Graphics I was really impressed by the graphics when I was finally able to play the game. From all I had read, I was expecting something really poorly done. The game is most similar to Breath of Fire 3 and Grandia. Not 2D like FF4, but also not realistic with odd camera angles like FF7. Dungeons and towns are large and most have a lot of detail. The dungeons have enough differences between them that it doesn't feel like you're doing the same thing again and again for 40 hours. Also, It might sound strange here, but one of my favorite things about the game's graphics is having the ability to fully rotate the camera. For most of the puzzles, it is neccesary to move the camera in some way. I didn't find it to be an annoyance, though. Some people might. If you've played the first Wild Arms, you can expect a big improvement with the battle graphics. The characters are still somewhat deformed looking, definitely far better than in the original. The graphics don't surpass those of FF7, though the battle graphics are decent, and the camera movement is pretty good. I honestly think people complain too much at times. Despite what reviews you may see at the big sites, I'd like to state that these battles do not beat much resemblance to those in the original. Spell effects are much better, as well as overall character movement and designs of the enemies and bosses. Gameplay In many ways, the game is a lot like SNES RPG's from the past. In the dungeons and other areas, there are usually many puzzles. While the puzzles are not difficult, they can still be interesting and fun to solve. This is partly because of the wide variety of tools available in the game. There are 6 playable characters, and each can get up to 3 unique tools. Examples of tools would be the Hookshot, Fire Rod, Skates, etc. In some of the dungeons, puzzles are found in basically every other room. The camera angles usually must be changed around a little so that you can see the whole picture. Many times, you might think to yourself that a lot of the puzzles are just too easy. But sometimes you see some clever ones that make in interesting, again. Personally, I'd rather have lots of fairly easy puzzles than a long, boring dungeon with no puzzles at all. There are random battles, but if you are stronger than the enemies around you, you are given a chance to completely avoid the battle. This makes it no problem at all to complete areas that would normally be frustrating. One final thing to mention is that some may be annoyed by the fact that there is no Analog or Dual Shock support. The battle system itself does have some similarities with the original. The game relies heavily on FP (Force Points). Every time a character gets hit, or hits an enemy, his or her FP increases. The FP are probably the most important part of the battle system. Two of the game's characters can use ARMS. Powerful weapons that can be upgraded to an extent. These require a certain amount of FP to use, and you can only take so much Ammo, as well. One of the characters gains the ability to tap into a power inside him, and transform into something resembling a Dark Knight. While getting enough FP (99) to do the transformation takes several rounds, it's usually worth it. On one particularly weak boss, the character was able to do about 16,500 damage in one hit. Generally though, damage is increased by about 4 times normal. So, you have to weigh out whether it's best to conserve your FP for the transformation, and risk getting beaten before it takes place. Or, you can beat the enemy using a different method. It adds more strategy to the battles, though. One final thing to mention about the battle system is that there are usually several sections to a Boss. You might see one with the main body, a left arm,. and a right arm. You can not bother with the arms, but you get less experience and gold. But fighting them does make the battle longer and harder. It's all up to the player. The one problem here, if you want to call it that, is that the difficulty of the game isn't really too high. It's not as easy as, say, FF7, but you won't really find yourself losing all that often. Story I can almost guarantee that what you find yourself doing on the second disc is not at all like what you would have predicted when you started the game. If I were rating the story overall, I'd say that it's a little bit better during the first half than the second. But I enjoyed most of it. One important thing to remember is that you can expect anything very innovative. Mostly everything here has been seen before in other games. I should mention for fans of the original, that the stories are not connected. Much like different games in the Final Fantasy series, some of the themes and names are the same, but the characters and places are all different and no real connections with the original are made. Music and Sound If you want to compare the music with the original, you'll probably find that the music in the sequel is not as good. I did like much of it, though. One of the main problems, I think, is that a lot of the songs are repeated too many times. I believe there is one theme done in three or four of the towns. A lot of the dungeon areas have the same music, too. To sum it up, I'd say that the game is a mix of very good music and average music. There really isn't much at all that I could consider bad. As far as sound effects, there really isn't much to mention. There isn't any voice acting in this game, and any other effects, such as spell effects, are done average enough that they aren't really noticed much. Conclusion First of all, I do suggest that those who played and enjoyed the original, try this game out. Those people are the ones who would probably get the most enjoyment out of them. I found this game to be one of the most enjoyable I've played in a while. It has some flaws, but it's still an excellent game, in my opinion. So, I do recommend the game to RPG players who don't mind that the graphics aren't too 'realistic'. Overall: 9 out of 10
