Episode 3 of the Penny Arcade series counts the four year period between Episode 2 and Episode 3 as one week. Episode 3 pays homage to the 16-bit RGP era in terms of graphics. The game screens may remind you of classic RPG Final Fantasy VI (originally releasing on the Super Nintendo under the name Final Fantasy III). It may seem a bit odd to release a game in the style of 16-bit with the capabilities of modern consoles, but when Mega Man 9 stepped back a few hardware generations, it reminded gamers of what made the Mega Man series so good. That is precisely why Penny Arcade chose Zeboyd Games (Cthulhu Saves the World, Breath of Death VII) to develop Episode 3, is because they have a knack for it.
Penny Arcade has always been a fan of classic Nintendo 16-bit RPGs. Jerry Holkins, writer of the comic and the bulk of the games has said. Although the first two games were presented as graphical adventures, the combat system was influenced directly by 16-bit era RPGs. In order to show just that, Zeboyd took off the shiny shell of modern graphics to let the true inspiration for the game shine through.
Precipice 3 is in no way a simple clone of Final Fantasy VI. It was inspired by several classic RPGs. Take a look at the job system from Final Fantasy V, it allowed players to level up individual roles separately and incorporate a limited number of learned skills as a supplement to the characters main job. Precipice 3 allows players to have several different jobs at once. Each character has a unique base class, but has the ability to supplement those skills with about a dozen other roles that are available to everyone.
The magic/spell system received inspiration from games such as Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and Skies of Arcadia. Each character has no magic points at the beginning of battle, they are accumulated a single point at a time per turn. This forces players to think about the spells they are casting by making certain spells, the healing spells for example, require the use of more points.
They battle system has the characters actions shown on a timeline at the top of the screen, not shown in real time. Players manually advance actions and input commands. The character’s speed determines how frequently his, her, or its turns and how quickly special abilities take to execute. Some of the enemies are simply bizarre, while others try to hard with puns (e.g. a mime boss named Optimus Mime). The dialogue is as witty as long time fans have come to expect.
The game world map is straight out of Super Mario Bros. 3, it’s a point-by-point map instead of an open world were players are allowed to roam freely.
[Via 1up]