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Platform: PlayStation 2
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Publisher: Square Enix
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Developer: Game Arts
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Medium: DVD-ROM
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Players: 1
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Online: No
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Also on: (n/a)
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Starts off awesome, ends up mediocre.
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Since it was revealed early last year, Grandia III has been the one of those highly anticipated RPGs, ranking up there with Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII. It’s for good reason too: The trailers have all featured gorgeous environments, the Grandia battle system has a favorable reputation in gaming circles, and many consider the first Grandia to have one of the best plots of the 32-bit era.
And at first, Grandia III seems to live up to expectations. The story's interesting, the battles are fun, and the characters seem likeable. But after five hours, about the time the main quest kicks in, things start to get more and more inconsistent. And when things start to fall apart in the first five hours of a thirty-five to forty hour game, well, that’s never a good sign.
The first casualty of Grandia III’s downward spiral is its story. It's not that the characters aren't fleshed out or the plot isn't properly explained. Rather, throughout numerous cutscenes and dialogs, the characters are given the chance to speak their minds, to explain their thoughts on recent events, and the motivations behind their actions. The problem is that these motivations, these thoughts, and even the entire storyline, it all seems oddly familiar, especially for those experienced with past Game Arts titles. It's hard not to see the basic similarity between Grandia III's protagonist Yuki and Lunar's Alex, both stubborn, idealistic youngsters inspired by their personal heroes. Alfina fulfills the same role as Lunar 2's Lucia, the only difference being that Alfina cries a whole lot more. And Grandia III's main villain and Lunar's Ghaleon seem quite similar in their mindset, motivation, and overall goals. Even Grandia III's main quest seems a variation upon Lunar's, right down to the overall theme of "love is the answer, love is the world's only hope." Again, the story isn't particularly bad or poorly told, it's just tired, a hodge podge of past Game Arts plots that weren't all that original or noteworthy to begin with.
The cutscenes themselves are another iffy subject. Some are impressively rendered CG movies, some are rendered in-game using character models with highly detailed faces, complete with moving lips. Other cutscenes are rendered in-game using not-so-detailed character models, during which the speaking character will just repeatedly nod their head. The contrast between these two in-game cutscenes is an odd juxtaposition, with the head-nodding scenes feeling and looking like a remnant of the Dreamcast era. A fourth type of cutscene, a series of scrolling pictures with voices speaking over them, pops up near the end of disc one, and feels very out of place after twelve hours of fully-animated events.
Annoyingly, there's no option to pause these cutscenes. Even worse, though these cutscenes are fully-voiced and generally a few minutes in length, there is no subtitle option whatsoever. The complete lack of subtitles is odd, especially since dialogue outside of cutscenes is text-based. This omission means that if player wishes to follow the plot, they must be able to hear the spoken dialogue. And regardless of how clear the voice acting is, that really doesn't help the hard of hearing or those who play with the volume down.
Thankfully, Grandia III’s battles remain enjoyable after the story fades to mediocrity. A combination of real-time and turn-based battle systems, fights in Grandia III are a bit more engaging than just repeatedly mashing buttons. The IP Gauge, a dial located in the upper left-hand corner of the battle screen, displays an icon of each participant in battle. As those icons rotate around the dial, their position dictates whether a character is waiting for their turn, choosing an action, or performing their selected attack. Generally, the more powerful an attack, the longer a character spends waiting to execute it. At the same time though, the longer a character spends charging an attack, the more vulnerable they are to a Cancel attack, which will negate their turn.
Outside of Special Moves and Spells, an attack is not instantly performed after it’s charged. Instead, the character must run to their opponent, be in close physical proximity, to strike. And while they're running, the IP gauge is ticking. This gives Grandia III's battles a strategic twist, especially when the player is attempting to cancel an enemy attack that will then prevent the enemy from canceling the player's attack.
Understandably, this can all seem a little overwhelming at first, especially with eight or nine participants running around the battle field. Luckily, Grandia III includes an optional hint system which will periodically suggest a certain course of action, helping the player to identify major threats in battle.
However, the battle system is not without its flaws. The concept of the Aerial Attack, an attack on an enemy after they're thrown into the air, is based more in luck than skill. These Aerial Attacks require at least two characters to be extremely close on the IP Gauge, so that one character can launch the opponent into the air and the other can attack before they fall back down. But as there's no reliable method to place characters so close to one another on the IP Gauge, these Aerial Attacks happen more out of chance than design.
As in past Grandia titles, battles do not occur randomly. Rather, monsters are visible on the map as the player explores their surroundings, so the player is able to avoid battles if they so choose. Though considering how the monsters and bosses of Grandia III get progressively harder throughout the game, it's generally recommended to engage in as many battles as possible.
This suggestion is strengthened by the title's tendency to run players through the same area twice. Though the game doesn't require players to trek back through a dungeon after completing it, it generally does require them to trek back through the two or three monster-filled areas that lead to the dungeon. This habit of reusing areas gets somewhat tedious, seemingly slowing down the game to justify the ever-increasing difficulty of its second half. Whereas most role-playing games encourage level grinding, repeatedly clearing an area of enemies to gain extra experience points, Grandia III is one of the few that almost require it.
The constant battles also bring with them more annoyances. The monsters of each area have a certain elemental weakness, and utilizing this weakness in battle strategies is encouraged for a fast fight. Unfortunately, exploiting this weakness also means repeatedly watching the same attack Spells, the same Special Moves, and hearing the same battle cries. Eventually, these animations grow more annoying than amusing, with no way to disable them.
There's also an element of luck involved in the battles themselves, as what appears to be a weak enemy on the map can actually turn out to be one weak enemy and two ridiculously strong foes. And if those strong foes just happen to blast the player's party with their strongest attacks before the player can act, it's extremely possible they'll lose all progress since the last save.
Also problematic is Grandia III's camera. Controlled by either the right analog stick or the shoulder buttons, the camera can be rotated around Yuki for a clear view of the player's surroundings. Unfortunately, with no way to instantly center the camera behind Yuki, it’s not uncommon to be blindsided by a monster. That's plenty annoying on its own, but given that enemies in dungeons get more powerful as the game progresses, that being blindsided by a monster generally leads to a surprise attack that allows them to attack first, and keeping the above paragraph in mind, it's easy to see how this becomes more of a problem as the game wears on.
Ultimately, Grandia III isn't particularly good or bad. It's got its good points, it's got its bad points, and they weigh each other out pretty evenly. The story isn't all that noteworthy, especially given the amount of cinematics the player is forced to sit through, but it gets the job done. And sure, the battle system is fun, but as the game develops, it grows more annoying, frustrating, and tedious, requiring a fair amount of dedication and patience to work through. Thus, Grandia III isn't for everyone, but those willing to accept and embrace these flaws should definitely give it a shot.
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