Mar 07 2009
Arc Rise Fantasia - The Game to “Pull Wii out of its RPG Funk”
The title was pulled directly out of Nintendo Power’s RPG Special from their February, 2009 issue, and I’m very, very curious to see if this game really will pull the Wii out of its RPG funk. Is it going to be a worthwhile RPG or is it just an RPG to slap into the Wii library to prove that the Wii has a RPG library?
Well, Arc does have a good start. The developers have swayed the game designer, CG director, scenario writer, and battle programmer of Tales of Symphonia to work on the Arc project. As a result, the game has the bright colors usually seen in a Tales game and players can see enemies running about, but NinPow assures us that this is where the similarities end. Arc is turn-based with a bit of strategy thrown in. The party has a set number of ability points to use each turn, and players can distribute them however they wish. Don’t want your magic casters to expend MP? So have your fighters attack multiple times instead. Do you only like one character’s attacks? Then make him a solo artist. (Although, players will earn more bonuses by having the party cooperate and fight as a team.) How your party attacks is entirely up to you.
The story reminds me a bit of Final Fantasy VII, in that the partymembers are out to overthrow an Empire (Shin-ra) that is mining power from deities held captive (mako energy). Sounds like an interesting mesh of politics and the environment. It worked for FF7 and Lost Odyssey, so why not?
The storyline similarities don’t bother me, and they shouldn’t bother any other RPG player. Aren’t most JRPG storylines similar in some fashion? I think the most unique JRPG story I have ever played is The World Ends with You, and that game didn’t really hold to most of the JRPG traditions. I just really hope that the game holds up to the hype, because the more I read about it, the more excited I get about its impending arrival.
I’m not getting excited yet about the Wii getting out of its RPG funk, because I don’t want to be disappointed if it falls flat. When I hear of more titles coming, THEN I’ll get excited.
