Grandia Xtreme

"An average RPG, but good dungeon crawler"

Visual: 6/10
The field graphics are decent, not great, but decent. The spell animations are done well, as are the bosses. They are big, and actually take a while to kill, unless you come prepared. Good graphics for a generic RPG, but not anything spectacular. Some of the FMV's are decent looking, but there's not many in the game to really impact the graphics rating. Most of the game is spent either in field or in battle.

Audio: 5/10
The major drawback in the game is the dialogue. Not only is it voiced pretty bad, but it's not that exciting. The music is great, but nothing really catches your ear. You won't be whistling the town theme on your way to work.
Sounds & Music: 5/10

Gameplay: 8/10
The skill system I think is an improvement, but finding the correct mana eggs can be tedious. As for only equipping them in town, well... you can't expect to just go off in a cavern, pick up a book, stop an read it, then continue on with your journey. The town setting would be more appropriate. And if you could equip mana eggs at your leisure, then there would be no point to using heal-type items. Just get a few Aqua eggs, and cast heal after every battle. When one's out of MP, start on another. Same with the saving, although I think some of the dungeons can be long the first time you venture through them. Also, the game forces you to repeat dungeons (at an increasingly harder difficulty). I did not like this idea one bit. Repeating one dungeon once... maybe... but all of them 3 times??? Come on, big lack of creativity here. The dungeon puzzles are the same, and there's just little variation. Same goes with towns. Same town, all the time. Buy your goods from the same guy, visit the same guy for upgrading skills. There's no scenery change, except when you go to dungeons.
However, I can say this: the battle system is good. It has a steep learning curve, but once you are accustomed to it, you'll quickly control the field with special moves, cancelled attacks and booster skills. I think this is the Grandia series' greatest legacy. With hundreds of items to obtain, and a fast-paced battle system it's what pulls people back in for more.

Replay Value: 5/10
Lots of replay value here. If during your first run-through, you didn't get all you wanted, it can be quite fun trying to build up your mana eggs/skills with a working knowledge of them. Also, without spoiling too much, there's an alternate ending, and a few sidequests to complete.

Difficulty: 6/10
This game will seem very difficult in places, especially when you first start out. There's not much of a tutorial, and there's a steep learning curve involved with the skills and magic system. Once you learn these, however, the game becomes very easy. It can be argued that most, if not all games are like that, but in this game, the dungeon monsters will get harder on repeat visits, and often it causes you to struggle at first.

Overall: 6/10
Final Comments:
If you like killing things over and over (and over) again, and powering up your characters, this game is for you. If you enjoy the story aspects and graphics more of an RPG, you might want to save your money. Rent the game first if you've never played a Grandia game before.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/02, Updated 11/12/02