History YMMV / ArcTheLad

* Healing spells grant XP upon a successful casting, which grows further when they can affect multiple targets. Go to any battlefield with a stationary enemy, gather all your units in a cluster, and just spend turns spamming the heal for easy leveling.

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Arc the Lad II'' is an improvement over the original in every possible way.

* {{Sequelitis}}: ''Arc the Lad: End of Darkness'', due to [[ScrappyMechanic Scrappy Mechanics]] and a flawed storyline. It also left the series on a long hiatus, until a new game was announced in 2016.
* ThatOneBoss: Zalbad in ''Arc'' 2, and he's not even a WarmUpBoss compared to the [[FinalBoss last one]]!

* ToughActToFollow: Neither 3 or 4 is a bad game, but they had the misfortune of being set after Arc 2.

* MostWonderfulSound: Ravishing a monster in 2.

* ThatOneSidequest: ''Arc'' 1 contains one of the most ridiculous sidequest goals ever: win 1,000 Arena battles. The battles are easy, and by the time you've gotten even halfway to 1,000 wins, you'll have earned enough experience points to bring your entire team to the level cap several times over. The primary challenge involved in getting to 1,000 wins is simply being obsessed enough to keep fighting the same enemies, over and over again, for hour after hour, in spite of the sheer tedium involved in doing so. If you're actually insane enough to reach 1,000 wins, the Arena manager will reward you with a huge supply of the game's best accessories for you to [[OldSaveBonus take with you into the sequel]], then tell you to [[BreakingTheFourthWall turn off the console, go outside, and get a life!]]

** The Dark One is the hardest boss in the entire game. He's so strong that, unless you have a powered up Choko in your party, you're going to have to level grind a ton if you want to even be able to scratch him. It's not recommended to take him on with a party below level 100. You can also expend 2-3 hours of real time constantly buffing Elc and Gruga over and over before taking a single swing each at him and then running back out of range to repeat the process until he dies.

* GameBreaker: The Romancing Stones allow anyone who equips all four of them to use magic without spending MP. Find them and the protagonist can solo his way to the end credits.

* ContestedSequel: Every game after ''Arc 2'' has been contested.

* CharacterDerailment: In the anime, Iga is depicted as one [[TheQuietOne quiet]] [[BladeOnAStick lance-wielding]] guy whose [[EyesAlwaysShut eyes are always shut]].

** First, when Elc has to kill Mariel, his first love interest, right below the playground where they played together as children. Even worse is the HopeSpot where she breaks free from her mind control, only for a bomb wired inside her to detonate and kill her anyway.
** Then there is the fact that Arc finally found his father, after literally YEARS spent looking for him, going into exile while being framed as a terrorist, and he dies 4 minutes after that. Finding his father was the reason he started his quest.
** Then you can add the utterly screwed up backstories of most playable characters, and finally the events before the last boss: the characters have destroyed bit by bit the Romalian War Machine, freed most if not all of their puppet states, and have conquered its capital. Cue the king of Romalia breaking the seal of the Big Bad: it turns out that the key of the final seal was that a human being had to willingly choose to free him. Cue the king snapping because his kingdom is collapsing under his feet and pushing the red button. The Big Bad then proceeds to kill the King of Romalia (no big deal), kills Arc's girlfriend (a big deal), and unleashes the apocalypse over the world. Then you see a scene of the cities explored by the heroes being flooded and burned down, while most of the world's population dies.
** Not only were all the good deeds of Arc, Elc & co for nothing, but you are at the end of the game. No opportunity to fix anything, and if this was not enough, Arc commits a heroic sacrifice after the last battle.

* PlayerPunch: Present in every game in the series, but in ''Arc'' 2 it is taken to a form of art. Between the constant crossing of the MoralEventHorizon and the fact that ''every single playable character'' is a [[TheWoobie Woobie]] (yes, even Choko, ESPECIALLY Choko), it almost seems like the story writers were trying to break a record (and probably succeeded).

** Then you can add the utterly screwed up backstories of most playable characters, and finally the events before the last boss: the characters have destroyed bit by bit the Romalian War Machine, freed most if not all of their puppet states, and have conquered its capital. Cue the king of Romalia breaking the seal of the Big Bad: it turns out that the key of the final seal was that a human being had to willingly choose to free him. Cue the king snapping because his kingdom is collapsing under his feet and pushing the red button. The Big Bad then proceeds to kill the King of Romalia (no big deal), kills Arc's girlfriend (a big deal), and unleashes the apocalypse over the world. Then you see a sadistic scene of the cities explored by the heroes being flooded, burned down, while most of the world's population dies.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: Arc 2 has several lighthearted moments that stand in contrast to the DarkerAndEdgier storyline, like the party's visit to Morea.
-->'''Guard''': That short kid with the weird face is Arc?
-->'''Shante''': Heh...weird face...that's funny.
-->'''Arc''': I don't find it so.
-->'''Guard''': Well...okay. I'll let you in...IF I can get your autograph.
-->'''Arc''': Autograph...?
-->'''Iga''': I have never signed such a thing.
-->''' [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Shante]]''': That's 'cause no one WANTS yours, Iga.
-->'''Iga''': Oh...

** First, when Elc has to kill Mariel, his first love interest, right below the playground where they played together as children.

** Then you can add the utterly screwed up backstories of most playable characters, and finally the events before the last boss: the characters have destroyed bit by bit the Romalian War Machine, freed most if not all of their puppet states, and have conquered its capital. Cue the king of Romalia breaking the seal of the Big Bad: it turns out that the key of the final key Big Bad seal was that a human being had to willingly choose to free him. Cue the king snapping because his kingdom is collapsing under his feet and pushing the red button. The Big Bad then proceeds to kill the King of Romalia (no big deal), kills Arc's girlfriend (a big deal), and unleashes the apocalypse over the world. Then you see a sadistic scene of the cities explored by the heroes being flooded, burned down, while most of the world's population dies.

* PlayerPunch: Present in every game in the series, but in ''Arc'' 2 it is taken to a form of art. Between the constant crossing of the MoralEventHorizon and the fact that ''every single playable character'' is a [[TheWoobie Woobie]] (yes, even Choko, ESPECIALLY Choko), it almost seems like the story writers were trying to break a record (and probably succeeded).

* CompleteMonster: Most Romalian generals follow this trope.

* WhamEpisode: A ton of them, especially in the first two episodes, mostly here to show that things [[FromBadToWorse are getting worse]].
** Arrival at Saryu village: for the first time we are shown the devastating effects of the industrialization of Arc's World, with one of its most ancient human dwellings slowly dying from the pollution caused by the extraction and processing of energy stones. Then, out of the blue, [[spoiler: Romalia's airforce raze the village, send it's turned-into-monsters super-soldiers to finish the job and find the key to the water shrine]]: it's the first time Arc's team is facing [[TheEmpire Romalia]] directly, the first time Arc display some real anger and the first punch [[PlayerPunch thrown at the player]].
** The last trip to Seyria: [[spoiler: Andel fatally wounds Seyria's king, who confess that he is the one who sent Arc's father away in order to inherit the throne, Arc is framed for the King's murder, Seyria turns into a police state controlled by Andel.]] If this was not enough [[spoiler: just after finding the Ark, Arc & co have to give it up to Andel who uses Arc's mother and the other residents of Touvil's lives as [[ManipulativeBastard a bargaining chip]], the seal on the [[BigBad Dark One]] starts breaking down: Kukuru has to remain hidden in Touvil ruins to maintain what remains of the seal in place while the rest of Arc's group become wanted fugitive]]: [[CliffHanger The first episode ends here]]
** First scene of Arc 2: Elc's -Arc 2 {{SupportingProtagonist}}- people get genocided by [[TheKingdom Seyria's]] military.
** End of the [[spoiler: White House story arc]]: Elc & co appear successful at first, [[spoiler: rescuing Mariel and finding the other orphans]], at which points [[spoiler: Gallarno turn all the orphans into monsters, forcing Elc & co to [[PlayerPunch kill them]], after which he entraps Elc and [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Mariel]], uses his MindControlDevice to forces the two to fight, nearly destroying Mariel mind in the process.]] When [[spoiler: she manages regain her consciousness because she [[PowerOfLove refuses to hurt Elc]], Gallarno uses a [[CrazyPrepared contingency plan]] and uses the bomb he had [[WhyAmITicking implanted in Mariel's body]], critically injuring Eld and leaving him nearly dead]].

* AlasPoorVillain: Done with [[spoiler: Yagun and Gaidel in ''Arc'' 2]] and with [[spoiler: Darkham in ''Twilight of the Spirits'']].

* WhamEpisode: a tons of them, especially in the first two episodes, mostly here to show that things [[ItGotWorse are getting worse]].

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: A lot, especially in ''Arc'' 2: despite being one of the [[DarkerandEdgier darkest]] [=RPGs=] ever made, it still managed to give a lot of Crowning Moments to its main cast.

* NightmareFuel: the basement of the pseudo-orphanage called the [[OrphanageOfFear White House]] contains chairs equipped with huge rotating saws. From the same place, we learn that in order to keep its children (kidnapped at best [[spoiler: witnesses of their families slaughter and people's genocide at worst]]) complients, the people in charge of the facility [[spoiler: force kids to take "control medecines" suspicously similar to rape drugs which pretty much end up wiping their memories (it takes Elc a '''decade''' to start remembering his past)]]
* PlayerPunch: Present in every game in the series, but in ''Arc'' 2 it is taken to a form of art. Between the constant crossing of the MoralEventHorizon and the fact that ''every single playable character'' is a [[TheWoobie Woobie]] (yes, even Choko, ESPECIALLY Choko), it almost seems like the story writers were trying to break a record (and probably succeeded).
* TearJerker: During the second game, you will cry, scream at your TV screen, and [[PlayerPunch curse the story writers as well as their descendants up to the thirteenth generation]]. The following episodes are not as bad, but have their moments.

** Arrival at Saryu village: for the first time we are shown the devastating effects of the industrialization of Arc's World, with one of its most ancient human dwellings slowly dying from the pollution caused by the extraction and processing of energy stones. Then, out of the blue, [[spoiler: Romalia's airforce raze the village, send it's turned-into-monsters super-soldiers to finish the job and find the key to the water shrine]]: it's the first time Arc's team is facing [[The Empire Romalia]] directly, the first time Arc display some real anger and the first punch [[PlayerPunch thrown at the player]].

* NightmareFuel: the basement of the pseudo-orphanage called the [[OrphanageOfFear White House]] contains chairs equipped with huge rotating saws. From the same place, we learn that in order to keep its children (kidnapped at best [[spoiler: witnesses of their families slaughter and people's genocide at worst]]) complients, the people in charge of the facility [[spoiler: force kids to take "control medecines" suspicously similar to rape drugs which pretty much end up wiping their memories (it takes Elc a '''decade''' to start remembering his past)