If you follow our Twitter feed, you may have noticed that I got the review copy for and have started in on Arc Rise Fantasia this week. As I said, it can get a bit cringe-worthy at times—if you've seen any of the videos featuring voice acting out there, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
But the overriding feeling I'm getting playing the game as far as I have (the clock hasn't quite rolled over to 10 hours yet) is just this: I'm having fun. I think I can mostly chalk this up to the battle system, which is flexible enough to both be super-quick for your typical easily-beaten field monster yet slow and strategic when I need to take something a little more challenging down.
As I covered in my E3 preview, the battle system in Arc Rise revolves around Action Points. You'll get a certain number to spend per turn, and they replenish at a certain rate; what I didn't know then is that the number of AP you have available to use per turn also goes up as you level up. I didn't mention the strategy options; at any point during your turn you can elect to select strategies for the characters to follow, which they'll use to spend as much of your remaining AP as they can for that turn. This is extra-handy if you want to use an item but otherwise just have everyone attack, for example.
Magic turns out to be a bit of an issue. You don't get magic handed to you as you level up; rather, you spend money to increase you magic levels and your tiny number of max MP. Magic is pretty useful, but I don't find myself using it very much simply because MP runs out so easily and doesn't recharge naturally. I typically just work my way through areas with straight-up attacks and Excel Acts (which are easy to pull off often, as the SP gauges fill quickly) and save the magic for the inevitable boss fights.
Speaking of straight-up attacks, the Weapon Piece system is definitely my main incentive to grind in this game. Weapons have these gems that fit into grids that imbue the wielder and his weapon with powers; many of these can actually be removed and refitted to new weapons, but you have to level up these weapons first. To say this takes a lot of work is an understatement, but the options to blast through fights quickly helps a ton—once you select your strategy, swords come out and enemies get beat down so fast it's sometimes hard to keep track of what's going on.
I had also mentioned in my preview that things looked sort of blah; turns out that was actually the game's fault and not so much the TV, though of course it did look better on my plasma, as most Wii games do. But once you get past the first few areas, things get a little nicer. Of particular note is the castle in Diamant, the royal city; though you won't forget the jaggies (Arc Rise strangely seems to eschew almost all the Wii's capabilities in making games look nicer), the architecture is really quite impressive. There are some nice things to look at here.
That's about it for now. I'm enjoying myself, and I'll have my full review later, but for now just know: it's not the best RPG I've ever played—that honor lies with Baten Kaitos Origins—but it's fun to play, if a bit cringe-y to watch and listen to.
But the overriding feeling I'm getting playing the game as far as I have (the clock hasn't quite rolled over to 10 hours yet) is just this: I'm having fun. I think I can mostly chalk this up to the battle system, which is flexible enough to both be super-quick for your typical easily-beaten field monster yet slow and strategic when I need to take something a little more challenging down.
As I covered in my E3 preview, the battle system in Arc Rise revolves around Action Points. You'll get a certain number to spend per turn, and they replenish at a certain rate; what I didn't know then is that the number of AP you have available to use per turn also goes up as you level up. I didn't mention the strategy options; at any point during your turn you can elect to select strategies for the characters to follow, which they'll use to spend as much of your remaining AP as they can for that turn. This is extra-handy if you want to use an item but otherwise just have everyone attack, for example.
Magic turns out to be a bit of an issue. You don't get magic handed to you as you level up; rather, you spend money to increase you magic levels and your tiny number of max MP. Magic is pretty useful, but I don't find myself using it very much simply because MP runs out so easily and doesn't recharge naturally. I typically just work my way through areas with straight-up attacks and Excel Acts (which are easy to pull off often, as the SP gauges fill quickly) and save the magic for the inevitable boss fights.
Speaking of straight-up attacks, the Weapon Piece system is definitely my main incentive to grind in this game. Weapons have these gems that fit into grids that imbue the wielder and his weapon with powers; many of these can actually be removed and refitted to new weapons, but you have to level up these weapons first. To say this takes a lot of work is an understatement, but the options to blast through fights quickly helps a ton—once you select your strategy, swords come out and enemies get beat down so fast it's sometimes hard to keep track of what's going on.
I had also mentioned in my preview that things looked sort of blah; turns out that was actually the game's fault and not so much the TV, though of course it did look better on my plasma, as most Wii games do. But once you get past the first few areas, things get a little nicer. Of particular note is the castle in Diamant, the royal city; though you won't forget the jaggies (Arc Rise strangely seems to eschew almost all the Wii's capabilities in making games look nicer), the architecture is really quite impressive. There are some nice things to look at here.
That's about it for now. I'm enjoying myself, and I'll have my full review later, but for now just know: it's not the best RPG I've ever played—that honor lies with Baten Kaitos Origins—but it's fun to play, if a bit cringe-y to watch and listen to.