Grandia III - Initial Impression.

The next game up for me is Grandia III for the PlayStation 2. Grandia III is developed by Game Arts, the makers of Lunar, and is published by Square-Enix. An interesting mix of companies. Luckily Game Arts are the developers and not the Square side of Square-Enix. Game Arts has a rich history of RPGs plastered with great characterization and heart. Far more emotional content than that of the reigning RPG kings of Square. The first few hours of the game reveal once again a story that's seemingly going to be full of characters with actual character. Imagine that. It's also clear that the game is going to be pretty. That the battle system is still going to be fast and fun. It's also clear that Noriyuki Iwadare is once again handling the score as his rather distinctive sound is there from the start. Hopefully the story will go somewhere great, the characters will retain their initial charm and go somewhere interesting, the battle system will live up to its legacy, and Iwadare's work reaches his standard level of greatness. We'll see. Next time should cover the battle system some would argue the greatest turn based battle system in history.