It's an enjoyable journey, but nowhere near as immersive as it's TRUE predecessors.
The Bad: It's too short, and omits any and all sidequests; Environments can sometimes lack extraordinary detail; Repeating dungeon music; The evil god concept needs to stop, please...
Story: It's Grandia, back for another sequel that took either 6, or 4 years. If you say 4, I will slap you, as Xtreme does not deserve to be called a game. Anyway, it's all too familiar for anyone's tastes. Yuki, who's name sounds like that of a Japanese girl, has been obsessed with planes ever since he saw a video of his idol Sky Captain Schmidt, the first man to cross the sea in a plane. Yuki remains obsessed with planes, and his mom, who looks like she could be a younger sister, resents his obsession and wants him to become a potter. Eventually, Yuki and his mom, (whom he calls Miranda) take to the skies and find themselves in a cliched journey. They run into Alfina, a communicator for the gods, and soon after meet a suave con-artist named Alonso. All the while, they are tracked down by some goofy guy named Kornel, (voiced by the recently deceased Bob Papenbrook, RIP) who wants to use Alfina for something that you'll never learn. "The glory will be mine," he says. Did I miss something? The story's full of holes, too. Where the heck does Kornel run off to? I wish I knew. Continuing, Alfina has an older brother, Emelious who plays a Melfice sort of role. Emelious wants to reawaken the evil god, Xorn, and create his own world. The entire time you think that Xorn sounds awesome, but when all is said and done, you'll be disappointed. Xorn is a REALLY corny and repetitive god. Some cutscenes are really awesome, and involve some cool apocalyptic events, but it's just lackluster. There's some funny characters, Alonso, Ulf, Kornel, and Bianca... but I can only hear a bird squawk, and than... "Enough horseplay!!!" so many times before I get sick. Please don't expect a Final Fantasy 7.
Gameplay: The battle system is awesome, and introduces some cool new features, but you'll find that you'll later need to practically rely on cancel techniques, and you can't shake the feeling that the enemy can read your mind. If you beat every enemy you run into, you should be able to beat the final boss... but who wants to level grind so much? The sidequests are nonexistant, and the game's story is way too short. They introduce a world map to travel on, but it's not that fun. There are seldom towns to visit, and you can't even enter some locations at all. You may feel freedom in the plane, but it's just a ploy to hide the fact that the game remains as linear as the others; and the fact that they tried to hide it actually makes it feel worse. The strong combat is what this game's all about, so don't get too leery.
Graphics: Impressive character models, but lackluster enviroments; this is the exact opposite of Tales of Legendia, how weird!
Sound: Solid voices, with Kornel's 'sound tough but act like a wimp' stealing the show, but the repeating dungeon music feels worse than Grandia II's lack of variety. You get a nature music, and a dungeon music, towns sold seperately.
Value: Not much replay, don't expect much more after you beat it. The cutscenes are the highlight, and the battles are the driving force.
Tilt: I like RPG's, so I really don't see a problem for me, but I advise skeptics to rent it first. Don't throw away your money. To date, The original is the best, and it always will be.