CLASSIC GAMING
Wild ARMs
Developer:  Media Vision
Publisher:  Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Genre:  RPG
Year:  1996
System:  Playstation


RPGs in the mid-90s were pretty much either Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, and to this day it is like that still in some way, annoyingly so, with some decently good innovatively new RPGs pushed to one side into obscurity and overshadowed by the big ones.  One RPG that while started a series of its own but never became enormously huge outside of Japan, is one of those somewhat forgotten gems.

Story - Wild ARMs begins with three characters, of which you can select to play in any order before they encounter each other.  Rudy Roughknight, a 15-year old boy from a farm town who is outcast for using a forbidden weapon he is skilled somehow in using.  Jack Van Burace, a treasure hunter and swordsman with his faithful yet somewhat arrogant wind mouse Hanpan.  And lastly, Cecilia Lynne Adlehyde, the princess of Adlehyde kingdom and apprentice magician.  All three are drawn into each other in the town of Adlehyde by a demon invasion, defeating them and banding together by fate in a pact to prevent the demons from taking over the land of Filgaia, their home world, aiding others in their journey to the point of reviving the long gone guardians of the land.


Gameplay - The gameplay is like any RPG at first.  Three characters each with special skills and having at least one mage of the group for magic with the other two main characters dealing in weapons.  On the field, you travel around the world into towns and cities following the demon clan who are aiming to revive their Mother.
You also have certain skills in the form of items to be used on the field always.  Rudy at first has bombs to blast walls and boxes open, Jack has his trusty sidekick Hanpan to open switches and levers from far away, and Cecilia has her Tear Drop to open certain mystical locks.  Transportation other than by foot is minimal and only ship and aircraft is open to you in the later course of the game (ship having as much danger as on foot with enemies still able to deal with you, while aircraft has no random encounters).


Battle however is more interesting.  Rudy uses a sword as does Jack to fight enemies, while Cecilia uses wands and staffs, and of course each one has their special skills.  Rudy's skill is the use of the titular ARMs, forbidden weapons looking remarkably like guns that have a limited amount of ammunition per gun (which can be refilled at certain stores), and which he can find more ARMs in the later dungeons.  Jack has his Fast Draw skills, old forgotten sword skills that range from halving enemy's health to pickpocketing, which are learnt throughout the game by certain events.
And lastly Cecilia has a mixture of black and white magic which she can purchase at certain stores as well as being allowed to rename them any time in the game (if you wanna get fancy and archaic or even silly with the names).  Jack and Cecilia use MP for their powers while Rudy never has MP and only needs bullets for ARMs.
HP is normal affair for RPGs and there is the ever-present equipping system which is easy at first but later in the game on acquiring certain Runes, will make some changes to your stats and even attacks.


On the subject of that, each of the three characters have Force Skills, when they are attacked each turn, they develop them more and are able to use these more powerful attacks unto the enemy.  Rudy's first Force Skill is being able to aim at an enemy with an ARM with 100% accuracy.  Jack has Accelerator which allows him to have the first turn.  Cecilia has Mystic which she can use to draw out a hidden power of an item, such as making one healing item heal everyone.  This adds a more interesting strategy towards battles, and the abilities only get more stranger.
Later in the game you will be able to equip Runes of ancient guardians scattered around the world, and everyone's second Force Skill, Summon Guardian, allows you to do exactly what it says.


Graphics - The field is entirely in 2D with a glossier look than Zelda: Link to the Past yet the same kind of feel, being overhead view and vibrant in colours for landscapes from Old Western border towns to Sci-Fi dungeons.  For 1996 you don't expect much other than this.
In battle however, everything is 3D.  And the 3D is really old looking.  Everything looks blocky.
The characters have apple-shaped heads (don't even think of humming the 1812 Overture), the enemies look like they're made up of blocks (and not even the nice looking funny LEGO stuff either), the walls and floor look so very static to the point of being annoying, each dungeon with their own graphical battlefield yes, and boss battles usually get a different place, but nevertheless you do feel the antiquity.  The 2D parts aged more well than the 3D, that will tell you enough about it.


Music/Sound - The main musician of the game, Michiko Naruke, has a lot of inspired songs in the game that will offer a smile or two to you.  The main theme, playing like a Western heroic theme complete with whistling, is memorable.  The overworld theme is inspired by Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly".  In fact, most of the music feels Wild West, despite the world being mixed with medieval and sci-fi places, but they work surprisingly well for all places, even the science fiction areas have a slight feel of the Western influences albeit in a more synthetic form, but nevertheless it never feels out of place.


While this RPG was not particularly momentful, it is a name that now and again pops up in mentioning of RPGs.  The first one is the best one, sticking half to 2D and half to 3D with a system that isn't overly complex but enough variation of strategy to make things intriguing.  An enhanced PS2 remake was made for it but had many variations as well as a few awful bugs.
It just goes to show that some things can't really be updated when they're just fine as they are in the past.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  But in the case of this game, if it's not THAT broken....don't fix it.

Fun and Innovation - 4
Replayability - 3
Gameplay - 4
Presentation - 3

Well said, Herr Herculean Austrian.  Well said indeed.