Most companies plan a series to be released over time. They get together an idea, put out a title, see how it does, and then proceed according to profit margins and quarterly forecasts. Don’t get me wrong, often the games that come out are great, and often they aren’t, but most companies don’t get so worked up about a project. That’s part of what makes Working Designs different.
Operating from their Northern California base, they scour the Japanese game market, picking by hand the titles that they bring over to us. Working Designs does not release the latest games, but choose to focus on the greatest. They have a particular taste – RPGs, shooters, and strategy. They like anime styling and big robots. They are videogame otaku, willing to put their all into odd titles that would probably never see a release date this side of the Pacific otherwise. Their titles are about great gameplaying experiences, not flashy graphics or high-tech requirements. They pamper their games, spending incredible effort on details like translation, story, and dialogue. They imbue their games with personality and vigor, and wrap it all up in a pretty, pretty package.
The Arc the Lad Collection is the latest example of what Working Designs does best. Collecting four games from the Japanese series, Arc the Lad I, II, III, and Monster Arena, this box set surpasses in sheer volume past notable releases such as Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. The package includes the four games, a hardbound instruction manual over 140 pages long, a CD featuring “The Making of Arc the Lad Collection”, and an omake (Japanese for “extra”) box full of priceless doo-dads: 22 character mini-standees, a custom plastic memory card holder embossed with a character from the game, and four custom analog thumb button covers - three featuring the main characters and one with the Arc Collection logo. Pre-orders also receive an Arc the Lad clip-on watch which is tres chic. To properly accessorize the release, Working Designs has created a two volume, hardbound and full-color, official strategy guide for the Arc the Lad Collection.
Lunar and Lunar 2 were required gaming for any fan of classic RPGs. The Arc the Lad Collection is another installment in the canon. The games benefit from the love and affection they’ve received with Working Designs, and the Arc the Lad Collection is an intense RPG experience of epic proportions. The question is not whether you need to play this game, but whether you can sit still anticipating it.
Arc the Lad I
The first installment of the series opens as any classic RPG: Kukuru, the last protector of the Cion flame has been tricked into putting it out. The damping of the flame releases a great monster, and begins a huge blizzard. At the same time, Arc’s mother remembers the warning his father, Yoshua, gave so long ago. Upon departing, Yoshua prophesied the coming of this day, and he instructed his wife to begin their son on a journey to save humanity. Arc, hardly able to contain his restlessness, sets out on a journey that takes him all over his world. Along the way he meets seven compatriots, saves a handfull of Guardian spirits, and begins the ardent task of rebalancing the human and natural worlds.
The story of Arc the Lad I is a classic example of the RPG genre. The world of Arc the Lad is that odd RPG mixture of medieval fantasy and apocalyptic sci-fi. Monsters have been unleashed on the planet, and government or military corruption is a major part of the landscape. As with so many Japanese RPGs, and anime movies such as Princess Mononoke, this is a quintessentially Shinto game that stresses the importance of mankind living in harmony with nature. Arc is noble in the extreme. His group works for the good of the world rather than personal gain, and they tell everybody about their pholosophy. Arc unites a wide variety of individuals from all parts of the world in a single, noble cause.
If the plot, characters, and setting seems familiar, that’s because it is. Arc the Lad I is a perfect example of the best things about genre gaming. It is familiar. It feels comfortable. The spectacular translation of the storyline, which comes across especially in the dialogue, is a large part of what makes the game so compelling. Throughout, there are sly jokes and witty references, but this isn’t what I would call a funny game. Somehow the game makes you want to take the melodrama seriously, or at least imparts some of Arc’s noble goals on the gamer.
Another reason why a fairly typical storyline is so enjoyable in Arc the Lad I is that the game is incredibly streamlined. Arc the Lad is a strategy RPG, which means that battles work in a way similar to Final Fantasy Tactics or Working Designs’ other excellent title, Vanguard Bandits. At the outset of a fight, the characters and monsters are placed on a gridded battlefield. The battlefields vary drastically in their design and feature a variety of obstacles and levels of height. Each character on the map moves individually, and positioning becomes very important. This method of battle allows for several of the best things in Arc the Lad.
Strategy RPGs are known for being little more than a sequence of battles. Arc the Lad is not quite a typical example of a strategy RPG because it does allow for free movement sometimes. But for the most part, Arc the Lad is a series of battles intercut with hefty doses of story. This style of gameplay cuts out much of the wandering around and interrogating villagers. That may be a drawback for some gamers, but I’m more than happy to cut to the action and not have to hunt for the story. I like my stories handed to me on a silver platter.
The strategy RPG aspects also lead to more, well, strategy. Positioning is incredibly important. Whether you attack an enemy head-on or from the side or rear makes a big difference in the outcome of your attack. Characters have a wide variety of talents and attributes, and almost all can attack both physically or with magic. Spells vary quite a bit, and are generally cast over an area in a pattern, so positioning of both your allies and enemies becomes an issue.
The controls and menu interfaces are easy to use and available at all the right times. You maintain complete control over your characters during battles, which makes actions such as equipping different items an essential element of winning. There is a huge number of items that you can use, ranging from the classic herb to exotic antiquities such as the summoner’s pot.
If there is a downside to Arc the Lad I, it is the ease with which it can be completed. Once you get the hang of the battles, and if you approach them in the order indicated in the story, you can get through the game with little hassle in about 16 hours. Of course, this leaves out doing a variety of fun tasks such as becoming champion of the fighting school and vanquishing all the monsters. On the one hand I feel that having died so little was detrimental to the game, but on the other it kept me involved and progressing at a good pace. Make no mistake about it, Arc the Lad I is hard to put down.
The first thing I did after finishing Arc the Lad I was insert the second game. That’s a very good sign. If it were a standalone title, Arc the Lad I would be docked for brevity, but as part of a four game series, it provides the perfect entry into the world of Arc the Lad. This is classic RPG gaming at its best.
Arc the Lad II
After blissfully wandering through Arc the Lad I, popping in the next disc of the Arc the Lad collection is a mindboggler. Everything is so different, yet so much the same. And better. Early on I heard that Arc the Lad II was the best segment of this adventure, and so far I’m believing it whole-heartedly. With the same style of strategy RPG battle, a whole new cast of likeable characters, plus all the old ones to boot, and a brand new career to pursue.
As I said in the last portion of this review, if there is anything wrong with Arc the Lad I, it’s tough to see. That is, it’s tough to see until you pop in Arc the Lad II. The second installment offers very little change in the way of control and general gameplay, which is very good. However, the stats and experience readings have been made a bit better, the menu systems are a little more streamlined, and the gameplay is more varied. In the first part, the battles seemed a bit too easy sometimes, and the game was too much of a linear journey from battle to battle. Sure, there are plenty of sidequests and diversions to go back and check out in Arc the Lad I, but these didn’t offer the variety of Arc II.
You import your characters from the first game into the second installment. However, you won’t immediately get to play with your ultra buffed out Arc and friends. Instead, Arc II centers around Elc and his similarly loveable crew. The story is a continuation of the first game’s plot – the evil generals are still trying to destroy the world, and this time Elc gets all mixed up in things.
Prior to his involvement with world-saving and rogue heroes, Elc is a Hunter. He performs tasks and eradicates monsters for the townsfolk. Hunters are a tough breed, think Han Solo meets Truck Turner. You can play an entire Hunter career in Arc II – Elc rises in ranks, makes money, and eventually gains access to new areas by succeeding as a Hunter. Due to his experience in the trade, he comes to know of Arc as a terrorist out to destroy the government who sports a hefty price on his head. This leads to some tense storylines as Elc and Arc cross paths repeatedly and you, the player, are the only one who realizes they should be good friends.
Eventually everything gets sorted out and you’re cruising the world in Arc’s air boat with the crew from the first game and the crew from the second game. Of course, that’s where things get really hectic, and the story takes off. Again, Arc II offers some great story, and the folks at Working Designs have done a stellar job of translating the dialogue. The quality dialogue is always one of the best aspects of a Working Designs import.
Another major aspect of Arc II is capturing monsters. You’ll notice that monsters level up as you fight them, and at first that seems odd. However, you eventually gain, through Lieza, the ability to capture monsters and use them in your party. That means your party can get almost infinitely huge (and it also lends the game a strange Pokemon-like quality). To accommodate such huge and varied parties, Arc II allows you to pick the active members of your party for each segment of the story. This lets you switch up your gameplay between old and new characters as well as monsters you’ve collected, and it lends the game an overall unique feeling. It is fun to swap characters in and out of the party.
Arc II may indeed be the highlight of the series. It is a much longer game than the first installment; however, that length (or the brevity of Arc I) just becomes part of the Collection, which offers well over 100 hours of gameplay. Arc II makes me glad that Arc I was so easy – I recommend chugging through the first installment at a good clip so you can get to all the real goodies in the second game. The second disc of the Arc the Lad Collection definitely makes me more sure about asserting that every RPG fan needs to have this game in their collection.
Arc Arena Monster Tournament
Unfortunately, we got in this part of the Arc the Lad Collection before Arc III. So while I’m waiting to bust out the final episode of the trilogy I’ve been biding my time fighting monsters. And I don’t mean that I (or Arc or Elc, whoever I am after way too many hours at the PSone) am fighting the monsters – the monsters are fighting the monsters, and there’s something a lot like putting two spiders in a jar about the game.
I have to be honest and say that at this point in time Arc Arena Monster Tournament just doesn’t appeal to me the way that the RPG games do. In Arena you can import all of your beloved monsters and enter them in tournaments where they fight against other monsters for fun and profit (and experience). It looks, feels and plays just like the RPG titles in the game with one crucial difference – you don’t actually get to fight your monsters. You outfit them, set up groups, train them, and all the rest, but once the fight starts you just sit and watch. That is much less fun than actually playing the strategy RPG style battles.
And that’s the nail in Arena’s coffin. Here’s the scenerio in which this might be fun: First of all, you really dig Pokemon and Arc the Lad, so you’re into the characters and the idea of capturing and fighting monsters. Second, you have a friend who is similarly addicted to Arc the Lad (wouldn’t it be cool to have multiplayer?) and loves the monster collecting aspects of the game, too. Third, you and your friend, in order to share the experience of Arc the Lad, get all of your monsters together and fight them while either downing Ho Hos and Twinkies until you have a ripping sugar high or swilling brews until you’ve got a great buzz on. Then, perhaps, fun. Otherwise, not so much fun.
In spite of the amazing disappointment I felt when I realized just what Arena was (I believe my exact words were, “That’s it?!?”), I don’t hate Arena for existing. I consider it a bonus in a package that, even without Arena, packs weeks and weeks worth of gameplay. Arena is not the Arc title I will be returning to as I play through the last third of the trilogy, but it might give me a little thrill once I’ve turned on my other friends to the game.