Grandia III (PS2) Screens

[RainOfTerror]

Grandia III is the newest title in Game Arts' role-playing series, using an all-new engine, N3, allowing for larger and more detailed environments. In Grandia III you play as Yuuki, a 16-year-old boy who dreams of being a pilot. When Yuuki meets Alfina, an elven shaman who can talk to holy beasts, he gets involved in a mission to find her brother Emilious, who turned evil and wants to conquering the world.

Check 35 new Grandia III screens (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=30929) over at WorthPlaying.

[Blade]

Grandia II was one of the best RPG's of last generation.

[Thenetcase]

Why do all Japanese or Chinese role playing games always come across as horribly RETARDED looking? Can't they make some decent crap, like WOW?!


-TNC-

[pacman]

All my friends played the shit out of Grandia II, but I've been far too busy with other games to play it. However, I might just jump on the franchise with this one...looks pretty nice.

[GrinR]

After playing the Fight Night Rd 3 demo on X360 - I just can't look at game figures the same way anymore. Seeing polygons and textures instead of glistening sweat and individual hairs is like looking at the 2D sprites of yesteryear instead of 3D goodness.

I can't say I miss it.

[The Radical Cleric]

Why do all Japanese or Chinese role playing games always come across as horribly RETARDED looking? Can't they make some decent crap, like WOW?!


-TNC-

Chinese RPG's? Have you ever actually played one?

Also, thank you for the "complete throwaway rediculous generalization post".

I know last time I looked at a Square Enix game I thought "Wow, this is really RETARDED looking!"

[Zurik]

Why do all Japanese or Chinese role playing games always come across as horribly RETARDED looking? Can't they make some decent crap, like WOW?!


-TNC-

I know Grandia games lack gold farmers and queuing, but can't you give them a bit of a break?

[Rirath]

Why do all Japanese or Chinese role playing games always come across as horribly RETARDED looking? Can't they make some decent crap, like WOW?!

Freakin beautiful, far as I'm concerned.
Way to compare two almost entirely unrelated games, by the way.

[Thenetcase]

ok, so maybe I just hate the Anime style CRAP that they overuse so badly. I hate it more than I hate it when people over use the bloom "special" effect (special as in retarded).

Ugh... people like sucky crap. It's a fact of life.

Thank goodness it's a free country and I can say whatever the hell I want about this anime bullcrap. :) Might get beat in Sinapore or something (which actually is a hella cool place to be, by and large). (J/K of course)

-TNC-

[Rirath]

You may be able to say it, but it doesn't mean people won't look at you funny. How can the Japanese overuse "anime style" when it /is/ their style to begin with? It's like saying the comic book industry overuses the "American style".

Basically, you're admitting to trolling.

[Kefkataran]

Why do all Japanese or Chinese role playing games always come across as horribly RETARDED looking? Can't they make some decent crap, like WOW?!

Wow. I can't decide if that post startles me more because of its ignorance or its inappropriateness. Huh.

I have some good memories of the first Grandia. Here's hoping this game can reach those heights again. If it does, I'll most definitely give it a try.

[Kelegacy]

Fucking nice! One of my most anticipated games of 2006. Can't wait.


After playing the Fight Night Rd 3 demo on X360 - I just can't look at game figures the same way anymore. Seeing polygons and textures instead of glistening sweat and individual hairs is like looking at the 2D sprites of yesteryear instead of 3D goodness.

I can't say I miss it.

Sucks to be you.

[EvilBob46]

After playing the Fight Night Rd 3 demo on X360 - I just can't look at game figures the same way anymore. Seeing polygons and textures instead of glistening sweat and individual hairs is like looking at the 2D sprites of yesteryear instead of 3D goodness.

I can't say I miss it.

Rally-ho for the random post of the day. Grandia 3 uses polygonal sprites so maybe he's talking about some other game? Or something? Who knows.

ok, so maybe I just hate the Anime style CRAP that they overuse so badly. I hate it more than I hate it when people over use the bloom "special" effect (special as in retarded).

Ugh... people like sucky crap. It's a fact of life.

-TNC-

A lot of anime games look like crap in the same way that a lot of games that attempt a realistic style look like crap. You've probably never played a great anime-style game in your life. Try DQVIII (http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/496/496303/img_2784146.html) or something.

[AntB]

Umm... face expressions?

[Heretic Machine]

I tried playing Grandia II on my Dreamcast. It was one of the first games I bought for it. After about six-to-ten hours, I found that I wanted to dig my brain out of my skull with a spoon. That's how bad some of the dialouge was.

I have to wonder how some gamers can critique movies like Episode III for having bad acting/writing, and still put up with stinky writing in games based around their story.

On a brighter note, the combat was fun.

[rainbowblack]

bah, stupid last gen JRPG's!! why play this utter failure when you could be playing oblivio.....wait...

im thinking of checking this out, i enjoyed the dreamcast version. hopefully ill finish dragon quest VIII before its release.

[gojira]

Oh yeah. I played Grandia II on my DC. The dialogue and the plot was campy as hell, but I loved it. And the combat system beat the heck out of anything I've seen from Square. (Admittedly, just FF7.)

I played it all the way through twice. :D

[Kelegacy]

I tried playing Grandia II on my Dreamcast. It was one of the first games I bought for it. After about six-to-ten hours, I found that I wanted to dig my brain out of my skull with a spoon. That's how bad some of the dialouge was.

I have to wonder how some gamers can critique movies like Episode III for having bad acting/writing, and still put up with stinky writing in games based around their story.

On a brighter note, the combat was fun.
Grandia II wasn't anything special, IMO. Grandia the original was excellent. I wasn't overly pleased with the sequel.

[UnderHero5]

Wow, awesome! And next month too!
I loved Grandia 2 on DC. It was the first JRPG I actually liked and completed! The battle system was awesome.
I'll definitely buy G3 on release day.

[SBKidJamX]

Grandia and Grandia II were excellent games, with fantastic combat systems. Never played Grandia Xtreme as I heard it was a pile. Looking very forward to this game.

[Wander]

Surely, I'm not the only one that thinks this game looks HIDEOUSLY cliché, at least in style, especially when compared to Grandia 2. The character designs aren't nearly as imaginative, nor do the characters personalities sound very good. The single best thing about Grandia 2 was Ryudo and his constant smart ass remarks -- something I'm going to guess Grandia 3 will be lacking in. Basically, I liked Ryudo because he was a dick and made the game more bearable.

Though, I doubt anyone'll agree with me. Too bad.

[Kelegacy]

Surely, I'm not the only one that thinks this game looks HIDEOUSLY cliché, at least in style, especially when compared to Grandia 2. The character designs aren't nearly as imaginative, nor do the characters personalities sound very good. The single best thing about Grandia 2 was Ryudo and his constant smart ass remarks -- something I'm going to guess Grandia 3 will be lacking in. Basically, I liked Ryudo because he was a dick and made the game more bearable.

Though, I doubt anyone'll agree with me. Too bad.
Oh, it might be, but I'll reserve judgement. Or, rather, reserve a reviewer's judgement. The great thing about the Grandia series is the battle system. A cliche JRPG plot and possibly characters? It's nearly a given, but it's all in how the story, characters, and world is presented that matters. Dragon Quest VIII was so cliche it could have been made from ingredients from the JRPG How To Handbook, but it was done in such a way that people didn't care.

[Balthasar]

Oh, it might be, but I'll reserve judgement. Or, rather, reserve a reviewer's judgement. The great thing about the Grandia series is the battle system. A cliche JRPG plot and possibly characters? It's nearly a given, but it's all in how the story, characters, and world is presented that matters. Dragon Quest VIII was so cliche it could have been made from ingredients from the JRPG How To Handbook, but it was done in such a way that people didn't care.
The first Grandia was very fun loving. It just felt like it was a game made by people who love making RPGs. I'm not really sure how to explain it. The battle system was also a ton of fun. It's interesting how many more people started with Grandia 2 first.

I still haven't played DQ VIII, thinking of picking that up after I beat Shadow of the Colossus.

[Kefkataran]

I still haven't played DQ VIII, thinking of picking that up after I beat Shadow of the Colossus.

Do it. It's absolutely a blast. And ridiculously long.

[AboveAvgCharles]

Am I the only one who thinks making the combat timer circular instead of linear was a horrible idea? Talk about cramming way too much information into too small of a space.

[Rirath]

I loved the way the combat info appears on the screen in the gameplay trailer over at gametrailers.com. Looks very 'next gen rpg'. I'm also really happy there's a action rpg mix so it's not strictly random encounters and turn based. Random encounters have become the bane of my RPG experience.

I have to admit I've never finished Grandia 1, but much as I'd like to go back, I think I'll stick to DQ8. Hopefully like DQ8, Grandia 3 will provide a fresh start into the series, then I can go back.

[Borys]

Grandia II was one of the best RPG's of last generation.

Grandia 2 was shit.

Reapeat after me: Grandia 2 was absolute piece of trash packed in a "Grandia" titled box.

It's nowhere near the quality, fun, story, levels and playtime of Grandia 1, which fucking rocked.

I remember almost all locations from Grandia 1 and not a single one from Grandia 2. Grandia 1 was colorful and vivid, Grandia 2 was dull and boring.

There's only one shameful part in Grandia 1 - ending that just drags & drags, and not surprisingly it was made even longer and even worse in Grandia 2 (fighting all bosses over again? you got to be fucking kidding me).

Grandia 2 was shit and it people should forget about it.

[dr_wily]

jesus i dont know what game you were playing but i loved grandia 2.
the upgrade path, the eggs, the combos, the battle, and the graphics were great at the time.

that and skies of arcadia were some of my fondest dreamcast memories

[Kelegacy]

jesus i dont know what game you were playing but i loved grandia 2.
the upgrade path, the eggs, the combos, the battle, and the graphics were great at the time.

that and skies of arcadia were some of my fondest dreamcast memories
The reason some people dislike Grandia 2 is because we loved Grandia 1. Grandia 2 wasn't the worst game in the world, but because it carried the Grandia name and was infinitely inferior to the previous installment, I felt cheated. It only retained the battle system...other than that it didn't deserve the Grandia name. But the series also spat out Grandia Xtreme, which also was a turd in comparison to the first, so maybe they only struck gold that once and will miss the mark with Grandia III. I sure as hell hope not.

[Kefkataran]

But Grandia Xtreme was so... XTREME!!!!!!!!!1111111 TO THE MAX!

[Kelegacy]

But Grandia Xtreme was so... XTREME!!!!!!!!!1111111 TO THE MAX!
Oh, go home you goddamn Philtard.

[mister_slim]

Grandia III does look very nice. But for some reason I keep comparing every J-RPG to the video of Rogue Galaxy and they all come up short.

I think my brain is trying to ensure that I'm disappointed by every RPG until Rogue Galaxy, which will then be unable to meet my expectations. Also, I love how the new Tales game has characters designed by Samurai Champloo designer (and the Soul Calibur team designed combat is like alcohol, gravy and icing all at once), but the in-game character models are just... wrong.