GRANDIA 3 -- WHAT'S WITH THE HATE?

okay so i've seen a lot of hate for Grandia 3 over the past few years, but it's always interested me because it's an rpg series i know nothing about and, like, it just looks interesting. i guess. whatever, that's not the important thing here.

the important thing here is that i finally started playing it last week and
this
game
is
hella
rad




so this game came out a few years after final fantasy x, a year after dragon quest viii, and two years after tales of symphonia. those are big names, and this game sort of... like... man.

if you take the ingenuity of dragon quest viii's dungeons, but subtract the punishing length/lack of saving, then mix a tales game's battle system with ffx's ctb battles, but make it SUPER-UBER-FAST, and lower the budget like 25%, you have grandia 3. it's a fast-paced romp with an emphasis on ADVENTURE and EXPLORATION and CUSTOMIZATION and FUCKING AWESOME BATTLES.





so... the story. it gets a lot of flak, but you know what? it makes sense, the characters have motivations, there's a lengthy and non-tsundere romance sub-plot, the villain is actually kind of interesting after first being just MUHAHAHAHA (which parallels nicely with Alfina's development over the course of the game), the guardians are badass-looking, and... just... you know what? it's not bad. i'm not about to praise it as high literature, but it keeps the ball rolling and takes you to exciting places to traverse.









the dungeons have a ton of side-paths, simple puzzles, obstacles, mega-enemies, and loot to uncover. the music is reused a lot but fits the general theme of an area, and properly special places get their due. there's something comforting about a ruin feeling like a ruin through music, y'know? they tend to look totally different anyway. (the two shots below are from the same dungeon, i'm not being ironic here.)





and when i say "a ton of loot," i mean it. there are so many skill books, mana eggs, weapons, etc. to deck out your party with. everybody has options, either personal (weapon, armor, limit breaks) or universal (anybody can equip any magic or passive abilities). it even has mana egg fusion, so you can merge eggs together to get the spells you want.







and, just... the battles. fuck. fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

this game is challenging, in all the right ways. you have a shitton of options available to you to design your party as a cohesive unit. who's going to silence the mages? who's going to focus on cancelling enemy attacks? who's going to cast gravity to move them all to the center of the field so that Yuki can use whirlwind on them? this is a game where you will be asking yourself these questions, and as you fight well, you'll feel rewarded. big enemies prowling dungeons usually drop lots of money and accessories... just saying.







and then there's the bosses... the BOSSES. i don't even want to talk about them, they're some of the most fun i've had in an rpg since discovered radiant historia.





so... yeah. i know that this is, like, an overly vague bundle of rambling praise. i'm too caught up in the game, i guess. here's a list of reasons why you should try out this highly underrated PS2 game:

-your mom is a playable character
-tons of character individuality and customization (yes, both)
-consistently challenging battles
-engaging dungeons with great loot variety
-feels like a proper adventure, not a drama-fest

here's why you should play for the battles alone:

-again, each of the primary PCs are unique, but also very customizable
-you can cancel enemy attacks -- if it says they're about to cast that paralysis wave, you can stop it
-spells and attacks come in different forms, such as lines, fans, circles, or just bombing the entire playing field
-spells each have their niche and definite use, including stuff like Craze (area berserk) and Fiora (area silence) -- crowd control is improtant
-limit breaks ("special moves") are easy to build up points for, and still feel balanced and rewarding. there's much more than just damage -- there are shields, counter-attacks, mana steals, weapon hit boosters...
-mother breed is one of the best bosses i've ever fought, period

very few games have mastered the art of making a player feel more and more powerful, while also not cheesing through the game with your new awesome +68 sword. grandia 3 does that, all with fast animations, slick menus, and a terrific battle system. 4.5/5 stars from me, no doubt.

Isrieri
...So what do the people who hate it say?

That the story is worthless and the characters are obnoxious, mostly.

Isrieri

Craze
-feels like a proper adventure, not a drama-fest

And what does that mean exactly? Because that's the biggest point I've seen in the game's favor so far.

There are plenty of cutscenes, but they don't last forever and don't get bogged down in trivial bullshit. Characters react to what's going on in the world around them, instead of simply saying each other's names a lot dramatically. There are cute moments too, and funny ones, but they're not cheesecake; they actually help develop the cast.

There's one optional bit where Alfina and Ulf get into a huff because of eating habits... and it ends a minute or two later, with them calming down and accepting the other's views on eating cute animals. I can respect that kind of writing.

Jude: this game hasn't been buggy at all from what i've played, which is most of it at this point! so that's good/expected from a professional release.

soli: ...why? I hear that a lot, but I think Alfina's just fine. the I MUST WARM HER HANDS is a bit weird, but i generally find her very likeable, and think her development from "oh gosh i have to get to arcriff" to "well that was horrifying, i hope we can find drak" to "kasndfklasnfklnasdfklnasldn emelious" to "I JUST WANT TO UNDERSTAND A GOD DAMN THING" to "oh wow hey yuki and i can do this together" is great. I also like Emelious as an extension of her; he helps define and develop her, and she helps the player understand Emelious and his intentions. I have a save file dedicated just to the short sequence when you're in her mind because of how haunting the segment is.

well...

1) it pauses whenever a party member can issue a command (effectively "wait" style of atb)

2) i'm playing it on an emulator, so i can just pause psxe2

3) i just started some new meds last week so i'm pretty much on lockdown anyway so i have a lot of time to play =P

The Melc Crystal is the boss that took me forty minutes this morning, hahaha.

You just have to FUCKING HAMMER one of the arms. I also suggest an anti-fire ring on your lowest-HP character, in my case Dahna. I had Dahna Meteor Strike whenever I could (with a Calamity Egg, so Fire+3/Earth+2, and Mana Spring up), Ulf on canceling duty, Alfina on constant Alhealer (Diamond Dust with Water+3 when possible), and Yuki doing additional canceling, or just combo whamming (Tech+3 Berserker on top of Flash is twelve hits on his combos). Ulf and Dahna had Resurrect, and Ulf had Item Draw in case of emergency healing necessary. I also recommend keeping the boss in its fire form, because wind form has paralysis (and you can only have anti-fire OR anti-wind accessories on your weakling).

Once you get one arm down, the boss becomes much more manageable, and you can let up on some healing/cancelling duty in favor of more limit breaks and offensive spells. If you ever get the game back/still have your save file, I suggest charging up your Orb and either then opening up the battle with Seiba or, if you don't like to use a lot of healers (either Alhealer with Water+2/3 or Item Draw with Cure Powder that you can buy in Bacculan), waiting until somebody dies and then using Yoat to provide instant revival and ongoing healing. Yoat is probably the best Orb in general =P

Also remember that Alfina has Holy Circle (which negates physical damage) and Yuki has ... whatchamacallit, a shield that absorbs a few thousand damage before abating. They cost a shitton of SP, but are very much worth it.

Edit:
My set-up, if you want it. Yuki's sword and Alfina's skill book are from past the Melc Crystal, but the rest is what I had during the battle.

http://imgur.com/a/4J1hA