Three the Hard Way

Hello and welcome! For the "Old classic rpgmaker games of the golden era" this week I'll review Three the Hard Way by Iishenron, the second english rpgmaker game I played, shortly after completing The Way by Lun. This Iishenron's masterpiece, that I already reviewed once, but it was my first review (made in 2018 and recenbtly deleted), and trust me, it was SO bad that I decided to write a new one! I also played it twice, so I guess I can say I know this game well enough for a second discussion on it.

Released in 2003, this game is set in a fantasy world and to be precise, in the fictional Kingdom of Durham. A mysterious group of immensely powerful monsters that can take human form, known as "Kaibutsu" appears and ravages the land, because that's what monsters usually do, BUT when there was no hope left for humanity, a hero appeared, Carolus! But no, he's not our protagonist: Carolus defeats the leader of the Kaibutsu, that was his sister, he saves the day, the world and everyone else, and becomes king. Hapopy end? Well at least for 65 years, then the good Carolus is old and weak, and the realm is ruled by his three vassal dukes, that unfortunately have different ideas on how to run the kingdom.

Now some spoilers, so skip the Story section if you want to play blind, even if I will just give few details on plot and the playable protagonists (and nothing about the bad guys).


Are you all here? Time to tell you a great story of cool characters!

Story & Characters
Enters our alter ego protagonist: Vance, a young bartender in the small town of Somerset, that decides to leave his boring town to seek new excitement and fortune. Well Vance is NOT your typical rpgmaker protagonist (except for the preference to use swords), since he's greedy, he's a bully, he's selfish, greedy and has a huge ego... but he'll become a real hero during the story, even if we still will have some control on some choices, to make him behave like a jerk on not.

Then we have a great cast of playable party members: North is Vance's best friend, a young and honorable martial artist that's more like a classic noble hero, but in this game is not the protagonist, even if his storyline is extremely interesting, especially if you will confront a particular character (optional sidequest that may be missed). Then there is the Duchess Fayette, the cute damsel that will become the party's white mage and has several amusing dialogues with Vance.

Kanna and Anderson are instead two mysterious characters for different reasons and skills. I admit I liked using the second more than the first, because she has abilities that are complicated to use, while he is a warrior, a badass whose dark past is unclear. And he's a beast in combat, but is Anderson really a simple human?

Clifton is a senior bounty hunter that will be one of the first temporary characters, when Vance and North are little rookies. At first he'll be really useful, but when anecountered later he'll be as useful as Yamcha in Dragonball. Oh and he's also more unscrupulous and ruthless than Vance (that's probably what the protagonist would have become if not involved in this heroic quest!), except with Holly, the party thief and also his nephew. Unfortunately she's as weak as him, woth poor stats and useless skills, still some players told me she can become useful somehow.

Tatum the Bandit Queen is a cool archer and good fighter that seems to like Anderson, a tomboy and the only female party member that swears often. Finally there is Roper, a soldies and master of the spear, an optional party member that may be missed, but I always try to get her since she'll become useful, and not only in combat: being soldier in the Dillon army she has some influence on important people, she's also kindhearted and so she hates Clifton and refuse to travel with him, but since he is useless, for me that's not a problem at all!

There are also lots of secondary characters, the vassal dukes Salem, Greene and Winston, and also... you guessed that... King Carolus and the Seven Kaibutsu Lords! Yes, unsurprisingly the Kaibutsu are still a threat, and will play a great part in the story, but I cannot spoil that of course.
Then there are also some really minor characters that aren't important for the story (but some of these are recurring during all the events of the game) like the bounty hunters Benson and Mauldin, Lucama the ghost girl, Marion the Hermit, Vance's mother, old merchant McDonald and his bodyguard, and Miaka, the protagonist of Miaka's Great Adventure (another game from Iishenron). And do not forget Alex! The great Rtp hero, that... nah it would be a spoiler!


Let's exterminate the local fauna! Well no, it's more probable that these mammuths will destroy us!

Gameplay & Combat
This is a classic Jrpg: you start with simple quests, and a linear progression, until you unlock the whole world and the boat to travel everywhere and complete optional sidequests, even if you're warned to explore FULLY the first resgion: there are in fact a couple of side missions in the first areas that may be missed permanently, and that's a pity since these have some sort of relevance later, also you get some loot and lots of amusing dialogues and situations, so it's better avoiding rushing through the main quest!
The game has also different paths in a couple of situations and choices that will impact the whole adventure, some secondary characters may die or be found later if they survived, and you also won't be able to see everything in a single playthrough. This is a pity since I wanted to see and learn about every Kaibutsu, all characters are cool and interesting, each has its own agenda and part to play, so this is the reason why I played this game twice.

Ok, so we have a party of four and we lev... NO! No levels, the game is Anti-Grinding: while there are random encounters, the chance of characters gaining stat increases increases the tougher the enemy is. Monsters stop giving out stat increases entirely if the player is too far above them. So we will never get the huge numbers typical of the Final Fantasy games (999 damage!), and also most abilities will be learned through the game (Lafayette learns her healing skills at a certain point from the hermit). I like how the party members are divided and separated, so that you are forced to use everyone at least for some time, until the team regroups before the final parts of the game, that is quite long!

The game, aside for the Rm2k classic first person four-characters party combat includes many puzzles, features and minigames, some good and others bad, like a quick time event (that can be skipped for a simple exchange), boat racing, arena fighting in real time, turn based strategy game, desert survival, and so on. Some task are optionals, some are good, others are a nuisance, but no one is as bad I was going to rage quit or even just say "I hate this game". Nah, it's a limitation of the engine that makes these minigames a bit janky but it's ok. Game's long and enjoyable.

There were only two parts in which I had trouble progressing: the part in which you have to get the audition at the palace, and puzzle in the ice caves (where the transparent ice floors make the paths a bit confusing), because I did not understand what I had to do. Otherwise no issues, uhm ok maybe combat it's a bit a question of luck (enemies choose randomly which skill they will use, so it may be easy or difficult!), but I saw it as a little extra to a great story and adventure, not the main point of the game!


Now we found a casino! Clearly gambling is one of the many activities included in this game!

Graphics & Music
Game is big and features lots of locations from snowy mountains to deserts, many different cities and dungeons. I admit that at first some maps were a bit simple, empty and boring, but things gets better and better as you progress and visit new places, so do not be discouraged, some of the later cities like the one with the underpass or the other with the canals, were pretty cool. There is a mix of Rtps, assets taken from various games and edits, so you an find a clearly huge variety of visuals and styles, a thing that may be good if you can stand the occasional clash of style. This is especially evident in the case of characters: Duke Salem is Duchess Lafayette's father and both have dark skin, but while he has a realistic portrait, she has an anime-styled one! Same goes with Duke Winston, that looks like he'll fit Baldur's Gate, and Duke Green that seems at home in a game such as Chrono Trigger! At least the charsets are all made with the same style!

But again, I do not mind if Vance, the protagonist, has a single faceset with no different expression (just like everyone else!), when the dialogues are so fun and well written! I do not care if there are no animated battlers or carefully constructed maps if the adventure and story are so camptivating that my imagination runs wild and I'm constantly making guesses about what will happen next!
Concerning music and sounds I think it was done a good job, I do not know the sources, but I liked the songs. My favourite? The main menu theme!


Yes, I did not expect this review too, but... here we are! Now it's time to read the...

Final Verdict
Three the Hard Way is a complete adventure, despite leaving some unfinished business, and lot unexplained. But I liked it this way, this is not a conventional game (no levelling, impossible 100% completion in a single playthrough) and story (different paths and choices, no real heroes), and I was surprised at each turn! Defending a town using an army? Who would have expected that? A beauty contest among the female party members? Oh yes, there is this too, and it's even optional! Three the Hard Way starts as your average jrpg, but then it becomes something else, and epic story with lots of original characters, good and bad. And no, not every bad one is on the enemy side, and not every good character is in the pary, so this is a really complex but fun adventure.

Concerning bugs and problems I experienced an odd one: during the final parts you may choose your party members for the final mission, and as I specified before, Clifton and Roper hate each other so you cannot have both. I chose Roper (of course!) BUT during the story parts I got both characters' dialogues as if Clifton was present too! Well, at least this spared me to do another playthrough of that part using that weakling just to witness what he had to say!

Recommended! 4.5/5

And now a spoiler for one of the next reviews: since Miaka the ninja girl has a cameo in this game, I guess it's time to play Miaka's Adventure next!


Ok, this was all! Now let's explore an original huge fantasy world! Or not, just stick to the main quest, it's your choice!