Grandia Xtreme

The game is split into four chapters of increasing difficulty and drops. I wouldn't linger on the three chapters since chapter 4 opens up with so much better stuff and half the game's text.

I may mention save-scumming below, but you can get by without doing it at all, but chapter 4 will be very rough with what the game sells to you and randomly gives you.

Random number generation (RNG) is used for just about everything except enemy formations. You fight an enemy and that group won't change.

Everything your guys take in their inventory and what they slotted in for magic and skills cannot be undone until you leave the dungeon and talk to an NPC. You can't switch out eggs or skills when you find them. You can throw them away if you want.

There are some places where items can reset by changing screens to manipulate the RNG. It also works on encounters so monsters may have 7 treasure icons with the best chance of getting special equipment or stat seeds.

Titto steals from monsters and his level must be high enough compared to the monster. Usually, anything less than 6 icons is common stuff. The treasure icon determines the tier you could steal or as a drop. Make him steal constantly so you can get skills and items to sell. You will need millions to get the best stuff that Juston has and I wouldn't be cheap about it since his game is tolerable with save-scums.

There is a strategy of farming items from enemies where you steal and then run away. The item will drop out of battle to collect and the encounter will roll another item. You will need Quick Feet and Speed skills on the escaping character to reliably farm. The larger enemies tend to have expensive drops and sometimes caps at 4 treasure icons.

The only way to increase your SP over 100 is with a certain skill or Seed of Moves. I'd give Evann all the Move seeds since he has an AOE and is mandatory.

Your SP resets to 0 when you leave the dungeon, enter town, or travel to other places using a portal.

The character Juston has an awful gambling game that opens up in chapter 4 and is made for abusing save-scumming. He is your money sink and you will need money for the superior weapons you can get for your guys. There is a guide on his prizes. He has the Spirit Ring and Shoes on rotation. The ring grants full immunity to all ailments and resistance to every element, plus a ton of stat ups.

Spirit equipment can be equipped only in chapter 4, where you get Limited Books and the Ultimate Vellum that unlocks Full Armor in the Vortex Corridor. There are some items named spirit, but no one will be able to use the Helmet, Shield, Armor, Shoes, or Ring. Anyone can equip their spirit weapons.

You get 24 Mana Eggs total. Same for Skill Books. You can't give them to everyone and put the rest in storage. The game will stop you from getting books/eggs unless you throw out another.

You can hold 100 skills before you can sell them off to get more. You can put the vellum in storage instead.

Ailment immunity is king in this game. I'd equip anything that protects from paralysis, sleep, and confuse, since those cost turns. Poison is just annoying. Certain spells and attacks will inflict status as a side-effect.

All enemies have a skill point timer. Don't worry about it until you fight bosses or mimics. Those will give you lots of points towards the more annoying skills to level. There are four kinds and the muscle and sword skills are easiest to level.

Have everyone level their Moves when you can to get new ones. Leveled Moves get stronger and act faster. The first skill always cancels attacks when an enemy is in the final phase and that will dominate bosses if you are fast enough and also use critical hits as a free cancel.

You don't need to give everyone magic, but healing spells will always be good when out of battle.

Plan on having your guys specialize in mostly melee or magic. One character with 6 strength upgrades will finish battles much faster than 4 characters with 1-2. Your casters can reduce a boss down to nothing quickly while your melee are canceling its attacks. Cancel/critical the main body of multi-part bosses to affect the whole body. Each part of a boss you destroy besides the core gives additional skill points.

Each dungeon after the first has a mid-point teleport you can get back to, but all of them have a one way teleport to town.

The Tsunami Trough Ocean Cave teleport places you near a giant clam shell that always has something in it. You can farm it for many eggs and books to sell to the skill seller. Each chapter upgrades or changes what comes out of it.

Combining the same Mana Eggs results in less than the total mp value, but might give you upgraded spells and/or eggs with stars on them, which from 1-3 grants additional upgrades to spells for that combined egg. You need another egg with stars to get those upgraded spells. You can scum those upgrades by entering another building and going back, then scum several combinations. I would only bother if you have stars on an egg since the game may give you one upgrade point among six spells, other times you get 9+.

The skill maker sells items for points and you won't be using the Spirit Helmet until chapter 4 and only after doing around a couple dozen floors of Vortex Corridor while collecting Ultimate Vellums. Use those points on buying Soul Eggs and merging them a couple times. You get a powerful heal with 600+mp, which you can also combine with something else and get over 400mp on high level eggs for a few thousand points. Expect to buy a hundred Soul Eggs and nothing else.

You can't steal from bosses the first time they appear in a chapter and boss drops are not good. The atrium behind them will have three very random items you can save scum. The chapter influences the tier of those items, but you can still get useless junk.

The random dungeons may have tiles that light up and open a door. That door may have 1-3 healing items, but it isn't worth it unless you are struggling.