Sequels are hit and miss. You don't want lack of innovation and just to release the same game with updated graphics and a few tweaks on the gameplay, however, you don't want the sequel to differ so much from the original that's it loss the greatness of the original (aka Devil May Cry 2). Sometimes they improve on every aspect of the game and make it much better. Ratchet and Clank 2 is the perfect example of how a sequel should be. R&C 2 improves on every aspect of the first game and adds several innovations on how the game is played, but it still maintains the elements which made the first game so enjoyable.
The element of the game which stood out the most was surprisingly not the weapons or the graphics, but the story. The story of R&C 2 is a departure from many recent games. There has been a prevailing trend to have all games to have a dark story of plotline. This demand was usually reserved for RPG's or adventure games, but in the last few years this demand has transferred to all game genres, even platformers. Read any message board for an upcoming game and you will see many topics demanding a dark game. I personally do like this trend. While I do enjoy a violent plot with dark elements, I also like games which are light-hearted and have a sense of humor. R&C 2 delivers such a story. While it is typical save the world plot, it is delivered extremely well. The creature you are trying to save the world from is not some dark, scary beast from a different galaxy, but instead a cute, cuddly Furby look alike. All of the characters deliver some kind of humor throughout the game and none of outstay their welcome. Wisecracks, slap stick, situational, all types of humor are used during the course of the game. The result is a game that will make one laugh at loud on several occasions.
Like it or not, FFVII was revolutionary. FFVII had a terrible battle system, a so-so story and mediocre characters, yet it immediately was praised as one of the greatest games of all time and is beloved by many gamers. The reason for this praise is twofold. First, it was many people's first RPG. Second, it brought a change for RPG's, an emphasis not only on the battle system, story and characters, but also on graphics and presentation. The impact of FFVII can be seen in such games a Xenosaga and Final Fantasy X, which are as much movies as they are games. This trend is not necessarily a bad one no matter what "old-school" gamers will tell you, but it has changed the face of video games and particularly RPG's. In most RPG's now, it is expected that there should be FMV scenes, great graphics and an overall great presentation. The result is that some games have put too much emphasis on presentation and not on gameplay, however, some games place and equal emphasis on both and simply amazing.
Grandia Xtreme is a rejection of this movement in RPG's. It is an old-school game in that it virtually ignores graphics, FMV scenes and overall presentation and places its entire emphasis on gameplay. This emphasis on gameplay and not on presentation made Grandia Xtreme have the potential to be a great game, however never truly realizes or captures the spirit of the old-school RPG and quickly becomes a mediocre experience.
Evann is the main protagonist of the story. He possesses the ability to move Geostreams, which gives him the power to teleport to different spots in the world, where the presence of Geostreams is strong. He is forcibly recruited by the army to quell four elemental disorders which are wreaking havoc. During this quest Evann realizes that someone is trying to awaken an ancient evil in order to take over the world. The story is pretty much your average run-of-the-mill RPG story, but what sets the story of Grandia Xtreme apart from others it the absolutely horrid presentation. There are six other characters in Evann's party, yet you never learn more about them than their names. Evann is the only character which you ever get any information on his history, feelings and motivations. The end result is that the player simply does not care for nor identify with any of the characters. This is especially unforgivable in RPG's when the whole point of the genre is to have the player identify with the characters and care about what happens to them. Also the pacing of the story leaves much to be desired. In most RPG's which take about 40 hours to complete, the story takes up 8-10 hours of the game time, in Grandia Xtreme is takes about 3. As a result, the story feels rushed and becomes very confusing because it advances so far in very short amounts of time. As a whole the story and the characters are very poor bordering on terrible.
As mentioned in the introduction, Grandia Xtreme places very little emphasis of the actual presentation of the story. Although released around the same time as Final Fantasy X, the great graphics in Grandia Xtreme look like a first generation PS2 game. The voice acting and the few cut scenes in the game are horrible. What makes it worst, it that the text and dialogue precedes at an extremely slow rate, which will just increase your frustration. The presentation of the game was so bad, that is caused me to stop playing a few times.
For all the bad things I have said of Grandia Xtreme it has several good elements, the most notable of which is the battle system. For anyone who has not played a game in Grandia series, it is impossible to give the battle system too much praise. The system is an ATB system with a twist. Instead of each character having separate ATB bars, there is an ATB circle. In this circle, you can see when all characters and all monsters are able to make an action. Once a character reaches the point where they can make an action, the battle pauses and you input a command. On the ATB circle there are two lines, the command line and action line. The command line is where you input the command and the second line is the perform line which signifies when the action is actually performed Different actions take different amount of times to "charge up" and reach the action. For example, a spell takes longer to charge and perform than an attack. The end result is an extremely fast paced, yet strategic battle, because you can effectively cancel or delay the actions of monsters by striking them when they are charging up for an action.
Also implemented very well is the magic, move and skill system. Magic can only be used through the equipping of magic eggs, meaning any character can perform any spell. Each egg has its own individual MP. In Grandia Xtreme magic eggs can be combined to create more powerful eggs with better spells and higher MP. Each character has 5 moves which he/she can learn. Most characters start with one or two and you learn more by performing other moves several times. Also all moves can be powered up through continued use. Grandia Xtreme also has a very cool combo system. Similar to dual and triple techs in Chrono Trigger, different characters can combine their moves to make more powerful ones. Up to four characters can partake in a combo. Each character can learn several of these combo moves (20-30) and this adds a great deal of depth to the game. Skills and skill books are found in dungeons. Skills are equipped through skill books, of which each character can hold a varying amount. The skills are rich and diverse in their abilities and can also be powered up with the bounty won in battle.
Despite the rich and in-depth battle system, the actual gameplay is just above-average. Grandia Xtreme is true dungeon crawler. You explore massive dungeons all the time battling hundreds of enemies and I do mean hundreds. The dungeons are boring and lifeless and have the potential of making combat boring, because it forces you to do so much. Also missing from the gameplay is the surprise element from Grandia II. In Grandia II you could surprise monsters by running into from behind and vice versa. In Grandia Xtreme this has been replaced by "ready" meter. You hold X and Evann walks slower with his sword drawn, and increases your chance to gain initiative. I found this system to be very stale. The saving grace are the simple, yet fun puzzles in the dungeons, replay value, and difficulty. There is a lot of replay value in Grandia Xtreme. Creating the most powerful magic eggs takes a lot time and exploring dungeon. Once you beat the game, new bosses and dungeons emerge. One can easily spend 100+ hours on this game. The difficulty of the game is very difficult at times which is a welcome change from modern RPG's which are too easy. The monsters level up with you, and save points are few and far in between, both of which make the game fairly difficult.
Conclusion 6/10
Grandia Xtreme tries to be an old-school RPG but it forgot that what made these games great was not only the battle system and gameplay but also great stories and characters. And it fails to deliver an even a mediocre story and characters. Also, I have come to expect more out of video games. I expect good graphics and in RPG's, excellent cut scenes to advance the story. Grandia Xtreme fails to deliver on both. Grandia Xtreme gets combat right and also does well on gameplay. but the experience is lackluster. In the end Grandia Xtreme is just another mediocre game.
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