GRANDIA 2 -- WHAT'S WITH THE HATE?

Inspired by an old topic that Craze wrote some eons ago.

I've always been interested on why there are so many people hating this game. The biggest reasons that I can think of myself would be:

-The linearity. Yup, this is one of those games that are shaped rather strictly after the main storyline. I guess one of the biggest flaws would be that it's later in the game impossible to travel back to past areas. I would've loved to see some more stuff in this game, like optional areas, bosses, side quests etc. With such a great battle system and customization, I think it's kind of a shame that the game didn't supplement those areas more. :/

-The difficulty. Like I just said, it's a shame that the game doesn't offer much challenge when it's filled with so many interesting and fun mechanics. The game is just way too easy overall IMO. Most bosses are a joke (from a gameplay perspective, they're rad as hell otherwise); they simply don't pose a threat. It's so easy to keep on cancelling their "super moves" all of the time. If the boss does manage to hit the party somewhat hard, then it's no problem, since you can just heal everyone back to full health. I think it's kind of ironic that the remastered version has added a "Hard Mode" to the game. All it does is increasing the enemies' DEF & MDEF. WHY? Out of all of the stats, why chose to increase those? Increasing DEF/MDEF does not make the game harder in any way, it just makes the battle longer and adds unnecessary padding. Enemies needed to be more AGGRESSIVE AND HIT HARDER. Come on, game designers, get it together. :'(

Despite all of this however, I still enjoy this game quite a lot, mainly due to various things, like the music, characters, story, graphics, voice acting and rad animations (these deserve their own mention!). From what I've heard, most people hate the game because of these things (except for the music, everyone loves some Noriyuki Iwadare).

I'm interested to hear others' thoughts on the game and why they hate it. Thanks for reading and as always, I apologize for the poor grammar.

Well, if you enjoyed both, or one of them, then I'm pretty sure that you'll enjoy 2 as well. Here's your best bet if you plan on giving the game a go: http://store.steampowered.com/app/330390/
I haven't played the remastered version yet, but I plan on buying it pretty soon.

@Liberty: Maybe it was because the game was originally for Dreamcast (which unfortunately died pretty fast). Also, if you already got, then you've got no excuse for not playing (muhahaha)! xD I'd love to see you stream/LP it though.

Unity: Your Dreamcast got stolen!? How? :O That sucks though. RIP Unity's Dreamcast. :(

I've heard the opposite about the hate. Most people seem to praise 1 as a masterpiece, mainly due to the game's sense of adventure, but hate on 2 because of its story/characters/voice acting/linearity/whatever. I never finished 1, but from what I played, it felt pretty linear as well, just like 2 did.

My pile of shame includes the SNES/Golden Era of RPGs and a lot more. Too much gam mak, too little gam.

@Craze: I'm trying to come up with ways to handicap myself more in order to make the game more challenging. Let me know if you come up with any fun ideas.