The most outstanding modern recreation of the 17th and 18th centuries bringing us an exotic mix of Western lifestyles.
User Rating: 9.5 | Wild Arms 3 PS2
Wild Arms 3 is the first game of the series to come out for the PS2. It's rush to being on of the earliest, though, did not appeal to many fans after having to evaluate it based on its old graphics and absence of voice. Nevertheless, it stands out as one of the most resilient story-based action-packed RPG games to hit the PS2, otherwise there wouldn't have been any following Wild Arms games. The way the game starts is only the first of many unique surprises; prologues keep the player alert to events and cutscene, making him/her actually DO effort to tie the events together. No other series has provided a prologue-rigged game which shows you a little bit about each character's personality before changes occur after meeting on that train. This form of gameplay, along with the World Map factor present only in the FF series at that time (2001), amplifies the sense of adventure as players navigate the harsh wastelands of Filgaia. The story, in itself, is among the deepest and irredundant series of events which bring out the emotional part of the gamer, provoking the same anger expressed by the characters themselves. The battle system did well for being turn-based, as position and RFX really affected the outcome of a battle. In addition, the bosses one encountered always had a trick to them; you could not beat them in a fight of pure brute strength, and this made players turn to the elemental arcana magic the Ark Scepters provide. Their powers would also stack on the "Finest Arts" combo, giving extra damage and more relief space. Also, the numerous run-ins with both the teams of Janus and Maya proved to keep the game lively in two ways. The first was that Janus would slowly reveal the story's plot and the identity of his masters. The second is that the battles came with music that rocked, raising the player's psyche as he/she concentrated on battle tactics and eventually paying off. Example: you see the afro dude? his afro is huge, so you'll surely think of casting "cremate" on it =P Filgaia is so vast that the game team decided to throw in horses and a big bad blue dragon to make the player enjoy the land and sky, and this is followed by your claiming of the Exodus Orb, a thing I personally found ugly rather than convenient. The graphics, however, were not all that satisfying. We must never forget the awesome battles and prizes to be won at Gunner's Heaven, a place most hardcore and experimenting tacticians will stay in for a long time. And if you're an explorer try finding the Secret Garden, a lush area which will grow any item you already have, giving you numerous options in battles if you're in a tight area. Mystic + Holy Berry x 99 = =P It's like the inverse of the 100% Orange strategy in Wild Arms 5; instead of reducing damage to 100, you can make sure the enemies don't hit you for much more than 100 hp. All of this is complimented by the ability to customize your own sand dune cruiser, assuming you've got enough Dragon Fossils to spend. The game, all in all, is a surprisingly long game, considering its only 42 kilobytes on the memory card. Perhaps it is the game's ending which is the peak of the climax. After all that fighting, and those 10 consecutive long exhausting battles, the party is framed for the death of one innocent man, where they themselves are the most innocent people on Filgaia. They drop their guns, and flee... flee from the sweet redemption they brought upon themselves.
I cannot think of much better games that this, and hope with all my heart that Xseed continues the series, be it on a PS3 or GBC
Overall Equation:
- Gameplay: 39.5/45 x 1.85 + 16.25
- Graphics: 72/100
- Story-Line: 77/84 x 1.1 + 7.6
- Playability rate: once every year is enough.
- Duration: long. 17/20 x 4 + 20
