Grandia III – PS2 – Review

"Someday
I’ll leave this village and fly over the sea, all the way to the mainland,"
dreams Yuki, a young aspiring pilot. Growing up he saw films of the great Sky
Captain Schmidt, a master pilot who spent his life befriending clouds. Winning
races, helping those in need, rescuing princesses from burning buildings – the
lifestyle Sky Captain Schmidt had was too good for Yuki to resist. He wanted
to have that same kind of excitement, and be remembered by all as a true hero.

That begins
the tale of Grandia III, a turn-based RPG with what Square Enix refers to as
"semi-real-time" elements. Yuki’s quest to be a pilot takes a heroic turn when
he meets one of the world’s few Communicators, Alfina. Communicators can speak
to the God-like beats that protect the world’s citizens. They are known only
as the Guardians. Why she has this ability, and why the Guardians care to
share their thoughts with her is unknown.

Yuki isn’t
too quick to trust strangers, but believed Yuki’s story. Apparently she has to
get to the temple in Arcriff to take the place of her brother, who has
mysteriously disappeared. Yuki wants to get to the mainland – dropping by
Arcriff wouldn’t be out of his way. The two team up,  Miranda joins the party,
and the three embark on their journey. Miranda, by the way, is Yuki’s
mother/sister (sort of). There’s an amusing sequence that explains why.

As tough as
these characters are, three is not enough to save the world. Not long into the
adventure you’ll meet Alonso, a legendary sailor who has the bad habit of
losing everything … to gambling. He’s addicted to the cards, I tell ya. And
will bet everything he has on the possibility of winning, even when deep down
he knows he’s going to lose. Lucky for Yuki and Alfina, whose chance meeting
with this guy could have turned out to be a total disaster, Alonso is also a
legendary schmoozer. It’s his dumb luck that gets him into a bind; and his
smooth-talking that gets him out of it.

With four
party members and anywhere from one to five (possibly more) hungry monsters to
slay, battles are quick, entertaining, and almost always exciting. Combat is
turn-based, but Game Arts added an additional element that gives the game its
semi-real-time mechanics Square Enix talked about.

Battles are
separate from the main area you’re exploring – a feature most RPGs have.
Grandia III is different in that the characters are not bound by the
environment. Battle areas are very wide open. Enemies will knock you around
and send your party members flying all over the screen. Every character, good
or bad, has the advantage of freedom by changing position each turn. Position
changing is done automatically when you take your turn. Close-range attacks,
for example, cannot be completed if the monster you’ve selected to attack is
on the other side of the screen. In every instance your character will move
toward the monster and attack. Monsters can do the same – any opponent can.
Thus, if they want to attack and the party member they’ve selected is far
away, they’ll run over and strike.

What this
creates is an interesting playing field where gamers can plan their moves in a
way that allows them to either (A) avoid enemy attacks or (B) cancel them.

You’re given
extra help in doing this with Grandia’s wonderful move gauge. The move gauge,
which is a circular emblem located on the top left corner of the screen, tells
you exactly when you and your opponent will be able to take their turns. It
also tells you exactly when everyone will attack. Player and enemy icons
follow a circular path around the gauge; the first point designates whose turn
it is, the second point executes the move taken.

When timed
properly you can use critical (one quick, harsh strike) hits to cancel an
enemy’s attack. This can be done manually, but to help you learn how the game
will occasionally ask you to protect a party member by attacking a specific
enemy with a critical hit. Combo moves attack with multiple hits. In some
cases combos can be much more effective and deal much more damage. However,
they are not as effective at canceling attacks.

Combo and
critical hits are the two main forms off attack. You also have magic attacks,
which include the usual array of polygon-pumping earthquakes, flesh-melting
flames, and monster-shattering ice bombs. Very satisfying to use, and may be
replenished at all save spots offering the Recover feature. Fewer than half of
the save spots allow you to recover health and magic points, so keep your
inventory stocked with as many items as possible. (Note: there’s a stock limit
of nine for each item.)

Special
attacks are some of the most fun to perform, and they don’t require expensive
items or a night at the inn to replenish them. The more you battle, the more
SP you’ll gain. Special attacks are often focused on hitting more than one
enemy at a time. You might strike in the center of the battlefield and hit a
cluster of monsters, or stand at the outskirts and fire a wave of deadly
attacks. The special attacks that focus on one enemy are potentially the most
powerful, unleashing a blow that can instantly cancel the monster’s attack,
deplete most of its energy, or completely eliminate it from battle.

All this praise for the
battles has probably made you wonder where the story comes in. It’s there, and
features some of the longest real-time sequences you’ll ever see. Long
sequences, unfortunately, do not make for a better RPG. You need a good story
first, and while I wouldn’t say that Grandia III’s story is bad – in the end
it’s not that great either.

Can you
forgive this one (enormous) flaw? I used to play through RPGs solely for their
interesting stories. I’d play through them for the music, too, but I only
discovered that after first being intrigued by the story. Now I find myself
playing through more and more RPGs that have a great combat system, great
graphics and great music, but not the one thing that got me into this genre in
the first place. I loved the time I spent with Grandia III and would play
through Grandia IV in a heartbeat. Without a great story, however, Grandia III
is not a must-have RPG for everyone. It’s worth playing, no question, but if
story comes first for you, and you don’t like games that are only worth
playing through once, this might not be the game you want to add to your
collection.

Review Scoring Details for Grandia III

Gameplay: 9.0
Insanely
addictive; incredibly rewarding. There are times when your characters will
unleash special attacks automatically (this seems to be around the time when
new attacks are learned). You also have the opportunity to inflict more damage
by timing your special and combo attacks so that one party member leads into
the next. This is very tricky. It felt like it was random most of the time,
but I suspect that’s because I just wasn’t taking the time to line them up
properly. Grandia III being such a fast-paced RPG, it’s hard to sit back and
wait for the right moment to do something. You’ll want to do something now.

Graphics: 9.0
The most
jaw-dropping environments since Final Fantasy X. Beautiful backgrounds,
impeccable real-time lighting, super-fluid animation (in battle), unexpected
magic spells – if you didn’t know better you’d probably think this was Final
Fantasy XII.

Sound: 9.0
Very deep and
much more powerful than the story, Grandia III’s soundtrack is an
unforgettable masterpiece.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.0
Stellar battles;
not-so-stellar story.

Praiseworthy: Original, free-roaming combat engine. Battles are quick and are
never tiring, despite the fact that you engage in a zillion of them. Magic and
special attacks are specific to each character, as are weapons and equipment.
Fans will love Grandia III’s area of character development.

Not
Praiseworthy: The voice acting is good but the dialogue itself is pretty weak.
The direction that’s taken isn’t as interesting as the RPGs that came at the
end of the PSone era (games like Xenogears, Chrono Cross, etc.). Not enough
shocking elements, and nothing that’ll make you reach for a tissue.

Overall: 8.5
Not the best
story. I had to start with that because I know most console gamers are like me
and do not want to spend 30+ hours with an RPG that’s not driven by its story.
Amazingly that did not prevent Grandia III from winning me over. The battles
are some of the most entertaining I’ve ever experienced. They’re so exciting
and so fast-paced. They’re packed with challenges, with unique features, and
original strategic elements that do not feel like a Final Fantasy or Dragon
Quest clone. The music and polygon environments are of the highest quality. I
can’t say they’re better than Final Fantasy (nothing is), but Game Arts has
really outdone themselves this time.

It’s for
those reasons that I wonder – where have all the great stories gone? I haven’t
experienced a good one in a long time. Comedies, yes, but I’m talking about a
really good, serious storyline that hooks you makes you never want to leave.
Grandia III hooked me in every other way possible, which is an amazing feat no
doubt. I love it and am glad to have experienced it.

But unlike
RPGs with a great story, which I must experience again and again, I can’t see
myself playing through Grandia III a second time.