“They can’t save the world, but they can change history.”
I would love to expound more on such an intriguing tagline, but doing so would mean revealing massive spoilers for Rise of the Third Power, the latest game from Ara Fell developer Stegosoft Games. Featuring eight protagonists and an ensemble cast embroiled in a fantasy storyline loosely inspired by the events that led to World War II, Rise of the Third Power is a far more ambitious and expansive effort than Ara Fell was. It certainly shoots for the moon, yet it doesn’t quite get there.
It has only been 20 years since The Great War decimated much of the world and its people. While some nations prospered, others are still rebuilding. A tenuous armistice was put in place, but not everyone believes in it — least of all, the crippled empire of Arkadya. Arkadya believes that the post-war armistice was a one-sided humiliation against them. Through a subversively deadly combination of political machinations, military tactics, subterfuge, and guile, Arkadya wants to divide, conquer, and forcibly unite the nations of the world under their iron-fisted ideology.
The narrative begins with the cynical rogue named Rowan and his ebullient partner-in-crime Corrina on a secret mission to capture Princess Arielle. After playing through part of their caper, I found myself in the shoes of the aforementioned princess. Arielle enjoys her luxurious life but wonders if she is anything more than simply a tradable commodity in her father’s political maneuverings. From then on, the plot kept thickening, and I got to know several more important characters, including those who join the main cast and those intertwined with them. Although Rowan is the primary player character, the game changes perspectives a few times to keep things fresh and allows you to see certain plot points through different eyes.
The plot has its share of “because it’s a JRPG” moments, and clunky humor sometimes feels shoehorned in, but Rise of the Third Power remains engaging, and the writing bursts with personality. Adult characters are often underrepresented in JRPGs, and several characters in Rise of the Third Power are troubled adults with messy pasts. Each of them is deeper than meets the eye, and their interpersonal relationships are more complicated than they seem. I was compelled by the diverse ensemble cast of heroes, villains, playable, and non-playable characters — I’m sure everyone who plays this game will find a favorite somewhere in the game’s world.
However, one obstacle with the game’s story is that the font used for all the in-game text (be it dialogue, narration, tutorials, menus) is awful. A game with as much text as Rise of the Third Power needs a clean, legible, and decent-sized font; the letters presented here are small, overly pixelated, and difficult to read. The icons in the menus could have been larger as well, allowing the interface to be less twiddly.
Luckily, Rise of the Third Power‘s soundtrack consists of myriad pieces of licensed music from AudioJungle. Despite the music being from several composers and encompassing several genres — from classical to metal — each piece was painstakingly selected to fit its intended character, scene, event, etc. Yes, it would have been nice to have a completely original soundtrack because you can hear many in-game songs elsewhere, but I wasn’t really thinking about that as I was playingRise of the Third Power. I was simply immersed in a good game with a fitting soundtrack.
I share a similar sentiment regarding the graphics. Rise of the Third Power was made using Unity, though many of the assets show its RPG Maker roots. That being said, there is plenty of original art in the character portraits, sprite work, battle animations, and several environmental set pieces. I think it’s a nice-looking game and, again, was too engulfed in the game’s vibrant world to nitpick any assets I’ve seen in other RPG Maker games I’ve played over the years. The one aspect that might be divisive among fans is the anime-inspired character portraits accompanying the dialogue. I liked their expressive faces and vivid colors, but others may find them too cartoony.
Rise of the Third Power is a fairly linear journey with a satisfying ending, but the game has sidequests and allows for plenty of exploration, so I hardly felt like I was being led around by the neck. The overworld is expansive and filled with bustling towns to slum in and healthy-sized dungeons to traipse through. The areas themselves were just the right size for me — just large enough to encourage exploration but not so large that tedium would set in. The bottom line is thatRise of the Third Power’s world is well designed, and I was quite absorbed in it.
Hostile encounters are inevitable on any RPG journey. In Rise of the Third Power, enemy encounters are visible on the field and only respawn when you stay at an inn or by asking the wandering merchant — whom the party sometimes sees in dungeons — to reset enemy spawns. Three characters participate in battle, but all EXP gained is distributed to the entire entourage so nobody falls behind. Characters can also be swapped out during combat, which is an important mechanic to use.
The classic “hack and heal” method of JRPG battling does not work in Rise of the Third Power. Even in the early stages, on normal mode, my party died because I mistakenly went on autopilot instead of paying attention to the tutorials. Rise of the Third Power is a game that looks like a Final Fantasy but requires a more Shin Megami Tensei style mindset to turn the tides of battles. Strategically utilizing buffs and debuffs, paying heed to each character’s skillset, finding the right combinations of characters with complementary skillsets, discovering joint combo skills they can do, and employing other exploits (such as strategic character swapping) meant approaching each battle with care. I couldn’t just shut my brain off and go to sleep.
Okay, maybe I could. See, Rise of the Third Power has four difficulty levels (Story, Normal, Hard, and Expert) that you can swap on the fly, and normal actually poses a decent challenge. However, the most notable mechanic is Story mode’s “auto-kill” option where you can insta-win any and all battles to advance the story. I would have really liked this feature in my youth; the frustration of getting through a dungeon, saving before a point of no return, getting trounced multiple times because I was under-leveled or inadequately prepared, and not having a second save further back so I could grind and prepare, was very real to me. Back then, my only options were to completely restart the game, which meant losing a day’s worth of progress or use a cheat device to pummel the boss and advance the story.
Speaking of saving, you can manually save the game, but there is also an autosave feature. Sometimes a reminder would pop up to tell me to save the game when I was about to encounter a major boss or story event, and I really liked that. This would have been a great feature in some of the RPGs I played in my younger days, when I often threw my hands up in frustration, shouting, “NOOOOO! I forgot to save!”
My biggest caveat with battles is that while they look good, they play out slowly. This wouldn’t be a big deal if they were infrequent, but they need to be fought often to gain spoils as towns do not have traditional equipment shops. Instead, you upgrade gear in a similar fashion to Final Fantasy VIII‘s junk shops, where you use raw materials harvested from battles to craft equipment upgrades, which are sometimes a pain to harvest. Adding to the drag is that the game requires a fair bit of backtracking, and there’s no backtracking, meaning you have to walk back and forth multiple times through previously traversed areas. Rise of the Third Power takes a good 20 or so hours in story mode, and upwards of 35-40 on normal, so this is not a short game by any means and its length feels somewhat padded.
With its compelling storyline, the ensemble cast of memorable characters, and solid worldbuilding, Rise of the Third Power offers longtime JRPG fans a taste of why they fell in love with the genre in the first place. It also allows you to pet a plethora of pooches and pussycats too! Unfortunately, the poorly chosen font, slow-paced battles, lack of fast travel through previously explored areas, and awkward attempts at comic relief bring the game down. However, f you can look past Rise of the Third Power‘s flaws, you will find a robust JRPG experience.
FAQs
Is Rise of the Third Power a sequel? ›
Set sail to stop a sequel to the greatest war the world has ever seen in this 16-bit era, console style RPG by the makers of Ara Fell. Follow along!
Is Rise of the Third Power hard? ›No matter what difficulty players choose, Rise of the Third Power is a tough game. It requires a lot of grinding especially for boss encounters. The trouble is that it takes a long time to grind out for levels due to two major factors. One, enemies don't respawn naturally.
How long is Rise of the Third Power? ›Rise of the Third Power is a 40 hour long, Super Nintendo throwback that shouldn't be missed by genre fans. The only criticism I can really throw at the game is it lacks that special edge Squaresoft SNES RPGs had.
How many chapters are in Rise of the Third Power? ›Sometimes cliché is ok though, especially when you have characters written as well as these guys, Rise of the Third Power has 7 chapters in all and on your journey you will eventually have 8 party members.
What third power means? ›Definitions of third power. the product of three equal terms. synonyms: cube. type of: number.
What game is crosscode like? ›CrossCode
Is Alan Wake a hard game? ›Any player debating what difficulty to play Alan Wake should do it on Normal. Easy is a bit of a cakewalk, while Nightmare can be exceptionally difficult. Go through it on Normal for the first time to fully get into and appreciate the story.
What is exhaustion rise of the third power? ›The game features an exhaustion mechanic which comes into play after every battle causing characters who are overused to suffer some stat losses. This will force players to switch between each member of the party, resulting in a better understanding of the eight characters and their abilities.
How long is a game of Rise of Nations? ›| Single-Player | Polled | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Main Story | 12 | 18h 55m |
| Main + Extras | 8 | 40h |
| Completionist | 4 | 62h 30m |
| All PlayStyles | 24 | 34h 30m |
Thus, 43 can be written as 4 × 4 × 4 = 64.
Why is 2 to the power of 3 8? ›
Answer: 2 raised to the third power is equal to 23 = 8. Explanation: 2 to the 3rd power can be written as 23 = 2 × 2 × 2, as 2 is multiplied by itself 3 times. Here, 2 is called the "base" and 3 is called the "exponent" or "power."
How many pages is the final battle in Wheel of Time? ›True to form, it's enormous. And to prove my point, I measured it: 2 1/2 pounds, 2 1/4 inches thick and 909 pages, all of it to tell the story of a backcountry farm boy who finds out he's the Dragon Reborn, a hero out of prophecies, destined to defeat the Dark One — and probably die doing it.
How many chapters are in evil nun? ›After completing a Chapter, the Grail will move to a new position (never the shelf again) and the game will save itself. After the six chapters are completed and the Mask Pieces are on the Mysterious Mold, you have to play the final chapter for completing the Mode.
How many book of powers are there? ›For folks keeping count, 50 Cent has so far come through with three of the four spinoffs he promised. Over the years, viewers have watched as Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and now Power Book IV: Force have kept the Powerverse in a chokehold.
Why is the power of 3 so important? ›Focusing your message on no more than three significant points, and repeating them in different ways throughout your presentation, is certain to give your presentation the maximum impact. Using The Power of Three is one of the most simple and effective ways to make your audience remember you and your words!
What is an example of power of three? ›For example: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” “Friends, Romans, Countrymen”
Is CrossCode too hard? ›CrossCode's Approach to Difficulty Options
Like the Dark Souls games, CrossCode is completely doable if players invest the time into learning how to pull off all of their special attacks, leveling up their character, and memorizing boss patterns. The game is extremely tough, but also fair.
It's an exciting dungeon that has your typical array of challenging puzzle encounters that make use of the gameplay mechanics, tough boss fights and new enemies. It's some of the best that CrossCode has to offer and a perfect finale to the game within a game.
How many hours is CrossCode? ›When focusing on the main objectives, CrossCode is about 35½ Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 77½ Hours to obtain 100% completion.
Is Alan Wake frustrating? ›Alan Wake is a frustrating masterpiece. It's rife with charm, and overflowing with a mysterious atmosphere, and both are on display in Alan Wake: Remastered more than ever before.
Is Alan Wake a Stephen King game? ›
Bestselling author Stephen King was a major inspiration for Alan Wake. The main character as a writer whose work is coming true is a theme that has been explored by King in a number of his works.
Why is Alan Wake so good? ›Alan's monologues and writing are quite on the nose, a playful mimicking of the type of thriller fiction writing that he is a clear stand-in for. It makes for a surreal cocktail of having to wade your way through terrifying visuals while still giving a chance to take a breath when you chuckle at how silly it all is.
How do you lose war exhaustion in Rise of Nations? ›Decreasing War Exhaustion
Losing ground units in battles will increase your war exhaustion gain. Hence if you are at peace your war exhaustion will decrease. You can increase government spending to decrease war exhaustion, but it will take a toll on your income.
Rise of Empires is a fun and clever game that allows for many roads to victory. Players will really enjoy the A-B turn aspect, but the way in which players move about the world as the different eras dawn also opens new paths to victory at different points in the game. The game can be a bit long, however.
Is ROK pay to win? ›Short Answer: Rise of Kingdoms is not a pay-to-win game unless you want to. Free-to-play players still can have a lot of fun and it's proven. Here are some of our best advice for you to succeed in the game without spending a dime.
What does 4 to the power mean? ›When a number is said to be 'to the fourth power,' that just means that you need to multiply the number by itself four times.
What is 3 to the third power called? ›The term "cube" can be remembered because there are three dimensions in a cube (height, width, and depth) and the number being cubed appears three times in the calculation.
What does 10 to the power of 3 mean? ›Answer: The value of 10 raised to 3rd power i.e., 103 is 1000.
Why is a number raised to 0 equal to 1? ›In short, the multiplicative identity is the number 1, because for any other number x, 1*x = x. So, the reason that any number to the zero power is one ibecause any number to the zero power is just the product of no numbers at all, which is the multiplicative identity, 1.
What is 9 the 3rd power? ›Answer and Explanation: 9 to the 3rd power equals 729.
Why is to the power of 2 not positive? ›
If the power is even, then the result will be positive. If it is odd, then the result is negative. Here, we know that 2 is even.
What is the longest WoT book? ›Tor Books (U.S.) At 393,823 words, The Shadow Rising is the longest book of The Wheel of Time although it has fewer pages than Lord of Chaos. The Shadow Rising consists of 58 chapters.
What is the longest chapter in Wheel of Time? ›In Memory of Light, the long-awaited chapter The Last Battle registered a staggering 81,200 words, whereas the x-axis on the above chart is cut at ~20,000. For some perspective, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was around 78,000 words in its entirety. But we'll get to that chapter in a moment.
Who is daughter of Evil Nun? ›Elisa is a character mentioned in Evil Nun 2. She is the dead daughter of Sister Madeline. She is briefly shown via some pictures in cutscenes.
Who invented Evil Nun? ›Since founding Etorki Games in 2013, Pablo Ocasar (programmer), Alexander Camarero (artist) and Ion Ocasar (programmer) have published more than 20 games, all of them free-to-play.
Who is Nazrat Evil Nun 2? ›Nàzrat is a character of Evil Nun 2, who is the creator of Rod. He is the lord of Sister Madeline and an important character in the True Ending of the game, which you can achieve by playing 'Miracle Recipe' chapter.
Does 50 Cent own Power? ›50 created the Power franchise, which has spun-off into PowerBook II: Ghost, PowerBook III: Raising Kanan, and Powerbook IV: Force and BMF.
How old is Kanan in Book 3? ›It's 1991, and 15-year-old Kanan lives with his mother, local drug lord Raquel "Raq" Thomas (Patina Miller), in South Jamaica Queens. While Raq pushes her son to focus on going to college and having a better life, she's also expanding her network of dealers and dealing with her competition.
Will there be a 5th book of Power? ›Power Book V: Influence is a spin-off of Power. It is a sequel to the original series following Rashad Tate in the political world. However, in August 2022, it was officially cancelled.
How long is rise of the rebellion? ›this ride is long, one of the longest in Disney World and Disneyland. From our experience riding it, Rise of the Resistance is about 18 minutes long. That takes into consideration the pre-show before boarding the shuttle and all ride elements.
How long is the series power? ›
| Power | |
|---|---|
| Running time | 51–82 minutes |
| Production companies | End of Episode, Inc. Mawuli Productions Atmosphere Television G-Unit Film & Television Inc. CBS Television Studios |
| Distributor | Starz Distribution |
| Release | |
It's complicated to understand because it's new and different, but once you experience it in person, it's really not that difficult. Moreover, as we write in our spoiler-free Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Ride Review, this is one of Walt Disney World's best attractions ever.
Is Rise of the Resistance worth it? ›Yes. Emphatically yes. Rise of the Resistance may well be worth the entire price of admission to Hollywood Studios.
Will Rise of the Resistance make me sick? ›This ride does use several projection screens and some motion simulators, but they are minimal in the length of time you are looking at them, and the odds of them causing any sort of motion sickness are low. The majority of the ride is in the trackless ride vehicle.
Is the series Power worth watching? ›Power is a great edge of your seat thriller that will keep your entertained throughout the entire series. The acting and the writing were so good that the show just sucked you into their world. The character development is as good as any show on television.
Is Ghost The sequel to Power? ›Power Book II: Ghost is an American drama television series created by Courtney A. Kemp that premiered on September 6, 2020 on Starz. The series is both a sequel and spin-off to Power.