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Arc: Twilight of the Spirits Review
Aisling Canton
30/01/2004
Although Arc promises much, sadly its uninspiring story and gameplay ultimately lets it down...
I may as well cut to the chase here, this game was a disappointment. Not just because of the expectation of more from the fourth title in the reputable Arc the Lad RPG series, itās the disappointment that comes to you from almost every aspect of this game.
On first start up impressions are good, the graphics seem unspectacular yet decent, you have a short enigmatic opening sequence followed by a nice character moment as the introduction to your main playable character. Then things start to be noticed, and so does the disappointment.
The first thing that comes to mind is the suspicion that Kargh, the main character, is somewhat familiar looking, a suspicion later given strength when another character, Zev, is strangely familiar. A whining young man dressed in blue and yellow, a grumpy older man in a large coat with a collar covering the lower half of his faceā¦ sound like characters from any big RPGs of recent time?
āFinal Fantasy Xā doesnāt appear to be the only game in that series to have sown an influence in this game, thereās a lost jungle boy in here too. Though even as a superdeformed 2d sprite muttering monosyllabic sentences Gau was a far more involving character than his counterpart in this game. The Nun/Virgin Mary/ Meringue look-alike is entirely their own creation however and it certainly shows.
I donāt know if something just got a little lost in the translation, but the story, while it has potential, just never really engages. The dialogue drifts between the banal and the downright bad, āWa Ha Ha Haā is alright when being yelled by a cutsey superdeformed character, however it just doesnāt really work with semi-realistic characters.
The characters while decently modelled (apart from a few little odd points like Karghs magic floating pony tail), have problems with hands passing through sleeves, a moustache that passes through a characters collar when he looks down and the animation is so inappropriate at times that it seriously detracts from any ability to take the game seriously; with the villainous demon winged Drakar walking like they seriously need to go visit the little monsters room and the big buff military bloke who swishes his hips as he walks.
The background world models display the same little odd details which show up a lack of care to detail. Sure you can make a design feature of the hexagonal stove, but the hexagonal pots and pans? Rather than bringing to mind a different culture and history it simply suggests a lack of effort.
The game consists of pretty standard RPG elements, the main walk around section where you interact with the other characters, save, go to inns to rest and generally advance to plot and then thereās the battle section.
The battle system is an interesting combination of the standard turn based menu driven combat we usually see in Japanese RPGs and free roaming run around action. Your character has a certain range to move about in and can then perform attacks, special moves or use items. Unfortunately about 10 minutes into your first battle you realise that this is yet another place where the game ultimately falls down. Itās usual in these sorts of games to have powerful but limited special attacks of some variety and weaker but free to perform attacks; in this game however the balance between these sorts of attacks is completely out of whack. You have the choice of using up your limited spirit stones with special attacks that will end a battle in seconds or spending an almost unbearably long time using ineffective physical attacks.
Any actions that are taken during the battles sequences cause the jarring disappearance of everything not involved with that action. So you can be standing right next to two monsters and while attacking one the other will vanish, along with anything you could previously see in the background.
Anonymous
Date Added:Sat 17th Mar 2007 03:01
Anonymous
Date Added:Mon 8th Jan 2007 21:17