Grandia III

I'll say it right now. Grandia III is my first game in the Grandia series, so I won't be comparing it to any other game in the series. However, the Grandia franchise is mostly known for its battle system, which is arguably one of the best there is out there in todays market. But a great battle system alone doesn't make a great RPG, and I think that Square Enix may have forgotten that.

The story follows the life of a young aspiring pilot named Yuki. Yuki who only lives with his mother, Miranda, has dreamed of flying ever since seeing his hero Schmidt do it on the big screen. During a test flight, Yuki's plane crashes, and is then soon met with Alfina, a young mysterious girl at the time. With Yuki's involvement with Alfina's life, Yuki will have more on his hands than flying. Though that set up may sound a bit original, it's not. As you venture deeper into the game, you'll find out how overly cliche the story line and characters are, especically the "I want everything to...

Graphics: The look of Grandia III is that of a very polished game. The landscapes are absolutely gorgeous and the character designs are very detailed and unique. The enemies you fight, boss and standard foe alike, are equally well designed and unique, although normal enemies are recycled a little bit. Battles look amazing too, with massive explosions and many other things going on at once the PS2 never really became noticeably bogged down.

Sound: Pretty standard as far as an RPG is concerned. Decent, non-intrusive background music and sound effects, and the voice-acting is quality as well.

Control: Also standard for an RPG, a lot of menu screens and the controls are simple, responsive and fluid. I have no complaints about the controls and never came across any hindrances or headaches in this regard.

Story: One word that best describes the storyline for Grandia III, and you probably already guessed it, is standard....

THE GOOD:
+Awesome Battle System
+Likable Characters
+High enough difficulty to make you throw your controller on the floor, NOT to the wall!
+Exceptional voice acting

THE BAD:
-Average story, with clichés abound
-Several plot holes concerning game direction
-Sudden changes in the party, usually giving the player a weaker, overall worse character than the one dumped

SUMMARY:
There may come a time when boring, repetitive RPG battle systems begin to plague one's collection. One perfect solution: Grandia III for the Playstation 2. This gem takes the whole battling aspect of an RPG and tweaks it to the point of perfection. There hasn't yet, at least in my opinion, been a better fighting system in any RPG to date. Yeah, it's THAT good. There's also the difficulty of the actual fights to consider: if you aren't careful and strategic when combating a boss or even normal enemies, you WILL die. A...

THE GOOD:
Good graphics, great gameplay, and addicting leveling.

THE BAD:
Weak storyline, weak character development, and average music.

SUMMARY:
So, here we have Grandia 3. Years and years of waiting after Grandia 2's release, and pretty much everyone who has played that gem of a game has pretty high expectations. Pity, because on most accounts, Grandia 3 doesn't improve on what Grandia 2 already established. Then again, it doesn't exactly backpedal, either. No, Grandia 3 is easily described as a "side-step" for the Grandia series.

So yea, everyone is up in a tizzy about the battle system. Truth be told, yes, it really is pretty incredible. Incredible, in the sense that it keeps you a wee bit more alert than say, Final Fantasy X managed to do. This, of course, is a slightly half-handed compliment. It might be because I just came off of playing the excellent Devil May Cry 3, but I've come to expect a...