Wild Arms

"The first PSX RPG I grew to appreciate"

Intro
When I first got my PSX, I thought that this machine would have a good potential for RPG's. I mainly thought this because of the announcement of Final Fantasy 7. Sadly, the first RPG I played for PSX (which was the first game I got) was Beyond the Beyond. BtB turned out to sort of bite, but nothing that was considered terrible in my book. However, it wasn't until the advent of one game that I found just how good the RPG's on PlayStation would turn out to be. That game was Wild Arms.

Always in Threes! BAH!
In Wild Arms, you bear witness to an incredible journey as three people named Jack, Rudy, and Cecilia come together fatefully to save the world they love. One day, a terrible cateclysm puts their world in jeopardy as evil demons arise and reveal a plot to revive their long sealed parent appropriately named Mother. The three soon find that they must do all they can to stop the demons from having their way with the world, Filgaia, before it's too late.

Environment
The game runs on a 2D environment. Thankfully, unlike Beyond the Beyond, it's not bound by a grid system. You walk freely at your own pace. You can also dash, but when dashing you can only go straight and must stop to turn. Each area makes up just another location on a world map much like many other RPG's.

Battle System
In certain areas and on the world map you can bump into random battles in which you fight in a 3D setting. You get a few choices to start such as picking your commands or changing equipment. Each character can attack as normal and each of the three characters has a special ability: Cecilia can use magic, Jack can use what are called Fast Draws (a type of sword technique), and Rudy can use certain types of guns called ARMs. As you damage other enemies and as they damage you, you have a certain meter that builds up called ''Force.'' As Force builds up, you can choose from four different Force Skills which you aquire throughout the game. If your Force hits level 4, the highest level, you achieve what's called ''Condition Green'' which automatically clears all of your status afflictions.

Tools
You also get tools in the game which you use in the regular environment. Tools have many different effects. For example, Jack starts with Hanpan (a small mouse-like spirit creature) as his first tool. He can use Hanpan to grab any chests or hit switches that are out of reach. Cecilia gets a tool called the Vase. You can use that to extinguish fires.

Guardians
The idea of this is somewhat of a rip-off of Final Fantasy 6, but you can equip different crests in the game that give you different advantages in different stats. Soon as you get your level 2 Force ability for everyone, you can then summon creatures from within the crests called Guardians. They can actually be useful as they do quite a bit of damage and really don't use up any resources that can't be easily replaced.

Game Elements
Honestly, these aren't the best graphics I've seen. I'm okay with the 2D graphics, but the 3D graphics are just blah. While they use good colors, they have very simplistic detail. The music is well written and fits the game's amtosphere very appropriately. As far as sound effects go, the only thing that bothers me is that some of the monsters sound fairly annoying. The controls work as good as you would expect from any RPG. No complexities, kept very simple. The story is not too shabby. It really lacks twists, which it only has a couple or so. I think the game is a bit fun to play as long as you don't burn yourself out. The dungeons can be a bit tedious at times, though, which is the only factor that somewhat brings down the gameplay.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Not bad in the 2D section, but the 3D needs help 6/10
Sounds: Well composed music with some annoying monster effects. I've noticed they took some of the Guardian roars from old Godzilla movies. 8/10
Controls: Like butter 10/10
Plot/Storyline: Had a fairly good building story. Probably not as good as the second one, in my opinion. I think it really needed some more plot twists, mainly. 7/10
Gameplay: Fun to play albeit the somewhat tedious dungeons. 8/10
All Together: 9/10

Perks
*Great sounds
*Fun game
*First good RPG for PSX
*Fair magic system

Downers
*Slightly repetitive
*Summon system needs a bit refinement
*Too easy

Recommendations
RPG fans should at least give this one a try. If you're a hardcore RPG fan that can get into just about any RPG (like me), then this is a definite try out for you.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/10/01, Updated 10/07/01