Time for a good ole fashioned western.
Thats right. Time for:
Cowboys:
Guns:
Desert:
Magic:
Wait. Magic??
That doesn't make much sense? How does a western have magic in it?
Well, if its Wild Arms, then there you go.
The Wild Arms series has been around since 1996, and has gone unnoticed by the major media here in America. There have been multiple sequels to the game, as well as a remake of Wild Arms (known as Wild Arms: Alter Code F, which is on the list).
I like how it is an RPG that takes the normal standards of the genre and and tweaks them a little.
Moving around, each character has 3 "tools" that they can use to interact with their surroundings. You have bombs, radar, Hanpan, grappling hook, lighter, etc. These are not key items, or one time use things. You can use them over and over again and they are needed to progress the story as you go along. They don't give you any advantage either with battles. Just there to help you move around.
With stats and battles, you still have HP and MP, STR, VIT, etc. Those things are there as well. However each character has specific skills. Only one person, Cecilia, can use magic. She doesn't learn magic as she gains levels. You have to find crest graphs and then take them to magic stores and select which spells you want. So there is a strategy element to that so you have to think how you will use all of your spells together, and not just rely on one main spell to go through each battle. Jack can use MP, but he does so for sword attacks. He learns these sword attacks, called "Fast Draws" through planned and random events in the game. Then you have to keep using the fast draw in battle until you master it so you can get the action each time. Rudy doesn't use magic, however he uses ARMS, which are really just guns. There are different types of guns that do different things. You can upgrade the ATK, the ACC, and even the capacity for each one separately, however once you run out of ammo for that weapon you are unable to use it until its refilled...for a fee of course.
All three characters then have things called Force Abilities. As you attack, defend, get attacked in battle, your force bar builds. You have 4 levels on the bar, corresponding with 4 actions per person. You start off with 1 ability, then you get the second one once you are able to use guardians (more to come on that later). You gain the others as you progress through the story as per other elements to the game. Guardians are like summons with other RPG stables (Final Fantasy being one that comes to mind). These are beings that control different elements to the world, and you equip the corresponding runes for each guardian. Each rune will make changes to your stats as well. Using the guardian ability, as well as any force ability, doesn't use MP. That is the unique part. It just uses the force bar. This new variable makes for extra planning and benefits. Things I enjoy in a good RPG.
Something else I like about Wild Arms is the flow of the game. A lot of times RPG's can present you with a lot of choices to do at one time that don't have anything to do with the main storyline. So you have the lulls in the game where you are spending hours and hours progressing through sidequests instead of working on progressing the main story. I love sidequests, don't get me wrong. But Wild Arms has you going along the main storyline at a good pace without much of a lull between things. There are some sidequests, however they don't take hours to complete. Everything revolves around progressing the main narrative to the story. I am playing this game on my PSP and I like advancement like this in my handheld games. Let me explore, but also let me get a since that I accomplished a lot between battery charges.
Weird to measure progression on a device in the time designation of "between battery charges". For my PSP, that is usually about 3.5 hours for memory card based games (thats a pretty conservative estimate). Less when I am playing through the UMD. I tend to play my UMD's more when I am close to an outlet. That way I won't freak if I start to get low on battery and I am, for instance, up in a plane.
Status update for me on Wild Arms, I am currently fighting along on the Ghost Ship. I am maybe 25% of the way through. Hard to really tell. About 11 hours in as well. I think if you want to try this game out you should. Its pretty cheap on PSN, and I think worth the money. You just have to keep in mind that the game was made in 1996, so the graphics are not as intense as they are nowadays.
Thats right. Time for:
Cowboys:
Guns:
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Wait. Magic??
That doesn't make much sense? How does a western have magic in it?
Well, if its Wild Arms, then there you go.
The Wild Arms series has been around since 1996, and has gone unnoticed by the major media here in America. There have been multiple sequels to the game, as well as a remake of Wild Arms (known as Wild Arms: Alter Code F, which is on the list).I like how it is an RPG that takes the normal standards of the genre and and tweaks them a little.
Moving around, each character has 3 "tools" that they can use to interact with their surroundings. You have bombs, radar, Hanpan, grappling hook, lighter, etc. These are not key items, or one time use things. You can use them over and over again and they are needed to progress the story as you go along. They don't give you any advantage either with battles. Just there to help you move around.
With stats and battles, you still have HP and MP, STR, VIT, etc. Those things are there as well. However each character has specific skills. Only one person, Cecilia, can use magic. She doesn't learn magic as she gains levels. You have to find crest graphs and then take them to magic stores and select which spells you want. So there is a strategy element to that so you have to think how you will use all of your spells together, and not just rely on one main spell to go through each battle. Jack can use MP, but he does so for sword attacks. He learns these sword attacks, called "Fast Draws" through planned and random events in the game. Then you have to keep using the fast draw in battle until you master it so you can get the action each time. Rudy doesn't use magic, however he uses ARMS, which are really just guns. There are different types of guns that do different things. You can upgrade the ATK, the ACC, and even the capacity for each one separately, however once you run out of ammo for that weapon you are unable to use it until its refilled...for a fee of course.
All three characters then have things called Force Abilities. As you attack, defend, get attacked in battle, your force bar builds. You have 4 levels on the bar, corresponding with 4 actions per person. You start off with 1 ability, then you get the second one once you are able to use guardians (more to come on that later). You gain the others as you progress through the story as per other elements to the game. Guardians are like summons with other RPG stables (Final Fantasy being one that comes to mind). These are beings that control different elements to the world, and you equip the corresponding runes for each guardian. Each rune will make changes to your stats as well. Using the guardian ability, as well as any force ability, doesn't use MP. That is the unique part. It just uses the force bar. This new variable makes for extra planning and benefits. Things I enjoy in a good RPG.
Something else I like about Wild Arms is the flow of the game. A lot of times RPG's can present you with a lot of choices to do at one time that don't have anything to do with the main storyline. So you have the lulls in the game where you are spending hours and hours progressing through sidequests instead of working on progressing the main story. I love sidequests, don't get me wrong. But Wild Arms has you going along the main storyline at a good pace without much of a lull between things. There are some sidequests, however they don't take hours to complete. Everything revolves around progressing the main narrative to the story. I am playing this game on my PSP and I like advancement like this in my handheld games. Let me explore, but also let me get a since that I accomplished a lot between battery charges.
Weird to measure progression on a device in the time designation of "between battery charges". For my PSP, that is usually about 3.5 hours for memory card based games (thats a pretty conservative estimate). Less when I am playing through the UMD. I tend to play my UMD's more when I am close to an outlet. That way I won't freak if I start to get low on battery and I am, for instance, up in a plane.
Status update for me on Wild Arms, I am currently fighting along on the Ghost Ship. I am maybe 25% of the way through. Hard to really tell. About 11 hours in as well. I think if you want to try this game out you should. Its pretty cheap on PSN, and I think worth the money. You just have to keep in mind that the game was made in 1996, so the graphics are not as intense as they are nowadays.
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