The Wild ARMs series

For some reason it appears we don't have a thread yet for Wild AR Ms. So, I made one here.

Well, we used to have one, but it was eventually deleted due to inactivity.

Lack of Wild Arms games due to the creator leaving and forming his own company does that. <<;

edited 3rd Mar '12 1:55:06 AM by Servbot

Aww, sad to hear that. I was hoping for another WA game to play someday.

Anyway, I really liked the series, while combining the Wild West with Eastern RPGs sounds odd it really worked! Here's my opinion on the games:

Wild Arms: The best one, about the only thing I never liked was the early CGI graphics, and that got fixed in the remake. Has the best Supervillain Team ever!

Wild Arms 2: My favorite, mostly for its exploration of heroism vs pragmatism. Could also use a remake.

Wild Arms 3: The most "Western" one of all. And I actually liked the unusual main characters (for an RPG) especially the married man with a daughter. Though it got really confusing in the end.

Wild Arms 4: My least liked, I can hardly call it a Wild Arms game, they removed most of the (visual) Western elements and made the plot too anvilicious. Wild Arms should be fun!

Wild Arms 5: Thank God we got this game to make up for #4. And it had cameos from all the previous games! (Not in continuity, despite what some people insist the games are not set in the same world.) Though I found the robot Asgard's programming minigame tedious.

Wild Arms XF: Nice game, though it felt- odd for a WA game. In particular, I can't believe they never actually resolved the subplot that the two female protagonists had already been switched to start with. You do NOT leave things like that to interpretation, especially when it would make the time travel segment seem pointless!

I still hope Capcom does something again with the property someday.

edited 3rd Mar '12 5:49:26 AM by Sijo

I disagree, I liked 4 a lot better than 5. 4's characters were much more distinct and colorful, and the battle mechanic was amazing. 5 did itself a great disservice by making everyone interchangeable, and giving everyone two moves a turn; it eviscerated the tactics that formed the foundation of all boss fights in 4.

I also liked 4 better than 5. While you may call it anvilicious, I thought it was exactly the same sort of no frills "analysis of theme" storytelling as 2 had, with the subject being adulthood rather than heroism. Add in the awesome fast-paced battle system and it's competing for my favorite of the series (with 2).

5 by contrast was a big let-down to me. They butchered the battle system of 4 leaving an empty husk, the characters were boring and/or stupid, the setting wasn't as interesting... It's my least favorite of the series, and honestly I'm not sure I mind it dying if that's what we were going to get from then on out.

XF was pretty fun, but incredibly gimmicky for a tactics game so I don't think it has much replay value. Far too many missions are just "isn't that new class we just gave you awesome in this particular situation?"

edited 6th Mar '12 8:00:31 AM by Clarste

Saw the intro to II in the thread on game intros. At first I thought "What is this, Japanese Fallout?" After a while, I wasn't sure what it was, but I'd be interested in finding out. (There need to be more JRPGs with dirt and grit in them.)

One thing I like about this series is that all of them with the exception of 4 and XF take place hundreds of years after some sort of massive disaster, and all of the worlds are in really bad shape, and even 4 is working its way in that direction. I didn't play enough of XF to know if it is the same way or not.

It's an interesting take on what jRPGs usually do with a cyclic disaster thing that doesn't really seem to have an effect at all on the society when the game takes place.

XF takes place in another wasteland world, but the entire game is set in a country that's somehow counteracting it, so it looks greener than the rest of the world is actually supposed to be. It's like the last bastion of... whatever. Flowers I guess.

Guardians! Yes, Guardians.

edited 3rd Mar '12 2:36:07 PM by Clarste

I wouldn't compare WA 2 to Fallout. Very different in terms of atmosphere and play. Oh the are nuclear weapons in the game, they form a subplot but its minor when compared to the rest. It does have politics surprisingly like the real world's too, but overall it is (like the rest of the series) a typical Eastern RPG dressed up in Wild West tropes.

Nuclear Dragon!

The Wild AR Ms series definitely needs more love. They do a lot of interesting and original things in the gameplay, and, with the exception of 4, tend to be decently written with endearing characters.

I am a very sad panda the series is apparently over. I am a sucker for puzzles in RP Gs, and that is something this series always does well.

I've only played I and III. I is way up there in my favorites (the opening cinematic may also be my favorite ever. I spent years trying to learn to whistle the theme that well before someone pointed out that it was probably done with a slide whistle.) III was good, by the desolate atmosphere really dampened my spirits during the game. I'm pretty sensitive to atmosphere and environment in games, and there's a huge difference between "the world is slowly dying," and "the only way these settlements could possibly last two years is if the people start eating each other."

Using a succession of arc bosses seems to be a recurring element in the series. I think that's something a lot more games could stand to employ.

The plot structure of Wild AR Ms 3 is more like a tv series than anything. Most of the Wild AR Ms series is like that actually. It gives the series a really interesting feel.

I played 3 back when it first came out, it was one of my favorite RP Gs of that console generation. I got everyone's level up close to 100 and most of the EX File Keys. Got AC:F and 4 a few years later but couldn't really get into them (got lost a little ways into AC:F, and decided to lay off 4 until I beat AC:F since it had a crap-ton of stuff that carried over into 4).

Also loved the little anime clips that played in 3 when you loaded a game, it did give the feel that you were starting a new episode of a TV show.

edited 6th Mar '12 10:22:30 AM by MasterInferno

I think 2 had the best opening clips. They a changed quite a bit as the story progressed. But 3 had the best opening song, IMO. That one's still on my iPod.

The first one clearly had the best opening song.

Also the best "leave the game running on the title screen" sequence of any game I've ever played. Seeing the fall of the kingdom of Arctica adds a lot of emotional depth to Jack, and the best part is that it can come at any point in the game when you accidentally see it.

i kinda wish more games had the same type of metal slimes the remake of the first game had...

which, funnily enough, im having trouble recalling since its been so long- but iirc, what happened was that you run into a mega apple or something like that, it runs after one turn, but is easy to kill- but the amount of damage you inflict is the amount of experience you get multiplied by 10 or 100 depending on the type of apple.

4 also had those apples. Of course, it also had this thing where you spend levels to buy the best stuff in the game from the black market, so leveling was quite a different experience.

Ah, yes. Suddenly, levels stopped being a goal in and of itself and became just another resource to be exploited. Poor Raquel spent a good amount of my after-game at Level 1.

Out of curiosity, what's Media Vision doing right now? I know the original Wild Arms creator seems to have conspired with the Nanoha creator to continue Wild Arms through the Nanoha games, but does Media Vision have any plans to do anything with the franchise? (Still hoping against hope that Wild Arms 2 will someday get the Alter Code treatment)

I played the second one a long time ago, when I was but a wee lad. Absolutely loved it. Got to the end of the first disc... But I couldn't find that fourth goddamn palace to finish off the Quirky Miniboss Squad. Curse you, Gamefaqs!

edited 7th Apr '12 6:52:17 AM by ShirowShirow

I think Media Vision is working on the Chaos Rings series now. And apparently, they also made Valkyria Chronicles III of all things.

Ah, well at least they're still doing RPGs, though I guess that means the Wild Arms series is on indefinite hold for now.

Ah yes, the Diabolo Towers. If I remember correctly, one requires the use of the hovercraft, one requires Lombardia, one requires a slog through another dungeon to reach it, and I forget if there was anything special you need to do to reach the last one.

edited 7th Apr '12 3:51:48 PM by Servbot

So after careful deliberation I realize I won't be able to get a PS 3 or PSP for a while. A real bummer but there are plenty of JRP Gs I haven't played for PS 1 and 2 and I own a PS 2 so....

And I decided to start the WA series. It's kinda been forgotten comapred to other JRPG series like Suikoden (even though that hasn't gotten a new game in a long time I don't think) or whatever else and I wanted to give it a shot.

But first, a couple questions.

1. Do the games need to be played in order ie. play WA 1 then 2 then 3 then 4 then 5?

2. Should I get the original Wild Arms for the PS 1 or the remake for PS 2, After Code: F?

Get the original version of Wild Arms 1 for a kick-off. If you can get it that is. It's really good on its own merits. As for the order, I'm not sure if it really matters in which sequence you play them in. They don't seem to flow in a straight line time wise.

I already checked, the original is about $20 on ebay. 3 is pretty cheap and so is 5. I mean, none of them seem to be insanely expensive on average but those 2 seem to be the lowest with 4 having the highest average from what I glanced at.

I didn't look for the PS 2 remake though so no idea how much that goes for.