Wild Arms Review

The first RPG released on the PlayStation and it set the bar high for all the games that would follow it. Released in North America in 1996 I would not get around to playing this game until 2012. And I can tell you right up front that I regret it. From the very first moment that I hear the music I knew; I just knew this was going to be great. For those of you not in the know, this game is made up from several elements that on paper should not work. It is a Japanese style RPG, that strives to emulate a Spaghetti Western and if that was not weird enough for you it attempts to accomplish this by using standard Anime story elements. But like chocolate and Peanut Butter, this game comes together to be greater than the sum of its parts.

You play as three main characters, yep just three, thank you. I hate when RPG's pile ten or more main Characters in your party that you can only use three at a time. Some of my favorite games have done this, some better than others. But with three stories to tell instead of ten we get lots of back story and development that you genuinely need if you are going to care about these characters at the end of the game. Rudy the silent protagonist, wondering the wasteland that is Filgia looking for his past trying to be accepted (amnesia anime check box insert here.) Cecelia, a lonely princess who is returning home after spending presumably years at an abbey learning to do “princessy” things and use magic. Her shoulder chip is that nobody sees her, just her title and she wants to make her own way. And the last character Clint Eastwood, oh sorry Jack is his name... But he totally is just an animated Clint Eastwood with a sword instead of a gun. Jack’s principal motivation is to find a powerful relic to assist him in his pursuit of revenge. Also, there is a Wind Mouse named Hanpan, Jack’s partner and fount of wisdom for the group. These Characters are quickly thrown together in a life-or-death struggle to save Filgia from some Demons who want to rule it or destroy it, they kind of change their minds a lot. And with that we are off. I will say without spoiling anything that the story is good and not to complex and filled with a lot of emotion. I may come back to this later.

Okay, you were probably beginning to wonder if I had anything bad to say about this game. Well, here is where it starts. There is nothing about this game that at the time would have screamed “next gen.” Graphically it appears very similar to a lot of Super Nintendo RPG's. Now I know that those of you who have played this game will be quick to point out that all the fighting takes place with 3d Polygons. This is true, but with a Super FX-2 chip the SNES can do that as well. I really think that this could have been a late SNES game. Now there are two things I want to point out though. Looking like an SNES game is not a bad thing, I think the games art style is top notch and I love the sprite work. Also it probably does look better on the PS1 than it would on a SNES, I just think that it is interesting that this early RPG for a system that started out life as a CD add on for the SNES reminds me so much of some late SNES games. It just makes me wonder if this game started out being designed with that in mind. I already said the art style is good and the visuals are adequate to tell the story. But keeping in mind the early nature of this game it looks great, although the 3D battles have not aged well and some of the enemies look awful these days.

Back to praise here though. The main reason I am glad this game is on the PS1 is the music. This music is incredible and passed the ultimate tester in my house, my wife. She remembered it instantly when she heard it after a year and even remarked how pretty it was. The style is spaghetti western mixed with a little classical. But none of that really matters, nope what is great is the opening song which is not sung but whistled old west style. If you think that “The Good the Bad and the Ugly” has the best western music ever, you should really give this soundtrack a listen. I do often, even when I am not playing the game. Effects are good to, nice and clear with no distortion that I ever heard. The game has no voiced dialogue, but that was standard at the time. Just trust me, YouTube the OST, you will not regret it.

Control outside of battle is good with the D-pad, yep, this game is older than the Dual Shock. Characters move fast and can even run in a straight line when a circle button is pushed. Movements can be twitchy when navigating narrow ledges though. The running is also somewhat useless in doors except to avoid some traps and is mainly used when crossing the over world map. Later when you get an airship, this is not really a spoiler as all the old RPG's all have some sort of airship, it can be very twitchy to control. However, this is not much of an issue as there are no random encounters to suffer through if you miss your mark while flying it. The battle system is unique and easy to use. Battles are turn based and all your characters use different styles of attacks and are decently customizable. For example, Rudy used an ARM (gun) and can gain more types of guns through finding certain chests. Each of these can be modified individually in many ways at an ARM shop for a fee. Cecelia is a magic user and as you find crest graphs, you can take them to certain shops where for free they will bind spells of your choosing to them. Jack uses a fast draw sword technic and can learn them randomly by encountering people, places, and situations. Each character has several tools he or she can use to navigate the dungeons. These tools are very Zelda-ish in make and application. Sometimes the party is split up and must work through dungeons separately but cooperatively to make it to the goal. Overall, the control is good and there were no times where I felt that they could have been better, other than ledges.

Towns are easy to navigate all somewhat unique. Dungeons though are where this game shines. None of them are too long and many can be conquered out of order. Some games you feel punished for going to the wrong dungeon first, but that never happened to me here. Grinding is the bane of the RPG and I did not have to do it a single time. That is good design, occasionally, I may lose a battle but not through under leveling but bad tactics. After adjusting I would plow through the same fights I lost. Almost all the enemies have weaknesses and exploiting them makes even the toughest battles winnable if you play them smart. I did have some trouble with one or two of the puzzles where it is not obvious what to do, but my advice to you is read everything. Signs, bookshelves random things that do not seem like they would have writing on them. Everything contains some clue or hint. The NPCs are great for this and many of them have multiple dialogues depending on which character you are controlling. This is the greatest strength of the games design, it's depth. The amount of depth in this game was ahead of its time and really gives the game a lot of replay value.

There are better looking games on the PS1. But other than that, there are few games as good at everything else. I think I can sum up all this game does better than most with one example. (Warning minor spoiler alert.) In one village the entire village disappears or is killed except for one NPC. A little blind girl. When I discovered her alone in the village, so helpless and alone, I felt genuinely conflicted. I lingered there, trying to figure out what you are supposed to do to help this character. Eventually I had to move on, but when my characters learned abilities to fast travel I went back to the little blind girl. There she was still alone, still in a village full of monsters, but no other soul. I wound up going back after every plot point, hoping something had changed and that she would not always be alone. Later in the game there is an optional event that occurs surrounding this village and the only reason I even found it was because I kept checking on the girl. I won’t spoil it but this game is full of stuff like this. In most games the world is only as deep as the characters you play. But in this game from the late 90's even the NPCs are easy to get attached too. A man in a town who lost his wife on an adventure and cannot return home because he is lame. An elderly man in a city attacked by monsters who now lives in his big house alone mourning his lost wife. A whole town of orphans being supported by strange drifter. The game is all heart, and few other games can match that even today. I fully recommend this game and if the aesthetic is off-putting to you there is a remake for the PS2 you could try.