The Arc The Lad Collection is simply an excellent collection of some great games. And are some of the better PS1 RPGs.
The story of Arc I and Arc II are directly connected with the second game taking place immediately after the first. Arc III takes place thirteen years after the end of Arc 2. Also included is a monster battling game called Arc Arena but I'll talk about that separately. Characters are key in Arc I and II and the cast you start off with will return in Arc II and several members of the first two games will make appearances in the third as well. You'll grow quite fond of several of the characters and the series features an excellent, though not necessarily original, story. While it's the standard fare that ends up with you saving the world from something powerful and evil the story is the main draw of the series and if your a fan of games like Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, and Breath Of Fire II then your in for a real treat.
Gameplay wise all three games play very much the same. The battle system in the Arc the Lad series is taken from tactical rpgs like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. Giving the player a grid based map in every combat area, and each character being able to make one move and one action per turn. While the first game was rough around the edges with it's menus and equipment options it functioned well enough. Arc the Lad I was however a very, very short experience for an RPG, taking somewhere between ten and twenty hours to complete. Arc 2 however was a proper full blown RPG and clocks in at around sixty to seventy hours on average. The final boss alone taking this reviewer several hours to eventually kill (it was crazy). One very noteworthy feature of the series was that you could load the data from the previous games when you started the next. In Arc II the entire party from Arc I comes back and if you have an end game save file from Arc I all your levels, stats, and equipment is carried over from the first game. While Arc I is very light on the side quests Arc II introduced the Hunters Guild and it's jobs as optional things to do for money and exp rather then plain level grinding. Arc III will go on to totally rely on the Hunters Guild's jobs, both to advance the plot and for every side story and quest. With the exception of the final boss of Arc II the games are all a bit too easy where combat is concerned. Arc III features some semi challenging puzzles and mini games but combat across the series is generally very easy.
Visually Arc I and II are almost identical and for fans of older RPGs will look great. For younger gamers it might look a bit strange with it's pixelated sprite characters and lack of that third dimension we're all so fond of these days. Arc III is just a visual upgrade with the environments being actual 3d but still using sprites for the characters. Visually Arc III is directly comparable with Breath of Fire IV (for those of you that have played it). Dated presentation aside all three games look great. All three games feature the occasional cut scene but none of them are anything special and lack the charm of the rest of the game. Rather they just look like dated CG movies.
Sound wise most people will find Arc II to be the sweet spot. Arc I features a somewhat limited score but it's too short to really notice. Arc II has a decent soundtrack but it's nothing you going to be humming at work. Arc III however is bit of a disappointment. The game only has a few tracks and after thirty hours you'll probably be tired of hearing them. By the time you finish at around sixty hours you'll be quite happy you don't have to listen to it anymore. It's not annoying per say, just lacking variety. Back when they were released the Arc the Lad games were noted for introducing voice acting to the role playing genre. Not much mind you, just little quips during battle but it served to give the characters more life then most characters had in RPGs of the time. Older gamers might pick up on this as we all remember when voice acting was a new thing.
Also included in this fine collection is Arc Arena. Arc Arena is a monster battling system that requires save data from Arc II. One particular character in Arc II had the ability to tame monsters and add them to the party. After which they could be used in battle and leveled up. In Arc Arena you can load your data and further train your monsters. And if you have a friend with the Arc II save data you can pit your monsters against one another. It's a neat little game but doesn't fit anywhere in the story for the series, nor is it particularly fun for long. It mines Arc II for everything from music to every sprite you encounter in the small arena town. It certainly is the weakest link in this otherwise great package.
The only real thing you might really be able to complain about here is that it's probably too much Arc the Lad. All three of the main games play almost exactly the same. Easiest way to counter this is to not play them all one after the other. Were you to do so you'd probably be quite sick of them by the time you got to Arc III. Which considering how good these games are would be quite a shame.
In the end the Arc the Lad Collection is definitely worth picking up. It's a great collection of games that go well together. If your a fan of older RPGs then it's easily recommendable. In fact if you can get past the dated presentation there is a great adventure to be had here for any RPG fan.