Rise of the Third Power (PC) review "War... War refused to change..."

Beginning a new epic RPG has always been awkward for me. I'm usually forced to move on from finishing the last one I loved, and that means putting its characters and setting aside so I can try to appreciate the one in front of me. I'm seldom ready to move on, though--hell, I still haven't fully gotten over Final Fantasy VI, and that was nearly thirty years ago! Yet here I am, beginning Rise of the Third Power, instinctively feeling the mental pushback that crops up whenever I aim to get acquainted with fresh faces and worlds.

This tale uses mystique to draw you in. You start off watching a pair of unlikely heroes, Rowan and Corrina, sneak onto rooftop and yammer about some ridiculous scheme to capture a princess. Obviously, they make allusions to conversations and decisions that occurred before the campaign's opening credits, all without going into gory detail. You don't know what they hope to achieve by kidnapping royalty, but the lack of knowledge beckons you go press onward, hoping the game will fill in its purposely established gaps. And the storyline obliges, while tossing new mysteries for you to ponder as you progress...

Corrina gets pumped about the obvious suicide mission while Rowan takes long pulls from his flask. Those two simple actions dish out plenty of info regarding these two. The game immediately doesn't spell out for you that Rowan is drowning his sorrows and Corrina has a death wish, or even why either character operates the way they do. Third Power drip feeds you info to keep you guessing, with promises of eventual character expansion.



Yes, some of its revelations are predictable, but no less worthwhile. For instance, there's a hooded character called Sparrow who serves as a secondary antagonist. At one point, you learn the villain's identity. However, Sparrow's big reveal should be obvious before it happens. Regardless, the scene still wrenches your heart.

As you can tell by its preliminary mission, Third Power spins a fairly political yarn. The world you explore this time mirrors our own's "Age of Sail," which ran from about the 15th century until the 19th. Here, you attempt to prevent a major country (Arkadya) from conquering the other two "super powers," Cirinthia and Tariq, via annexation and force. So obviously, each move our heroes make has to be carefully considered without arousing suspicion or causing international incidents, all while seeking out any powerful allies who can help them. Along the way, you see a lot of familiar political plot devices unfold: strategic assassinations, democratic process slowing down time-sensitive matters, bids for power, and a cult of personality.

We've seen games like this attempt to take serious tones while coming across ham-fisted. Third Power, on the other hand, strikes a balance between its grave subject matter and your usual JRPG humor. Characters still sometimes utter awkward things that cause others to comically sweat or quip back in usual style. However, the game is careful not to undercut its own serious moments with ill-timed comedy. When Rowan inappropriately lacks social graces, everyone groans and mutters funny comments under their breath. When someone gets their throat slashed, though, the tone takes an understandable dive and stays there for a short while.



Party interactions form the most compelling cutscenes. By all rights, these folks shouldn't succeed at any mission because the amount of disunity between them. For instance, you recruit a guard named Rashim doesn't trust Rowan or Corrina because of their lawless pasts. Meanwhile, he and a priestess named Reyna share a fairly complicated romantic history. The two of them remain allies, though Rashim uncovers Reyna engaging in unethical interactions and openly criticizes her. Most of this animosity stems from Reyna's relationship with Rowan, in which the latter has professed his love for the former. Yet, Reyna isn't quite ready to commit to a relationship, and may never be so. This isn't the kind of group where everyone agrees with each other and there's no internal conflict. They all cooperate despite their quarreling, and it adds an extra layer of depth to the narrative without coming across as bloated.

Third Power's drip-feed style isn't unique to its storytelling. You see it in the campaign and the world you explore especially. The game doesn't grant you free reign over its realm right away. I know everyone expects an open world straight off these days, but they forget where this genre came from. As with roleplayers from the '90s, you only receive a small piece of the map to check out at first. With each passing plot beat, more of the region becomes accessible. You go from only visiting a couple of towns and a dungeon or two to eventually owning a ship and hitting remote locations all over.

The places you visit teem with your typical foes, from sewer gremlins to vicious woodland creatures. To deal with these pests, each character comes with a handful of skills that either damage the opposition or instill buffs or debuffs. Many of these techniques cost either skill or rage points, all depending on the character. Each one has their own rules for refilling their skill gauge. Some start battles with a full supply, while others begin with a drastically reduced store that they must build up as the battle progresses.



The entire party possesses great variety in regards to skills, too. Reyna, for instance, mostly offers wonderful support magic, but she also boasts an offensive spell that can target one or all opponents. Rowan and Corrina both utilize attacks that cause enemies to bleed, thus taking extra damage for a few turns. The main difference is that Corrina can build up her skill points quickly and absolutely wreck single targets. Rowan, on the other hand, tends to be more of a slow-burn type of warrior with low-cost strikes that do little harm in the short term, though he also has some costly bangers that can one-shot a fair number of foes.

And then you have the warlock Adan, who brings a more complex fighting style to the table. His abilities revolve around infecting opponents with plagues, then hitting them with a blow that really puts the hurt on anyone afflicted by the status ailment. Though this whole process can take a few turns to set up, it affects whole packs of monsters and works wonders for crowd control.

The main thing this title accomplishes, though, is emphasize the team as a whole over just one or two characters. In plenty of past RPGs, I found myself relying on one or two powerful combatants. This one gives you a ragtag ensemble who fit into different situations with very specific skill trees, passive abilities, and types of attacks. Basically, each ally possesses a straightforward build. What matters most is how you arrange your front line based on the situations presented to you. For instance, if you're battling a heavy beast, then your best bet is to go for a trio that executes strong, single-target maneuvers. Characters like Corrina and a swordsman/prince named Gage tend to be good for moments like these. However, when taking on huge groups, you need folks who can spread their artillery out. The princess Arielle and Rashim prove useful in this department.



The thing is each character doesn't level up independently. Instead, your entire party levels up as a unified whole, which helps prevent the aforementioned leaning on a PC or two. You'll regularly find yourself switching folks out to accommodate different scenarios and making the most of your platoon.

And the game's battles hit just right. They provide enough flashy imagery and crisp sound effects, not to a sweet mention retro-style presentation. At times, you feel like you're playing a lost SNES cart that developer Stegosoft happened to recover. You find yourself cutting through piles of nasty creatures and the occasional "elite" version of a standard enemy, blasting them with heavy spells, cannon fire, and even molotov cocktails--watching as explosions cover the screen and spurts of blood stain the battlefield. Somehow, it all comes together just right and Third Power feels all the more exciting.

Hell, all of its content comes together harmoniously. The plot dishes just enough info to hold your attention while only feeding small bits of story and character arcs to keep you guessing and delving further to discover more. The battles you face remain just daunting enough to test you and your party-building skills. Thankfully, they aren't so demanding that you leave feeling helpless. You know with some leveling, upgrading equipment via the game's handy crafting system, and a little bit of tweaking that you can eventually overcome even the campaign's tough optional bosses. The experience captures the essence of struggle without overwhelming you, and it's absolutely fitting. You are, after all, captaining a small group of associates who don't entirely like each other, hoping to take down an entire empire. Struggling is very much at the core of Third Power's concept, and it nails that vibe expertly.



By the time the final credits rolled, I didn't want to move on. I selfishly wished to continue pummeling bosses while a mean fiddle belted out a special battle BGM, or sailing to unknown locations to complete side quests. I also wanted to find out how everything was going to turn out after the affair concluded. I didn't want to have to put this crew aside and get acquainted with another set of adventurers. But I knew I had to move on. It's funny because I haven't experienced this post-RPG melancholy in a while, or at least not as frequently these days as I did way back. I guess while developers like Stegosoft are recapturing vintage styles, they may as well revive old phenomena like "not wanting to move on from a story-driven RPG."

Staff review by Joseph Shaffer (October 04, 2022) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.