Arc the Lad Collection

"Two Great Games....and One Horrible Game"

Ah, Arc the Lad....I must admit that the first and second installments come close to being my favorite RPGs of all time, coming close with Lunar Silver Star. I wish I could say the same for Arc III however...and I'm frightened to see that it's been getting such high scores. I'll get to that later though, for I must first review the other two games.

ARC THE LAD

The first installment of the Arc series, and basically works as an introduction to the second game. This game was quite short, but still enjoyable.

1. Gameplay (7/10)

Each Arc series plays pretty much the same way, with little add-ons each time. As you may or may not know already, Arc the Lad is a strategy Rpg, and is played on a fairly large grid. Your players are moved around on this grid and can attack from the front, sides or back. Depending on which you choose, the chance of the enemy blocking increases or decreases. For those of you who have played Final Fantasy Tactics (who hasn't?), you'll feel pretty much at home here. You and enemies can jump over characters, but can only jump over one at a time, thus if you line up more than one you can successfully have weaker characters hide behind stronger characters. One major flaw in this game is the sheer uselessness of almost all the equipment. Most of it does nothing in the first game, and the use of most of it is only revealed in the second game. This was bitter/sweet for me. Although I did enjoy transferring my items to the second game and finding out their use, it would've been nice for them to actually serve a purpose in the first game. This game isn't very difficult...that is, unless you decide to try and complete the 100 battle long dungeon of hell. That thing was hard, and will take you several hours to complete. Personally, I only managed to make it out of that thing with three of my guys alive. Unfortunately, that's pretty much it for the side quests, something this game lacks. Last but not least, I have a few things to point out that I didn't already get to. Dungeons are fought room from room, there is no moving outside of battle. You enter a new room, there's a battle, and the battle continues even after the death of all the enemies, until you move at least one of your characters to the exit. This can get a bit tedious, but it's not too much of a problem. There are also no towns and no real world map....a big disappointment. You simply pick out the area you want to go to from a large flat map...alas, no real exploring. One last thing, you are forced to use all seven party members at once (think of Lunar). I love this aspect, but unfortunately, unlike Lunar, some of your party members are completely useless later on *COUGHCOUGHPOCOCOUGHCOUGH*. It would've been nice if they were made a little more...useful.

2. Story (6/10)

Er...well, the story doesn't shine very much in the first game, and it is fairly cliched. The game opens up with Arc waking up one day and deciding to go out and search for his long lost father, who, of course, set out to save the world from some unexplained disaster. This problem is fixed with the other characters though....well, slightly. Cliched or not, the story and characters were still very enjoyable. It doesn't matter how predictable or how cliched a game is, as long as it is done correctly; something that Arc the Lad does very well.

3. Sound (9/10)

Good music, good sound effects; this game excels in this department. Although the music is not as good as Arc II's, it still manages to make itself memorable. The voices in battle are a welcome addition, especially since they're kept in their original Japanese form. Because of this, we don't hear something annoying like ''Double Slash!'' every three seconds...god that game was horrible, wasn't it?

4. Graphics (4/10)

Ok, ok, so it's an old game. This is why the graphics aren't going to affect the overall review of this game. But by today's standards, Arc the Lad has horrible graphics. Personally, I liked them, but that's simply because I like old school sprites. If you're looking for an FFX, then look elsewhere.

5. Overall (7/10)

Arc the Lad is a great game, with outstanding music and sound effects, memorable characters and a great battle system. However, this game is VERY short, at only 12 hours max, and is lacking in many areas. Of course, this game is simply an introduction to...

ARC THE LAD II

A masterpiece! I cannot express how good this game is. A lengthy, epic RPG that beautifully ties everything together. The only thing that may have made it better is if WD had tied Arc I and II together...but I guess they just wanted to keep them separate. Either one works for me.

1. Gameplay (12/10)

Not much change in the battle system here. Same square field and jumping over character routine. Your party has now been reduced to 5, instead of 7, and this time there are quite a few more characters. There is one HUGE difference in gameplay however, and that is the inclusion of equipment that levels up with you. How wonderful this system is! Depending on how much you use a particular weapon, it's level will gradually increase, making it's strength grow. You can also have a weapon leveled up for you at various smiths, for a hefty price. Not only do weapons level up, but so does that particular characters' skill with a particular weapon. This means that, even though you may have the most powerful sword, your character could suck with a sword and not be able to use it very well. All this adds to the strategy and difficulty of this game, which I must say has been greatly increased. Think of how difficult FFV was, and you'll have Arc II. Yes, it's that hard, which is a welcome addition. As most of you already know, you can transfer your Arc the Lad file to Arc the Lad II, meaning that all your original characters will be at the same levels they ended with previously. As I mentioned before, you'll also get all your original items, which may have served absolutely no purpose in the first game, but will serve a great purpose this time around. Yet another change to this game is the ability to move in dungeons. No longer is a dungeon a series of battles. You can now explore them much more than you ever could before. There are also towns this time! And world maps! AND SHOPS! Hurray! Everything that was lacking in the first game has been fixed, there are many more side quests this time around. What's also nice is that a lot of the original places you visited in Arc I are again in the game, making the game that much more familiar. For those of you who thought the Deep 100 battle dungeon was gone...well, I've got news for you...IT'S BACK! Not only is that back, but there are also about 10 other optional ruins to explore. They're no where near as long as the Deep Dungeon, but they're still fairly large. Last but not least, there's the inclusion of the Hunter system. You can now take optional jobs and kill wanted monsters to make some extra cash. Earn enough merits and you'll be rewarded with some juicy prizes! This game is 6 to 8 times longer than it's predecessor, depending on wether or not you complete everything or not. It has a very epic feel to it, something that I haven't felt in an RPG for a long time.

2. Story (9/10)

Much better than Arc I. The game opens up a little while after the events of Arc I, and focuses around a young hunter by the name of Elc, who is about to bump heads with his tragic past. Of course, all the old characters from the first game are back, and if you transferred your file then they're buff as hell. Arc II manages to make itself MUCH darker and intriguing than Arc I ever was, another very welcome change. The only real flaw I found in this game is the repetitive ''Beat-the-dungeon-to-have-it-fall-down'' system. This is easily overlooked though, and doesn't really take away from the overall story...just kind of annoying. I really can't say too much on this without giving it away, but this is definitely a very memorable story!

3. Sound (10/10)

A lot of the music from Arc I is brought back and remixed for the sequel, once again making the game that much more familiar. A bunch of new tunes are mixed into this game as well, and battle voices are still there. Unfortunately, it appears that they got new people to do the voices for some of the characters...either that or I'm just crazy. Don't get me wrong, it still sounds great.

4. Graphics (7/10)

Argh, once again, this won't affect the final grade. The graphics are a better than Arc I, but not by much. The original sprites were kept, and the graphics are pretty much identical to Arc I's, just prettier. Yet another way of making this game feel that much more familiar.

5. Overall (10/10)

Arc the Lad II manages to fix all the problems the first game had and then some. The music and sound effects are once again beautiful, the story epic, and the characters developed quite nicely. There could've been more focus on each one, but that's not really needed. In short, this game was the main focus of the Arc series, and in my mind, the end of the Arc games. What? There was a third game you say? Well, in my mind, that game doesn't count. It has nothing to do with either of these two games, and was simply made for the sake of making another game. This ridiculous excuse for a game is, of course....

ARC THE LAD III

BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD. This game is horrible, and the reason for its existence is questionable. This game is not needed, and I hate to ruin anything for anyone, but the series pretty much ends with Arc II.

1. Gameplay (2/10)

Oy....they really screwed up with this game. One of the biggest problems is that now the Hunter Guild is now a mandatory thing. Hell, the game revolves around it. As if it wasn't bad enough that the Guild is mandatory, but now the jobs are boring as hell, and usually involve ten minutes of useless annoying dialogue with a stupid mini game at the end. It's insane how much dialogue is in this game...and it's not even needed! The dialogue is USELESS! It's simply the main characters rambling on about things that you don't care about and don't need to know. To top it all off, it's poorly written, as if done by an 8th grader. Perhaps you're wondering why I'm focusing so much on dialogue in the gameplay review area? Well, I hate to break it to you, but that pretty much is the gameplay....annoying dialogue. When you do actually get to play though, it's just as bad. The battle system remains pretty much the same, except that now each character has about one attack sprite instead of the dozens that were in the previous games. You can no longer strategically protect your weaker characters because enemies can now go through you. The weapon level up system has been removed (of course...god forbid anything good is put in this game) and we are now introduced to the new Cardish system. Theo, a party member, can turn monsters into cards so that he can summon up their useless abilities in battle. Hurray. That's pretty much it....disappointing eh?

2. Story (?/10)

I can't give a very accurate review of the story, because I haven't actually finished this game. The gameplay was just so bad I couldn't take it anymore, so I stopped. I hear the story gets better, but you can't give me a game that's all story. If the gameplay is crap (which it is) then you're not going to get me to play it. It'd be like asking someone to play Legend of Dragoon...you just can't do it.

3. Graphics (8/10)

Although much improved over the other two games, the graphics manage to make themselves annoying, something that was never there before. The characters are now VERY small, and resemble little blurs. The graphics remind me of Xenogears, except there's no rotating camera and it's nowhere near as smooth. It will definitely get on your nerves fast, especially if you've grown accustomed to the other two game's graphics.

4. Sound (6/10)

Not very good in the sound department either. The voices are still there, and are still good, but the music sucks. There aren't really any recognizable tracks, and when there are some, they're remixed...and remixed poorly.

5. Overall (4/10)

This obviously isn't an average, but my scores usually aren't. This game is just a bad game, plain and simple. The gameplay is atrocious, the music is awful, and the graphics are just plain annoying. Don't bother playing this game unless you're really, REALLY bored.

OVERALL RATING OF ARC THE LAD COLLECTION (8/10)

Final Notes

The Arc the Lad Collection is definitely worth the money, just for the first two games. The only reason this Collection doesn't get a perfect score is because Arc the Lad is lacking and Arc the Lad III is horrible. Buy this collection for Arc I and II, and I promise you that you won't be disappointed. I wish I could say the same about Arc the Lad III....

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/02, Updated 10/06/02