I have been interested in this game recently, and I finally gave in and bought it. It is well worth every penny. I have been a major RPG fan for years, and this one is high on my list now. I think the most powerful and recommendable part about this game is its story. It is a story that is TRULY epic. I remember thinking to myself at one point that the plot twists in this game seem more like something from Shakespeare or mythology than the standard, run of the mill RPG. The issues of racism, hate, and prejudice are all handled so well in this game, and it makes the characters much more interesting than just powerful heroes. The story is also very seldomly predictable. I like this a lot because some recent RPGs have been so easy to predict, like FFX. With a couple of thoughts, about 90% of the storyline could be foreseen after reaching only about the half-way point of the game. I think that this RPG does not fall to this error at all.Also, I really like the battle system in this game. It is really similar to FF Tactics. The style is move around and attack. It keeps the turn based style a lot more interesting than usual. It is a definitely refreshing change.I also loved the music and graphics in this game. It is completely stunning.The only drawback is that there are no side-quests (unless you want to fight in arenas to unlock secret characters, which there are two of), but the story runs so smoothly that they really aren't necessary.I hope that many of you will buy this game and enjoy it as I have. Arc the Lad Twilight of the Spirits
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a Strategy RPG simular to games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Shining Force, and Ogre Battle. Not a standard RPG like a Final Fantasy X, Suikoden, and so on. Let's get to the review.The story is well told with solid voice acting, and an intersting plot. You plays as one of two brothers as main characters, switching between their stories before they eventually meet up. But their very gathering could cause great disaster. Added to the two brothers are 12 other main playable characters who can take place in battle with you.Battle takes place on detailed hand drawn locations and instead of an old fashioned grid movement system you are alowed total analog freedom of movement (within your characters max walking distance) before you can attack an enemy. The game rewards you hard earned time with some fantastic full screen magic spells. Ice meteors, flame swirling everywhere, even a selection of summon beasts. The characters vary from human swordsmen, archers, and even some cool looking demon people.I think that the games highest praise goes to it's music. It sounds very proffesionally composed and has a very celtic feel. Flute and bagpipes along with standard RPG fanfar themes. Overall, I am really looking foward to this game. It seems to be a very solid Japanesse RPG with it's share of good cinematic scenes, character developement, and eye poping spells. For the price tag, it's worth it, go for it!!
On a world that depends on magical energy for it's motive power two races vie for control of the scarce source of that power - spirit stones. Humans seek them out to run their maachines, and the Deimos, or demons, seek them because their very nature is magical. Children of a rare Deimos/Human relationship two brothers who were seperated at birth are drawn into a web of conflict that makes them mortal enemies - each raised by a different race, each sworn to defend their own by killing the opposite. Kharg and Darc are their names and this is the story of how they discovered that there are even worse enemies out to destroy them both.The game is a standard RPG in format, but shifts the player back and forth between Darc's demon quest abd Kharg's human one. As the game builds the player can select characters for battles, and chose how individuals will develop skills. The plot meanders back and forth across the face of the world in carefully orchestrated fashion, the only variable being how many random conflicts one finds. You need a large number of these, since money and spirit stones are extremely scarce commodities. So hard to find that their acquisition will become the primary fixation of the game.The reason for this is that you have to stop fighting and actually pick up your winnings during the battle, rather than receive a lump sum payment. As a player who likes to acquire new weapons and skills, I found this irritating - too often you leave a titanic struggle with almost nothing to show for it. The other big flaw in the game is that it is completely linear. The game makes sure that you always do the right thing in the right order, which limits its replayability. Many people are comfortable with this kind of game, but I find that, once you taste freedom, you don't want to head pack.But most of my issues with Arc the Lad have to do with playing it right after playing Final Fantasy X-2. The result is that I became acutely aware of it's shortcomings. Of course, FFX-2 was created to be an extravaganza, and Arc the Lad was developed to be something less - just another decent, playable RPG. Thus the plot, which is really adequate for an RPG, comes of as glaringly tepid and character development seems sketchy and archetypical. Yet, had I played this a year ago I would have liked it much more. In any case, Arc the Lad is quite playable, even if it fails to meet the compelling quality of some of the releases of the past few years.
This review was written by my son, James Shea.
The first incarnation of the AtL series on the PS2, Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a tactical RPG, though more the latter than the former.
The game follows two viewpoints: that of Kharg, a human prince, and Darc, a Deimos (monstrous humanoid) slave. The two must unite to fight off a powerful army that seeks to capture the five elemental stones and gain ultimate power. The plot is, as it sounds, fairly cookie-cutter, and there isn't a huge amount of character development or really deep storyline. It's certainly not enough to support the gameplay. There are several attempts at "messages" - the splintering between the Deimos and the Humans as a metaphor for racism being the main one - but as a whole these are shallow.
The gameplay is "tactical", in a way, though the numbers of your party aren't as high as would be expected in such a system. Similar to Phantom Brave, each character has a radius that they can move in. Walking within range of an enemy allows you to attack them. Different weapons have different ranges, and certain skills also have longer ranges. Positioning for combination attacks becomes important.
The graphics are decent, and reasonable for a PS2 game of the time, but for the most part the character designs are uninspired. Every part of the character costumes and design seems to be stylistically taken from some other RPG, and none of them stand out in any way. The music is similarly generic; no particular piece stands out. This game is so remarkably average that it is unbelievable.
As a whole this game isn't excellent in many ways. It is simply another one of the seeming thousands of PS2 fantasy RPGs, and it doesn't add anything major or important to the formula that would be worth discussing.
Rating: 6/10. - Playstation 2 - Arc The Lad - Video Games - Ps2 Game'
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