Line #38 VideoGame/WildARMsXF


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wild_arms_xf.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Make bonds spin the threads of fate\
3	Princesses will meet together at the promised land]]
4	--> "Some lies are worth living"
5
6	A TurnBasedStrategy game in the ''VideoGame/WildArms'' series, released for the [[Platform/PlayStationPortable PSP]].
7
8	''Wild [=ARMs=] XF'' (pronounced "Wild [=ARMs=] Crossfire") follows the story of a Drifter named Clarissa Arwin, whose mother was seeking answers to the decay of the eternally unlucky planet Filgaea. Along with her protective adopted big brother Felius, she is tracking down [[TheDragon Rupert]], who stole her mother's sword. Entering the kingdom of Elesius, she is almost immediately mistaken for the dead heir to the throne, Princess Alexia. This proves useful when she finds out that the citizens of Elesius are chafing under the restrictive rule of four {{Evil Chancellor}}s: Charlton, Edna, Weisheit and Rupert. Clarissa adopts the role of the Princess Royal and leads a RagtagBunchOfMisfits in a quest to restore justice to Elesius.
9
10	Though billed as a straight-up TacticalRPG, featuring a ClassAndLevelSystem and grid-based movement, ''XF'' is more of a puzzle game: you are given a specific set of tools and must use them to solve whatever challenge is presented to you. This is reinforced by a new statistic, "Vitality Points," which function rather like your deck in ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'': when you run out, you take [[CastFromHitPoints escalating HP damage]], limiting your ability to simply out-endurance the opponent. While all of this is a logical extension of the entire [=T/RPG=] formula, it results in occasional bouts of {{Railroading}} and TrialAndErrorGameplay. The Class system takes similar cues to that of subgenre titan ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' in requiring each character to unlock various skills by earning "Class Skill Points," but allows greater freedom of mixing-and-matching of learned skills. It also limits each class to only four "Original Commands" (IE spells), forcing each of them to focus on a niche and lowering the incidence of less useful classes. Finally, the game uses a hex-based map instead of square tiles, and adds bonus damage when enemies are surrounded on two, three or six sides.
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12	The game received mixed reviews and was a FranchiseKiller until the 2018 release of the MobilePhoneGame ''[[VideoGame/WildArmsMillionMemories Wild [=ARMs=]: Million Memories]]''.
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14	A manga adaptation was produced with side-stories and an epilogue set after the game.
15
16	----
17	!!This game provides examples of:
18
19	* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Usually you're limited to six units, although on some maps that's reduced to two or one.
20	* BittersweetEnding: The throne is regained and the world saved, but [[spoiler: King Hrathnir and Princess Katrina die before the credits. Felius's fate is unknown, but it seems likely he's either dead or won't be able to return to Clarissa and the others until much later, as traveling through subspace allows time-travel, but it can't be controlled precisely when. If Felius shows up like Clarissa is waiting for him to, they'll be the same age. Which removes one {{squick}} to a possible relationship).]]
21	** Expanded upon in the one shot manga where [[spoiler: the story leads up to the end of the game, whereafter there is a TimeSkip. The gang gets back together after several years after having disbanded some time after the last battle. Clarissa is investigating strange readings that have her VERY excited. She and co. go to ground zero of the readings, and there be Felius. It is also implied that Katrina became one with the Filgaea version of the lifestream, or even become a Guardian.]]
22	*** Chapters of the Epilogue Manga can be found on the Internet. Google is your friend here.
23	* BlockPuzzle: Less so than the other games in the series but still present.
24	* [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]]: An actual gun, in fact. Strahl Gewehr's more important than just a way to shoot mooks. Also, the sword Iskender Bey.
25	* CombinationAttack: If Character A "locks on" to a foe and then Character B attacks that foe, you get a more powerful combination attack from the two of them. This is required to take down the final boss, [[GuideDangIt although the game does a poor job of telling you so]].
26	** There are also Formation Attacks if you can box the enemy in a line, triangle or hexagon formation.
27	* ConvectionSchmonvection: The lava levels. You'll only be hurt if you stop on the lava. Walking over it or standing near it is fine. Also, [[spoiler:Lluvia]] jumps into the lava to save Labrynthia's life by holding up a piece of bridge she's standing on. He has enough time to give a final speech about his political views before dying.
28	* CoolStarship: The ''Lombardia''.
29	* DatingCatwoman: Ragnar vs. Chelle, TheDragon of the Zortroa Kinship; they even both have the Raving Revenge move.
30	* DeadlyRinger: The Fantastica class uses bells as weapons.
31	* DeflectorShields: Asgard's barrier abilities.
32	* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: After defeating the final boss, [[spoiler:It reveals that it's immortal, and comes BackFromTheDead. So in a cutscene, they kill it again. And again. And they indicate they'll keep doing it with such passion that the monster, an ''incarnation of fear'', gets scared of them. This allows Princess Katrina, who it possessed, to take control long enough to perform a HeroicSacrifice.]]
33	* EarlyBirdBoss: Creedmore Prison's two battles. The first is a trial-and-error StealthBasedMission, and the second one is an EscortMission (either protect the AI-controlled villagers until they reach the goal, or just kill the boss.)
34	* EmpathicWeapon: Iskender Bey and Strahl Gewehr, which will only work for Melissa (and later Alexia) and Clarissa, respectively.
35	* FakeDifficulty: Monsters don't drop the ingredients you need for Synthesis; that just wasn't programmed into the game. So you can't upgrade your gear unless you waste money paying your Generic characters to search for items...
36	** It is, however, completely possible to beat the game by buying shop available weapons and without upgrading a single weapon.
37	** There are also many, many missions that are simply {{Unwinnable}} if you don't take enough people in a particular class, arbitrarily chosen by the developers, because of obstacles like switches that can only be pressed by characters in the proper job, or locations that are ''just'' out of reach to all except the single most mobile class. At least the developers had the wit to include a "Let's start this battle over" button, streamlining the TrialAndErrorGameplay.
38	*** Also a pre-battle report that'll usually tell you if a certain class would be a good idea, or at least hint at it very hard.
39	* FantasyGunControl: Played straight, despite being a {{Western}}. (At least HeroesPreferSwords is averted; of the six named characters, the one you get ''last'' is the {{BFS}}-wielder.)
40	* FightingForAHomeland: The Zortroa Kinship.
41	* FirstNameBasis: Clarissa finally stops calling Alexia "Your Highness" after a long, uphill battle on Alexia's part.
42	* FrillsOfJustice: Specifically mentioned as a favorite of one of the blacksmiths.
43	* FunWithAcronyms: [=ARMs=] - Artificial Reincarnation Medallions.
44	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: averted in Labrynthia's pre-battle briefings, whose text reflects the conditions of the battlefield (for instance, when the characters have been hit by a trap which inflicts depression on them, Laby mopes and groans her way through the DER. (And, when she's not available, there ''is'' no briefing, just VisibleSilence from Clarissa.)
45	* GeneticMemory: The "Legacy Ruins" that Melissa sought are not a literal place, but rather subconscious data encoded within people's DNA and passed down through the generations.
46	* HeroicSacrifice: Several. [[spoiler: King Hrathnir sacrifices his life to destroy a weapon that would have killed the rebel army and half the occupants of the capital city. Later, Princess Katrina sacrifices her own life to stop the immortal Fear Clysmian that is possessing her and thus save all of Filgaea. Finally, Felius destroys the ''Lombardia'' and apparently himself to destroy the gate that threatens both his homeworld of Elw Borea and Filgaea.]]
47	* ImprobableWeaponUser:
48	** Iron fans (Arcanist), books (Elementalist), spanners/wrenches (Gadgeteers), and ''handbells'' (Fantastica).
49	** And let's not even talk about the Improbable ''Defensive'' Equipment. Why a single bandanna should be sufficient protective gear for Ragnar is [[MST3KMantra something best ignored]].
50	* InSpiteOfANail: [[spoiler:Laby notices that whatever the time-displaced Chevalet Blanc ends up doing in the past is already "pre-ordained", and would not change their present.]]
51	* IsThatCuteKidYours: In the epilogue manga, Ragnar shows up at the reunion with two Zortroa children in tow, and his friends ask him if they're his kids. Ragnar insists they're not. (it doesn't help Ragnar's case that the girl greatly resembles Chelle.)
52	* JobSystem: An intricate and well-balanced one, too, arguably surpassing the competing system in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''. In addition to every Job having (as mentioned) only four abilities, the game doesn't restrict you to 1 Extra Set Of Spells, 1 Reaction ability, 1 Support ability and 1 Move ability. Instead, you can equip ''anything you like'', with the restrictions that a Set of Spells requires 2 "Skill Slots" and the {{cap}} on Skill Slots must be raised by LevelGrinding.
53	* LaResistance: Chevalet Blanc. (BilingualBonus: "White Knight" in French.)
54	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Subverted and {{Lampshaded}}, since Labrynthia thinks early on Clarissa might be the dead princess and lost her memories. [[spoiler: Kinda DoubleSubverted: See SwitchedAtBirth.]]
55	-->"That kind of thing only happens in stories! People don't just lose their memories that easily!"
56	* LeyLine: The ley points.
57	* LockedInARoom: A series of puzzle maps in which Levin and Felius get over their antagonism of each other.
58	* LongGame: The BigBad's been biding for the chance to get back to his home dimension for ''centuries''. This works to his advantage, however, as it allows him to cultivate LostTechnology and amass great power so that, if and when he comes back to his world, he can easily conquer it.
59	* MeleeATrois: In the final battle at Schnell Ruins, your party is pitted against not only one of the {{Big Bad}}s, but a bunch of zombies he just summoned and thereafter lost control of, who are now attacking everything in sight. It is completely legitimate to just bottle up and let the two of them take care of each other. (And basically suicidal to try and do it yourself.)
60	* MirrorMatch: The Doppleganger enemy.
61	* MissingMom: Levin's mother is dead, as is Melissa Arwin. What happened to Mrs. Hrathnir is never addressed, despite the game implying that King Hrathnir only got to the throne by marrying her.
62	* MoneySpider: A relatively early enemy encounter, the Harpy, can net about 1900~ gella if killed by a character with a Gella Bonus skill.
63	* NewGamePlus: Allowing you to keep your money, EQ and items, but not your levels or classes. It also gives you an additional exp multiplier, 2x on your 2nd playthrough, 3x on your third, and so on, and no one knows of a limit yet.
64	* OneStatToRuleThemAll: Predictably for the genre, RFX (aka Speed), which determines how frequently a character takes turns. Unlike the game's other combat stats, there is no equipment and only a few abilities that raise it.
65	** (The "Move" and "Climb" stats would be similarly crippling if not for the game's most-mobile class, Excavator, becoming available within 10 battles.)
66	* OneWingedAngel: The final boss has three forms, the last of which is a giant monstrosity with wings.
67	* ParentalAbandonment: All of the characters except Levin and Alexia [[spoiler: or rather, Clarissa]] lack living parents. [[spoiler: And Alexia's father dies in Act 2.]]
68	* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: the Flatwoods' rare Creeping Chaos encounter. Overkill damage divided by 2 = CSP gained from battle. (Tip: bring in a Sentinel, his Originals "Allowance" and "Amplifier" would get a better chance of optimum reward.)
69	* PlayerMooks: You can recruit and name generic Drifters to fight with you.
70	* PrestigeClass: Classes are unlocked as you progress. The enemy, of course, has had them for ages...
71	* [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race Girl]]: Chelle and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the Zortroa Kinship.
72	* PuzzlePan
73	* QuirkyBard: The Fantastica class is only useful in two battles which require destroying or moving objects to proceed. You're better off only using it to learn the [=OCs=] and Fant EQ and then equipping them on a character with a different class.
74	* ReplacementGoldfish: Melissa was a replacement for Yulia for Felius in a lot of ways. It helps that she looks a lot like her and can use her EmpathicWeapon Iskender Bey.
75	* SaveScumming: Made possible by the option to Load an old save during a battle. Useful when you're trying to get a very specific random encounter for grinding purposes (IE, one Creeping Chaos at The Flatwoods).
76	* SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness: The letter of the law is averted, as there are only four flavors of weapon & armor for each class, ''ever''; instead of buying new gear, you upgrade it using "Synthesis." But the spirit of the law is still in play, as shopkeepers can't create higher-level product for you until your collection of SolveTheSoupCans tokens is large enough, and ''they'' are scattered across the world.
77	* SpikesOfVillainy: One blacksmith specifically comments on how they love to make these in their work.
78	* SpritePolygonMix: 2D sprites against a 3D map.
79	* StealthBasedMission: In some missions, the goal is to guide the main characters to a destination while avoiding being spotted by the enemies.
80	* {{Steampunk}}: It ''is'' Wild [=ARMs=], after all.
81	* {{Superboss}}: Ragu Ragula pops up in a single optional mission. The bonus boss from all of the ''VideoGame/WildArms'' games.
82	* SwitchedAtBirth: An unusual variation. [[spoiler: Clarissa and Alexia were both wearing the same dress and trapped under the same rubble when they were three. They were mistakenly switched up, the real Clarissa becoming Princess Alexia and the real Alexia becoming Clarissa; hence why they can use the "wrong" {{Ancestral Weapon}}s.]]
83	** While never directly stated in-game, it's heavily implied near the end that they've figured it out. It also makes perfect sense when considering it as one of the reasons why [[spoiler:Alexia abolishes the monarchy in the ending]].
84	* TimeTravel: [[spoiler:After Katrina's Rite of Divine Coalescence, Chevalet Blanc gets sent to the past, even meeting up with a young King Hrathnir and Melissa and Clarissa Arwin in the process.]]
85	* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Entrenched in the game's philosophy, to the point that battles come with an "Oops, Let's Start Over" button.
86	** DevelopersForesight: Administrivia/TropesAreTools. There very few options for creativity in these puzzle battles; either you go with the dev team's strategy, or you lose.
87	%%* VisibleSilence
88	* WeirdWest: It's the Western Steampunk flavor that makes the series unique.
89	%%* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

Context VideoGame / WildARMsXF