Arc Rise Fantasia is a Console RPG on the Wii, developed by imageepoch, the studio behind the Luminous Arc series.Developed under the title Project Ray, it shares the same project title with another game by the same developers, Sands Of Destruction. Arc Rise Fantasia, however, in essence, can be considered a title in spirit of the Luminous Arc series, because of a handful of similarities with it.
As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The various short songs sung by Ryfia and Adele, such as "Imaginal Song" and "Song of Ruin" are in a significant-sounding, pleasant, but unknown and likely gibberish "language."
Authority Equals Asskicking: Meridian Princes Alf and Weiss, General Clyde, Turmelian Operative Leslie, and QED Commander Ignacy all have their share of command, as well as fighting prowess. Also First Sergeant L'Arc and Imaginal Diva Ryfia, to a lesser extent. Not to mention Real Diva Adele and Patriarch Hosea, though the latter got his power via Imaginal.
The Battle Didn't Count: This happens when the party fights Alf in the Verct skywalk. He is defeated, but apparently still has enough energy to take on the Real rock with Clyde (Who was also defeated by the party right before Alf, but at least had the dignity to look injured).
Betty and Veronica: With Adele as Betty (being L'Arc's childhood friend and claiming that she loves him like a brother despite her obvious jealousy) and Ryfia as Veronica (the Mysterious Waif from an enemy country and so harshly sheltered you'd think she was from another planet).
"Blind Idiot" Translation: Not so much the translation as the execution. Ignition already got quite a bit of flack from pulling this during Lux-Pain, but the voice actors don't match up with the lines, the wording is awkward, quite a few lines are changed, and the quality of the dub is a whole other story. Luckily, simply turning off the voices clears up quite a bit of the chaos.
Bloodless Carnage: Even when someone suffers an injury in a cutscene, there is still no blood.
Boss Remix: The theme "A Grand Existence," which plays while battling the Rogress, is a remix of the music that plays in the opening FMV, "Meridian 2nd Hikoutei Squad."
Cassandra Truth: Not only the characters, but almost all players automatically assume that Rastan/Oigen is Leon, despite the fact that he corrects this at every opportunity.
Dogged Nice Guy: Alf puts up with a lot of abuse for Adele's sake. He even sticks with her after she orders him to kill L'arc for her.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Luze seems to be a minor character at first, who the party meets several times throughout the game, but it turns out she is Eesa, the final boss.
Door To Before: The final dungeon thankfully provides one so the party can leave just before the final fight to stock up on items and upgrade their orbs if need be.
The Dragon: Ignacy to Hosea, and Ignacy also has his own Co-Dragons in Paula and Luna.
Drop the Hammer: Ryfia's Excel Act "Ryfia's Magic"; she conjures a huge hammer head out of light at the tip of her wand and smashes down.
Flat Earth Atheist: L'Arc. You'd think that after being able to summon a powerful deity when needed, he'd be more willing to accept the existence of gods. Guess not.
Handicapped Badass: When you first meet Serge, you find him to be an ex-thief, a smooth talker, cleaver, charismatic, and one of the best magic users the game has to offer. Then you find out he was THE Legendary Leon, leader of the Lord Knights, which surprises the group greatly as he doesn't fit the criteria at all. Turns out that before Ignacy crippled his sword arm, he was a feisty sword fighter AND magic user and the best there was. All at the age of FOURTEEN!
Heel Face Revolving Door: Dear God Alf, make up your mind. One minute you help us, the next you try and kill us.
And in English, he is voiced by Brett Coleman, who's done voice acting for a few Ace Combat games, and is in a ton of Japanese commercials (working dubbing and live action), including the one for Super Metroid.
His English voice actor, Samuel Rose, likely voiced John Mayor, the main character of the Sega Saturn game Deep Fear. His performance is similar (although somehow worse more than ten years later), and the actor for John Mayor is known as "Sam Rose".
Hopeless Boss Fight: The first fight against Ignacy, the fight with Alf, Adele, and Clyde in his castle (In which you just have to survive for a few minutes) and the first fight with Luze.
Informed Equipment: Just like most other JRPGs, you can never see any armor your characters put on, and they will all wield their first weapons in any cutscenes. The clothes you can buy for them also only show up on the status screen.
It Got Worse: After Alf takes over the Empire from Weiss, he starts imposing curfews and strict rationing on everyone in the empire. Weiss may have been an imperialist bastard, but at least he did not curtail his citizen's freedoms.
My Name Is Not Durwood: An early Running Gag in the game was everyone calling Rastan 'Leon' because Zamuel said it as he arrived. Turns out to be a misunderstanding on his part, as it's really SERGE who is Leon, despite everyone believing, up to that point, that Rastan was really Leon.
The Lord Knights themselves: Zamuel the Crimson Mist, Witchblade Rex, and Lightning Leon.
The Rogress also get intimidating powers to go for their names: Simmah, the Logos of Deliverance; Girtab, the Logos of Domination; Absin, the Logos of Judgment, etc.
Then there's L'Arc, who thanks to the events at Antrax, is called 'Lagoon the Cursed' over at Turmelia, and at one point 'Deathbringer' thanks to Alf's rule
No Export for You: There's another thing this game has in common with the Tales series; Raging Europhobia.
Obviously Evil: Ignacy. It really couldn't be any more obvious if he the sky darkened and lightning struck every time he entered a room. Although, to be entirely fair to him, it's not like he makes an effort to hide it. Also, Hosea for some people.
The entire cast as well looks a little older than you'd expect from JRPG heroes. L'Arc, for instance, is only meant to be seventeen but given his attitude and occupation he seems like he could be about twenty.
Really 700 Years Old: Again, Rastan/Oigen, Cecille, Dynos, and possibly Ryfia, all due to being frozen by Imaginal centuries ago. Rastan/Oigen even calls himself a 'relic'.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Paula and Luna shows heavy shades of this. Paula an aggressively voiced fighter in red who uses mostly fire and wind spells(the offensive elements), while Luna is a soft voiced magic user in blue who uses water and earth spells(the defensive elements).
Respawning Enemies: All of the monsters in the over world, sometimes right before your eyes. Any monsters in a dungeon area will respawn every time you leave the room and come back.
The Reveal: Two big ones right after Gula church, where Ignacy finally shows his face and Leon is revealed to be Serge, not Rastan/Oigen.
Rose-Haired Girl: Adele and Leslie. They're respectively more on the red and pink sides of the spectrum.
Shaggy Dog Story: For Paula and Luna, the We Challenge You! sidequest involved running around all over the world searching for hidden clues, at the end of the search, the whole thing was revealed to be a prank left behind by Zamuel meant for anyone who happens upon his clues.
Shipper on Deck: Cecille sort of acts as this towards L'Arc and Ryfia.
Ryfia might marginally qualify; while her dress is very modest, especially for a JRPG heroine, the hemline of her dress is really high up her... <Ahem> legs.
Super Move Portrait Attack: The first thing a Trinity Act does when activated is showing the three participants' pictures in Ass Kicking Poses. Same with the more-powerful Excel Trinity Acts.
Take a Third Option: L'Arc makes up his own "Law" instead of choosing either Real or Imaginal's Law. His Law saves both the Common and Divine races.
What Happened to the Mouse?: There were two preachers, Ryo and Mickey, that you run into at the end of Nabra Jungle, killing two pilgrims and running away just before the boss battle. You never see or hear from them again.
Wholesome Crossdresser: Some of the costumes you get later on... well... you'll have to see for yourself.
Arc Rise Fantasia is a Console RPG on the Wii, developed by imageepoch, the studio behind the Luminous Arc series.Developed under the title Project Ray, it shares the same project title with another game by the same developers, Sands Of Destruction. Arc Rise Fantasia, however, in essence, can be considered a title in spirit of the Luminous Arc series, because of a handful of similarities with it.
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