History VideoGame / WildARMs1

The first installment in the [[Franchise/WildArms Wild ARMs series]] on the Playstation. Notable for combining the Western (as in cowboys) genre with both Fantasy and Science Fiction.

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* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: The game ends with Rudy, Jack and Hanpan once again wandering around the world. Cecilia seems to have stayed as the new queen of Adelhyde but quickly drops the role and runs off after them.]]

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The original game. "Ray Line" indeed. The remake, while it fixes some of the worst typos, somehow manages to come up with its own that are just as bad - "How do we get thru this barrier?" indeed. In both, Jack's surname is supposed to be ''Vambrace'', which is why he calls himself "the armguard". "Van Burace" makes the metaphor meaningless. (This one was made ''worse'' in the remake, when they made his previous title Knight of the ''Gauntlet'').

** There are rematches with [[spoiler:Boomerang, Zed, and in ACF, the Rotting Beast from Rudy's intro sequence]].

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Quite a few minor examples, but Captain Bartholomew stands out the most. In both the original and remake, the crew members state the (middle-aged) Captain [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "is only interested in 18-year-old girls."]] Likewise, you can find messages in bottles from the Captain himself expressing that same desire. Turns out in both Japanese versions, his preference actually falls towards girls [[PaedoHunt 15 and under]]. Suddenly Magdalen's warning to Jack to keep an eye out on Jane while the Captain is around in the remake makes a lot more sense.

** Enemies named for the demons of the ArsGoetia also tend to suffer this. Ayperos became Aipeloss, Agares became Agaless, Flauros became Frauloss...

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: At the beginning of the game in Jack's opening scenario, if you name him the Memory Temple password [[spoiler:Emiko]], he'll actually remark on how it's odd that the password is his own name. In order to keep the game on course with him fighting his way back through the temple, he then starts hitting random buttons to see what else happens, which causes him and Hanpan to fall through the floor and continue as scripted.

** Let's not forget that the Japanese Language does not normally have an "L" sound, which tripped up a lot of translators in the early days of [[EasternRPG J-RPGs]]. Most of these are L<->R confusion... Malduke vs Marduk, Agares vs Agaless, Flauros vs Frauloss, etc. Sometimes the translator automatically assumes Ls should be substituted for Rs by default in names, and sometimes in non-name words (See BreathOfFireII 's "Equip fishing lod").

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The minute the villagers find out Rudy has an ARM, they immediately forget he just saved Tony's life in the caves and protected them all from a really nasty monster. They drive him out without so much as a thank you.
** The fact that many people consider the [=ARMs=] to be terrible weapons used by the demons didn't exactly help.

* BonusBoss: Ragu O Ragla, of course. There's also the Golems that aren't fought in the main story, Angel Moa, and [[spoiler: rematches with Boomerang, Zed, and in ACF, the Rotting Beast from Rudy's intro sequence.]]
** And Chaos, which can be LostForever if you finish the dungeon it's in before fighting it.

* ButThouMust: ''Alter Code F'', after Rudy defeats the Rotting Beast

* ChewToy: Poor, poor Bartholomew, especially in ACF. People seem to care about everyone else except him, especially when it comes to retrieving the second Gemini circuit.
** Examples: Jane does him the favor of measuring him for his casket prior to forcing him to be the test pilot for the Protowing, and that's BEFORE taking command of his ship and sending it on a suicide mission right under his nose. Magdalen is the one who entrusts the care of the Gemini circuit to him, simply because he has the largest body. And, when the team finds his half-drowned body, Jack obviously cares more about the survival of the circuit.

* LethalJokeCharacter: Zed in ''Alter Code: F'', after recruiting him. He has [[CripplingOverspecialization the highest Attack stat of the main characters (990 out of 999 at level 100,]] as well as moderate HP) but his accuracy, defense, and Luck are all piss-poor. Further, all of his special abilities grant a positive effect when used, but impose a negative side-effect that [[AwesomeButImpractical reduces their usefulness to novelty at best.]]
** He's also only obtainable after going halfway through the final dungeon and coming back out.

* LostForever: Played straight in the original with several items (including Crest Graphs and one Rune) in numerous one-shot dungeons. Averted in the remake as all items in one-shot dungeons are required to obtain or are dropped by the boss, while monsters in those dungeons can appear in the Forest Prison.
* LostTechnology: In addition to [=ARMs=] and golems, [[spoiler: Rudy himself is made of lost technology]].

* MadScientist: Alhazad has traits of this.

* MeaningfulName: A [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vambrace "vambrace"]] is a piece of armor that covers the forearm, [[spoiler:the significance of which is pointed out when Jack / Garrett receives the title in his {{backstory}}, as he can protect the "sword arm" of the Fenril Knights.]] [[LostInTranslation This would have made a lot more sense if his name hadn't been translated as Van Burace.]]

* NonHumanSidekick: Hanpan.

* OhCrap: Jane in both versions when she finds the team talking to her father at Court Seim, mainly because [[spoiler:she does NOT want him to know that she's Calamity Jane and that she's been hunting dangerous bounties to keep the orphanage afloat.]]
** In the remake, it doubles as a CrowningMomentOfFunny.

* OneBadMother: And how!
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Zed, Boomerang, Alhazad, and Zeikfried.]]

* OurHomunculiAreDifferent: [[spoiler: Rudy]]. He's made of living metal, for one thing.

* {{Plaguemaster}}: Alhazad.

* PuzzleBoss: The Shadow and Alhazad in the remake.

* ScavengerWorld
* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou
* SealedEvilInACan: Mother.

* SinisterScythe: Lady Harken.

* SummonMagic: The Guardians.

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Arguably, the entire point of Zeikfried's OneWingedAngel form.]]
** [[spoiler: Mother also attempts this when you defeat her, by crashing the Photosphere into the ocean.]]
* TalkingAnimal: Hanpan.

* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: Rudy]].

* TragicMonster: [[spoiler:Lady Harken used to be a guard at Arctica like Jack, and was actually his best friend and possible lover. She actually realizes this eventually and allows Jack to kill her in their last battle.]]
** [[spoiler:Completing a certain sidequest allows you to revive her as her old human self. However, she also has no memory of her past life and instead starts a new one in Milama.]] Jack believes it's for the best that she doesn't remember her DarkAndTroubledPast.

* WhiteMagicianGirl: Cecilia.
** She manages to be both this and a BlackMagicianGirl in one.
* WildCard: Boomerang pretty much only cares about fighting, so much so that his strong desire for battle seduced [[spoiler: the Guardian of Desire]] to follow him. At one point, he even protects the party from his supposed allies in order to be able to fight with them again.
** He was this during the demon war of 1000 years ago as well. He fought for neither side, simply battling anyone he felt would give him a good fight.
* WorthyOpponent: Boomerang and Lucied.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: Most of the villains were given a completely different appearance in the remake. Boomerang is now a cyborg with a BadassLongcoat, Harken is more akin to a Valkyrie, Berserk has more traditional battle armor and long white hair, Zed was made fairly more human-like, Mother became much paler and taller (and some would argue even more frightening), and Ziekfried is now completely armored head to toe and bears a slight resemblance to [[VideoGame/SoulSeries Nightmare]]. The only villain who retained his original appearance was Alhazad.
** Several human characters had various changes as well. Magdalen is much older. Bartholomew actually looks like a sea captain, while Drake looks like a typical pirate. Jane mostly retains her appearance, but her personality is refined to make her a much bigger tomboy while retaining her tsundere nature. Zepet looks more like the adventurer he was. And finally, Nicholi actually looks like Jane's father.
*** This could apply during the end credits art montage in the original. While Jane is a blonde during the game, at the very end, her hair is suddenly brown.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: [[spoiler:Mother's death turns out to be only the halfway point.]] This starts a trend for Wild Arms games.

* {{Badass}}: Boomerang. After [[spoiler: dying while pulling off a HeroicSacrifice to protect the main characters, he claws his way up back from Hell so that he can fight them one more time.]]
** [[spoiler:Which is kind of funny to think about if your party loses to him.]]

* CatFight: [[DuelBoss Cecilia VS Elizabeth]] is nothing but this.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromnowhere: So Rudy is [[spoiler: in a coma, following his recent TomatoInTheMirror and subsequent revival. Cecilia enters his mind to find out what is blocking his awakening. She watches his memories and helps him overcome self-loathing, when suddenly, a goddamn GothicLolita succubus who has been masquerading as Rudy's father in his mind shows up and fights Cecilia. Afterwards, Rudy wakes up, and the succubus (whose name is Elizabeth) is never mentioned again.]]

* DubText: In one of the more hilarious typos in the [[TheyJustDidntCare Agetec-translated]] remake, Alhazad gets called a "she" in his first appearance in the prologue. What makes this hilarious is that one of Al's defining traits is his creepy advances towards [[DarkActionGirl Lady Harken]], so Agetec ''accidentally turned him into a PsychoLesbian''. This makes it apparent that they never bothered to check up the plot of the game beforehand, since Alhazad shows this part of his nature ''at the end of the same prologue''. They caught on later, as the next reference to his gender is a comment from Magdalen about that "fellow". However, that one "she" was never fixed, making this also an example of InconsistentDub.

** Zed makes this transition during the game, but it only shows after the final fight with him Post-Game.

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:When Mother is defeated the first time, she starts to break down because she can't understand how she could be defeated if she's the "destined destroyer" of reality. Its made more explicit in the remake.]]

* KansasCityShuffle: [[spoiler:You know that Darkness Tear that was supposed to destroy the Guardians and eradicate all life on Filgaia and was the focus of the plot for a quarter of the game? Only a mere distraction to allow Zeikfried to locate and raise Ka Dingel.]]

* DiscOneFinalDungeon: The Photosphere

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Mother

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Jack
* Zed makes this transition during the game, but it only shows after the final fight with him Post-Game.

* MirrorMatch: The Doppelganger enemy. Also the Shadow enemy in the Abyss; if the mirrored character is in the vanguard at the time, s/he will feel the same damage given to the Shadows.

* MonsterArena

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The demons are from the planet Hyades and made of metal. [[spoiler: Lady Harken is the exception, as she is from Filgaia and was human.]]

* PerverseSexualLust: One of Alhazad's defining traits is his, erm..."affection" for Lady Harken.

* {{Plaguemaster}}: Alhazad

* BigEater: Cecilia. How she keeps that figure is anyone's guess.
** Lampshaded - Apparently, being a mage just uses that much energy! In the remake, she claims that she's one of the ''lighter'' eaters at the Abbey.

* HostageForMcGuffin: The town of Adelhyde for the Teardrop.

* CloudCuckoolander: Zed, especially in the remake.

** [[spoiler:Completing a certain sidequest allows you to revive her as her old human self, however.]]

* VideoGameRemake: They went all out: new sidequests, new characters, clarified plot points, the whole nine yards. Now if only the translation had been updated too...

* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler: [[TheReveal it turns out]] that Rudy's not human; he's an artificial construct called a "Holmcross" (though it's probably meant to be "Homunculus") created during the war a 1000 years ago using the same (or at least similar) Living Metal that the Demons are made out of. It's why he's so damn strong and also the reason he can use their technology, or tech based off it such as [=ARMs=].]]

* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Zed antagonizes you all throughout the Gate Generator. You finally corner him him in the control room, where he unveils a new sword and is ready to fight you again...only for Zeikfried to order him to stand down, so you have to fight him instead.

* ButThouMust: Alter Code F, after Rudy defeats the Rotting Beast

* DuelBoss: Jack vs. Harken, Cecilia vs. Elizabeth, and, in Alter Code F only, Rudy vs. the Rotting Beast again in a sidequest.

* EnemyScan: In Alter Code F, using the Analyze ability helps you fill out a monster encyclopedia. Filling it to 50% nets you an EX File Key.

* LethalJokeCharacter: Zed in Alter Code: F, after recruiting him. He has [[CripplingOverspecialization the highest Attack stat of the main characters (990 out of 999 at level 100,]] as well as moderate HP) but his accuracy, defense, and Luck are all piss-poor. Further, all of his special abilities grant a positive effect when used, but impose a negative side-effect that [[AwesomeButImpractical reduces their usefulness to novelty at best.]]

* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler: [[TheReveal it turns out]] that Rudy's not human; he's an artificial construct called a "Holmcross" (though it's probably meant to be "Homunculus") created during the war a 1000 years ago using the same (or at least similar) Living Metal that the Demons are made out of. It's why he's so damn strong and also the reason he can use their technology, or tech based off it such as ARMs.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards - The Quarter Knights are pretty miffed about how Mother doesn't seem to care one bit about [[spoiler:Berserk's death]]. The fact that she wanted to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy everything]] didn't help.

* EvilLaugh: Mother has a ''voiced'' one. Also, Alhazad has one for each version. (A sickening "Khhk khhk khhk" in the original, and a less sickening (but still pretty creepy) "kekeke" in ''Alter Code F'')
** Berserk had one too.

* FightingAShadow: Guardians can recover from being killed, but for most it takes time due to [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly most of Filgaia's residents not having them in their hearts.]] Luceid, however, recovers upon hitting 0 hp in the same combat round multiple times due to [[spoiler: Boomerang's strong conviction of Desire.]]
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Mother]]
* EscapedFromHell: Boomerang's explanation when he returns as a bonus boss. Also, [[spoiler: Zeik Tuvai claims to have returned from hell after breaking free of Mother.]]
* FakeDifficulty: In order to get the player to manage their resources, there were no MP- or special cartridge bullet-restoring items programmed into ''Alter Code F''. The only way to restore either is by leveling up or sleeping at an inn.

* IAmNotSpock: In the remake, Jane does not like having "Calamity" put in front of her name.

* InnocentFlowerGirl: Mariel

* LawOfInverseRecoil: In the remake, Rudy wields his over-sized HandCannon with one hand, yet shows little-to-no recoil. This is not a case of {{muscles are meaningless}} as it's mentioned (and shown) that Rudy is very, VERY strong—much stronger than one would think, given his size and apparent age [[spoiler: Hinting at his nature as an Artificial Human created from Living Metal.]]

* NonHumanSidekick: Hanpan

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Zed, Boomerang, Alhazad and Zeikfried.]]

* SwordAndGun: Rudy uses his ARM for his special attacks, and a sword for regular attacks. Averted in the remake, where he can use his gun for regular attacks now.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Arguably the entire point of Zeikfried's OneWingedAngel form.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: After Berserk's attack on Adelhyde, Jack calls Cecillia out for not taking the demon threat seriously.

* WorthyOpponent: Boomerang and Lucied

** Let's not forget that the Japanese Language does not normally have an "L" sound, which tripped up a lot of translators in the early days of J-RPGs. Most of these are L<->R confusion... Malduke vs Marduk, Agares vs Agaless, Flauros vs Frauloss, etc. Sometimes the translator automatically assumes Ls should be substituted for Rs by default in names, and sometimes in non-name words (See BreathofFireII 's "Equip fishing lod").

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<<|EasternRPG|>>

* EvilGenius: Alhazad.

* FiveBadBand: Mother and the Quarter Knights.

* YouDontLookLikeYou: Most of the villains were given a completely different appearance in the remake. Boomerang is now a cyborg with a BadassLongcoat, Harken is more akin to a Valkyrie, Berserk has more traditional battle armor and long white hair, Zed was made fairly more human-like, Mother became much paler and taller (and some would argue even more frightening), and Ziekfried is now completley armored head to toe and bears a slight resemblence to [[SoulSeries Nightmare]]. The only villain who retained his original appearance was Alhazad.

* LikeABadassOutOfHell: Boomerang's explanation when he returns as a bonus boss. Also, [[spoiler: Zeik Tuvai claims to have returned from hell after breaking free of Mother.]]

* ToTheTuneOf: The title theme, "Into the Wilderness," sounds strangely like "Tie me Kangaroo Down, Sport." In addition, the world map theme, "Lone Bird in the Shire" is an homage to Ennio Morricone's "Ecstasy of Gold." Also, "Agitation to Destruction," or the theme that usually plays when [[spoiler:Mother is featured,]] sounds very much like "Cheyenne's Farewell" from OnceUponATimeInTheWest.