Shouta
Member
I'm going to be a jerk and start my own thread. Hurray for power abuse!
Well, I had to wait an extra week or so to get the game because the store I get imports from didn't have it until Monday. I would've had these up sooner if I had the game earlier but oh well.
As a lot of folks have said, the game is impressive. Everything about it is absolutely fabulous and is easily my game of the year thus far (although I'm biased towards RPGs ;p).
The graphics are fabulous for the game although a bit deceptive. While a lot of the scenes are like the ones we've seen in screenshots and some ingame footage, it's actually a tad murky when you look at it. Nothing ever comes out incredibly crisp and there's an annoying level of pixellation around the edges at times on the map screen. Areas are very reminiscent of Star Ocean 3's areas inbetween cities but not as clean looking and a bit more complex in overall asthetic design.
For many of the shots done from a long distance view in cutscenes, the game uses the battle models where as for in close shots, they use a high quality model. It's a little jarring at times when they transition between the two during cutscenes but that's really only a minor quibble. The high quality models are quite expressive and display a really wide range of emotions. It's a very natural and almost real type of of expression though. A lot of games have this artifical look or in some cases a cartoony/anime look to their character expressions but Grandia III is very natural. However, it does need to be said that at times, the models aren't as expressive as the voice-acting is. This is especially true of Miranda who has this very unique inflection and tone to her lines that the models don't really do very well in expressing. Most of the other characters are very straight-forward and Miranda is the only one that really seems to have this problem.
One observation that I have to bring up about the models and general asthetic design is that the game reminds me a lot of Arc The Lad. Arc The Lad has this whole fusion of contemporary and fantasy designs that gives it such a unique feel to fans. It's simple and not overly complex which really makes it feel like it could be something real if it weren't for the fact people use swords, spears, and magic alongside guns while they fight monster baddies outside of town. Grandia III has this same feel and it's quite refreshing. A lot of RPGs usually shy on the fantasy side of this line with the world being fantasy with a contemporary edge. A lot of the stuff you see in Grandia 3 is the opposite, It's really contemporary with a fantasy edge. I should also note that Alonso looks a lot like the half-demons/demons from Arc The Lad: Twlight of the Spirits. Of course, I could just be ranting about stuff so ignore me if you think so.
The graphics in battle for the game are a step up from Grandia Xtreme. The effects are much nicer and the character models are noticable better looking although there's quite a bit of slowdown when things get hectic on screen (like multiple spells firing at the same time). So it's a bit of a tradeoff.
The audio for the game is pretty solid. I can't say that I'm a big fan of Iwadare but he does the job with the soundtrack. It's just that none of it really stands out to the ear and just works well with the scenes in the game. It may be that I'm not paying close attention so we'll see how it goes.
The voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the lines are delivered great and some of them are just really odd or lame at times. Alfina's VA has this wonderful voice but a lot of her lines are delivered with this hammy sound to them so it matches the scene she's in which just doesn't work very well. The same can be said of Yuuki when he tries to deliver an inspirational speech. He just sounds a little goofy with the look of his character. On the flipside, these VAs have some great scenes as well. Yuuki's VA lets out this unbridled scream of joy during this one scene in Mendi that had me laughing so hard I was crying. Alfina has a lot of scenes like this where she totally nails it. The most consistent VA has been Miranda, by a mile. Danna's voice just doesn't fit her character though and I think that's the one voice I don't like thus far.
On to the more important things, the gameplay system has seen some new additions and changes.
Mana eggs and Skill books remain in the game but offer a different function. In the previous two games, books were required to equip skills to. This time around, you can equip skills based on how many skill levels you have (each level is one slot and skills range from 1-4 slots thus far). The books act as a power-up module for the skills. Say the skill you have is body-based (I don't know the actual terms, I just guess. It's the flexed arm icon). If you equip a book that gives you a two or three level boost to body skills, the effectiveness of that skill increases. It's the same way with Mana-eggs. You equip spells based on your magic level (one slot per level) and equipping various mana eggs increases the power of your spells in that area. It's a very simple system but it allows you to customize the characters as you see fit. You can also combine mana eggs for more powerful versions as well as gut mana eggs and books for new skills as you get farther into the game.
In battle, there's one new system they added and a few noticable tweaks. Aerial Combos are new to the game and occur when you're able to knock an enemy into the air with either a critical hit or a spell. If properly timed, another character that's attacking the enemy will automatically assist in damaging the enemy by jumping into the air and executing attack. This allows you to pound on extra damage that you normally wouldn't get if you were attacking on the ground. It's a nice addition but it's applications seem to be limited so far, especially with so few launchers in the game and I don't think you can Aerial Combo special moves (at least as far as I know) either.
The more significant changes IMO are the addition of the semi-realtime spells and a dash-in before attacking. Previous Grandia games had spells but time stopped while the spell was being casted making any enemy within that area of effect take damage. However, Grandia III executes these spells (at least the early ones) in a real time manner so some of the characters will continue to move while this is happening and attacking some enemies. You can also have spells overlap as well as I've seen Zap-All and Burnstrike going on at the same time. It gets pretty hectic. The real problem though is that you really can't predict when this kicks in. I've seen some iterations of the spell freeze everyone on screen for the duration of the spell but at other times, I see the spell going simutaneously with other effects going on. I haven't really figured out if it's intended or not.
The dash-in before attacking actually is a welcome change that both pros and cons to the battle system. It allows you to get a little more edge on your MOV distance so that some enemies that are just a little outside your MOV range are now in it allowing you to attack them. However, there's a slight delay while you dash-in and it's a single vector. So you really can't hit running enemies very well because you usually end up whiffing unless the enemy purposefully veers into your swing while running away. It seems like a small change but it's significant to what command you use in each situation and how you approach canceling and delaying enemies.
In general, the game is actually tougher than the previous Grandia games. While it's not overly difficult, it's scaled enough that you can't really be easily strolling through the game. I've found myself having to be more aggressive with my skills and techniques to win regular battles where I could just slam the combo command in previous games to get through regular battles. Boss battles are also quite challenging because of this. I was able to get at least one no-damage win against a boss in all the previous Grandia games within the first 20 hours but I have yet to do so in Grandia III.
I won't comment much on the story and characters yet since I really don't know where it's going right now but I will say that Miranda rocks and I love her character design.
Anyway, I'm quite impressed with this effort from Game Arts. I'm just hoping the 2nd half doesn't fall apart.
Well, I had to wait an extra week or so to get the game because the store I get imports from didn't have it until Monday. I would've had these up sooner if I had the game earlier but oh well.
As a lot of folks have said, the game is impressive. Everything about it is absolutely fabulous and is easily my game of the year thus far (although I'm biased towards RPGs ;p).
The graphics are fabulous for the game although a bit deceptive. While a lot of the scenes are like the ones we've seen in screenshots and some ingame footage, it's actually a tad murky when you look at it. Nothing ever comes out incredibly crisp and there's an annoying level of pixellation around the edges at times on the map screen. Areas are very reminiscent of Star Ocean 3's areas inbetween cities but not as clean looking and a bit more complex in overall asthetic design.
For many of the shots done from a long distance view in cutscenes, the game uses the battle models where as for in close shots, they use a high quality model. It's a little jarring at times when they transition between the two during cutscenes but that's really only a minor quibble. The high quality models are quite expressive and display a really wide range of emotions. It's a very natural and almost real type of of expression though. A lot of games have this artifical look or in some cases a cartoony/anime look to their character expressions but Grandia III is very natural. However, it does need to be said that at times, the models aren't as expressive as the voice-acting is. This is especially true of Miranda who has this very unique inflection and tone to her lines that the models don't really do very well in expressing. Most of the other characters are very straight-forward and Miranda is the only one that really seems to have this problem.
One observation that I have to bring up about the models and general asthetic design is that the game reminds me a lot of Arc The Lad. Arc The Lad has this whole fusion of contemporary and fantasy designs that gives it such a unique feel to fans. It's simple and not overly complex which really makes it feel like it could be something real if it weren't for the fact people use swords, spears, and magic alongside guns while they fight monster baddies outside of town. Grandia III has this same feel and it's quite refreshing. A lot of RPGs usually shy on the fantasy side of this line with the world being fantasy with a contemporary edge. A lot of the stuff you see in Grandia 3 is the opposite, It's really contemporary with a fantasy edge. I should also note that Alonso looks a lot like the half-demons/demons from Arc The Lad: Twlight of the Spirits. Of course, I could just be ranting about stuff so ignore me if you think so.
The graphics in battle for the game are a step up from Grandia Xtreme. The effects are much nicer and the character models are noticable better looking although there's quite a bit of slowdown when things get hectic on screen (like multiple spells firing at the same time). So it's a bit of a tradeoff.
The audio for the game is pretty solid. I can't say that I'm a big fan of Iwadare but he does the job with the soundtrack. It's just that none of it really stands out to the ear and just works well with the scenes in the game. It may be that I'm not paying close attention so we'll see how it goes.
The voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the lines are delivered great and some of them are just really odd or lame at times. Alfina's VA has this wonderful voice but a lot of her lines are delivered with this hammy sound to them so it matches the scene she's in which just doesn't work very well. The same can be said of Yuuki when he tries to deliver an inspirational speech. He just sounds a little goofy with the look of his character. On the flipside, these VAs have some great scenes as well. Yuuki's VA lets out this unbridled scream of joy during this one scene in Mendi that had me laughing so hard I was crying. Alfina has a lot of scenes like this where she totally nails it. The most consistent VA has been Miranda, by a mile. Danna's voice just doesn't fit her character though and I think that's the one voice I don't like thus far.
On to the more important things, the gameplay system has seen some new additions and changes.
Mana eggs and Skill books remain in the game but offer a different function. In the previous two games, books were required to equip skills to. This time around, you can equip skills based on how many skill levels you have (each level is one slot and skills range from 1-4 slots thus far). The books act as a power-up module for the skills. Say the skill you have is body-based (I don't know the actual terms, I just guess. It's the flexed arm icon). If you equip a book that gives you a two or three level boost to body skills, the effectiveness of that skill increases. It's the same way with Mana-eggs. You equip spells based on your magic level (one slot per level) and equipping various mana eggs increases the power of your spells in that area. It's a very simple system but it allows you to customize the characters as you see fit. You can also combine mana eggs for more powerful versions as well as gut mana eggs and books for new skills as you get farther into the game.
In battle, there's one new system they added and a few noticable tweaks. Aerial Combos are new to the game and occur when you're able to knock an enemy into the air with either a critical hit or a spell. If properly timed, another character that's attacking the enemy will automatically assist in damaging the enemy by jumping into the air and executing attack. This allows you to pound on extra damage that you normally wouldn't get if you were attacking on the ground. It's a nice addition but it's applications seem to be limited so far, especially with so few launchers in the game and I don't think you can Aerial Combo special moves (at least as far as I know) either.
The more significant changes IMO are the addition of the semi-realtime spells and a dash-in before attacking. Previous Grandia games had spells but time stopped while the spell was being casted making any enemy within that area of effect take damage. However, Grandia III executes these spells (at least the early ones) in a real time manner so some of the characters will continue to move while this is happening and attacking some enemies. You can also have spells overlap as well as I've seen Zap-All and Burnstrike going on at the same time. It gets pretty hectic. The real problem though is that you really can't predict when this kicks in. I've seen some iterations of the spell freeze everyone on screen for the duration of the spell but at other times, I see the spell going simutaneously with other effects going on. I haven't really figured out if it's intended or not.
The dash-in before attacking actually is a welcome change that both pros and cons to the battle system. It allows you to get a little more edge on your MOV distance so that some enemies that are just a little outside your MOV range are now in it allowing you to attack them. However, there's a slight delay while you dash-in and it's a single vector. So you really can't hit running enemies very well because you usually end up whiffing unless the enemy purposefully veers into your swing while running away. It seems like a small change but it's significant to what command you use in each situation and how you approach canceling and delaying enemies.
In general, the game is actually tougher than the previous Grandia games. While it's not overly difficult, it's scaled enough that you can't really be easily strolling through the game. I've found myself having to be more aggressive with my skills and techniques to win regular battles where I could just slam the combo command in previous games to get through regular battles. Boss battles are also quite challenging because of this. I was able to get at least one no-damage win against a boss in all the previous Grandia games within the first 20 hours but I have yet to do so in Grandia III.
I won't comment much on the story and characters yet since I really don't know where it's going right now but I will say that Miranda rocks and I love her character design.
Anyway, I'm quite impressed with this effort from Game Arts. I'm just hoping the 2nd half doesn't fall apart.
