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Wild ARMs II - Review |
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By: CLOUDBOND007
Review Breakdown |
Battle System |
8 |
Interface |
8 |
Music/Sound |
8 |
Originality |
7 |
Plot |
9 |
Localization |
9 |
Replay Value |
9 |
Visuals |
9 |
Difficulty |
Easy |
Time to Complete |
60 hours
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Overall |
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Criteria
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This is a sequel to Wild Arms, a game released several years ago also
on the PlayStation. As you would expect from a game released so much
later than it's predecessor, there have been many changes. However, many
of the same Gameplay elements remain, and there are plenty of new ones
added. This makes for an enjoyable game all around. Onto the review...
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. Other characters have different abilities
that are unique to them. And so, this makes battles more strategic. You
need to decide which characters are best to use for a particular fight.
You are actually able to change your party around during combat, so this
makes things a little easier. 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. I would
have preferred more challenge.
In many ways, the interface is a lot like some of the classic 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 many people may be annoyed by the fact
that there is no Analog or Dual Shock support.
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Anime style
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If you want to compare the music with the original Wild Arms, 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 in an average enough way that
they aren't really noticed very often.
Wild Arms 2 is not really an original game. It has many of the same
features as the first Wild Arms, and also borrows heavily from many
other RPG's. Most of what you'll find in this game has already been done
before. I don't consider this to be a problem though, as it doesn't seem
to make the game any less enjoyable.
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't expect anything
very innovative. Mostly everything here has been tried before in other
games. Still, dialogue is interesting, and you will likely become very
interested in what happens to the game's characters. 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.
I can't recall seeing many localization problems. I can't say that
there weren't any, but I simply cannot recall any specific instances
where I noticed them. There weren't many blatant spelling mistakes.
There might not have been any at all. I'd say that the localization was
pretty impressive.
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Puzzles |
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This game has signifigant replay value. Aside from it being an overall
fun game to play with an interesting story, there are also many hidden
items and extra dungeons and other places to visit. Most gamers won't
find themselves getting tired of it too quickly. The only thing that
hurts replay value is that the game is longer than average.
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 battle graphics don't surpass those of games
like FF7, but they are decent, and the camera movement is pretty good.
Contrary to what I've heard, these battles do not seem to bear too 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, and appearance of your party in battle, as well.
The game wasn't really very difficult at all. There were some bosses
that were more challenging than others, but for the most part, it is
pretty easy. Especially for those who take the time to level up. When
leveling up, all characters (Even ones who aren't in your main party)
gain levels. This makes it pretty easy to level up for a boss or a newdungeon.
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Odd weapon |
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It took me about 42 hours to complete this game. However, I did not do
all of the side-quests and find all of the hidden items. Doing those
things could make the game take 50 hours, or longer. I do suggest that
those who played and enjoyed the original should try this game out.
Those people are the ones who would probably get the most enjoyment out
of it. 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".
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