Despite my negative VERY early impressions last night. I really want to spend a few hours sinking some time into this game. Alas, another game that I also REALLY want to play arrived today. If it proves too engrossing, I may wind up skipping this tonight.
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Arc Rise Fantasia |OT| of "MUST ANSWER MY CALLING"
- Thread starter Crash Station
- Start date
Crash Station
Member
About an hour and a half in. Just got to the
. The way I see it, the gameplay is a mishmash of ideas from various other games/series (Grandia, Skies of Arcadia, early Final Fantasies). Fortunately, Image Epoch stole from some very good games. In other words, this is exactly what I wanted gameplay wise.
The voice acting and script isn't atrocious but it's pretty bad. Niko is Lymle levels of annoying in terms of everything from voice to how he's animated. Story seems interesting enough. I mean it's pretty generic but that's what I was expecting.
Gonna play more later but this will probably end up as my favorite RPG on Wii (not saying much, but still).
Dragon Prison
The voice acting and script isn't atrocious but it's pretty bad. Niko is Lymle levels of annoying in terms of everything from voice to how he's animated. Story seems interesting enough. I mean it's pretty generic but that's what I was expecting.
Gonna play more later but this will probably end up as my favorite RPG on Wii (not saying much, but still).
I finally got around to staring this, love the gameplay style but that VA, omg
Turbo CD classics have better acting
Last Alert
Last alert part 2
Red Alert II
Turbo CD classics have better acting
Last Alert
Last alert part 2
Red Alert II
Crash Station
Member
I don't care what anyone says. Mitsuda's still got it. Loving the town music.
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
I don't recall him ever losing it.cosmicblizzard said:
I always thought even his worst music is better than the music in most JRPGs.
Gazel Ministry
Banned
So, I picked my preorder up a few nights ago and my repaired Wii finally arrived back to me from Nintendo (with save files in tact, thank god!) I have been playing it off and on before work and I am about 6 hours in. So far, I am actually quite surprised with it!
Bad translation/voices aside, the game itself is pretty solid. The battle system really surprised me. I did not expect the battles to move as quickly as they do. Load times and battle transitions are an instant and the battle system itself is awesome. This game seems to be a combination of a lot of older ideas, but they all work really well. The whole weapon gem system seems ripped straight out of Children of Mana, but it's fun to max out and customize the weapons. Magic is also very interesting with the whole Orb upgrading. The game in general is just very pleasant to play. No random encounters, fast battles, and the boss fights so far are really challenging!
Apparently, there are three composers for this game, right? Honestly, I cannot tell which tracks are from Mitsuda. The world map music definitely DOES NOT sound like Mitsuda, but the early town tracks seem to be his work. Overall, I am digging the soundtrack. I am glad we got Mitsuda and company instead of Sakuraba and his clowns because I am sure we would have gotten a "Tales" treatment as far as the OST, if you know what I mean.
The story and characters is pretty whatever so far. So many religious terms being thrown around and a lot of gods and names to keep track of. You can definitely tell this is a rejected Tales team game :lol Seriously though, the story and events so far are not awful or anything, it's just not the most interesting world.
Bad translation/voices aside, the game itself is pretty solid. The battle system really surprised me. I did not expect the battles to move as quickly as they do. Load times and battle transitions are an instant and the battle system itself is awesome. This game seems to be a combination of a lot of older ideas, but they all work really well. The whole weapon gem system seems ripped straight out of Children of Mana, but it's fun to max out and customize the weapons. Magic is also very interesting with the whole Orb upgrading. The game in general is just very pleasant to play. No random encounters, fast battles, and the boss fights so far are really challenging!
Apparently, there are three composers for this game, right? Honestly, I cannot tell which tracks are from Mitsuda. The world map music definitely DOES NOT sound like Mitsuda, but the early town tracks seem to be his work. Overall, I am digging the soundtrack. I am glad we got Mitsuda and company instead of Sakuraba and his clowns because I am sure we would have gotten a "Tales" treatment as far as the OST, if you know what I mean.
The story and characters is pretty whatever so far. So many religious terms being thrown around and a lot of gods and names to keep track of. You can definitely tell this is a rejected Tales team game :lol Seriously though, the story and events so far are not awful or anything, it's just not the most interesting world.
Crash Station
Member
Zamuel is a pimp.
Gazel Ministry
Banned
Holy shit, the bosses in this game are ridiculous! I am in this jungle dungeon and there is this plant boss that just completely steamrolled me. Having the latest equipment with even decent weapon gem allocations is not enough for some of these bosses. The game keeps introducing new elements too. I just learned how to link spells together to create more damage dealing spells, pretty awesome! The battle system and balance in this game seems really good so far, which is surprise after just finishing Image Epoch's Sands of Destruction. That game was all over the place stat/balance wise!
This game is definitely no pushover. Close to 10 hours in now and still enjoying it. I actually find myself enjoying the fact that I need to grind for more money to upgrade my Magic Orbs. The battles just move at such a pleasant pace, it's kind of hard to put the game down. As insane as it sounds, the voices are also growing on me, just a bit. The translation/script is still pretty bland, but everything is kind of working for me right now. Oh, I didn't mention it last time, but this game has an AWESOME world map!
This game is definitely no pushover. Close to 10 hours in now and still enjoying it. I actually find myself enjoying the fact that I need to grind for more money to upgrade my Magic Orbs. The battles just move at such a pleasant pace, it's kind of hard to put the game down. As insane as it sounds, the voices are also growing on me, just a bit. The translation/script is still pretty bland, but everything is kind of working for me right now. Oh, I didn't mention it last time, but this game has an AWESOME world map!
The Abominable Snowman
Member
Got this game at walmart just now and just popped it in.. And i just watched the intro.. and I'm already quite annoyed with this game already. The graphics are rough on my TV screen. It's like early PS2/Late N64 most of the time.
the VA was bad, but its not as offensive as the writing. "Girl.. are you talking about.. me?"
Im a fan of traditional RPGs though, especially Saturn era ones, and this looks like a definite call back to the Saturn/PS1 era RPGs, in more ways than one.
question though: About how long does it take until you are actually hooked on the game? I'm fresh from the first cutscene and wanted insight on whether I should return it (Using this excuse I heard at work the other day: "It don't work on my 'deck'. mine say xbox and the case of this game is white like my 'deck' so i thought i could play it") or keep plugging.
the VA was bad, but its not as offensive as the writing. "Girl.. are you talking about.. me?"
Im a fan of traditional RPGs though, especially Saturn era ones, and this looks like a definite call back to the Saturn/PS1 era RPGs, in more ways than one.
question though: About how long does it take until you are actually hooked on the game? I'm fresh from the first cutscene and wanted insight on whether I should return it (Using this excuse I heard at work the other day: "It don't work on my 'deck'. mine say xbox and the case of this game is white like my 'deck' so i thought i could play it") or keep plugging.
The Abominable Snowman
Member
"The Devil must be beating his wife" :lol :lol :lol
I Can't stand this game
I Can't stand this game
The Abominable Snowman
Member
That looks MUCH better. It makes me wish for a Wii HD
So can anyone explain to me why some attacks are whiffing on the "Tactics" thing? I set it to "attack only" and with 3 party members it seems like at least 1/3rd of attacks whiff.
So can anyone explain to me why some attacks are whiffing on the "Tactics" thing? I set it to "attack only" and with 3 party members it seems like at least 1/3rd of attacks whiff.
I'll probably be able to go out and buy something on Monday, but... Eh... Still on the fence about this game. Sure, the battles themselves look pretty engaging. But the combination of a terrible script with atrocious voice acting does not help, at all (even if I turn off the voices, I still have to read through an awkward script). And even then, I don't want to spend $40 on a game that I may not even tolerate or only get 10 hours in before I lose interest (for example, Tales of Symphonia 2), as my patience for the typical JRPG tropes is really at its limit. It doesn't help much that there are not too many in-depth impressions whether it be here or among the gaming press.
And as for this satisfying the Wii JRPG itch... well... Tomorrow it's going to come down to either this game or Sakura Wars.
And as for this satisfying the Wii JRPG itch... well... Tomorrow it's going to come down to either this game or Sakura Wars.
The Abominable Snowman said:
Well the "tactics" attack only seems to set them all to attack the same enemy and there's a bit of delay for switching enemies so if one of the hits kills the enemy just as another character was swinging at it he'll just swing at the air the enemy used to occupy. If you're having some issue other than that I'm afraid I don't know what you mean.
The Abominable Snowman
Member
Thats exactly what I mean. Larc would destroy an enemy and the other two would run and swing at empty air, while the other two remaining monsters snack on their HP. REALLY annoying when combined with critical attacks that do 3x the damage of normalsTorillian said:
That and Larc yelling "IM GONNA KILL YOU DEAD" during his exceed break really grinds my gears about the battle system, which is otherwise fun
This babbling about laws is dumb, and these long cutscenes highlight the horrible dialog
Weiss:"*Evil guy reads a part of a mythic bible-type book"
You: You mean the Book of Miridia?"
Alf: " Yes and the introduction is .." (Implying that he restated the same part of the book)
you: "This makes no sense"
You're telling me!
The Abominable Snowman said:
Yeah I really only use the tactics thing when I overpower the enemy by a good amount, because invariably it'll get you hit more than planning it out yourself.
As far as the rest of it, I've actually started to like the story now, but it took me a good 20 hours to really start enjoying it which is just ridiculous. Also even though I enjoy the story the voice acting still ruins some parts of it and I hate with all my might how the game has huge leaps in level for your enemies which force me to go grind a bit because the dungeon leading up to that boss is nowhere near long enough to get me the levels I need. Oh and surprise boss fights with no save point.
Right now I'm grinding a bunch of enemies in a place I've already been because the second I go to where the story wants me to I have a boss fight against three characters that have 3 levels up on me. Annoying part is I'm higher level than what I'm grinding on so they don't give me full xp but I can't find any higher level monsters to work with.
Haunted
Member
I'm really liking how (spoilers ~10 to ~20 hours in)
Also,
I suspect that the sync rate has something to do with it? I'll have to try a Trinity Excel Act with similar elements... Most of my characters have different elemental Excel Acts as of this moment, though. I probably need to unlock a couple more before I can do, say, a fire-based Excel Act with all three characters. I'd be surprised to have the water-based Mystic Fortune triggered by that. :lol
the game split up the characters from your beginning group and sets it up as a conflict/rivalry. I mean, it's often been done before with one or two characters, but having like half of your squad of 8 "defect" to the other side for such a long span of time (it's been, like 15 hours since then already) is something else!
Also,
the encounter in the Golden Walkway with Alf and his new party was so well done, you really got the feeling that he improved on his own as well, just like you as the player character did, he got new Excel Acts just like you did, got new gems, gathered some allies on his own... it makes the whole "two equal teams" thing feel much more believable than if Alf and party just were a level-scaling monster mob or something. It's a pitfall many other games have fallen in, and ARF handled this admirably (so far).
That looks great. The dynamic numbers are even sharper than the rest of the fixed menu, which looks a bit weird. :lol But aside from that, it seems like the improved resolution really helps a ton. Got some shots of the world map? I think the world map suffers the most from the low res. The graphics are pretty good in the character close-ups and in battle, I think.Pangya said:The game looks sooo much better running on Dolphin:
That's what I want to know as well.Taxman said:
I suspect that the sync rate has something to do with it? I'll have to try a Trinity Excel Act with similar elements... Most of my characters have different elemental Excel Acts as of this moment, though. I probably need to unlock a couple more before I can do, say, a fire-based Excel Act with all three characters. I'd be surprised to have the water-based Mystic Fortune triggered by that. :lol
Haunted said:
Actually it wasn't the one on the beach,
it was the same adversaries in a castle. Sadly it's another one where you don't actually win but you have to survive a while without dying which is already tough as hell. Wish I'd known that I didn't have to kill them because I used all kinds of items with the intent of actually winning and then when I got them to a third of their health the fight got interrupted. Not sure if it's the number of turns or the health that determines when the fight stops, but you certainly can get a gameover in that fight as I did at least 5 times.
Oh well, onto the next seemingly impossible boss fight that I somehow make it through by sheer luck and leveling.
Haunted
Member
:lol Oh yeah, that's definitely a concern,Torillian said:
there's quite a few battles where the winning parameters are unknown. Surviving a set amount of time, bringing the enemy down to a percentage of its health, or fights you're flatout supposed to lose - one battle in particular seemed absolutely unwinnable from the start and I went "oh, ok, so I have to lose here" only to be greeted with a game over screen. >_> It's a real bummer if you waste items on those, I know exactly what you're talking about.
Sammy Samusu
Member
Wow, boss fights are quite hard in my opinion. I'll have to grind a little bit.
ShockingAlberto
Member
Does this game have a Classic Controller or GC controller option?
How the hell do I get back to the other island,the one with the initial town and Jada...completly stomped now on not knowing where to go hehe...after about 15 hours spoiler:
And wow at the graphics with Dolphin...how the hell do you get Dolphin? the Alliasing in the game is completly cleaned up it seems with that...
Adele`s story and Serge`s surprise and the whole thing in Olquina,there`s only me,Ryfia and Niko left now
And wow at the graphics with Dolphin...how the hell do you get Dolphin? the Alliasing in the game is completly cleaned up it seems with that...
It also plays great with the Nunchuck ,Wiimote..TunaLover said:
SlasherJPC
Banned
Ok so near the begining of the game, I fought this dude in the prison and it was my second time fighting him and he kicked my ass... Any tips?
BTW when I lost it made me start the prison over again since there wasn't a retry option at the boss... DAMNIT I hate when that happens.
BTW when I lost it made me start the prison over again since there wasn't a retry option at the boss... DAMNIT I hate when that happens.
Sammy Samusu
Member
Dolphin does what Nintendont. Please take some pics once you arrive the capital city!
I just got through the jungle and unlocked some things related to the BADASS battle system, who's the programmer, really?
I just got through the jungle and unlocked some things related to the BADASS battle system, who's the programmer, really?
TunaLover said:
Well i`m about 12 hours in,and I haven`t met her yet...just met Cecille again I think her name is(that little warrior/monk girl)but her voice,strangely,isn`t that bad...I finally found where to go to continue the story but for now i`m doing the Guild quests,to clear room for more of them later on...that Diamant capital screen looks great,I loved the way you walked into that city,nice view.
slasher_thrasher21 said:
Just grind 1 level or 2 and you should be fine
you don`t really need to beat him,just survive long enough
SlasherJPC
Banned
Ricker said:
You sir, just gave me the inspiration to continue. I felt like I might have to start over. Funny enough though, I stopped playing this at this part, but still wanted to play a RPG so I popped back in my FF13 which I had not touched since it was released and got caught up in that. Now I'll be knee deep in two RPGS. :lol
Also who is the kid with the red hair again?... I swear his va sounds like they were trying to impersonate Jerry Sienfeld. Maybe its just me, but when he says stuff during battle, I just crack up.