[Multiplatform] The Grandia Appreciation Thread!

Reposted from the blog:

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Finally picked up a copy of Grandia III last Wednesday and, after spending around 10 hours with it, I can safely say I'm quite impressed so far; especially given the rather checkered past Grandia and I have had.

I was really late to the Grandia party, having finally played the game last August. I never really understood the hype for the most part: the story was predictable and cliche as all hell, the characters were one-dimensional and (aside from Justin, Feena, and a couple of the antagonists) revolting, and the battle system -- despite putting an interesting spin on typical jPRG battle systems -- fell flat due to the lack of any real challenge. Good music though, even if the main theme sounded like a wonky newscast tune.
Then came Grandia II. From the outset, the sequel seemed to be an improvement in most everyway: the story had a decent step up (even if you could see the "organized religion is evil" twist coming from 10 miles away), the characters didn't completely grate my nerves, and the battles were a blast to play, partly because Grandia II has probably the best battle theme EVER in a RPG.
Then everything falls apart (story/character-wise anyway) once Ryudo confronts Melfice. Not only is Melfice, a good candidate for top villain honors, dispatched like a complete pantywaste after barely 30 minutes of screentime, but main character and all-around sarcastic jackass Ryudo completely loses everything that made him likeable and becomes just another trademark Game Arts "Believe in HUMANITY" talking head, much like the cast of Lunar 2 before him. Grandia II's narrative still proved mildly interesting -- the Granas/Valmar stuff was a nice twist on an old formula, if criminally underutilized -- and the battles were still a blast to play, but damned if I cared about what happened in the finale.

So now we come to Grandia III. From the outset, things seem to have improved on the narrative front -- as much as a GA narrative can improve, anyway. Main character Yuki is Justin done right in my eyes: overly ambitious without being completely saccharine. The fact that he doesn't yearn for a great adventure from the start of the game is welcome as well; he's still a normal kid with a dream, but the fact that he's not a little kid makes him more likeable to me.
Of course, in typical Game Arts fashion, he jumps at the chance to give up his entire life to help the first pretty waif he meets. Alfina may be no Feena, but she's a damn sight more likeable than Elena "GOTTA WORK EVEN HARDER!" from Grandia II. Not to say Alfina doesn't have highly annoying traits of her own: she's got an annoying older brother complex, she's clumsy, she can't cook, she whines. Hell, she stumbles into nearly every cliche that plagues a young female in a jRPG, only trading in cat ears for elf ears, and somehow managing to not be completely offensive -- perhaps due to the fact that she hardly speaks more than a few sentences at a time.
She's perfectly complimented though, by Miranda, the token TUFF GRRL with a twist: she's Yuki's mom! And she looks like he was conceived when she was 2 years old! What will they think of next?! Seriously though, Miranda was my favorite character until she left the party (here's hoping for a reappearance). Cute, spunky, and a good fighter, Miranda proved a great addition to the party and I'll miss her.
Can't say the same for Alonso, the lady's (beast)man. He's in the party for only a few hours and proves to be a good fighter, but I never cared much for his barely-there personality. I wish he'd stuck around a little longer.

Visually speaking, Grandia III is stunning. Whereas the previous games were known for their elaborate towns, Grandia III looks great all around with sprawling vistas, a gorgeous seascape and really well animated character models -- a first for the series. This is one of the best looking games on the PS2.
In terms of audio, the game falters a bit. Where are the trademark Iwadare wacky tunes? He's still here, but a lot of the music that made Grandia, well... Grandia is sadly missing, and what we're left with is mostly forgettable. Thankfully, the voice acting picks up the slack. This is some of the best VA work I've heard from a Square Enix game.
Finally, we come to the trademark battle system. They've actually made it BETTER. Thank you, Game Arts, for FINALLY adding some challenge to battles. Especially in boss battles, I've actually actively tried Canceling enemy turns and taken full advantage of characters' Special Moves and abilities. And Aerial Combos. Talk about real incentive to play around with character growth and combat turns. I've actually reset boss battles I'd won just to try finishing them with an Aerial Combo to see what rare loot I could get. Bravo, Game Arts.

I may be only 10 hours into the game (I've heard certain things take a turn for the worse here on out, so...), but I'm really diggin' the game so far. Off to play more!

I'm about 24 hours into it now and still enjoy it for the most part (the story's taken a huge nosedive, but combat still kicks ass).

Jam it back in, in the dark.