Title Wild Arms V Date 09.03.2007 Genre RPG Platform PlayStation 2 Developer XSEED Games Publisher XSEED Games

Overview
Wild Arms V, also known as the Vth Vanguard (which I assume is spoken as "fifth") is the sixth title in the Wild Arms series, following Wild Arms 1 and 2 on the original PlayStation and Wild Arms 3, 4 and Alter Code F (a remake of the first game) on the PlayStation 2. Wild Arms V is immediately recognizable as a Wild Arms game, as it displays all the proper characteristics. The world is named Filgaia, as it is in every other incarnation of the series, the character wield retro-futuristic weapons called ARMs and the setting itself is that of a post-post-apocalyptic "wild west" frontier. Wild Arms V, however, goes two steps further. First, it borrows and heavily refines the hexagonal-grid based combat system first introduced in Wild Arms 4, and second, you'll see cameos of various characters from the preceding games as you wander throughout Filgaia. It is important to note that despite all of the similarities between titles, Wild Arms V--much like the vaunted Final Fantasy titles--is an independent game. The world of Filgaia in Wild Arms V has nothing to do with teh Filgaia presented in previous games.

Wild Arms V is, of course, a role-playing game, but it manages to combine elements of the plat-forming and puzzling genre into a finished chimera of a game that is surprising satisfying--no matter your preconceptions going in. Gameplay genre aside, the game manages to combine character archetypes (some might say cliches) into a refreshing personalities, combined with an interesting story, superb graphics and voice acting, all culminating in a finished product that is far better than any of the previous Wild Arms games yet seen.

Gameplay
Gameplay is divided into three sections. The town section, which takes the cookie-cutter format of walking around and talking to people; the field section, which consists of exploring a large overworld map similar to that found in Dragon Quest VIII and "scanning" for hidden treasures; finally, there is the dungeon section of gameplay, which is where you'll be fighting most of your battles, finding most of your treasure as well as your puzzles and plat-forming.

Exploring the overworld map is a bit uninspired. Just as in the first Wild Arms, you are forced to actively scan small circles of territory as you move to search for hidden treasure chests and items. The overworld map differs from previous Wild Arms titles in that everything is set to the same scale as the other environments. You can walk under trees, cross bridges, explore mountains, and dance along the coastline--whatever you want. The land itself is lush and vibrant, though some of the models and textures are a bit rough, it's nothing distracting and, for the most part, everything is consistent. Occasionally you'll have to fight monsters from the overworld map. I'll go into the actual combat mechanics later.

The dungeon map is where all the action occurs. As you move through the dungeon, you'll be treated to random encounters with monsters that start out through the tried-and-true (if overdone) effect of your screen "breaking" for the transition to the battlemap. Although this old RPG convention has been absent from many later games, like Tales of the Abyss, Persona 3, and most notably Final Fantasy XII, it is retained in Wild Arms V. Fortunately the combat mechanics are interesting and varied enough that this archaic mechanic in no way detracts from the overall experience of playing the game. So far as plat-forming elements in the game, Dean (our feisty young protagonist) can duck, jump and slide around the environments.

In almost every area of every dungeon, there is a puzzle or gimmick to find and solve. The puzzles you'll find will start out easy enough--kick a dead tree into a river to make a bridge, push a heavy box on top of a switch, etc.--but as you progress through the game these puzzles gradually become harder and harder. Eventually, you'll find yourself confronted with the true head-scratching puzzles that are the hallmark of the Wild Arms series. A key aspect of Wild Arms puzzles has always been the activation of switches, in a myriad of variations. In Wild Arms V, switches are activated by going into "shooting mode" wherein Dean withdraws his twin pistols (The Twin Fenrir ARMs) and is able to snipe and these switches from a distance. Dean can use different bullets for different effects. In addition to shooting at various switches with his pistols, Dean also has the option to shoot at treasure chests, boxes, and other destructible items in the field. This makes for a very handy way to gain items quickly; ad Dean's rate of fire is rather high.

The plat-forming and shooting elements of the game make running through the dungeons very fast-paced and interesting. There will hardly ever be a time when you're simply walking from point A to point B. Interspersed evenly in all this exploring are random battles, which take only a few seconds to load but offer a more laid-back atmosphere which is quite refreshing. I was pleased to note that the random encounters in Wild Arms V fit into the hard-to-find middle ground of occurring neither too often or too infrequently. They also manage to straddle the point of being neither too easy or too hard--some may complain at this is a lack of difficulty to the game, but I tend to see it more as a way to keep from getting to frustrated or irritated at the battle mechanics. In the field and dungeon areas, you are treated to a very mobile camera that can be pointed at almost any direction. It all feels very natural, and is a far better fit for the game than the cameras implemented in other Wild Arms titles.

Combat takes place on a hexagonal grid of seven tiles, just as in Wild Arms 4. Most of the time these tiles will be arranged in a circle with one central tile and six surrounding tiles, but not (as was the case in Wild Arms 4) all the time. Often you'll find yourself in battlefields of different compositions, which adds a lot more variety to the gameplay experience than you might think. Each turn allows your party members to attack, or move and attack. You can also defend, and reload the bullets in a characters ARM by defending.

The battle-cards are still present in Wild Arms V: using certain cards in battle can increase the Gella (money) you earn after battle, or the amount of experience your characters earn. After battle two screens show up displaying the items and experience you've earned. A problem I've noticed is that there is a slight delay with the screens, which means it can take a bit longer to transition out of battle than it ought to.

Thankfully, if you get tired of the random battles--or if all of the enemies in the area are simply too weak for you to bother with--you are able to disable all random encounters simply by pressing the R2 button on your controller. Of course, in order to do this you must first locate a floating black crystal somewhere in the area called a Soul Niger and defeat the monster dwelling within. These mini-boss fights are actually pretty easy, and the option to turn off the random encounters really makes "just exploring" a lot easier and substantially less-distracting.

Of course, there are many other elements to the gameplay--spells, summons, vehicles, character customization, ARMs modification, etc.--but frankly, I don't see much of a need to go into it. The gameplay mechanics of Wild Arms V are deep, interesting and a lot of fun. Load times are fast, monster models and textures are amazing, and the game itself is structured to the point where there is almost never a dull moment.

Story & Characters
This is the reason you buy an RPG. If it's not the reason, you shouldn't be buying an RPG in the first place. The storyline and characters (and to a certain extent the translation) in the game determine its overall quality more than any other aspect. Next to the characters and story, all else is of secondary importance. Thankfully, the writing of Wild Arms V does not disappoint.

The three main characters of Wild Arms V are Dean, the headstrong boy who tends to act without thinking; Rebecca, his childhood friend that looks after him like an older sister; and Avril, the mysterious girl who fell from the sky in the hand of a golem... but remembers nothing of her past. As you've undoubtedly noticed, all three characters hit on a specific archetype in Japanese media--the Shounen hero, the "Childhood Friend" (who almost always secretly harbors a romantic interest in the protagonist) and the mysterious beautiful girl who has amnesia. I think we've all seen them before. Dozens, if not hundreds of times. In some games these characters would simply be clichés, but for Wild Arms V I carefully label them as Archetypes because they are so well-defined and characterized that it scarcely matters.

There are hundreds of wonderfully animated cut-scenes throughout the game (all displayed with in-game graphics) that really work hard to capture the individual personality of each character--to overwhelming success. Many of these scenes are fully voiced, but some are not. Either way, the dialog is translated beautifully and edited very deliberately. I have yet to notice a single grammatical or spelling error in the game. The anime-esque graphics of the game work alongside the excellent voice-acting and writing to present an amazing final product. Each character can move very, very fluidly and can express a full stock of expressions. The character expressions, dialog, content, and the voiced lines all work in tandem to create characters with a strong sense of individuality that allows players to establish strong emotional connections them to a degree far exceeding almost every other RPG published in any hemisphere in the past five years.

The storyline itself starts out pretty simple. Dean wants to leave his hometown to "be a man" (and emulate his hero). He takes his childhood friend Rebecca with him on a sight-seeing tour up an old mountain, and there they encounter an amnesiac girl who falls down from the sky clutched in the large mechanical fingers of a golem. Shortly thereafter Dean is given his weapon--a mysterious set of ARMs dubbed the Twin Fenrir--and learns that Avril might be a person who controls the fate of the world. Dean takes all of this in stride, and soon enough he, Arvil and Rebecca depart their hometown on a journey that will (predictably) culminate in the salvation of Filgaia. Throughout their journey they will encounter a plethora of other characters, some who will help and some who would harm, and discover their part in an epic tale of the world's salvation. Naturally, the end-point of the story is all very predictable, but the storyline meanders and twists along the route, keeping everything fresh and interesting. It is, of course, the journey that matters most--not the destination.

Graphics & Presentation
The overall graphical prowess of Wild Arms V is roughly average. While the monsters are well-made and the characters themselves are some of the very best to be seen on the PlayStation 2, the environments are particularly bland. The textures are simple, but passable for the most part, but the draw-distance (how far into the distance you can see) is limited, and much of the terrain is marred by sharp angles that one would expect to see on an original PlayStation or Nintendo 64 title.

Luckily, the character animation and design more than makes up for the less-than-stellar environments. Characters can run, jump and dance (yes, there's dancing) with a mobility and freedom of movement unheard of in console RPGs--surpassing what we see in Final Fantasy XII, and some of the early RPGs on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Facial expressions are incredibly fluid and well detailed. The art style mimics Japanese anime, and watching the characters in action (from talking to jumping to fighting) are almost identical to watching a piece of video animation labored over by artists for hours. It's incredible. It's one thing to see the animation quality in a screenshot--but to actually see how everything fits together in motion is truly astounding.

Audio
There are three important areas to look at when determining the overall quality of a game. Voice acting, sound effects and music. I will admit that I am the kind of person that immediately prefers the original Japanese dialog to the English dub. I've listened to far, far too many bad English dubs to think any otherwise. Wild Arms V, however, does not have a dual-audio option. Fortunately, the voice acting itself is supremely well-done and is a stellar example of what to do right when dubbing a game. The voices match the characters very well, and the actors/actresses are able to express these voices across a whole range of emotions and intonations without ever once coming across as silly or pointless. The sound quality itself is edited to perfection. Not once did I hear any missed background noise or echo, as is often the case with games dubbed in small sound-studios. The sound effects really aren't all that much to speak of... nothing sounds out of place, and the iconic gunshot sound sounds very good, very realistic, and very cool.

The music of the game is nothing new. For Wild Arms, at least. None of the tracks are particularly inspiring, but each one does an excellent job of setting to mood of the game. The main theme contains lots of whistling and guitar in it, which does an amazing job of conveying the "wild west" atmosphere that Wild Arms is known for. The music is subtle, but rest assured it'll be just enough to increase your excitement at the right times, and help you react in just the right way to the story. In summation, the music fits the game perfectly. The character voices are near-perfect matches. All in all, the audio quality of Wild Arms V is some of the best I've ever heard.

Final Comments
Wild Arms V combines solid, fun and varied gameplay with an excellent set of characters, interesting storyline and solid soundtrack. Each component of the game is very, very-well done, culminating in a final product that very clearly accomplishes each and every thing the developers intended when they started making the game. The amount of work, care and sheer love that went into the production of Wild Arms V is clear--and that all of this work paid off is an amazing, rare thing.

The true test to a game, any game, is the simple question "is it fun to play?" With many RPGs, you run into the problem of having a dull gameplay system mixed with an incredible story, or an incredible gameplay system mixed with a dull story. Very rarely do you find a game that manages to be enjoyable on every level. Wild Arms V is one of these games. It presents a rich world with vivid characters and a compelling storyline, the successful incorporation of dozens of different ideas regarding gameplay and utterly gorgeous animation. It is not a perfect game, but it is undeniable fun--and that's all that matters.

Game Score

A-

Reviewed By: Contributed