The starting year of the game is set at 1480. Players can create their own protagonist or choose two virtual protagonists (a Portuguese and a Spanish).
The main focus of 3rd game is very different from that of the 2nd. It emphasized on exploration and discovery rather than trade. The most effective way for players to obtain funds is to report the discovery to their clients. There are many different kinds of discoveries are to be discovered, such as geographical, biological, historical, religious findings, and also numerous treasures and different categories of disciplines. Players will discover geographical routes with the famous navigators in history, such as discovering the new continent before Columbus and discovering the route to India before Vasco da Gama, so that players can not only acquire the naming rights of geographical routes, but also have the ability to acquire unimaginable wealth and fame.
Players can even obtain abilities to pursue different styles of women around the world to get married and have offspring, building an family empire, making the game even more interesting.
It is the most realistic title among the whole series, unfortunately, accordingly the most difficult and frustrating one, making it the least popular in both Japanese and global market.