A classic returns
It won’t beat Final Fantasy or garner any special awards but nonetheless, even after all these years, the original Wild Arms is still a solid and fun game to play. Wild Arms puts you in the shoes of either Rudy Roughnight, Jack Van Burace or Cecillia Adlehyde and it’s up to you to save the world of Filgaia from the menace of 1000 years ago. The plot is basic, the story nary a twist or turn and the battle system as basic as can be. It’s a no brainer that anybody who can read can play Wild Arms and succeed. So what’s the fun in that you ask?
It’s those very things I mentioned that makes the game fun. Honestly, I’m all for deep, engrossing stories but once in a while, I’d like to kick back, relax and play something that my brain can leisure chew up. Being a remake of an old game does have its perks though…
In the original game you only got 3 guys throughout the game but in this edition, 4 more join your party. The battles play out kinda like those in FFX, with its in-battle tag system. Basically, 3 members will start the battle and those not in use will be backup. If one of the leads die, you can switch the reserve in and resume your job of kicking butt. The new characters aren’t just placeholders either. They’re not there so that there is something new to the game. Hell no, the new characters have new attacks, new animations and even new battle music to accompany them. If you didn’t play the original Wild Arms you’d be hard pressed to tell that the new guys and gals weren’t originally playable.
Most of the new stuff though are carryovers from Wild Arms 3. Unlike the original Wild Arms, the battles in Alter Code are more fluid. The characters run around just like in Wild Arms 3. The encounter system from part 3 also makes a return as well as the optional (yet infuriatingly hard) Puzzle Box challenges. I’m not gonna lie, at times I do feel like I’m playing an expansion pack of Wild Arms 3.
The only major difference Alter Code F has from Wild Arms 3 is that the graphics have taken a turn towards being more realistic than the celshaded style previously used. It may be just me but the new graphics aren’t that good looking though…I still prefer the original super-deformed anime style of the original Wild Arms. The music though is the only thing that’s probably been unchanged for the most part. Most of the music is as great as it was in the original and there’re even some remixes and new songs added in. A low point though since the songs that have lyrics in them have been removed and so have character voices. Yup, NOBODY speaks a damn thing in the game. A very weird thing indeed for a modern RPG.
The only other things I’ve found that may cause a minor irritation are the game’s loading times, the relatively small amounts of experience enemies give you (even in the later areas) and the game’s general lack of direction. The loading part you’ll probably get used to but the small amounts of experience tends to make you grind more than you probably want to. That’s a killjoy for me. The main thing that bugs me in the game is that you rarely know where you’re supposed to go. Here’s an example: In the middle of the game you get a name of the town, Court Seim. Naturally, you’d assume you have to go there next, right? Wrong buddy. Instead you’d have to go back to the Ship’s Graveyard to find a blue orb to open’s the Giant’s Cradle. What the freaking hell is up with that? You never even hear anything at all being spoken about you needing to find the blue orb, least of all in the Ship’s Graveyard. A lot of times misleading stuff occurs and you’ll be left scratching your head on what to do next. Nothing ruins the flow of a game than wondering what the hell your next quest is.
Still, in spite of all its flaws, Wild Arms is still a solid game…now if only the OTHER Wild Arms will come as Wild Arms: Alter Code F connects directly with Wild Arms: Another Code F. With Wild Arms 4 only a few months away and Wild Arms’ 10th Anniversary in 2006, it looks to be a year full of Wild Arms games! WOOOOOOOO!