If you guys ever watched The Spoony Experiment, I think in either a Final Fantasy VIII or X video Spoony talked about how people kept playing Final Fantasy to see if it had recaptured the magic that those games up to and including VII had. To me, Wild Arms is that kind of franchise to me. If you remember my thoughts on the first one, then you would know that I love that game very very much. Then I tried playing some of the other games, Wild Arms 3 wasn't very good since everybody had an ARM weapon making them not so special anymore. The remake of the first one was alright but didn't really have that magic. As for 4 and 5...we'll see. But there was a shining moment of hope, I had played Wild Arms 2 when it came out but my brother went to college and took the Playstation with him...and the games. But years later, I stumbled upon this and got it to see if it held up. I should have quit while I was still ahead but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.
Like the first game, it's up to a rag-tag bunch of misfits to unite and save the world. There is Ashley, a man who was invited to join his nation's special forces but some WACKY HIJINKS that involved demon summoning he is the only survivor the coronation ceremony. He also houses an evil demon from the past. There is Brad, a war hero wrongfully accused of nuking the very country he was trying to save into a salty hell. There is Lilka, a student witch who's filling in for her missing sister. There is Tim, a boy who was chosen to receive the Guardian's powers. There is Kanon, a descendant of the hero Sword Magess. Optionally, there's Marivel who's the last of her kind...vampires! Together, they must unite under the group ARMs led by the watchful and crippled eye of Irving Valeria to beat the crap out of the terrorist group Odessa. But you do and you realize the story has barely begun.
I should start with some positives with this. The first disc is really good and it's a two-disc game in case you were wondering. Anyways, at first the game moves in a nice, even pace where nothing takes too long or is too hard to figure out. Odessa were great villains who somehow became likable Complete Monsters but you still wanted to kill them. Also, it had a great idea to deconstruct and analyze what it meant to be a hero. Most of the time, a hero is the one who has to sacrifice himself or herself for the greater good. That's the way it usually is and there's nothing wrong with that. But this game asks what does the "hero" actually think of his or her responsibility. When does the "hero" think that there can be no more sacrifices for any reason? Those questions, while not exactly groundbreaking, does give a lot of depth to the game.
I also liked the modified battle system. The first game was your typical RPG battle system which was fine, it just had nothing new to say or do other than a FP system that unlocked some powerful attacks or moves. Here, the first thing you notice is that there is no MP system anymore. The magic is all powered by the FP system and it doesn't go down when you use it so you have unlimited uses...which is nice, once you get to that point anyways. It makes the battle system a lot more streamlined and it's a bit more fun to fight, which is the only improvement that this game had over the first one.
But the illusion kind of unravels when you actually control the camera. There's nothing really out of the ordinary about it, you use the shoulder buttons to rotate it. However, the game's world is still constructed like it has a stationery camera with high buildings and awkwardly placed rocks and pillars in the caves and dungeons. The problem with this is that it is very easy to get the characters stuck in the wrong side of a wall and the camera. I will grant that the camera never gets stuck since it always rotates so making the characters visible again doesn't take very long. It just happens so often that it gets very annoying but I'm willing to grant that it's just me and my bumbling fingers.
But I will not grant how things just get horrid on the second disc. And I yelled about it long enough so here's my reasons on why it sucks in detail. The first thing is that the Odessa is done. You won that battle...spoiler alert and it was a great battle. Then you find out you have to kick a parallel universe's ass that's eating your universe...which is bad! Now I know that's a great concept and all but fighting a parallel universe just isn't as fun and I think the game even lampshades it at the end as a reason speech. But that's a weak reason I know, how about this one? Outside of the first couple hours of playing the new disc, it becomes utterly boring. You explored all of the world so there's very little to find and what there is just bad sidequests. And by the final dungeons, it has become virtually unplayable with confusing maps, impossible puzzles and a cheating final boss. It's virtually a slap to the face to anyone who enjoyed the first game.
So if you want my advice...and I don't care if you do because you're going to get it, complete the first disc and then create some fanfiction to finish the few loose ends that it had. Whatever you create will have a much better story, much better pacing and it would actually be fun to experience. What we have here is just a pathetic attempt to insert more game in places it didn't need to be inserted, giggity.
4/10
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