Grandia III ( グランディアIII , Gurandia Surī ) is a role-playing video game created by Game Arts and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2 console. It was first released in Japan in August 2005 and later released in English in North America in February 2006. This game is the first main series Grandia title not released in Europe. In 2016, Grandia III was re-released on the North American PlayStation 3 store on July 21. The game was designed by many of the same key staff members from previous games in the series and includes features from earlier games, such as the battle system. The music was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare, a longtime contributor to the series, and the opening theme song "In the Sky" was performed by Japanese pop/rock artist Miz.
The story takes place in a fantasy world where humans use aircraft powered by magic. A boy named Yuki wants to become a great pilot like his hero, Sky Captain Schmidt. When Yuki and his mother meet a girl named Alfina, who can speak to the spiritual guardians of the world, they learn about the world's history and face a dangerous guardian named Xorn. Upon its release, the game received mostly positive reviews, with critics highlighting its creative battle system.
Gameplay
The player guides Yuki and his allies through a fully 3D world, fighting obstacles using a battle system similar to other Grandia games, with some small changes. During the game, Yuki gets help from different characters and creatures known as Guardians. Instead of moving on a world map, players fly a plane, and new landing spots become available as the story progresses.
Battles are similar to those in earlier Grandia games. The combat system uses time and distance to determine how actions are performed.
Icons for each character and enemy start at a point on a dial, depending on whether the enemy or player was running away before the battle. These icons move around the circle at their own speed. When an icon reaches the Command point, the game pauses so the player (or computer) can choose a command for that character. The icon then moves into the red area of the gauge. During this time, spells, skills, and critical attacks happen more slowly than combos. When the icon reaches the ACT point, the command is performed, and the icon returns to the start, continuing the cycle.
Characters on the field have two standard attacks: combos and criticals. Combos cause more damage than Criticals. Criticals move an enemy’s position backward on the dial. If a character is hit by a Critical attack while in the red area, their attack is canceled. This is a key strategy for fighting bosses. If a combo is used against an enemy in the air, a special Aerial attack happens. If an enemy is defeated with an Aerial Finish, it might drop better items.
Plot
The characters in Grandia III were created by You Yoshinari. The story follows Yuki, a 16-year-old boy who wants to become a famous pilot like his hero, Sky Captain Schmidt. With the help of his friend Rotts, Yuki builds a magic-powered airplane to fly over the ocean. However, his mother, Miranda, stops him from continuing his plan. When Yuki and Miranda meet Alfina, a young girl who can speak to Sacred Beasts—powerful creatures that protect the planet—they begin an adventure. During their journey, they meet four other characters who join the group at different times: Alonso, a sailor who wants to finish mapping the world; Ulf, a cheerful boy who rides a flying dragon; Dahna, a skeptical card reader who hides kindness; and Hect, a quiet musician from a troubled village.
Alfina’s brother, Emellious, can also talk to the Sacred Beasts but abandoned his duty to seek power from Xorn, a dark guardian who became a god. Emellious is helped by Kornell, a strong man with an iron glove; Violetta, who wants to help Emellious to be close to Alfina; La-Ilim, a demon who uses a magical object called the Crystal Skull to summon undead creatures; and Grau, Emellious’ clever assistant. To fight these enemies, Yuki and his friends must travel to meet the Sacred Beasts: Gryph the eagle, Drak the dragon, Yoat the ram, Seiba the unicorn, and Unama the dolphin.
The game takes place in an unnamed world with a main continent surrounded by the Belion Sea. Only one person, Sky Captain Schmidt, has ever flown across the Belion Sea. Yuki lives in the village of Anfog on Titalos Island. Most people in the world use flying dragons or planes powered by magic. The Sacred Beasts come from the Verse Realm, a mystical place. They arrived after a war in their world and helped stop wars in both places, guiding people to safety. They share wisdom with humans through a special group of people called Communicators, who can understand the Beasts’ words.
Yuki, who dreams of becoming a pilot, has been building an airplane with Rotts. He keeps his plans secret from his mother, Miranda. After completing their 19th model, Miranda secretly boards their plane, making it too heavy to fly. During the flight, Yuki sees a girl being chased and falls in love. After crashing in the forest, Yuki and Miranda protect the girl, who introduces herself as Alfina. She explains she must go to the temple at Arcriff to take her brother’s place as a Communicator. Miranda agrees to help Alfina travel.
To reach the mainland, they rescue Alonso, a sailor trapped in a barrel. He promises to repay them but steals Alfina’s brooch, a gift from her brother, to gamble. He loses the brooch when a dice game is rigged, and he offers to marry the game owner, Bianca, to get another chance. Miranda and Yuki help Alonso by distracting Bianca during the game, allowing him to win back the brooch. With Alonso’s ship, they sail to the mainland. During the trip, they are attacked by birds and saved by Ulf, a dragon rider who knows Sky Captain Schmidt lives in Mendi City. Alfina agrees to stop in Randoto to find a Lem Fruit so Yuki can meet his idol and ask for help building a plane.
Alfina and her friends eventually face Emellious and Xorn. In the end, everyone continues their lives. Yuki and Alfina marry and have a son who shares his father’s dream of flying.
Development
In March 2005, the game Grandia III was first announced in the Japanese Weekly Famitsu magazine. The magazine stated that Game Arts and Square Enix would release the game for the PlayStation 2, just like the earlier game Grandia Xtreme. The project was led by director Hidenobu Takahashi, who had previously worked as an art director on Grandia II. He explained that Grandia III would continue the series’ themes of adventure, drama, and dreams, while also exploring more mature ideas while keeping an optimistic tone. Character design was done by You Yoshinari, and the story was written by Takahiro Hasebe, both of whom had worked on the original Grandia. The computer-generated movie scenes were created by Mikitaka Kurasawa, who had also worked on Onimusha for Capcom. A Square Enix representative said the game’s movie scenes were as long as three films combined. Combat in Grandia III used a system similar to earlier games in the series. Takahashi described it as "very complex but very easy to learn," and he said the story, battle system, and environments would make the game enjoyable. An official website for the game was launched in April 2005, sharing the final release date of August 2005 and updates about the game’s features.
In December 2005, Square Enix announced the English version of Grandia III through a teaser website. The game was scheduled for release in North America in February 2006. In January 2006, the final release date was set for February 14.
In July 2016, Grandia III was added to the PlayStation Store as a PlayStation 2 Classic game playable on PlayStation 3.
The music for Grandia III was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare, who also created soundtracks for earlier Grandia games. After the Japanese version released in August 2005, the Grandia III Original Soundtrack was released by Two-Five Records. It included background music from the game on two discs. The game’s opening demo featured the theme song "In the Sky," performed by Japanese pop/rock singer Miz. The song was released as a single one day before the game’s launch in both regular and limited editions by Victor Entertainment. Players who pre-ordered the game in Japan received a special promotional album with three live recordings from the game’s music staff, including the vocal theme "To the Moon" performed by Kaori Kawasumi. In September 2005, a music track called "Melk Ruins," which could not be included in the official soundtrack, was made available for free download on the game’s official Japanese website. Voice clips during battles and story scenes were provided by experienced actors who have worked in anime and video games.
Reception
Grandia III received a mostly positive response in Japan. It became the second best-selling game that week with 122,000 copies sold and sold about 233,866 copies by the end of 2005. The game earned a score of 35 out of 40 from Weekly Famitsu Magazine, which gave it an editor's choice Platinum award.
In North America, the game was generally well-received. It had an average score of 78.60% on GameRankings and 77 out of 100 on Metacritic. Many reviewers praised the game’s battle system. Electronic Gaming Monthly said the semi-real-time battles were very good, offering a balance of strategy and visual style, and the new aerial combat moves were exciting. However, some reviewers found the story to be "fairly linear." GamePro called the combat "intriguing" but said the story was "more clichéd and campy than epic and amazing" and that the characters were "too familiar and failed to create serious interest." GameSpot noted the game’s short length and lack of side quests as weaknesses but said it still had an interesting story, fun characters, and a flexible battle system. 1UP.com said the story, pacing, and character development felt disconnected between the game’s two discs, comparing it to "reviewing two games — one great and one boring." In a New York Times article, critic Charles Herold called the battle system "arguably the greatest combat system of any turn-based RPG" but said the rest of the game was only average, stating it "falls short of true greatness" because it "doesn’t do quite enough things right."
In a review of the North American version, Eurogamer called the game mostly average but said the battle system was above average, writing that "the game is saved from total mediocrity by its superb battle system, but a fantastic battle system does not a brilliant game make." The site also criticized the J-pop opening theme as "a disgustingly poor piece of aural pap" but said the rest of the music was "pleasant, though forgettable." Play gave the game a more positive review, saying it "does almost everything well, from the involving story and beautiful graphics to the compelling characters, and does one thing — the battle system — better than any other RPG we’ve seen." Grandia III was released on the North American PlayStation 3 store on July 21, 2016.