I lost count of how many times I went into battle without a weapon. I was left with more of a “how the hell was I supposed to know that?” feeling.Ĭonfusing menu screens and items that continually need to be re-equipped after each character class change made things even more aggravating. When I was finally successful, it didn’t feel like victory. I eventually found myself lost in menu screens, desperately reading the skill and class descriptions in an attempt to find out exactly what I was doing wrong. What’s worse is that the pre-battle briefings became less helpful in the game’s later acts. Unfortunately, as the game went on, these strategies began to look more like preset puzzles that required the exact combination of character classes, skills, and equipped items to proceed. I really felt like I was actually strategizing, and that my choices are what led me to victory. At first, I found it to be a nice change from the standard SRPG the “kill every enemy” gameplay gets old after awhile.
It’s this feature that makes Wild Arms XF increasingly difficult to enjoy. Each battle offers a pre-battle briefing, and you’re supposed to devise your strategy from this information.
For example, one battle requires players to completely evade the enemy to succeed, but the only way to do this is to make sure at least one character has a special ability equipped - one that would let them move a barricade between players forces and the enemy. In most cases, success is more about your pre-battle strategizing than your character’s levels. Each stage is designed to force you to find the winning combination of skills (called Originals) and character classes before each battle. Players will learn early on that the die-grind-retry method of gameplay doesn’t work in Wild Arms XF. I think it’s safe to say anyone interested in this title will already understand the concepts of turn-based gameplay on a hexagonal map, character classes and customizations, and the die-grind-retry pattern most of these games follow. Let’s face it: the only type of gamer open to this type of videogame is the tactical SRPG fan. They always look and mostly sound great, and that’s a good thing, as you’ll spend a great deal of time between battles looking at and listening to them. The story is served by way of text boxes and spoken dialogue over static manga-style images. This group is taking the King’s illness as an opportunity to control and eventually overthrow. Because Clarissa looks a lot like the recently deceased princess, the two somehow get roped into saving the world from the Council. This time around, the perky Clarissa Arwin and her brother Felius are trying to get their mother’s stolen sword back. Players are dropped back into the weird western desert world of Filgaia. It joins some old favorites and new arrangements to make a stellar soundtrack. And yes, that whistling song we all love is back in fine form. She and her team are back to bring the same feel to XF. The music of Michiko Naruke has always set the tone for the Wild Arms series. And, as always, the musical score is top notch. Everything from the classy Japanese opening cutscene to the anime art throughout makes you appreciate how much spit ‘n shine Media.Vision put on this title.
This portable game absolutely shines with audio and visual polish, and it could probably give some console RPGs some competition as far as presentation goes. If I had to rate Wild Arms XF on presentation alone, it would probably get something close to a perfect score. It does take the hexagons from the battle systems of Wild Arms 4 and 5, but throws out the rest in favor of classic 2-D strategy gameplay.ĭoes Wild West sci-fi make for a good tactical SRPG? Does Wild Arms XF continue the run of strong strategy games for the portable? Most importantly, does this game still have that whistling song? But this is the first true tactical SRPG in the series, as well as the first portable game.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Jeanne D’Arc, and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness have all managed to keep fans immersed in portable strategy bliss for some time, and the Wild Arms series first departure from standard, turn-based RPG gaming looks to continue this run.Īfter five series games, Media.Vision has shown that they know how to make an American Old West Japanese role-playing game - they’re the only ones who do it. Square Enix’s Crisis Core is making big waves right now, but the string of good quality strategy RPGs have been the real highlight. The PlayStation Portable has become quite the role-playing gamer’s system as of late.