the Day of Darkness, which occurs after {{spoiler|all of the Granas Seals have been broken}}.

* [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?|Who Names Their Ship "Dude"?]]: WhileA examiningship theexample hull ofwith the ''50/50''. While examining the hull, Ryudo guesses that it must be #50 of fifty ships or perhaps that's its registration. No, the Captain corrects him, that be the name of the ship, matey!

* [[Wolfpack Boss]]: The first one (a pack of Gargoyles) actually constitutes the game's [[Warmup Boss]].

** A horde of Eyeball Bats serve as a [[Trick Boss]] in the catacombs beneath Mirumu. Ryudo's [[Genre Savvy|not fooled]], though; indeed, the root of the problem is Valmar's Eye, which is flanked by additional Eyeball Bats when you finally do fight it.

* [[Womb Level]]: 3Three out of 4four of the game's final dungeons --: Valmar's Body, Valmar's Moon, and Final Valmar.

* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: Valmar's possession of {{spoiler|Aira}}. This runs counter to Gadan, a previous victim who more or less invited his fate. According to Millenia, Valmar feeds on ''all'' desire --... good and bad.

* [[Yin-Yang Bomb]]: The ultimate message of the game is that good and evil must coexist. Both are necessary to win the game, as your final party arrangement consists of a holy priestess (Elena) and {{spoiler|a servant of evil (Millenia)}} --... and Ryudo, the hero, is kind of a neutral mix of both.