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Grandia III is the 4th installment in the series (following Grandia Xtreme) and the first to premiere on a system that wasent doomed from the start ( The 1st one was developed for the Sega Saturn and then ported to the PS1 and the 2nd was developed for the Sega Dreamcast and then ported to the PC and PS2, with the PS2 version being a horrible port)
Grandia III is a Japanese style RPG and follows the standard formula to a tee. Fight, level up, travel from town to town, buy weapons and armor, then repeat. The story follows Yuki, a kid who loves to fly and that has been building airplanes ever since he was a young boy. After a chance encounter with a girl named Alfina, thus begins your adventure. The story itself is fine, I wouldn't say it's anything special but it does keep you motivated to want to complete the game. Grandia III is a 2-disc game, I have read a few reviews for this game claiming that the 2nd disc is like a whole different game and that it's far less interesting then the first (with almost all the reviews saying the exact same thing) I can agree with the whole different game part, as the story seems to travel a different path and that the battles all of a sudden become hard, but I don't agree with the second part. I found that the game became far more interesting through the 2nd disc. Though, this simply may be personal taste.
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The Grandia series is best known for it's battle system, and this installment is no different. To put it bluntly, the battle system is the best out their. The system is semi real time. The order of combat is determined by the characters icons on the IP Gauge (a circular timeline of sorts, where each character and enemy icon moves to indicate who will act first) Friendly character icons move around the inside of the IP Gauge and enemy icons move along the outside. When an icon gets to the COM area, it is then possible to issue a command. The icon then moves through an acting area, once it hits the end, the command is carried out. While icons are in the acting area, you can cancel enemy attacks with special moves or vise versa.
And their are NO RANDOM BATTLES!!! Thank you. All enemy's can be seen on map and engaged at will (this is standard for the series.)
Through combat, characters become stronger, while progressing through levels you begin to learn Special moves which can then be used in combat at the cost of special points, which are accumulated through the use of physical attacks or by taking damage.
Magic can be learned in a few ways, by simply buying new spells at general stores or by extracting magic from eggs which are found across the world.
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The game is fairly linier, meaning their i'sent much free exploration. When traveling through enemy infested area's you follow a predetermined path. But this really i'sent anything suprising as both the 1st and 2nd games also did this. In fact, i'd actually prefer it in this game as it helps retain the feel of the original.
Their is an overworld but even this allows for little free exploration. You travel it in your plain and are able to land in certin areas but most of it is closed off. While flying you can also receive incoming radio message's.
Graphically, Grandia III is amazing. This may be the best looking RPG out their for the PS2, and the camera can be rotated at will, unlike many games where the camera is shifted by the computer. One disappointment for me though is that the perspective is standard 3rd person (the camera directly behind your character) , which strays from the series original top down, isometric angle. But even so, the game still feels like a Grandia game, so it's all good.
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The sound is Great in general, their are'nt really any stand out music tracks but it all fits well, and keeps with the original games feel. The sound effects are fine and the voice acting is top notch.
I do have complaints but they are things about the Genre in general and not necessarily this game. Console RPG's have been my favorite Genre for years but I really think they need to evolve now. If this game came out 5 years ago, I'd be going insane from it's greatness, but now, it's basically the same thing I played last time and the time before that, except with a different story. Even the characters are the same. These complaints are personal one's and should not effect your buying decision. But if you've been playing these kind of games for years, I'm sure you have at least some of the same feelings that I have. Final Fantasy XII comes out later in '06 and really seems to be trying some new stuff, maybe everyone else will follow suit then.
In the end, Grandia III succeeds because, while it does nothing new, it does what were use to, perfectly. I myself had fun with this game, but wasen't sad when it was over. I just really wish these games would evolve, because for a person like me, who loves adventure, their the best we got. And if the best i'sent satisfying you anymore, then that really sucks. Don't take all this the wrong way though, it's a great game and you should be playing it right now.
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