is a role-playing video game developed by Game Arts and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2 console. Originally released in Japan in August 2005, the game was released in English in North America in February 2006, and is the first main series Grandia title to not be released in Europe. Grandia III was re-released on the North American PlayStation 3 store on July 21, 2016. The game was designed by much of the key staff of previous games in the series and includes many features seen in its predecessors, including the battle system. Music for the game was provided by series veteran Noriyuki Iwadare, and features the opening theme song "In the Sky" performed by Japanese pop/rock artist Miz. The game is set in a fantasy world where humans fly in magic-powered aircraft. A boy named Yuki is determined to become a great pilot like his idol, the Sky Captain Schmidt. When he and his mother encounter a girl named Alfina who has the ability to communicate with the spiritual guardians of the world, they discover the secrets of the world's past and face an evil rogue guardian named Xorn. The game met with a generally positive response upon release, with critics praising the game's innovative battle system. Gameplay The player controls Yuki and his companions through a fully 3D world, fighting their way through obstacles using a battle system in the same style as the other Grandia games, with some slight tweaks. Throughout the game Yuki enlists the aide of various characters and creatures called the Guardians to aid him on his journey. Rather than walking across a world map to travel between areas in this game, the player flies a plane, with further landing points becoming available as the story is progressed. Combat Battles are similar to those of the previous Grandia games. It uses the same basic combat system, where both time and distance play into the execution of actions. Icons representing all characters and enemies on the field begin an encounter on a point on the dial depending on whether the enemy party or the player party was running away from the other prior to the encounter, and progress along the circle at their own rates. Once the icon reaches the Command point of the dial, the game pauses to allow the player (or computer, if the icon is an enemy's) to give that