Arc Rise Fantasia is one of those games that, despite huge flaws, will still emotionally entice gamers with its world.
That makes Arc Rise Fantasia my peak experience of 2010 - An emotionally thrilling, slightly cliched journey in a world that reminded me very closely of Grandia 2.
WARNING... SPOILERS BELOW. I'LL TELL YOU WHEN THEY END.
Arc Rise Fantasia begins pretty trite. The gameplay is solid and fun, but the story feels shallow. L'arc is met by Ryfia, a messenger of the Imaginal religion, and he's assisted by his best friend Alf who is also a prince. Things get interesting 10 hours in when Alf and half of the party betrays L'arc. The team splits into two, and the two sides cross paths and go at each others throats in pretty intense ways throughout the game. By the end of the game, after many deaths in the party, and emotionally charged conflicts of hate, jealousy, power, and change - L'arc and Alf square off. Its absolutely thrilling for me to watch these events unfold between the characters, and Alf in particular is an exceptional character who's probably the most complex character in the game. In fact, he's very similar to Suzaku from Code Geass if anyone's seen the anime. In fact, I watched code Geass after I played ARF and when Suzaku sides with Lelouch towards the end of R2, I flashed back to Alf turning to the dark side in tone and character in ARF.
SPOILERS DONE.
Needless to say, the story and character conflict is impressive.
The rest of the game is either unimpressive or shines rather well. Gameplay gets annoying because of the need to grind a lot before each boss. You'll need to buy a lot of potions, and its just a hassel that the difficulty was so poorly designed. Save often, train a lot.
The music is INCREDIBLE. Great simple tunes that convey emotion, and some of my personal favorites are battle themes, and I have a soft spot for the music that plays in the ruins where you fight Gula about 15 hours into the game. Voice acting is a bitter pill to swallow. Its just mediocre and untalented, but it conveys enough emotion to make ir more memorable, then say, Baten Kaitos.
Visuals have a rough edge to them. They are pretty on one hand, but the jaggies are unacceptable and some of the character models are dull.
Its a game that's better then the sum of its parts. If you like the Tales games or Grandia 2, (Arc Rise has a vague Grandia 2 vibe) you'll love Arc Rise. Some reviewers won't be as kind as an 8.5 in their score, but given my preferences I think this game deserves more attention than its gotten. If you find yourself drawn to the aforementioned RPGs, I highly recommend this game despite its shortcomings.