Grandia III

[sj33]

Did you ever play the older Grandia games much?
To be honest, this is evolution not revolution.... it's not trying to be FF or anything new really. Grandia always placed a considerable emphasis on the combat.
I'm suprised you find the combat that repetitive actually, the it's the combat system that's Grandia's main strength.
Each to their own I suppose, I'll definately say that much of this games appeal will be lost if your unfamiliar with the earlier games, because the familarity is sorta the point.

That said, about your comment about the lack of tinkering... just how far are you? Have you reached the point where you can extract skills, and fuse mana eggs and the like? That really has much more depth than FF7's materia system, which is pretty dated and somewhat more like the system Grandia II used.

[gossi the dog]

I gave up at the start of the second disk so yes I was past the bits where you can start fusing mana eggs (I liked that) and extracting skills. I've played and completed both Grandia and Grandia II and really enjoyed both of them. It's over five years since Grandia II was released, maybe things have moved on since then or maybe this just isn't as good.

[Chief H]

I'd tend to agree with gossi there (and i'm a Grandia fan too) in that, whilst the combat itself is excellent, it's placement within the game as a whole is poor. Areas are too large and take too long to traverse with too little variation in encounters; there just aren't enough different enemies to play with and repetition sets in fairly quickly. This is only a problem because Grandia's battles are a little longer in length, time-wise, than in most rpgs, and require a little more thought (yes, there is the auto-ai but it doesn't really elleviate the problem as I then end up sitting there thinking of what i'd like them to do and how they're getting my plans wrong).

Long sequences also pass with little reward for the player - it's like there's a long stretch, then a short flurry of plaot and characterisation, at least it feels that way. As such, I can sympathise with how you say you'd like a little more involvement and tinkering - the game simply doesn't have enough variation in it at some times.

I really should get back to finishing this. I've been hooked on the wonderful Amped3 and GRAW but this is still deserving of my time too

[112]

Is anyone still playing this? been playing this full on for about a week or so now, and its good old grandia action again, i died for the first time yesterday, im about 26 hours in on the first disc and i met some dragon type thing in the desert an he jus cained me! my standard attacks couldnt do owt. Only my special attacks harmed him!

im slowly now working my way through the desert level, that dhna lass is crap! she starts at level 16! FFS! im like level 19 - 20, my peeps are totally eclipsing her! I have a question, its about fusing eggs, basically you can make stronger eggs, but how do i make even more powerful eggs? can you fuse an already fused egg? or do you have to wait and pic them up later on in teh game?

I must say that some of the landscape are pretty cool. The flying is a worthwhile inclusion, out of curiosity, can you crash yah plane? im too scraed to try! Also in the flying bits is it possible to land in other destinations and go off on a side quest?

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[gossi the dog]

You can fuse previously fused eggs to make super strong ones. However you can't use them until the character who will equip it has a high enough magic level.

[112]

bloody hell im on the second disc now, and man is there a huge difficulty spike! the monsters are now a hell of a lot more powerful and im forced to use SP & MP moves nearly all the time. On the first disc, about 80% of the time i could jus you normal attacks with the odd critical hit and juggle. Man has the fighting style changed since starting disc 2. I have to admit, the battles are become more longer and more frequent now. Im in the verse realm and im making my way back home, sheesh does it take ages to go from one place to the next!

My character are quite powerful (i think) but a small mistake in the battleor missjudged attack can lead to one of em losing they lives! FFS! All my peeps are on about 27/28 level, which i thought was decent, but if they can get wiped out with a few hits i need to assess my situation. Was this what you was talking about gossi? is this why you did not continue?

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[gossi the dog]

Yeah the length of the battles was annoying me. You'd be fighting the same monsters over and over and whilst I wasn't finding them particuarly tough they took some time to die. It was pretty tedious.

[fatbatch]

Just finished this, Level 49 and had to replay the last fight due to some sneaky last boss moves.

I enjoyed it, won't play it again but also won't mind helping my son through it (if he comes back to it after Kameo). Good looks, fine battle system, but the story and characterisation degenerate, the creatures lack variety, and so the second disk adds very little to the first.

In short, fun but not a patch on Dragon Quest VIII or, I hope, Final Fantasy XII.

[112]

Wow level 49, eh. Im on level 36 and ive jus defeated Melc, who i hafta say is the hardest boss yet so far in the game. His constant changing of his forms is a pain in the ass!

I guess ima hafta do a bit more leveling up before i meet the last boss then.

I have a Q, can you also combine skill books like mana eggs? cos my character skills far exceed any of the books ive used. My character skill is like 13, but the skill books are like level 7 at best!

I do agree, the story so far is pants.......... the game has progressed, but not enough. The enphasis has switched from story to fighting though. Which is a good thing IMHO. Alfina is so annoying! The only decent character is Ulf!

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[fatbatch]

I don't think you can combine skill books - the highest level book I've seen is 10.

[112]

ahh, i see........... so without giving much away am i near the end of the game?

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[fatbatch]

Well, you still have several places to visit and bosses to fight ...

[112]

Thanks mate! im jus glad the journey is not over yet, been waiting so long for this game that i jus dont want it to finish yet. Im hoping to see Miranda again, she's......... err........feisty!

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[112]

well, i finally finished this beast............. Overall it was sad to finally finish, as its been in my PS2 for like a month or so now. Took me long enough, i think in the end it clocked up 56 hours, but i did leave the game running for a few hours whilst i got distracted.

It wasnt ridiculously hard, and it was not overly easy either, id say well rounded, but the difficulty does go up a couple of notches later on in the game.

Bit dissapointed with the end though as i didnt get to see more of Miranda, Grrr......... Alfina really grates, as she's very winney. Infact the storyline is very cheesy, i cringed at most points. But the combat was satisfying! so much fun when you learn and powerup yah special moves and overpower bosses in the game.

My overall level at the end was 54 for yuki, and 49 for the others. I get the feeling that i might be missing out on some new special abilities, but might not be. jus that my Ulf and Yuki have a shed load of moves where alfina and dahna only have like 5 SP moves. Hmmm.......

Im glad ive finally finished though, as it did drag, especially the end where it was a punishing slog to the end boss. Man were some of the enemies 'unfairly unfair'

the final guardian was killed on my second go, but i cant help but feel taht it would have been too hard without the aid of the spirit gem (God powers/orbs) Also, those revival gems came hhandy in the end. Was wondering why i was hogging all four of them throughout the whole game.

Final words? well, we need another grandia, somthing to rival grandia 2, as this one, in some ways failed to live up to it. I felt closer to my character in grandia 2, but this one was jus a bit subdued.

Well, now its time for Dragon Quest 8. Fingers crossed it will be a better story line.

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