I'll make a review for GL2 when I replay it and get another ending. Not to say the ending I got wasn't the coolest of all, but the game isn't fresh in my mind and I'm not going to do a 'compair/contrast' thing between the games in a review.
Growlanser 3 is disk 2 in the Growlanser Generations Box.
The characters - They rock. I think there's only one main character that I didn't get too attached to, but that's more of personal preference than a bad character design/personality. You have your usual videogame party with hero with backyard issues, tough woman at his side, goofy guy, bow and arrows person, magic weilding lithe easy to kill girl, mad scientist, and little cute thing. And I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting a handful of cool characters. In the game there's a flux of awesome special npcs that fight by your side or against you (depending on how you do things). So it's just plain hard to tell who's going to be in your direct party towards what you do.
Npcs - they rule, too. The special npcs (the secondary main charries) all have the coolest personalities and the greatest design. And that's not to say that the main characters have an awesome design as well. I think it all balances out. You can even effect specific random no-faced npcs by the outcome of certain battles.
Monsters - Usual game design monsters from early ps1 years. You have a handful of different monsters, but when you get right down to it you'll end up coming across the same monster design with a different color scheme 4 times total. But that's not bad, just normal.
Voices - I believe the voices fit the characters and their personalities perfectly. Giving everything that Puff of spiffiness that games just need. While you may find one or two voices (like Raimy) to get on your nerves slightly, it would happen few and far between in the story's dialogue. And the voices wouldn't stay annoying perminantly (like a certain character in Tales of Destiny2 that ripped my eardrums from my skull). So overall, good choice for voice actors. Games like this make me wish anime had it this good.
Music - Music was normal. There are some tunes that I happened to extremely enjoy. But it's no orchestral assembly. The main theme (and title theme) is awesome and I could go around singing it all day. No matter how many renditions they make of it or how many times they play it, it just doesn't get dull. Only one song in the entire list gets monotonus, and that's the 'you've won a battle' theme. Simply because it's the same measure played over and over again.
Plot - Plot is awesome and you cant disagree with me on this (if you play the game). I mean, Assassins! And Spirits! People Die! Alright, I'm being too vague. Don't expect anything earthshatteringly new. It's still the same olde 'hero saves world' basics. However since almost all rpgs are like that, you wont lose. The plot moves wonderfully along. And when you get right down to it, there is no evil and good side. Which sets up scenes for wars, famine, depression, otherworldly things, and good times. If you don't pay attention to things or Special items you have (and this is the only part I'd come close to considering 'bad'), things can get extremely depressing and empty towards the end. I found myself spending hours figuring out who the button belonged to - just to find that it was some big plot device later that, if you don't go out of your way to take care of, will result in a very sad result.
On the by, don't get me wrong by reading this entire profile and thinking, "huh... This game is very normal". Growlanser 2 and 3 both have a huge edge of specific personality that, if played in sequence, make everything so ultimately worthwhile. The gameplay could be a bit normal. But the weaponry system, deep character personalities, and storyline are Very unique on their own.
Imagery - also spiffy. I think the images and pictures + the pictures of the characters and special npcs is one of my fav parts of the game. There's one picture of Hugh that I got all happy about when I saw it. Kinda sucks that I didn't play the game on my comp and fav the pic. Oh well...
The bad stuff - All games have bad stuff. This is this games'. I'll make this short, cause it is. 2 things I found ick about the game. One was the 'you won' theme, which does grate your nerves a little towards the end if you're really into the game. You can't escape it. You have to listen to the same measure over and over and over again while buffing up your characters' stat points. #2 was the sound effect for one of the 'killing monster' sounds. It's this screaming skreech that sounds like a whining 80 year old on acid. Once again nerve grating. But the good part to this is that it's just an X click away to stop the sound. Fact, you can prevent the irk of #1 if you just select 'done dividing points' without doing anything, then divide them by checking the status of each character in the menu.
The good stuff - Just wanted to add in on short notice that you do have an option to lower the volume/mute the critter sound effects, music, and voices. You can also, if you hit select in the menu, individually mute the voices of the characters. If you don't like how a charrie sounds, you Can kill their voice without hampering the voice of everyone else. There's also, and this is on the side, a reverse cover on the game box.
Overall, I loved this game. I got very attached to the plot and I can't get enough of the characters. And if you play GrowLanser2 first (which is CD 1 in the package), you can later in Growlanser3 import the GL2 characters. Or.. that is.. The characters you got endings for in GL2. However this is only possible if you have the GL2 Finished Game saves on the same memorycard as Growlanser3. Whew, lots of initials and numbers.
Definately a game to play more than once and DEFINATELY worth the money (specially since it's 2 games in 1 box).
Fav characters - #1 Hugh, #2 Yayoi, #3 Clive
Motion Sickness warning? - I've gotten no motionsickness off the game. And since I get dizzy over just about anything, it's just good news for all.