great game in a great series.
Overall, this is a fun game. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though not quite as much as the previous Grandia games.
I will break this review down into many subcategories to make for a more fluid review.
Character development: average. Not as good as I would have liked. The characters are horribly linear and you always know what their going to do or say before they do it. Alfina, the heroine, is a lot like Elena from G2 (Grandia 2), only not quite as naive. Then theres Yuki's mother. Do you remember Justin's mother from G1? She's pretty much the same way, which is a good thing. She's the best character playable character in the game. Not to mention this is the only game I've played that you fight alongside your mother. Most the characters have a previous Grandia equivalent character. Ulf=Rapp. Yuki=Justin. Hect=Liete. etc. Well, I guess that's just my opinion, anyway.
The characters do grow on you after a while, though, and you do begin to care for them. I do love Miranda and Alonso. Best characters in the game.
Exploration quality: poor. You can't walk off the linear paths set in front of you. Can't walk off the roads or anything. Instead of having the compass like the other games you have a map. (with how linear the roads are you really don't need the map.)
Story: Overly cliched, but not painfully so. We have been there, done that a million times. Bad dude trying to destroy the world, and resurrecting an ancient power to do so. At least in G3, he isn't doing it for power, (though, without spoiling anything, one of his henchmen is. But he barely ever comes into the picture. Truth be told, I think they only say his name once...) he is merely doing it to create a world as he sees to be perfect, with no thoughts for his personal gain. This is a bit refreshing. Awesome FMVs to tell the story, too.
Gameplay: Ah, beautiful. If you've played any of the previous Grandia games, you know what to expect. In battle, you're characters and the enemies move around a circle (rather than along a bar like the previous games)called an IP gauge. When they reach a certain point on the gauge, you input a command (attack, defend, magic, etc.) which they will then prepare to execute. Depending on where the enemy is on the circle, the battles tend to call for a lot of strategy.
There is the addition of ariel combos to G3, which are VERY cool. If one of your party members manages to hit an enemy with a critical hit while he is "off balance", then the enemy is thrown into the air. Another party member has to run up, and hit him while he is in the air. If the second party member succeeds, then you have an airial combo, which does a lot of damage. If you kill an enemy with an airial combo, then it is more likely to drop rare items or more money. At the end of the battle, if you get a flawless victory, you get a little extra sp back.
Mana eggs also return this game for learnig magic and increasing their power. Some spells have changed names from the previous games, such as "crackling" is now "Crackle Fang". Oh, and one thing that made me cry is that "Dragon Zap" isn't in this game.
Voice acting: The voice acting actually wasn't as bad as the previous Grandia games. It was way overdramatized in many scenes though. Battle cries are just as silly as the other games, too.
Game length: My game clocked in at about 40 hours. I did lot's of extra stuff, too.
Overall, not the best addition to the Grandia series, but by all means a good one.Read full review
