Grandia Xtreme hands-on impressions

   All joking about the name aside, there's a very good reason Game Arts' latest RPG isn't simply called "Grandia III": it's not. A gameplay-based dungeon crawl more akin to Diablo or Evolution than a traditional RPG quest, Grandia Xtreme's drastically different direction is sure to surprise most gamers. Though all Grandia's traditional series elements are present, they have been reproportioned as to shift the game's focus away from narrative and towards intense battles.

   Grandia Xtreme's main character, Evan, is a young, highly-skilled swordsman impressed into the local army against his will. Once in, he heads off with fellow adventurers Carmine and Brandol to an abandoned ruin to unearth an ancient technology--but can they trust the motives of their bushy-eyebrowed commander, Kroitz? And so on, and so on. Grandia Xtreme's plot is strictly by-the-numbers; though the characterization of the eight main characters maintains Game Arts' high standards of likeability, the main storyline is as generic as they come. The narrative is told in wordy but ultimately unnecessary cutscenes between dungeon crawls. Fortunately, GX's focus lies elsewhere.

   Like any dungeon hack, Grandia Xtreme's emphasis is on dungeon exploration, fighting battles, and improving your characters' statistics. Dungeons have been revamped with an automap and a new, behind-the-character camera view, similar to Sega's Skies of Arcadia. Despite Grandia Xtreme's hacking focus, the dungeons are not randomly generated and are instead the same each time you enter. Each of the dungeons is several floors in size, with a number of enemies, rewards, and puzzles standing between you and your goal. New environmental hazards, such as falling rocks and poison clouds, can damage your party while exploring.

   Battles are fought using the latest iteration of the traditional Grandia battle system, and they're as frenetic and enjoyable as they've ever been. Characters' turns are determined by the cyclical three-stage IP Gauge which is divided into three sections: wait, command input, and command execute. Though input is instantaneous, the speeds at which the wait and execute stages pass are determined by the character's agility and the type of command. Attacking enemies at different points during their Gauge progression can yield extra damage or knock back their progress along the Gauge.

   Grandia Xtreme uses a slightly modified version of the series' Mana Egg system. Spells are still learned by equipping elemental Mana Eggs, and skills come from similarly equipped Skill Books. As in the first Grandia, Mana Eggs and their spells go up in level with repeated use. A new feature is the ability to merge two eggs to produce a new elemental egg of their combined level. For example, a Level 1 Flare Egg and a Level 1 Stone Egg can produce a Level 2 Lava Egg; a Wind Egg and Aqua Egg yield a Mist Egg, etc. Level 2 Eggs can then be merged with a Level 1 Egg to yield a new Level 3 egg, and so on all the way up to Level 6. With at least 36 different egg types available in the game (six levels each of six different elemental alignments), the number of possible combinations is daunting, and sure to keep micromanaging gamers busy.

   So what makes Grandia Xtreme a dungeon hack instead of a traditional RPG? First, there's a near complete absence of towns or world maps. The first town is similar to one you've seen before in any number of dungeon hacks, with One of Everything You Need. There's one item shop, one magic shop, one skill shop, one place to rest and save your game, and so forth. Towns are also the only part of the game where Mana Eggs and Skill Books can be equipped and Mana Eggs combined. Though a second town becomes available later in the game, it has the same utilitarian functionality as the first. Towns are a base for your operations into the dungeons, not a place to kick your feet up and relax.

   Next, the dungeons are extremely hard. Packed with enemies and hazards--and distinctly lacking opportunities to recover or save the game--each offers several hours of challenging gameplay and is capped by a difficult boss fight. Per standard dungeon crawling practice, if you start to feel overwhelmed, you can leave the dungeon and return to town to recover and save your game. It is worth explicitly stating that the only time you can save your game is in the town. Saving your game provides peace of mind, but also resets all of the dungeon's enemies, items, and puzzles. Gamers are forced to choose between backtracking to town, saving, and recompleting large portions of the dungeon--or forging ahead, fighting the dungeon boss, and possibly losing several hours of progress. This unforgiving design is sure to be divisive amongst RPG fans; though some gamers think that potentially losing the last two hours of gameplay makes a boss fight more "intense," others will just want their life back.

   Finally, perhaps in the greatest nod to dungeon hack tradition, recovering previously traversed ground is a necessity. It is not at all unusual for a dungeon to require two or three forays before your party is sufficiently powerful to defeat the boss. Moreover, in the game's later stages, the narrative sends you once more into previously completed dungeons; though the layout is identical to the first visit, they now feature beefed up enemies and rewards.

   Grandia Xtreme's presentation is both better than worse than the recent PS2 port of Grandia II. Grandia Xtreme was designed from the ground up to be a PlayStation 2 title, so the engine is far more robust than its sister title's occasionally spotty performance. Unfortunately, Grandia Xtreme's art resources and design fall slightly short of the previous two games' standard. Though not bad, they lack that certain polish expected of Game Arts' titles. The music and sound effects are typical of the series' upbeat, high-quality composition. The acoustic guitar that punctuates the battle sequences is particularly well done. As is typical of Game Arts titles, key cutscenes feature full voice acting for the main characters.

   One of Grandia's greatest strengths has always been its battle system, so a game that places enemy encounters front and center, though unexpected, makes a certain kind of sense. Gamers expecting the next main series Grandia title will no doubt be disappointed, but RPG fans who like fighting, improving their characters, fighting, exploring dungeons, and fighting will be pleased. Just be forewarned: the titular "Xtreme" refers to the game's high level of challenge; only the dedicated and patient need apply.