History VideoGame / WildArmsXF

A TurnBasedStrategy game in the ''VideoGame/WildArms'' series, released for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]].

* 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.)

* 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.]]

* 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.)

* LockedInARoom: a series of puzzle maps in which Levin and Felius get over their antagonism of each other.
* 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.
* 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.)

* MoneySpider: a relatively early enemy encounter, the Harpy, can net about 1900~ gella if killed by a character with a Gella Bonus skill.
* 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.
* 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. This enforces CharacterTiers: Levin, with naturally high RFX and the [[BoringButPractical eternally-useful]] "Blast" spell, is basically this game's [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics TG Cid]], while Alexia and Labrynthia lag way behind him until a FragileSpeedster class becomes available.

* 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).
* 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.

* StealthBasedMission, done better than most

* 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.]]
* TrialAndErrorGameplay: entrenched in the game's philosophy, to the point that battles come with an "Oops, Let's Start Over" button.

* VisibleSilence

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

* BonusBoss: Ragu Ragula pops up in a single optional mission. The bonus boss from all of the ''VideoGame/WildArms'' games.

* SpoonyBard: 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.

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 TierInducedScrappy 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.

* {{Western}}: It's the Western Steampunk flavor that makes the series unique.

* ClassAndLevelSystem: An intricate and well-balanced one, too, arguably surpassing the competing system in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''.

A [[http://mangafox.me/manga/wild_arms_xf/ manga]] was produced with side-stories and an epilogue set after the game.

-->"What? That only happens in stories! Real people don't lose their memories that easily!"

''Wild [=ARMs=] XF'' 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.

Though billed as a straight-up Tactical RPG, 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 TierInducedScrappy 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.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/waxf.gif]]