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Grandia III reviewed by Famitsu

J

Jonnyram

Member
Thanks Cormacaroni for the professional translation :)

Combat and events continue in the Grandia tradition.
Combat is fun, particularly trying to figure out what the enemies are going to do next, but it’s a bit chaotic and hard to figure out what’s going on.
Difficulty seemed high at first, but I got the hang of it after playing more.
Some battles and events were too long, and the tempo drops off in places. The battles are fun when everything is moving along quickly. The field map is easy to use too. Your freedom of movement is limited in battle.
At first, I found it difficult but the support system is good.
Short on exploration and puzzles. No dramatic changes but it gets more and more fun the more I play.
Uses a fixed camera in the field sections.
Click to expand...

Feels appropriately epic. Lots of enemy encounters, but fighting is fun.
Overall feel is close to the first installment(s). Story is very true to the Grandia tradition. The combat is multi-faceted and doesn’t get boring, at least not so far.
Presentation is stunning, and quite moving.
Feel is close to the original. Quite a few of the non-interactive cut-scenes are on the long side, which some might find off-putting.
There is a whole movies’ worth of cut-scenes. Gets back to the basics in the best way.
The story, an epic tale of friendship, really stands out.
Every time you talk to even the ordinary villager NPCs, they have something different to say.
The mother is adorable.
Click to expand...

No confirmed score yet.
 
Hmmmm... *somewhat disappointed*

Prehaps good news for me so that I can save up some money for other games :)
 
Based on the text, it will make everybody who ever loved grandia (especially the battle system), VERY happy
 
Fixed camera in field sections? That's odd.
Still, sounds good since they say that "combat and events continue in Grandia tradition." That's all I need to hear.
 
Sounds promising. I like the part about battles seeming hard at first but then getting easier as they are more used to it, better than being easy to start with and then becoming a chore.
 
When will Jump Superstars get reviewed?
Pokemon XD?
Don’t they usually get done a week or so before release?
Pokemon is out next Thursday!
 
Whoa, seems to be (another) excellent RPG.

According to those 2 reviews, it seems that GIII will get more than the average 32. I hope it reaches 36 ^^

What a week.....we9 g3 and jss :o!

EDIT: 35 LOL I was sooo~ near XD
 
Jonnyram, do you have the Super Robot Taisen Alpha 3 score?

neo2046 posted this one a week ago:
Super Robot Taisen Alpha 3: 9/8/8/8

But, then it dissapeared when all the scores were posted here and in gamefront.

EDIT: Thanks a lot :)
 
AWESOME for Grandia III (can't wait) and pretty nice for XD. I expected lower, to be honest.

I can pretty much guess what XD will be: good, not great, but Pokemon fans will love it.
 
mutsu said:
Hmmmm... *somewhat disappointed*

Prehaps good news for me so that I can save up some money for other games :)
Click to expand...

Wha? That sounded like quite glowing review to me, especially given it does not have DQ or FF in title. :lol
 
So GIII = SH3 = Zero 3 = Ouendan = WE9

Either the next two weeks are gonna be some really nice gaming for Japanese players, or Famitsu is being crazy unreliable again.
 
Source & Work: gamefront.de and a little edit by me XD

PS2 Grandia III (Square-Enix): 8 / 9 / 9 / 9 - (35/40)
PS2 Winning Eleven 9 (Konami): 9 / 9 / 9 / 8 - (35/40)
PSP Hg Hydrium [Archer Maclean's Mercury] (Sony): 8 / 9 / 7 / 8 - (32/40)
NDS Power Pocket Koushien (Konami): 8 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (32/40)
PS2 Summon Night EX Thesis: Yoake no Tsubasa (Banpresto): 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 - (31/40)
PSP Taiko no Tatsujin Bataburu (Namco): 7 / 8 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
PS2 Armored Core: Last Raven (From Software): 8 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
NGC Pokemon X D: Yami no Senpuu Dark Lugia (Nintendo): 8 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
PS2 NBA Street V3 (EA): 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (28/40)
XBX Double S.T.E.A.L. The Second Clash (Microsoft): 7 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (27/40)
GBA B-Densetsu! Battle B-Daman Honoo Tamashii (Atlus): 6 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (26/40)
PS2 Bomberman Land 3 (Hudson): 7 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (25/40)
PS2 Bleach (Sony): 6 / 7 / 6 / 6 - (25/40)
NDS Goldeneye (EA): 6 / 4 / 7 / 5 - (22/40)
XBX Rapala Pro Fishing (Xbox World Collection) (Microsoft): 6 / 5 / 5 / 5 - (21/40)

After all those 35 I want to know the score of Tales of Legendia...should I bet for 35? :lol
 
Jonnyram said:
If GIII is as good as Ouendan, I'm gonna be in heaven. Need time to play it though... esp. with those long cut scenes ;)
Click to expand...

Play Shadow Hearts 3 first. It will be awesome and because it's not a big SE game it needs all the sales it can get. I give you my word you will like it :)
 
Bebpo said:
Play Shadow Hearts 3 first. It will be awesome and because it's not a big SE game it needs all the sales it can get. I give you my word you will like it :)
Click to expand...

Can I buy both, Master Bebpo? :D
 
dark10x said:
Can I buy both, Master Bebpo? :D
Click to expand...

Hey I didn't say "don't buy Grandia III" :P

Seriously, I hope SH3 is great and does really well. Shadow Hearts 2 was really unique and well polished. Being able to stand up with the big name rpgs was a pretty big feat coming from a tiny development team. From the playable SH3 demo, the gameplay at least is a nice step up from SH2 with more strategy required due to the stock gauge and how it relates to combos and double attacks. All that's left is for them to keep the writing at SH2 quality or better and the game should be fantastic.

There has been a lot of good word of mouth about Shadow Hearts 2 within the Japanese gaming community over the last 2 years though. It'd be great if SH3 could open with like 130-150k first weekend.

Also if the game is good and no US publisher comes up by mid-August I'm gonna translate the entire script :D
 
I hope SH3 does well. You're right, GIII will have all the support it needs, but Shadow Hearts is more of a niche brand name. The good will towards the series following part 2 is good news, but I hope that translates into sales. I think I may have to jump on this one right away.
 
The nice thing about SH3 is that with SH2 they had to build the engine from scratch which must've cost a lot and taken a good amount of time for the small team. But here they just updated the engine a bit (and reduced load times!), which explains why they were able to get it out quicker and most likely the budget was a lot less than SH2 because of that. SH2 did about 80k opening weekend I think and maybe 140k or so lifetime yet they still got a greenlight for SH3. So hopfully if it does about the same they should make some profit this time around.
 
They didn't make the jump back to 60 fps (like SH1) by any chance, did they? Not that it really matters, but you know...
 
dark10x said:
They didn't make the jump back to 60 fps (like SH1) by any chance, did they? Not that it really matters, but you know...
Click to expand...

Nah, I'm pretty sure it was locked 30fps like SH2 when I played the demo.

Considering that rpgs seem to be the weakest genre in the hitting 60fps category, I wonder if next-gen were still going to be getting mainly 30fps rpgs except for the few Tri-Ace ones :\
 
XBX Double S.T.E.A.L. The Second Clash (Microsoft): 7 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (27/40)
Click to expand...
And there I was hoping it would be better than the first one...
Ho well, I'll have to check Grandia 3, I really enjoyed Grandia 2 on Dreamcast.
 
Bebpo said:
Nah, I'm pretty sure it was locked 30fps like SH2 when I played the demo.

Considering that rpgs seem to be the weakest genre in the hitting 60fps category, I wonder if next-gen were still going to be getting mainly 30fps rpgs except for the few Tri-Ace ones :\
Click to expand...
Grandia Xtreme was 60fps, so I hope Grandia III is too ^_^
 
Finaika said:
Grandia Xtreme was 60fps, so I hope Grandia III is too ^_^
Click to expand...

Grandia III is 30fps overworld. I'm guessing battles will be 30fps too, but battles could be 60fps I guess.

Remember, GX had really simple and kinda crappy graphics which let them do 60fps.
 
Does 60FPS really matter for an RPG, though?

Also, if it comes down to it and you end up translating the Shadow Hearts III script, let's just say you'll be the man for doing that :D
 
djtiesto said:
Does 60FPS really matter for an RPG, though?

Also, if it comes down to it and you end up translating the Shadow Hearts III script, let's just say you'll be the man for doing that :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, 60 fps ALWAYS matters. Regardless of the genre, 60 fps tends to give each game an additional kick that enhances my enjoyment. I don't NEED 60 fps, but I always prefer it.
 
The menu-based rpg genre is pretty much the only genre that doesn't need 60fps because you're just selecting options from a menu and it will never effect gameplay.

That being said, 60fps is still nice for rpgs just because it makes them look nicer :) Although for long cutscene based rpgs I kinda prefer cutscenes in 30fps as it's closer to a film look whereas 60fps is closer to video look. With overworld movement and battles I'll always prefer 60fps though.
 
Doom_Bringer said:
nice score! it's gonna be a long wait for the NA version :(
Click to expand...

What options do we have for SHIII's localization?

Midway doesn't want it because they don't think it'll sell (and they've sold their soul to MTV anyway)
Atlus doesn't want it because they think it and SMT have the same audience, increduously
WD would take five years to release it, which might hurt some of the humor quotient
N1 could probably do a good job, but I fear for the voices and flow of the script
Namco...
Or maybe Mastiff again (provided they don't cut anything)
 
belgurdo said:
N1 could probably do a good job, but I fear for the voices and flow of the script
Click to expand...
Actually N1 would be great imo cause if they do localize it then they will keep the original Japanese dub along with English :)
 
dark10x said:
Yeah, 60 fps ALWAYS matters. Regardless of the genre, 60 fps tends to give each game an additional kick that enhances my enjoyment. I don't NEED 60 fps, but I always prefer it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it definitely does look nice, but I'd think a higher, consistent frame rate would be much more necessary for an action-based title, or a racing title (to provide for the sensation of speed) rather than an RPG. I'd rather have twice as much polygon/background detail in an RPG, since you're leisurely strolling through the environs admiring the scenery.

One of my wishes for next gen was to have everything locked in at 60FPS; even with all the power we're supposedly getting, I think my wish is very far in coming :(
 
belgurdo said:
Atlus doesn't want it because they think it and SMT have the same audience, increduously
Click to expand...
For the last time, Atlus hasn't commented AT ALL on the possibility of bringing over "Shadow Hearts: From the New World."

I hate how people never fact-check shit on the internet. :|
 
Yeah, and to be nice to them I sent a complement email on their work on bringing over digital devil saga, and a nice nudge to bring over SH3 :)
Got a nice reply back too
 
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