Het Grote PS2 Topic (41)

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Op zaterdag 6 augustus 2005 18:55 schreef P-Style het volgende:
Ik heb 'm dan toch maar gekocht... hij stond daar zo mooi in de winkel... De Satin Silver Slimline PS2!

Wat een schitterend apparaatje! En zó stil!

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Finally got to spend some serious time with the game...

This is far and away the biggest production GameArts have ever done. As much as I enjoyed Xtreme, it was clearly not a full blown Grandia title. They seem to have more than made up for that fact with the actual third installment. After about 7 hours of playtime, I will say that this has been the most enjoyable Grandia game yet. We'll see if it holds up throughout, but thus far, it feels like a perfect combination of Grandia and Skies of Arcadia.

The story is presented beautifully through well directed cutscenes. Unlike the previous games, all cutscenes are full blown sequences of the highest quality. Possibly the best cutscenes I've seen in an RPG (along with stuff like Shadow Hearts 2 and, likely, 3). Amazing animation, expression, and direction. I could have gone for some actual subtitles, though, as the music occasionally makes it difficult to hear exactly what the characters are saying...but it's not a big problem most of the time. The rest of the story is presented via text boxes, which DO use a slightly annoying font, but really nowhere near as bad as it was made out to be. It LOOKS good, though...

A general summary of what's happened thus far (most details avoided, but still kinda spoilerific, I suppose)
The game begins with a look at Yuuki's hero, the legendary pilot Shumitt, before bringing us to the present. Yuuki and his friend (Rotsu, or whatever) are working on the completion of a plane (which they've been talking about for a long while). His dream is to reach the land across the sea. After some interuption from his mom, Miranda (dinner time, damn it), Yuuki and Rotsu finally prepare for flight and launch. After a beautiful scene and a suprise stowaway in the form of his mom, they spot a group chasing a carriage through the woods. Yuuki loses control and his plane goes down right near them. Yuuki and the girl in the cart lock eyes before the plane slams into the woods. Miranda and Yuuki are fine, but are soon surrounded by the those who were chasing the girl. We get a brief look at Kornell, who seems only interested in praise and acclaim through the capture of this girl. After the attack, Yuuki and Miranda run off to find the girl. They soon find her in a pinch, with a man in black (Dunkel) addressing the girl as Alfina and attempting to make her return. Yuuki and Miranda "rescue" her and bring her back to town. Shortly thereafter, someone visits the village and causes quite a ruckus. They realize that Alfina isn't going to be safe on her own and decide to travel with her to the shore and help her on her way. From here, the journey really begins. Ahead, you'll begin to discover who Alfina really is and where she came from, why she ran away, and discover what she is searching for. You'll also meet up with a crazy gambling pirate, Alonso, as well as a young boy of a different race named Ull (who happens to know Yuuki's idol, Shumitt). I've been quite a ways beyond this point, though, but there's no point in describing everything, now is there?

The characters are fantastic thus far as well. Miranda is just awesome (a badass mom in your party! Oh yeah!) and Yuuki is quite a likeable chap. Alfina is very timid and seems like a mix between Elena and Feena (EL-FEENA, perhaps? ). Alonso is pretty crazy (quite a boastful liar, gambler, and womanizer...but with a heart, he he). The characters and dialog are a lot more entertaining than GII at this point and the game itself seems to have much more heart (more like the original).

The battle system is, once again, fantastic. It's very much the same as Xtreme, but with a few improvements and additions. Air combos are a nice feature. Basically, if your characters are timed properly, you can use a critical attack to fling an enemy up in the air and, as long as the enemy is still in the air, a follow up attack from another party member will allow you to perform an air combo (which provides bonus damage). I haven't dug in deep enough to appreciate any major differences from Xtreme, though. The challenge level isn't bad either. Unlike GII, it takes a bit more effort to clear some of the battles (you can't just mash through them). It isn't as challenging as Xtreme yet, but I'm hoping they really put the system to use here (which is where GII really failed).

The actual world exploration has been wonderful thus far as well. Unlike Grandia II, the maps are quite massive here. The perspective is behind the back ala Skies of Arcadia, and this is put to good use as they do a great job with sense of scale. There are a few additions to world map exploration as well. You can now strike your foes before encountering them (hit X) which can give you an advantage when encountering them or simply allow you to more easily run away. The added interaction with enemies on the field is suprisingly fun. They also add a strange search function (hit square), which will highlight nearby treasures for you. Haven't really needed to use it much yet, though.

Visually, the game is fantastic looking. A massive sense of scale, fantastic lighting effects, tons of detail, and smooth animation all around. It looks wonderful in motion and is expertly designed. The new perspective (which didn't work well in Grandia Xtreme) is perfect here and the camera system is wonderful. I much prefer this view to the overhead view seen in the first two games, as it gives the locations a much greater sense of place. I have not seen it yet, but it seems that there is actually a large overworld that can be explored via a plane. That's new for a Grandia game. The drawn map that was used in the previous games is COMPLETELY gone here and the adventure is much more seamless. You feel as if you are really travelling the world rather than just playing small segments of it. The field screens and cutscenes all run at 30 fps while the battles run at 60 fps. There is very minor slowdown during some of the larger battles, but it holds 60 fps for the most part and looks lovely. The loading is also ultra quick. Battles come out just as fast as Xtreme, which is to say, as fast as an old cart based RPG. There is virtually no waiting.

The sound is also AAA. I'm thrilled to hear Iwadare back at his best. The music, so far, is right up there with the best in the series and is very inspired. I also really dig the Miz theme song as well as its usage within the game. The voice acting is excellent all around and the sound effects are great (the sounds of the environments along with the music makes for some good atmosphere).

Well, those are kind of my disjointed impressions. I've always been a big fan of the series, though, so if you were not, I'm sure you'll find more critical impressions from somewhere else.