Next, I'll be reviewing
Wild Arms Alter Code: F. Well I got this game when it came out around November and I thought I'd give it a review now. There will be spoilers so I thought I'd give you all a warning.
Name: Wild Arms Alter Code: F
Price: $39.99
System: PS2
Type of game: RPG
Release date: Nov 2005
I'm sure a few of you guys have heard about this Wild Arms 1 remake. I think Wild Arms has been somewhat underrated since the first title back in 1997 mainly due to the fact that Final Fantasy VII came out shortly after Wild Arms. I think this game basically fell into Final Fantasy VII's shadow and never got out of it. Despite Final Fantasy VII, I played the original all the way through and enjoyed it. Since, I am a fan of the original Wild Arms, I was interested in how the remake would be. I wondered what the new features would be like, how much of it would stay true to the original version, and what they changed. I'll compare the original and remake, then tell what I think of the remake itself. I'll try to remember the original as best as I can. I haven't played it thoroughly in a few years. I did replay it a bit as I was playing the remake.
Differences from the original and remake:First, the anime intro. Its no longer right at the start of the game before you press start(Like it was in the OG ). It first appears when you bring Rudy, Jack, and Cecilia together. It plays every time you load your game, and its also by a different animator. I think the person(s) who did the ACF intro is the same person(s) who does the Wild Arms anime.
Equipment has been removed from the game. Instead "skills" are equipped. You'll find various skills that will allow your players to resist poison, fire, etc. Each skill takes points to equip so characters have a limited capacity.
Enemy encounters are also different now. The remake incorporates Migrant Seals like in Wild Arms 3. With migrant seals, you can avoid random battles by cancelling the "!" that appears before a fight. If you have enough migrant seals, you can easily get through dungeons without fighting. With the addition of 3 new characters, you can now switch people in and out of battle. It's convenient if Rudy or Jack are on the verge of death and you need to switch them out before they die. The fighting is pretty much like Wild Arms 3. Everyone runs around, and Rudy has to reload whenever he runs out of bullets. This portion of Wild Arms Alter Code: F is basically like Wild Arms 3. Also, characters have vitality bars that regenerate HP after battles. If the Vit bar reaches 0%, you can't recover HP at the end of battles anymore. This feature wasn't in the original. Overall, the battles are bit bland, but tolerable.
Lots of sidequests have been added too. One particular side quest are the Puzzle Boxes. These are places where you can get items by clearing out colored blocks in almost like a tetris fashion. They're quite a challenge and not the least bit annoying in my opinion. Mariel the Elw will also let you harvest berries and other plants since you can't buy them in stores.
Golems: In the original, the Golems actually looked like ancient relics. In the remake, they resemble Gears (from Xenogears) or Gundams. I really don't like how they look. I much prefer the originals.
The characters have also gone through a lot of changes.
Rudy: Back in the OG Wild Arms, Rudy did a small amount of talking. In the remake, he does not talk at all. When he is required to speak, you either choose what he says or he will simply nod. Rudy became similar to the silent heroes in Suikoden. In the original, Rudy used both a sword and ARM, but in the remake Rudy only uses an ARM. His fighting style is similar to the characters in Wild Arms 3. He has a set amount of bullets and must reload every so often. He Auto-reloads often and there is no longer any need for bullet clips, which I like. Rudy no longer finds different kinds of ARMS , but instead he finds different abilities for his single ARM. Each ability comes with its own set of bullets. The ARMs meisters in this game improve Rudy ARM stats, not the abilities themselves. You can only modify the ARM 15 times, but you can retract any modifications and customize Rudy's arm as you see fit. Alter Parts which are new to the game increase the bullet capacity of a special ability. Some arms require more Alter Parts than others. When Rudy attains Gatling Raid, with the aid Cecilia and Emma, he becames ridiculously powerful.
Jack: He's still similar to how he was in the original. The difference with Jack are in his Fast Draw abilities. Jack use to be able to steal in the original, but with the addition of new characters, he has lost that ability. Jack no longer uses "Secret Signs" for his Fast Draws. His skills simply gain levels with frequent use.
Cecilia: She still has her crest graph sorcery, but there are some spells that are different. Whenever Cecilia successfully performs a physical attack she regains some MP. She wasn't able to do that in the original. Also, Cecilia is now the only person who can summon Guardians. Rudy and Jack are no longer capable of this. Each Guardian has his/her own flashy scene when Cecilia summons them. Just something small, but Cecilia was an avid hamburger eater in the original. In the remake, she loves chow mein.
The following three are the secret characters of the game so can be spoilerishEmma: The egocentric scientist lady whom you first meet in Adelhyde. Shes now a useable character, and her special ability is to "download" attacks from enemies. All of her skills are listed, but are blacked out. When you download a skill from an enemy, it will lighten up and become available for use.
Jane: A famous wanderer girl. She is usually accompanied by her butler. She is another ARM user and she also fills the role being the thief. Shes one of the fastest characters in the game with speed higher than Jack's. Shes has an ability that lets people act right after her. So she is good when using slow characters such as Rudy and Cecilia. Her character is slightly more developed in the remake. She seems to show more affection towards Rudy in the remake than in the original.
Zed: Yes, the "Mid-Boss" of the game becomes a useable charatcer. He retains all his Mid-Boss aspects such as ducking out of a fight, claiming it as a draw when he clearly lost. Stat-wise he is a great character, but some of his skills are not that great.
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The controls are not bad at all. I experienced no delays or problems with the controls. Controls with RPGs are rather easy and it stays that way with this game
After putting some time into this game, I can definitely say that its harder than the original. Although it is still not insanely difficult. The 255 Heal Berry item dupe is gone from this game, so you can't make your characters uber powerful from the start. The battles can be a bit tough sometimes especially if you don't have the right kind of magic. The gameplay isn't very bad at all. If the battles get repetitive and annoying while you are running through dungeons, you can always avoid the battles, so its all good. The music is decent. It was nothing grand, but the music still complimented Wild Arms' western theme well. Michiko Naruke definitely improved on the music. It was entertaining listening to the original tracks and the remake counterparts. The story moves kind of slow, and the same goes for the character development. It takes a while for Jack's character to develop and Cecilia seems to stay the same. The only character who seems to show the most development is Rudy. Another thing I liked in this game was that they resolved events that were previously unresolved in the original. The graphics are decent. The graphics remind me of Skies of Arcadia, but a bit better. The characters have no voices, so they have the characters express emotion on their faces like what was done in Skies. I can honestly say that I'm enjoying this game. I reccommend it to anyone who is a Wild Arms fan. Definitely not a game for a everyone. Not something epic, but I'm sure it will appeal to some people. I think I've touched on most of the aspects of the game, and if I haven't I'll refrain since this review is ridiculously long already.
Which one did I like better? Its hard to say because there are things done better in the original that I liked more than its remake version and vice versa. I pretty much like both versions equally.
8/10
