Longplay of Grandia III (1/3)

[@nikodem123asdf]

Here we have the last entry in the beloved Grandia series and we have allot to unpack here so let's start with the positives. This game has the best version of the grandia battle system and the balancing has never been tighter. Unlike the older grandia games this one never becomes easy it maintains a constant challenging difficulty which is what everyone wanted from the series since it's inception as the games had a bad tendency to be easy to the point there was little point to master the mechanics. Xtreme did a pretty good job at increasing the difficulty but in the end it was still hard to die. Grandia 3 on the other hand will kick your ass if you're not thinking about every move you make and that's awesome. The actual contents of the battle system are nigh identical to Grandia Xtreme with the only new addition being areal combos and animations looking much slikker than they ever did before(they also have allot more slowdown than before but it's a turn based game so it's whatever. The systems surrounding the battle system have been streamlined to eliminate most of the grinding and allow you to take advantage of magic and skills much more easily. Grandia Xtreme was much better in terms of freedom of customization in my opinion but what they did makes allot of sense and is nowhere near as bad as, say, the nerf between Wild Arms 3 skills and Alter Code F skills, especially since all skills in G3 is still just as potent. The game has a pleasing artistic direction with really nice colors even if the graphics on the actual maps (including the characters outside of scenes) are not top of the line for the PS2. Most story scenes are actually prerendered FMV's made using in engine models which is also probably the only reason why this game spans 2 DVD's. Music is a bit of a step down compared to Xtreme as lots of locales reuse the same songs, the compositions are quite good but the fact you hear the same dungeon and forest theme on almost all stages is hard to ignore. Now that we're done with nice stuff lets get to "why this was the last game in the series". If you want the short version: 6:07:01 is where any chance this game's story would be good/interesting/fun/worth experiencing has DIED and the game still kept going for another 20 hours (which is not that long but it felt like an eternity). The long version is just my theory, I think what happened is that Game Arts wanted to make another sequel to Grandia and the writers were very eager at the start to bring you a heartwarming story about fun characters happening in the background of some fantastical conflict like they usually did. But either some key figure got fired, they lost all of their steam or some decision from higherup or the devs came which led to the story becoming a generic shlock very sharply after a certain event. It really all revolves around Miranda (and Alonso to an extent). Generally I don't go into story in these essays but this only concerns the first 6 hours. So here we go, Miranda was a fantastic character, she's the mother of the main character AND a party member. Their relationship is very unorthodox as she's a very young mom Yuki treats her like an in-between of an older sister and a mother. She's sassy, smart resolute and would do anything for her son. She's also at the core of every funny moment in the first 6 hours of the game (which is coincidentally where all the funny moments in the game are). So about 6 hours she gets axed from the story and we never see or hear about her EVER AGAIN. Now Grandia series has done similar things before with Sue but there were still good characters joining you and the story was still fun afterwards, unlike in G3 where all the personality the game has built up till that point just leaves together with the best character. All the other characters that join you are super generic and one of them straight up has no legit reason to be on your quest other than "just because". And that's not even getting into all the loose ends, useless villains, inconsistencies in world building, plot conveniences... hell let's top it all off with an overarching theme of "the power of love" that amounts to talking about how important love is and how love concours all They even had the audacity to release this on Valentine's day *BLERG* I'm sorry I barfed a little in my mouth. What pains me so much is that is the story kept Miranda around, she would serve as such a fantastic catalyst for a story centering around the power of love, not between an horny blue haired anime boi and blondie elf gurl but beween mother and son who go on a quest to kill the dark god!! Yet weirdly enough the gameplay is so polished I'd just say if you're gonna play the game enable cutscene skip and just have fun and forget there's any story in the game. In fact the only complaint I have about the gameplay is that there's not enough of it! This is a game that should have had tons of post game content and super bosses but there's none. I've literally covered everything there's to do in the game aside from the dice poker cause the rewards are quite pointless due to lack of optional content.

[@YouTubeShorts-pb6ww]

Do you have any other ps2 rpg recommendations

[@nikodem123asdf]

@@KZbinShorts-pb6ww Shadow Hearts and Wild Arms games are really fun. If you wanna dig into more obscure stuff that's still very good Radiata Stories, Jade Cocoon 2, Sakura Wars 5, Tsugunai Atonement, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Legendia, Star Ocean 3, Shin Megami Tensei 3.

[@seanmarsh8411]

One of the last of the ps2 games I had bought on the way out. Great add to the series

[@isaacrobinson9754]

5:29:55 I've heard at least three different variations of this bit of music across all 3 main games. And everytime it's beauty continues to pull at my heartstrings! Especially now with it being the very last time it's ever played. Despite the many faults over the course of the franchise, this will remain one of my favorite jrpg series I've ever had the privilege of discovering.

[@shiningphantasy1393]

Very good PS2 JRPG; game gets off to a slow start and it took some time for the characters to resonate with me but following that initial period it's a great looking, great progressing game with the reputable battle system being a highlight. I remember the final boss being pretty tough.

[@NoHomerS]

3:07:21 i love the sound of the horns playing at bedtime 📯📯📯😌 Its in G major.

[@delangue1781]

Yess, love this game, but only play until baccula settlement because the CD was lost.

[@Ausar_Maat]

i have this still. it got hella hard towards the end

[@NoHomerS]

You said it! I tried many many times until I finally finished it. I only finished this and G2, tho I have the other ones.

[@Katzenha]

Ooooh awesome! ❤️

[@لايك-ن8ح]

i played the entire Grandia series except GBC version and Grandia Online ...i like them all cant say which is better XD but 3 is special and so is Xtreme

[@nikodem123asdf]

I think the gbc one got translated some time ago or at least i recall sone screenshots of it with english text.

[@MrSatanislav]

My most fav jRPG

[@robertroberts-f5f]

I am an old gamer. How old? I saw "Pong" in 72 in Japan and I was gobsmacked. It was amazing! Never saw nothing like it. I am playing Grandia 3 and I am at a total loss how to utilize the skills. I can use the magic and special moves but where are the skills? Let me pluck yo last nerve if I may. What is the point of extracting magic and skills from the books? If anyone can Help me here it would be greatly appreciated. I am at the Terrarium juncture of the game.

[@nikodem123asdf]

Sorry for late response. Basically the magic eggs can be equipped on characters with high enough magic affinity (so you don't want to get too far ahead when making new eggs) Skills can only be equipped if you have a book equipped cause the books enable a given number and levels of skills to be equipped.

[@olemancharter2747]

Just love his mom

[@RandyDubin]

So, music that isn't licensed is copyrighted???? WTMF????? 🤦🏻🤦🏻🤷🏻

[@nikodem123asdf]

Yes, at the time using pop songs for intro sequences in jRPG's was really popular

[@kimberlylopez6570]

I have all the series got the old Grandia disk for ps1 and The switch cause the cd was old and scratch i have grandia 3 for ps3 download and Grandia xtreme i havent finished the last one yet Grandia 2 in my switch play them many time

[@MatthiaGryffine]

This was my favorite Grandia if for no other reason than the intro song. One of the most underrated video game songs of all time... which I'm sad is not getting the love it deserves but I guess they zapped you for using a copyrighted song.

[@nikodem123asdf]

Basically we don't want to risk getting striked.

[@TonyThulsa]

I've given up Grandia III after 8 hours or so, because the universe and the characters were boring (except Miranda). The battle system was fun though

[@nikodem123asdf]

When Miranda left this game's entire soul died. She is such a GOOD and fun character and her attitude carried the scenes.

[@411yourname]

Seems a bit dull compared to grandia 2

[@Treboy-X]

It is the best thing about grandia 3 is the battle system

[@DevDreCW]

@@Treboy-X only thing it has going for it, imo. Story is a bit generic, and pales to 2 and 1. Graphics were alright for the time, but music didn't hit like the other 2 games did.

[@Treboy-X]

@@DevDreCW facts the music was decent but don't compare to the first two and the fact your sp had to regenerate on its own instead of using the save point to do it I hated that too

[@Shadoan18]

A game that got everything right except both the story, character's and choice in music. Grandia, It's suppose to be friggin GRAND... This ain't Grand, it's a trophy made of Rat $#!7! I'll be brief; the game's story in the beginning of it all served the purpose well. A budding Pilot and Tinker/Inventor wanted to attempt the impossible and fly across a stretch of Sea from Point A to Point B; Make's sense, something can go wrong mid flight, he could make it to the port, but noone care's and there could be a blight ailing the land or he could have his plane engine robbed of him and make an adventure of it, maybe even tie in something dark and forebolding like an evil empire of iron and steel making HUGE FRIGGIN AIR SHIPS WITH THE INTENT OF DOMINATING THE WORLD!!!... Instead, we get a B plot where the mother Stows away on the plane, causes it to crash and becomes the comedy relief until she leaves the party permanently a quarter way in and it's a drag. That and the futuristic looking character's witht he Future looking Armor and so on make's it look like Phantasy Star!.... Online!.... But worse! As does their fashion sense! I know there's forms of advanced tech in Grandia, but this is just PUSHING it to SPACE! Someone already wrote about the chraracters in here, but what REALLY, REALLY, REEEEAAALLLY Kills the game for me is the sound track. The battle tracks are fine, nothing to write home about and so are the over world Tunes as to me, they're serviceable... But I want to meet to Marketing Representative, Drag his by his metaphorical balls over hot coals, nail said balls to the door and hold a very ridiculous weapon to his head and ask WHY INCLUDE AN AMERICAN POP SONG IN THE FIRST 20 MINUTES OF THE GAME?! The first few Grandia game's used mostly an orchestra and rock in the first few games and it pretty much served them well if not better. Grandia 1's Opening Sound Track is better than the pop song for an RPG surrounded by the idea of a Bloody GRAND AVENTURE! GRANDIA 2 DID IT BETTER WITH PLAIN ROCK MUSIC! EVEN BLUE DRAGON, A GAME NOT EVEN INVOLVED WITH GRANDIA DID A BETTER ROCK SONG FOR BOSS BATTLES! WHOSE IDEA WAS IT?!... Sorry; When I listen to the music between the first 2 games, they did a better job and so was the writing.

[@nikodem123asdf]

I feel your pain. Altho i actually didn't mind when Miranda was still in the game she was the glue that held everything together. And when she left it all vecame a nothing story of nothing characters with generic nothing music(for the most part)

[@aerisgainsborough2141]

the baccula settlement theme...???

[@DevDreCW]

I feel like Kingdom Hearts perfected what Grandia 3 was attempting, and failed at doing. Blending pop media into a game world with JRPG elements. I think 3 had insecure development, like they thought Grandia was "uncool" or something.

[@ilillilih]

I'd rather stay in Anfog with Miranda forever

[@D10078]

Still under copyright now?

[@D10078]

Intro is cool.

[@franciscocarlosvenanciooli3894]

O ruim desse jogo er q as batalhas sao programadas...era bom se nao fosse assim uma luta normal que nem devil may cry ou god of war.....air sim era um jogo bom....😅😅😅😅😅

[@wandinugraha4310]

ngl miranda is the heart of this game after she's gone the game became downhill for me and the most dissapointing is the game never mention her again until the end

[@nikodem123asdf]

My thoughts exactly, and it's not subtle, it didn't go downhill, it jumped off a cliff. The following "big story scene" is one of the most stereotypical by the numbers shit I've ever seen.

[@natashashazna3460]

🌼💟🌼

[@tatianavelasco1335]

the intro is so sad!!!!

[@carlosrodriguezborges2990]

go 1st too

[@Михаил-т4ю8о]

I am first.

[@talalgohal]

Ooooh awesome! ❤