Jay "The Flea” Wade
Arc the Lad has returned on the Playstation 2. If you remember, Arc the Lad had three
previous games out. They where put out together on the Playstation one and played with the
epic of classic Final Fantasy but the battles where more like Final Fantasy Tactics.
In the fourth of the series Twilight of the Spirits, You play as Kharg,
a troubled soul who has a link to the humans enemy "the Deimos" (monster type species).
Humans and Deimos are at war with each other because each want Spirit Stones for their own use.
Also after the stones is an evil dictator who army is out to kill all who stand in the way
of him getting the stones. The story has many twists that will keep you interested until the end.
The gameplay is almost the same as in the classic Arc the Lads, When exploring the maps it
plays similar to The Legend of Dragoon. A track to every town and city and you are limited to that track.
The battles is where this game shines. The battles are strategy turn based,
each character has their own limits, powers and special movies. You control up to 14 characters,
and choose who can go into battle. The only complaint on this system is you have to waste
a turn to pick up money and special items that are dropped by the monsters you slay.
Unless the item lands next to the opponent, but if you fail to pick the item up by the end of the battle, it is lost.
This little nuisance does not ruin the game, just an inconvenience.
Also the item and armor upgrades are based on three items you equip,
so instead of finding new weapons and armor, you hunt for accessories for the arsenal.
The graphics are great, vary colorful to say the least. but compared to other RPG’s it could
have had more details to the characters, monsters and backgrounds to make it more stunning.
The sound and music are like that out of a Final Fantasy game. The control is almost flawless,
It would have been better if the aim ring was always on screen when it’s the
players turn instead of stopping and holding R1, just so you don’t have to move the character
around so much just so you can attack at the right distance. but again this is just a minor flaw.
I must applaud the Development team for the menu before battle, where you can upgrade
spells, weapons, and fill your characters with the items needed for that battle.
So if you step into a battle, you can add what you need before jumping in unprepared.
Overall Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a great addition to any RPG collection.