While not the best RPG out there, it has an old-school feel that many can appreciate.
User Rating: 7 | Arc: Twilight of the Spirits PS2
It's not the most revolutionary, nor the most engrossing. You won't be on the edge of your seat, nor will you be crying your eyes out. Arc the Lad: Twilight of Spirits is simply an RPG that presents a decent story for you to enjoy, with a solid formula that is at the foundation of every good RPG out there. The story starts a little something like this: on one end, you have a young man whom is among "who's who" of his hometown, and on the other you have a lowly slave in "deimos" society (those would be the "demons" of this particular world). The story thusly unfolds as two separate tales, following Kharg and Darc, the human noble and the deimos slave, respectively. Eventually, their two paths cross, and at numerous junctures, but to say any more would give away some key plot points. Granted, the story is nothing veteran RPGers haven't seen before, but the whole humans-against-deimos conflict is obviously a parallel of real life racism (seriously, just play a few hours into the story...it's as plain as day). The characters who join range from Kharg's would-be girlfriend, to a deimos woman who was experimented on and turned into an old hag, to a military official turned traitor aftered causing untold grief to a number of the other party members. The characters themselves aren't fleshed out much outside of Kharg and Darc, but they do present realistic personalities. Movement between areas is done via a world map, with occassional random encounters occuring therein. The battles progress in turn based, with characters enemies moving in order by their speed. Allies and foes can move freely about the battlefield, positioning themselves to effectively attack one or several enemies at once. The special abilities and make are nothing to flashy, but they get the job done. It's worth pointing out though that the diversity of the enemies is lacking, as you'll spend about 70 percent of all battles fighting against members of a certain military group. The strength of your foes also seems to jump suddenly somewhere in the middle of the game, so you may find yourself spending extra time powering up in random encounters (Kinda makes sense though sense those monks do spend there training all day...don't worry, you'll understand the reference when you get to that part in the game). The graphics aren't anything to complain about, as they seem on par with such other RPGs as Legaia 2. The voices aren't too bad either, but during cutscenes with spoken dialogue, there are often long pauses between sentences, coniciding with the end of a sentence on the screen. Nothing too bad, but sometimes awkward. The music is nothing too memorable, and will likely be forgotten once the game is over. While it's no Game of the Year, Arc the Lad still makes for an enjoyable experience. If nothing else, it can help to pass the time while your waiting for the next big release on your list.
