How is your Dreamcast gaming going on?

[Tanooki]

Yup or if you just have to have your HD fix as they're the same otherwise. I finally started the game last night, pushed it through having to open up the mountain pass first part going towards the Granas Pope for a hopeful cure for the wings. I vaguely remember this from way back in the day, still fun, and I forgot another excellent reason I like this game too.

One of the very first of the JRPGs we got in the states that dropped the stupid random encounter battles. The stuff roams the map and you can attempt to sneak up on it to get initiative in battle which I really like.

[Reprise]

I love the battle system in the game and the way random encounters aren't random and are controlled by seeing the monsters on the screen. There's decent strategy involved by timing moves and trying to cancel attacks.

P.S. About the battles not being random and seeing monsters on the screen, to be fair Chrono Trigger did it first.

[Tanooki]

Oh I know Chrono Trigger was earlier, that's why I said one of the earliest. I think this one does it better than CT did though battle engine and all that.

I need to try my best to commit plugging away at this game daily if not almost daily. I'd like to either finish it or get burned out before the Switch arrives. I know there's no chance in hell of pulling off this and Skies, but G2 seems more approachable.

[Reprise]

I've tried replaying Skies a few times, but I always end up getting burned out before the end. I don't know why, because I'm always like "OMG THIS IS AWESOME" for the first few hours. Grandia II isn't quite as bad for that though, as it's relatively short (at least it feels shorter than Skies) and not too dififcult.

[Tanooki]

The problem with skies is that it's overly aggressive with the random fights both on foot an in the air. Sometimes you can literally go like 2 seconds, and pop, another fight. It's a game with a design flaw that just wears you down, as does the longer fluffy load animation and character pre-fight motions each and every random encounter. It sucks away at your life chomping up unnecessary hours due to bloat and overkill random encounters so it make it harder to stay drawn into the story and willing to pursue it.

Gamecube or DC I've never finished it. However far I got I think I did hit the 2nd disc on the GC before whatever that amounts to, but finished, not at all.

I do intend to take a good clean shot at both. I even have the guides for both the games too (well the GC Legends one for Skies which still is the same lacking the added girl parts.) It'll help me focus more having a map to walk along with as I find randomly being lost at this point in life with old RPGs mentally draining.

[Reprise]

Oh yeah, now I remember why it burns me out haha.

[Tanooki]

See I knew it.

I put 3 hour or so into Grandia 2 so far over 2 tries, and I stopped after taking down the minotaur boss and returning to the busted up town and parked it there once the story fluff was run through. Now to head on into some wasteland to work my way towards the cathedral.

My only worry in this game so far, it doesn't appear monsters really re-generate if you leave and return to the area after popping way out into the overworld map. I tend to like to level up a bit in an RPG, and this one seems to force you to investigate everything to rack up enough kills to get by. I hope it doesn't become an issue.

[Reprise]

My only worry in this game so far, it doesn't appear monsters really re-generate if you leave and return to the area after popping way out into the overworld map. I tend to like to level up a bit in an RPG, and this one seems to force you to investigate everything to rack up enough kills to get by. I hope it doesn't become an issue.

Yeah, that's an issue with Grandia II, I'm afraid. Monsters don't really re-generate, making it hard for people, like me, who like to grind and ensure they are sufficiently leveled up.

There's a couple of 'hidden'/'special' areas in the game, that later appear on the world map, that are especially made for levelling up though. They're just areas that have nothing to do with the story and are there to explore to find items and fight monsters.

[G-Darius]

I was going to play either SF III Double Impact or Capcom Vs SNK but I noticed recently the system is asking for me to set time and date on each power up so I am going to have to open her up and a solder a battery/holder mod just to make replacement of it easier in the future.

[marurun]

Fortunately, those rechargeable coin batteries aren't too hard to find as long as you know the right model number.