Wild Arms Alter Code: F

"Proving that remakes can be better than the original, Alter Code F shines a new light on the Wild Arms series"

Wild Arms: Alter Code F is a remake of Wild Arms 1 for the PSX. Alter Code F features the encounter gauge and battle system of Wild Arms 3, with vast improvements. The main story in still intact, so it pleases fans of the old school game. The game is still fun and challenging though, so newcomers to the series will have a great chance with this title.

Story: 9/10

The story is the same as Wild Arms 1 for the most part. The areas you visit, the scenes with other characters. Many remained intact. A few dungeons were taken out. An example is the Tri-Pillar from the original. It was originally needed to get one of the jewels needed to open Giants Cradle. You get the gem by other means now.

The story starts off with our silent protagonist, Rudy Roughnight. He's a Wanderer, a person who travels around. Many Wanderers are basically treasure hunters, looking to make vast riches by exploring ruins. One of the boys from the village wanders into the forbidden Berry Cave, in search of a rare Holy Berry to heal his fathers sickness. The cave was once prosperous and full of berries, but it's long since been abandoned, and demons have occupied it. Rudy risks his life to go in and rescue the boy, as well as finding the Holy Berry. The removal of the berry triggers an earthquake, which shakes the whole continent. Rudy used the forbidden ARM to destroy a demon that came out of the cave. The villagers see this, and that combined with the large amount of monsters that have appeared after the earthquake forced them to kick Rudy out of the village. Rudy travels to Aldehyde, not knowing he will also meet up with Jack, another Wanderer, and Cecilia, the princess of Aldehyde who can communicate with the Guardians of the Planet, to save the world from demons who attacked the planet Filgaia 1000 years ago.

As cliche as it may sound, Wild Arms executes the story quite well. Each character has their own personality, the characters grow and change as their adventures together progress.

Music: 9/10

A lot of music from the original was recycled as well. The battle and boss music, the opening theme(Mindless Self-Indulgence. Who knew whistling could be so cool o.O), even town themes. The world map theme(music that plays when your walking on the world map >.>) was remixed a bit. It still sounds the same as the original, but it has been noticeably changed. They also changed Zed's kick ass theme song :'(. The new one is good, but having the old one would have been more nostalgic in my opinion. Only people who have played the first one will truly notice the differences however.

Gameplay: 10/10

The simple battle system as we know it from Wild Arms 1 is gone. Its been replaced with a more Wild Arms 3-ish battle system, which is a lot better. First off, noticeable changes. For one, all characters only have one Force Power this time around. Rudy has his ARM Lock-On, Jack his Accelerator, and Cecilia summons Guardians. The optional characters also only have 1 Force Power.

Rudy no longer uses a sword for regular attacks. His arm can fire off regular rounds. It originally starts at 3 bullets, which refill after every battle. To reload during battle, you either A) Guard, on his turn he'll reload. Or B) raise the Easiness level of your ARM, and you'll increase your chances to reload automatically after an action. I personally won't rely on B, seeing as his arm has a maximum of 15 upgrades. You can reset each specific stat if you want, but you don't get your money back for it. His skills are also a little different. Unlike the original, the only thing you can upgrade is the amount of cartridges. Their primary damage is based on your regular ARM, so if you add in more Attack, they'll do more damage. They require 'Alter Parts' to be upgraded, which are rare to find in the game. Later on through a mini-game you acquire 'Part Scope', which makes random battles give a low chance of dropping Alter Parts, so its best to pick it up quickly.

Jack is the same except for his Fast Draw system. Originally, you needed to use Secret Signs to lower the MP cost of his Fast Draw skills, which were hard to come by. Now they level up based on a skill point system. When using a Fast Draw on an enemy, depending on their level, you get a certain amount of points. The point accumulate over time, and the Fast Draw will eventually level up, reducing its MP cost. Also his Accelerator increases Fast Draw damage, as well as changing the Attack animation and its effect. Skills like Strike Buddy become Group attacks under Accelerator. Using the 'Quick' spell on him also makes him faster, and his Fast Draw does a lot more damage as well.

Cecilia's Force abilities were changed. She can now summon only Guardians. Each Guardian spell requires either 25%/50%/75%/100% of her Force Gauge to be used. Some do damage with their proper element, one heals your party, another allows Cecilia to multi-cast spells on your entire party/enemy groups, making Healing and buffing a lot easier. Although I miss Mystic(which is now Jane's Force Power), the Guardian system is a nice upgrade. Unlike the original, however, you can edit her Crest Graphs. Originally once you binded a spell to a Crest Graph, that was it. Your stuck with it. Now, until you get a large amount, you can edit spells and switch let's say, Fire with Freeze, or Quick with Command Replay. This allows you to take advantage of enemies elemental weakness early on.

The skill system was also put in. Skill system basically lets you equip skills(which you either buy, find in chests or win from enemies/bosses) to handle different situations. Some greatly increases resistance from different status effects, others resistance to elemental attacks. Others raise your parties HP and MP, and avoid surprise attacks from random battle. Others give different effects. One called 'FP Advance' has your character start off the battle with their force gauge filled up equal to their level. So if Cecilia is level 30, she starts off with 30% in the Force Gauge. This makes handling random battles easier, since once you hit level 50, Cecilia can cast Guardian spells on her first turn, and if the enemy is weak to that element they'll die instantly.

This also makes random battles harder, as you have to keep up with the enemies as they surprisingly more difficult. Skills like Blocker 1(25% chance to block a physical attack) and Defend 1(25% chance to block an attack for an ally) become a necessity to keep characters like Cecilia alive for awhile, since as a mage Cecilia has really poor physical defense.

Enemies also present different scenarios. Some start off with insane buffs like Immune to Magic and Physical Damage, or Evasion and Reaction . This requires Cecilia to use Dispel magic to cancel these effects. Other enemies aren't hurt by physicals much, or when hit with certain element attacks become stronger and faster, resulting in you getting hurt. It keeps you on your toes every time you enter a new area, making the bosses more challenging as you move from one to the other.

Of course, as mentioned before, there is also the Encounter Gauge. Every time a battle is about to occur, a white exclamation point appears above your head. You can either hit O to cancel the battle, taking a certain amount of points off your Encounter Gauge. The number of points taken off are determined by your level, as well as your Encounter Gauges level. It levels up every time you find a Migrant Seal, so as long as you don't miss any and aren't under-leveled you can eventually do entire Dungeons without battling. There is also the characters Vitality Gauge. After better, the Vitality Gauge will become smaller until your character is fully healed. This helps to keep you from using a lot of items after battle. Of course, it won't last. If you keep getting hit a lot, the Vit gauge will drain, and go from 100% to 0%. The only ways to fill it are either A) rest at an Inn/regeneration point, B) level up, it'll fill it to 100% as well as refill your HP/MP/Arms Cartridges, C) put your character in the back row during battle. Whoever is in the back row will have their Vit gauge filled completely after one turn. Or D) pick up red orbs in Dungeons. Each one regenerates 10% of your characters Vit gauge. White orbs also refill you Encounter gauge one per, so pick them up if you need them.

Conclusion:

Wild Arms: Alter Code F is an amazing remake. Even after playing the first one many times, I'm still having fun playing this game. The story may be the same, but overall its a brand new experience for me. And worth every penny I paid for it. Anyone interested in Wild Arms 4 should pick this up too, since your stats and inventory in this game can give you bonuses in Wild Arms 4 when you transfer the data over.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/27/06