Wild Arms 2

I have mentioned Wild Arms 2 before as being partially the inspiration for 7th Moon. This game is actually very good on a lot of levels. Some people may think it's a little dated, particularly with graphics, but I am such a sucker for old school SD midget sprites, it was really nice to see a throwback like this. The music is good, and so are the anime sequences, unfortunately not as many as I would have hoped. The story is pretty good too, though arguably formulaic, you can pretty well figure out where things are going and the story is wrapped up too neatly, you're satisfied in the end, but as you go you kind of wonder why everyhting turns out exactly as you expect it would. Still, at a time when Square was all about flash, it was nice to see someone taking the torch of classic RPGs. There are some interesting twists here and there just to shake things up when you least expect them, such as comic relief duo Liz and Ard, references to Marvel comics, and a vampire and a cyborg assassin that actually turn out to be your friends. Then there's the puzzles, in addition to each character having unique battle abilities, they also have tools which can be used on the map to get through dungeons. These puzzles can be the trickiest part of the game, there are at least two that I know I couldn't gat past without help from the internet.

The one downside that sort of kills the game is that the challenge factor in regard to battles drops off sharply early on due to Ashely's Access Force Power. Many times stories proclaim a character to have immense power and then for the sake of game balance they disappoint, but here they actually come through. First off, the Force system is different because each character has two sets of powers, one that uses up points and one that simply requires you have the points to unlock the ability, but do not spend them in the process. This means your magic users are much stronger because they can cast spells indefinitely as long as they don't use up points with Force Powers. But the most powerful ability is Access, which allows the main character, Ashley, to transform into Blazer, a demonic form that is really overpowered. Really its only weakness is that its attacks are fire based which makes it useless against fire based enemies, but there's only about one such boss before you find Lucied and get a non-elemental attack. The big killer is how early in the game it comes in, so once you can use it any battle which has Ashley is super easy. Of course there are a few battles that remove Ashley or, in the case of Kanon, he's effectively neutralized, but even then the challenge is mostly in your head as you try to remember how to win a battle without spamming Access and healing spells. Then there's the optional challenge battles, bosses that are designed to surpass the  power of the Blazer, but since you don't have to fight, but if you do provide uniquely challenging battles that you won't find anywhere else in ths game.

So here's the story, you start out learning the back story behind three people, a Crest Sorceress named Lilka, and two soldiers from different countries and times named Brad and Ashley. The point is to believe the story is equally about all three, but really it's Ashley who gets into a very interesting situation. During his initiation into the elite military unit ARMS everybody gets turned into Blazer demons and fight each other for supremacy. Ashley is the last man standing and after grabbing the holy sword Argetlahm, he returns to his normal form. Ashely is contacted by a man named Irving who wants to rebuild Arms with Ashley, Lilka and Brad. Lilka and Brad represent magic and physical might which Irving believes would be enough, but Ashely is actually sort of an unexpected wild card in his plans and wants to keep him around, though he doesn't reveal why, it's just assumed Ashley gets to be in the new ARMS because he's all that's left of the old unit. Soon a terrorist organization appears called Odessa though their motives are very unclear. Iriving has ARMS deal with Odessa on a series of diplomatic missions with the other major nations of the world. At one point Odessa corners ARMS and it seems like there's no way out, until Blazer breaks out of Ashley and saves the day. A mystrious figure known as Marivel consults on Ashley's condition and then the story is broken by the sudden kidnapping of an orphan named Tim by Odessa. It turns out that Tim is actually the Pillar, the chosen one who can draw upon the power of the god-like Guardians. Tim is not only rescued, but recruited, adding the power of the gods to ARMS along with Ashley's demon, Brad's strength, and Lilka's magic. The next big event is Kanon, a cyborg exorcist who intends to kill Ashley to remove the Blazer demon from the world. Ashley begins to fear his growing demon power and makes a deal with Kanon, she can join the party on the condition that she if she may kill Ashley if he can't control his power anymore. Once everyone is setin place, Irving gets serious with Odessa and sends ARMS to finish off Odessa once and for all. The final battle with Odessa finishes disc 1 with an epic confrontation in space that leaves Ashely stranded.

Disc 2 picks up with Ashley slipping into another dimension where he meets Anastasia the Sword Magess and her companions Lucied and Marivel. Anastasia used the Argetlahm to defeat Blazer long ago, and now she's trying to advise Ashley who now has to fight his own battle with Blazer while also bringing him back to Filgaia. Lucied is the Gurdian of Desire, akin to the other Guardians, yet he is unique and his powers function differently, he does not have a symbol for Tim to connect to him with, he seems to serve only the wielder of Argetlahm. Then there's Marivel, who only exists in the other dimension as a memory, she actually still lives in Filgaia and is the same woman who helps Ashley. Ashley returns to the real world to find ARMS has a new problem, a new universe is forming and threatening to destroy Filgaia. Ashley may choose to pursue Marivel and reveals that she is actually an immortal Crimosn Noble, implied quite heavily to be a vampire, and she can join the party too. Marivel was a friend of Anastasia and after witnessing the destruction caused by the Blazer, wants to prevent it from happening again, which seems imminent as Ahsley's powers grow and his Knight Blazer form becomes Heat Blazer. There's a big twist when it's revealed that the encroaching alternate universe was the real problem all along, Odessa was merely a way to unite the nations against a common threat. Finally there's an epic final battle in which five or six people stand against an entire alternate dimension that is forcibly incarnated as a monster so big the battle has to separated into four entirely separate stages. Then comes the final battle with Blazer, the demon actually manages to extricate himself from Ashley's body and fights him with Ashley having to use Argetlahm and the will of the entire planet to defeat him. You can find it on YouTube, but to truly appreciate it, you have to go through the entire game yourself.