[bluestarultor]

I've mostly been playing Pokemon Blue and Yellow and Grandia Xtreme since my brother glued himself to Dragon Age.

Pokemon is as good as ever. Grandia Xtreme is better than I used to give it credit for. It's easily the weakest in the story and writing departments, but the systems are all functional, even if things like dual-techs come off as an afterthought. The magic system is still worth using, which is more than can be said for Grandia 3. Titto is by far the best character in the roster due to getting in a third hit to his combos, but pathfinding is a bit wonky given he doesn't seem to wait to throw again (he uses throwing knives, which also gives him the bonus of range) while he's turning to the next enemy after he kills one and therefore hits the dead air in between. Or sometimes hapless enemies who happen to be in the way, since it's a true collision system. Also, they have the same annoying habit from Grandia 2 of getting stuck on each other and running out of movement points.

Still, that's not as bad as it sounds, and once you realize that you're SUPPOSED to be constantly dragging loot back into town instead of blazing through the levels, things are pretty well-set-up.