A look back at: Grandia III

 

Grandia III is a disappointment. Now, when I started this, I had already read several reviews of this game, in particular RPGenius's blog which tore through the game and all its bad qualities, as well as several reviews on GameFAQs, so my expectation weren't really that high. That being said, I was actually amazed at how this game managed to be so bad.

So the sounds, music, graphics, and the battle system. They're all alright. I appreciate some well thought-out stuff going on here. I can appreciate the slight changes in the magic usage and the introduction to skills, as well as how to get new skills, fuse mana eggs, etc. I can also appreciate the slight randomness in getting new skills or even upgrading current ones, all of which are new. That's all honestly okay. Okay at the very best that is.

Grandia III's gameplay nosedive does happen around Disc 2, or perhaps just slightly before that. The biggest problem is the INI stat. This is what governs when your characters and the enemies can start their actions in combat. Two problems. One, your characters actually DON'T gain an increase in this stat upon leveling up, meaning you have to rely on equipment, which of course is a problem if you want to equip something better. Second, the enemies on Disc 2 get much faster. So much faster that they get several turns over your characters getting one, and sometimes cancelling out your own potential attacks. At least I bothered with mana egg fusion and skills quite a bit beforehand, but it's still tough. There's a few breathers, which feel unorthodox, like the Nautica Plains area that you drop off to with bunnies and sheep and it's quite ridiculous and somewhat insulting to be dropped in an easy area right after the annoyingly aggressive Verse Realm enemies from before. Those Excise guys in particular are the worst. The Psi variant is basically what I'm talking about in regards to a fast enemy, then he has an Omega counterpart in the last dungeon that can even cancel special attacks and spells before they occur. And let's not start with the bosses, because a boss in a SquareEnix game tends to be overblown with regards to HP and defense that it feels like a marathon to survive.

And then we have the characters and plot of Grandia III. It's easy to tell that there are loads of similarities between these characters and the previous Grandia games. Heck, there's a lot of similarities between this game and Skies of Arcadia too! Let's see here.

Emelious is basically Melfice 2.0, he's a brother of a protagonist, he's corrupted with evil, and he redeems himself but dies. But he's not as exciting as Melfice, or Skies of Arcadia's Ramirez by any stretch. Heck, even Sephiroth does his schtick better.

The other villains all suck too. There's Kornell, a typical muscle-bound oaf (who's actually called out on this) who's more or less supposedly a comic relief villain. There's Violetta, the saucy chick who's in love with the bad guy but doesn't get him, she reminds me quite a bit of Wild Arms' Lady Harken both in style and character. There's the dude in the communist beret who doesn't even have a name or combat scene, and then the General Grievous-looking guy La Ilim who is there to be fodder. They're not really allusions, but they still all suck.

Miranda is basically a budget Sue, except she's Yuki's mother despite not looking like a mother at her age. Like Sue, she's only there for the first half before a tearful goodbye but could have had a lot more potential.

Alonso is a budget Gadwin more or less, except significantly less macho and not as strong. He basically is another adventurer sort of person who also leaves after the first half.

Hect is a cross between the emotionless Tio and the mysterious Liete but without any of the fun parts of either.

Ulf is Rapp 2.0, a regular fighter, but has weird fireball skills just like Rapp. Hell, his voice is almost similar to Rapp's!

Yuki is a worser Justin (or a worser Vyse for that matter). He's definitely an adventurer, but is more in line with flying rather than just trodding. Then he gets caught in the intertwined plot of the mysterious magical girl Alfina (a worser Feena, Elena, or Fina, take your pick) and madly falls in love with her, saves her at every possible point, etc. Then he marries Alfina (just like Justin did with Feena) and has a kid. Real original...

Dahna is the only playable character who has some sort of originality, but that seems to be sidelined more or less for a past love that most players would only feel sad for once. She's got a few spicy qualities that remind me of Millenia, but she's definitely not like her attitude-wise.

I don't think Raven is a ripoff of anything. But he's probably the one character who should've been playable. I liked him somewhat, even if he's one of those brooding swordsmen archetypes that gets overdone.

The Guardians really do give off some Skies of Arcadia vibes, which don't really entail much overall.

Finally the actual plot seems like a crappy rehash of the original Grandia's plot. You have the sense of adventure in Yuki wanting to fly, much like Justin wanting to adventure, and then he basically succeeds at flying a great plane. Woohoo. But then you're thrust into the plot involving Alfina's brother Emelious and his dealings with Xorn. Seem familiar? Well, in Disc 2 of Grandia 1 the evil known as Gaia corrupts the world by way of petrifying nameless NPCs and other living things. Grandia III does the same thing with Xorn, who essentially does the same thing except turning them into glass instead. There's that moment where both games make it feel like it's hopeless (Justin losing hope after Gaia's attack, same with Yuki's here) but gets encouragement (Justin gets it from his companions, Yuki gets it by finding his mentor's plane). And I already mentioned that at the end, Yuki and Alfina marry and have a child together.

I heard this game was apparently rushed in development as well. That's never a good thing for any developer to do. There's no real sidequests, but just a main plot with a bad difficulty spike, and a plot that basically makes you, the player, try to figure it out for yourself. But it's just not worth trying.

A look back at: Grandia II

Grandia II: I ended up giving a less-than-stellar review when I reviewed this game because I ended up focusing on the gameplay like I usually do. Indeed, Grandia II takes after its predecessor with not a whole lot of differences in gameplay. Granted, Grandia at least has an interesting take on an active time battle system, which is why I hold it above other RPG battle systems. This one actually does get rid of the annoyance of leveling up weapons and magic, and provides mana eggs that actually make you use different kinds of magic, with a magic points system that when you level it up, gives you stronger spells to "purchase" so to speak. Now, given that I tend to do at least some grinding, this aspect makes Grandia II easy. Now I could've played a certain hack to make it harder, but eh, this time, my looking back at this game will focus on its story and characters.

Now, this story I didn't hold in high regard either, mostly because I had seen this in Breath of Fire 2 and Lunar 2, both of which I had played prior to Grandia II. But wait a minute, the corrupt church plot still is strong. It really does show the horrificness when you realize what Elena ends up realizing about her own faith, not to mention the conflicting personality inside her that is the more devilish Millenia. There was also the deal with Melfice, who at first seems to be a shoehorned henchman, only to reveal more about his past along with Ryudo's, and it's certainly heart-wrenching once you finally confront Melfice. That, along with the number of character sacrifices that end up occurring throughout.

See, Ryudo is the perfect kind of hero, a complete jerk who only does his work as a Geohound and naturally wants no part in being a hero. You can say he's kind of an anti-hero given his attitude, but he's not the kind of person to commit a crime. The split personalities of Elena and Millenia are very good contrasts. Skye is a nice talking animal sidekick that manages to not be annoying, but just as crass as Ryudo is. Mareg is known to have a nice heart, and his trait of smell is what leads him to Melfice. Roan seems like a weak character, until he takes up the wing of being the new king of his nation. Tio is the doll who tries to understand things. Selene is the zealous priestess archetype who the player will naturally hate. Zera at least appears benevolent until his obvious reveal. The items of Valmar, which of course are the centerpieces when you consider characters like Millenia, Aria, and Melfice, are very well implemented for what they do, and are yet another strength that Grandia II has. Yes indeed, while the gameplay of Grandia II wasn't all that different from its predecessor, and actually a lot easier, it's the good story and exceptional characters that make this a really strong game.

Just don't play the PS2 version like I ended up doing. The PS2 version just so happens to be bugged for its unwinnable boss fights.

A look back at: Grandia

I was actually recommended this game, and it certainly is one of Game Arts' finest ones. Grandia was one heck of a grind though.

Yes, there's quite a lot in terms of grinding in this classic PSX RPG, but not in the usual way. Character levels are meaningless when I played, instead, I focus exclusively on weapon and magic levels, each of which had to be used multiple times to really get the most out of them. Quite hard for a balancing act, especially magic. On the plus side, the monsters are visible on the field, so gaining an initiative can be a bit easier to do, although getting ambushed is honestly just as easy. Still though, the battle system is very fun and very unique, knowing which enemies are attacking what, and how fast your characters can act. Not to mention despite its linearity in how characters leave the party, they at least give you experience items so the newer characters end up not falling too far behind.

It's quite a comical plot at first, but really gets its own at Disc 2. Before that, it's a comical sort of adventure overall, with Justin being a goofball in a lot of ways, but still being a romanticist adventurer seeking the End of the World amongst other things, with Sue and Feena tagging along. People are often revered, like Feena and Gadwin, yet in party they are pretty much okay overall. Justin at least is the determinator even when the Garlyle forces impede his progress. With Feena along for the ride, we reach Disc 2.

This is where I enjoy Grandia a lot more, as the plot goes from funny and comical to actually quite serious. We see the atrocities that Gaia has committed to villages were Rapp and Milda were from, as well as Feena's newer abilities and her connection to Leen. The idea of actually finding Liete and having her join is also excellent. Justin also hates the idea of sacrifices, similar to the ideas in Wild Arms 2, he tells Mullen that the Gaia will just revive later. Destroying it at the heart of it all seems like a sacrificial thing to do, but at least Justin manages to survive along with all the friends he has along the way for an absolutely wonderful ending. So yes, a change in plot like that really made this game something I really enjoyed, as is the gameplay, and despite the fact I did all that grinding, Grandia still holds a high regard as a good RPG.