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A natural disaster known as the Elemental Disorder has thrown the world into chaos, forcing the Nortis Army to mobilize and search for a solution. A young Ranger named Evann is recruited to help in this endeavor, an offer that he is prepared to turn down until he discovers that his childhood friend and rival Kroitz is a high-ranking commander within the army. Accepting the mission, Evann must travel to the four elemental temples that lie across the world and investigate just what (or who) could be causing the Elemental Disorder.

A 2002 Spin-Off of the Grandia series focused on Dungeon Crawling and combat, Grandia Xtreme's gamepley largely involves grinding for levels, equipment and skills. There are ten dungeons in the game: seven Elemental Ruins, and three Randomly Generated Levels (one of which is a 100-floors Bonus Dungeon).


Grandia Xtreme provides examples of the following tropes:

  • Absurdly High Level Cap: Level 200. Though Super Boss Zenothlee is at this level, the main story can be finished at a lower one.
  • Already Done for You: You're still required to trek through the ruins, but the Nortis Army have already neutralised the Land Disorder before the start of the game.
  • Anachronism Stew: The setting and technology of Nortis bears resemblance to 20th Century Germany (complete with the German-sounding names the Nortis characters are given), but there's the occasional addition that seem more modern (for example, the Ancient Gears providing "electricity", or acting as television sets that Quanlee can project himself into, or the computer screens on the walls of some of the army buildings).
  • Ancient Evil: The Ancients; although they are a Greater-Scope Villain, they continue to exist through Evol, the keeper of the Birthplace of Quanlee, who is implied to be many centuries old.
  • An Ice Person: Myam. Two of her special moves are ice elemental.
  • Apocalypse How: Quanlee invokes a Class 0 in Escarre, with the intention of having it spread into a Class 1. None of the cityfolk suffer (per se) or are killed, but they are collectively mind controlled. Thankfully its brought to an end when Quanlee is defeated.
  • Archaeological Arms Race: Kroitz and Specto pursue Quanlee with the belief that he is an Ancient WMD, and that obtaining his power will make the Nortis Army invincible.
    • The Nortis were able to reverse-engineer Ancient Gears the army had excavated from archaeological digs, utilising this technology during the Nortis-Arcada War to build vehicles, including armoured tanks. The Arcadians, on the other hand, view the use of this technology as immoral.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Some of the Combination Attacks are flashy, but some just plain hack and slash multiple times for big hits.
  • BFS: Brandol and Kroitz wield big swords in combat.
  • Big Bad: Quanlee.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: In the end, Kroitz and Specto were just being used as Unwitting Pawns for Evol to revive Quanlee.
  • Big Eater: Brandol.
  • The Big Guy: Brandol, Ulk.
  • Blow You Away: Howlnado spell's effect will scatter everyone (allies and enemies) all over the battlefield.
  • Body Horror: Zenothlee, complete with Extra Eyes and gears melded into its back.
  • Bonus Dungeon: 100 floors Vortex Corridor with randomly generated floors. And mazes, don't forget the mazes.
  • Boss in Mook Clothing: Whilst the Minotaur in the Land Ruins is set up to be the first boss (and poses enough of a challenge to be one), it reoccurs as a regular Mook enemy after its inital defeat. It is replaced in Chapter Two onwards by the Giant Soldiers.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Ben's Son.
  • Calling Your Attacks: The greater majority of Moves and Feats have their names thrown out at some point during the sequences. As expected of a Grandia game, Narm ensues.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Brandol to Wendy the barkeep, Lutina to Evann. Averted by Lutina in the second ending: "We'll be waiting. By then... I'll be more attractive to you."
  • Can't Drop the Hero: Evann cannot be removed from the party.
  • Cast of Expies:
    • Evann and Ulk are very similar to Ryudo and Mareg, from Grandia II; Evann even has Sky Dragon Slash, as his Ultimate Move.
    • The Nortis Army is essentially a modernized and pragmatic version of the Garlyle Forces from the first game.
      • A subverted example exists in Kroitz and Diene, both together and as individual characters. They're set up to allude to Mullen and Leen from the first game, even down to sharing identical military ranks. But due to Kroitz's betrayal, they turn out considerably different from their earlier counterparts.
  • Checkpoint Starvation:
    • There is only save point in the game, but the dungeons have Geo Gates that serves as checkpoints and can warp you back to town to save and rest. However, the Land Ruins is the only level without a two-ways Geo Gate, forcing you into always starting from the entrance.
    • The 16-floor Evolution Corridor has Geo Gates on the 5th and 10th floors. From the 11th floor onward, you have no choice but to keep moving forward (note: since it's a random generated level, you cannot backtrack) and you only be allowed to save the game after beating the final boss and watching the ending.
  • City with No Name: Wherever Evann, Kroitz and Pike grew up, it's never named or even given much reference to as a location. Evann's house is the only part of the area ever actually shown.
  • Combination Attack: This game features "Feats", when two or more characters attacks simultaneously. The enemies can also use this against you.
  • Cognizant Limbs: The series' staple for bosses. Defeating those parts before bosses will yield more EXP and possibly some equipment.
  • Crossdressing Voices: Titto, in the English version; Quanlee in both English and Japanese.
  • Custom Uniform: Each of the named Nortis soldiers wear uniforms with noticeable differences in style to the others'.
    • The womens' uniforms have long coat trains, (which, although aesthetically pleasing, border on being impractical).
  • Deadpan Snarker: Evann, Jaid.
  • Defeat Equals Friendship: Quanlee.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Lutina in the post ending. Diene, for the latter half of the game, as well.
  • Doppelgänger Attack:
    • Lutina's Dragon Mirage move, where she create two more clones to trap the enemy inside a triangle, before attacking him from the three angles.
    • Titto has something similar with his Illusion Slash, where he runs around an enemy, creating four clones of himself to attack the enemy simultaneously.
  • Earth-Shattering Kaboom: BA-BOOM! spell.
  • Element No. 5: After clearing the four elemental ruins, the Venom, Darkness and Light Ruins appears inside the Starry Corridor.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Ben's Wife and Ben's Son.
  • Excuse Plot: As the Grandia games were renowned for their exciting and dynamic battle system, a decision was made to make a game that focused almost entirely on combat. Unfortunately, this means that the story is threadbare and the gameplay largely involves grinding for levels, equipment and skills.
  • Fake Longevity: The game has over 40 hours of gameplay, but most of that time is spent with Forced Level-Grinding and Item Farming. While its not mandatory, it's high recommended, as the next bosses will at a much higher level than your strongest character; and Mana Eggs, Skill and Skill Books can only be obtained this way. It does not help that the Geo Gates you opened are reseted twice during the main story, and one more time after the final battle, forcing you into backtracking every dungeon, including the 30-floors Starry Corridor.
  • Fantastic Racism: Brandol has something against Arcadians. The feeling is mutual with Jaid.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Nortis, of the Kaiserreich variety. The Army and its technology echoes early-to-mid 20th century Germany, though the settlements and culture seem to branch out into more generic European stylisation. Practically every named Nortis character has a German (or at least German-sounding) name.
  • Fiery Red Head: Myam. Ironically that she's more of An Ice Person.
  • Fight Woosh: Glass shattering type.
  • Final Boss, New Dimension: The final boss is fought in an Amazing Technicolor Battlefield.
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning: The three most magically-inclined party members have special moves (both solo and combination) that make use of their respective elements: Jaid has Fire, Myam has Ice, Evann has Lightning.
  • Flawless Victory: Ending a battle without taking any damage will earn you bonus EXP range from 20% to 100%.
  • Gaiden Game: Xtreme is unrelated to the mainline Grandia games.
  • Gender Is No Object: Carmyne mentions she fought the Arcadians directly, implying the Nortis Army perceives no difference between male and female soldiers. Likewise, Lutina is a specialist captain within Arcada's forces. All of the Redshirts on both sides are (at least depicted as) male, though.
  • Genghis Gambit: The Elemental Disorder brings the war between Nortis and Arcada to an end; the two sides (along with Hazma) work together to stop it. Quanlee later fills this role.
  • Global Currency Exception: Looca's skillman also sell items, but you have to pay with special points, earned by selling Skills and Skill books.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Everything related to Quanlee's birth was premeditated by the Ancients, many centuries (at least) before the Elemental Disorder had even started.
  • Great Offscreen War: The pre-game conflict between Arcada and Nortis, referred to several times in the narrative, but only seen very briefly in the opening cutscene.
  • Gusty Glade: The Gale Ruins.
  • Hair Color Dissonance: Diene's hair is dark blue, but is interpreted as black in some of the character art.
  • Healing Hands: Some mana eggs, like Aqua, Life and Restore have healing spells. Among the party members, Carmyne, Myam and Ulk have Special Moves that can heals allies or cure status effects.
  • Hourglass Plot: Displayed with Evann and Kroitz, who act as Foils to one another. Evann begins the story as an unmotivated young man who lacks experience, whereas at the same point in time, Kroitz - only five years his senior - has had a full military career, with a high rank and respect from his subordinates to prove it. These differences are even Lampshaded now and again by other characters. But by the end of the game, Kroitz has lost all of those things due in part to his own hubris, only really escaping with his life thanks to Evann, who in turn leads his party towards defeating the Big Bad.
  • Last Villain Stand: Subverted. Kroitz has no interest in fighting Evann or his party until the two sides are all but knocking on Evol's front door. Even when he learns the truth about Quanlee, and is relieved of command for his earlier actions, he refuses to accept reality. When Quanlee does appear, Kroitz attempts to battle him, getting himself 'possessed' by Quanlee and sent after the party in a mindless stupor.
  • Lethal Lava Land: The Flame Ruins looks like a active volcano and has fire geysers that can damage you.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Battle Kroitz.
  • Luck-Based Mission: As skills can only obtained through Random Drops, getting a specific one, like Coercion, can be very time-consuming, as almost every enemy has over 23 possible item drops, except for certain enemies, like Mimics, which only drop Revival Gems; And Big Devils, which only drop High, Psyche, Battle, Corporal, Coveted, and Secret Vellums.
  • Ludd Was Right: The Arcadians dislike the technology the Nortis have engineered from their archaeological findings, whether because it was used against them in the war, or simply because they see the reclaimation and use of the Ancients' technology as immoral.
  • Magitek: The Force Gears discovered by the Nortis are used around the country as a power source.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Subverted. While he successfully manipulated the entire Nortis army for his own goals, Kroitz himself was manipulated by Evol to revive Quanlee.
  • Metal Slime: Lucky Minks, purple rodents found late in the game. They have little HP, but are fast and very resistant (anything you use will deal either 0~1 damage points). Defeating them grants you many experience points, but in addition to being hard to hit, they can escape from the battle by using High Agility, a move that can only be prevented if you have at least two maxed Coercion skills equipped.
    • Thankfully, you can escape the battle and try to fight it again.
  • Mythology Gag: The battle music from previous games randomly change in Vortex Corridor.
    • Part of Xtreme's opening theme was blended with the overarching Theme of Grandia into the main theme of Grandia Online.
    • The walls of Levels 60 to 74 of Vortex Corridor are bronze-coloured blocks that look suspiciously like the ones the End of the World was built from.
      • The same levels have stone sword structures dotted around them that are almost identical in shape to the Granasaber.
  • Nintendo Hard: Downplayed. Most of the game's challenge come from the lack of resources (Skills and Mana Eggs can only be found in dungeons, the limited inventory, only one save point etc.); rather than the battles themselves.
  • Noob Cave: Land Ruins, the first dungeon. While it does get upgraded, it's still the easiest level.
  • Overrated and Underleveled: Lutina is the most notable example, and suffers from a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation; she's certainly fast and strong when she becomes playable, but she's still downgraded from her boss battle. She, as well as Jaid, Brandol and Carmyne are veteran soldiers, yet none seem to have many levels to show for it.
  • Palette Swap:
  • Pointy Ears: The Arcadian and Hazman people have long, pointed ears.
  • Power at a Price: Snowwhite Dress, a Gender-Restricted Gear, makes a character immune to every magic (offensive magic, healing spells and status buffs). It also prevents them from using Mana Eggs.
  • Rare Candy: The stats-raising seeds.
  • Ruins for Ruins' Sake: Exaggerated. The Elemental Ruins, created by an ancient civilization, are a bunch of mazes filled with deadly traps and monsters lurking around.
  • Say My Name:
    Evann: [at least twenty times during the main storyline] "KROITZ!!"
  • Shock and Awe: Two of Evann's special moves are lightning-based.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Lutina, who isn't a member of the team assigned to neutralize the Elemental Disorder, joins the party after Kroitz's betrayal.
  • Lost in Translation: The Snowwhite Dress armour in the English port is called the Pure White Dress in the original Japanese version. A "pure white dress" is a colloquial term for a wedding dress in Japanese. It's not particularly significant, but the translation does remove the amusement of unlocking the gender restriction using the Full Armour skill and powering your way through the game with Evann in a wedding dress.
  • Spin Attack: Two of Brandol's Special Moves have him swinging his sword around to damage nearly opponents: Spinning Slash and Tornado Slash.
  • The Squadette: Carmyne for the Nortis Army, Lutina for the Arcadians. Diene for the former as well, though she's never shown directly in battle.
  • Strange Salute: Nortis soldiers fold their elbow and clench their fist to their chest. Though the fist's position indicates to their heart, the salute's significance is neither described nor mentioned in-narrative.
  • The Rival: Kroitz has been Evann's rival since their childhood.
  • Tank Goodness: The Nortis Army created tanks by reverse-engineering the Ancient Gears they had uncovered from ruin expeditions. It seems prior to the game's events, they used these tanks as a (somewhat) protective way of approaching the Elemental Disorders.
  • Tech Points: Mental, Combat, Physical and Special.
  • Temple of Doom: The four elemental ruins full of monsters and deadly traps hidden inside caves, volcanoes, tornadoes or even underwater. Then there more three shrines hidden in the undergrounds of Looca.
  • Underground Level: The Land Ruins is hidden inside a cavern.
  • Underwater Ruins: The Aqua Ruins. It begins as an Under the Sea level, and the party can breath underwater because of special seeds that prevents them from drowning.
  • The Unfought: Evol is killed-off by Kroitz during a cutscene.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Evann and Lutina, Evann and Diene, Brandol and Wendy...
  • Useless Useful Spell: Averted. Some of the status-inflicting spells such as Shhh! and Fiora (blocking enemies' Magic and Moves, respectively) work even on bosses.
  • Video Game Stealing: Titto's Get Item Special Move allows you to get some rare items from monsters.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: The Giant Soldiers, which spawn at the end of the Land Ruins from Chapter Two onwards. They really drive home the need to pay attention to status immunities.
    • The first Kroitz battle can easily lock your progress if you haven't been rerunning the Elemental Ruins each time they're boosted.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Evol, Quanlee.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: Grandia Xtreme.


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