User Reviews (1 - 11 of 43)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

An enjoyable RPG romp

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: June 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a Strategy RPG simular to games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Shining Force, and Ogre Battle. Not a standard RPG like a Final Fantasy X, Suikoden, and so on. Let's get to the review.

The story is well told with solid voice acting, and an intersting plot. You plays as one of two brothers as main characters, switching between their stories before they eventually meet up. But their very gathering could cause great disaster. Added to the two brothers are 12 other main playable characters who can take place in battle with you.

Battle takes place on detailed hand drawn locations and instead of an old fashioned grid movement system you are alowed total analog freedom of movement (within your characters max walking distance) before you can attack an enemy. The game rewards you hard earned time with some fantastic full screen magic spells. Ice meteors, flame swirling everywhere, even a selection of summon beasts. The characters vary from human swordsmen, archers, and even some cool looking demon people.

I think that the games highest praise goes to it's music. It sounds very proffesionally composed and has a very celtic feel. Flute and bagpipes along with standard RPG fanfar themes. Overall, I am really looking foward to this game. It seems to be a very solid Japanesse RPG with it's share of good cinematic scenes, character developement, and eye poping spells. For the price tag, it's worth it, go for it!!

Following in the footsteps of greatness

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: June 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When I turned the game on for the first time, I was reminded somewhat of the FFVIII and FFX movie sequences. The storyline and lore are not only intriguing and fantastic like the FF's, but we now have a spirit system, fans of the Suikoden series would like to call these "ruins," that I loved. Like the Suikoden series there are also "true spirits" and he who holds them all will have the power to rule the world. The battle system reminds me of FF Tactics with free movement during your turns. The world map reminds me of the Chrono Trigger/Cross series. All in all, this game is truly remarkable.

unspectacular

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: July 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'd written a review for this game when I was in the middle of playing it. When I finished, I wished I hadn't spent the time. Here's the deal... I hated almost every character in the game. They were annoying! How are you really expected to enjoy a gaming experience when you hate all the characters you play as?

What I liked in the game was the deep story, and I loved the combat system. Combat was actually a lot of fun. The graphics were nice too.

What I hated involved all the characters and the way they reacted to things. In fairness, there were a couple of characters I liked, like Bebedora (sp?). It may be an unfair comparison, but in games like Final Fantasy, you can go back to various areas, and there's all sorts of side quests and weapons you can get. It gave the Final Fantasy series a lot more depth.

Ultimately, this could have been worse, but if they'd just made the characters interesting, it would have been a lot better.

This rocks

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: July 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I played the demos for this game and it rocks. I saw potential for many mini side quests, a pretty good fighting system and like others have said, you can move while battling. The controls were set up nicely and were easy to use. If you position yourself so that the enemy is in a column or row, you can hit multiple enemies in one strike (so don't bunch up your team. What goes around comes around). It also has skill strikes, level ups, weapon build ups, etc. Yes, it's similar to FF games but it's a great set up. Excellent graphics and sound abound.
The only bad thing I saw is small. They had this big opening with dialog but when you begin your quests and speak to other key people, you're stuck ready text. It'd be nice if you talk to a key person in the game, you could hear it. When you talk to random city dwellers it could be text. This way, you know when you're getting important info.
I'm still rating this a 5 star game because the TEXT issue is a small one. I also have not played the whole game so I can't tell you how long it lasts or if the ending is anything like the beginning but if it is, it should rock.

Great RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: July 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As above the game control is great. Sort of like FF Tactics, but more free form of fighting. From what I have got through the story line is great. Some times the text can get a bit off base, but the sound makes up for it ten fold.

If you like hack and slash RPGs, this game is a good pick if you can deal with some plot. Great graphics and cut scenes.

good but not keeping up with hack

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 10
Date: July 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

this game is good but u should go with hack the bad thing about arc the lad is for one the battle system is very boaring and the game is hard to understand but waht it does have is good sounding rpg music and the graphics are pretty good but overall it gets 3 stars because at least they tried but i should say save ur money for the hack series much better game.

good but not keeping up with hack

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: July 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

this game is good but u should go with hack the bad thing about arc the lad is for one the battle system is very boaring and the game is hard to understand but waht it does have is good sounding rpg music and the graphics are pretty good but overall it gets 3 stars because at least they tried but i should say save ur money for the hack series much better game.

An entertaining story

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 41 / 43
Date: August 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have been interested in this game recently, and I finally gave in and bought it. It is well worth every penny. I have been a major RPG fan for years, and this one is high on my list now. I think the most powerful and recommendable part about this game is its story. It is a story that is TRULY epic. I remember thinking to myself at one point that the plot twists in this game seem more like something from Shakespeare or mythology than the standard, run of the mill RPG. The issues of racism, hate, and prejudice are all handled so well in this game, and it makes the characters much more interesting than just powerful heroes. The story is also very seldomly predictable. I like this a lot because some recent RPGs have been so easy to predict, like FFX. With a couple of thoughts, about 90% of the storyline could be foreseen after reaching only about the half-way point of the game. I think that this RPG does not fall to this error at all.

Also, I really like the battle system in this game. It is really similar to FF Tactics. The style is move around and attack. It keeps the turn based style a lot more interesting than usual. It is a definitely refreshing change.

I also loved the music and graphics in this game. It is completely stunning.

The only drawback is that there are no side-quests (unless you want to fight in arenas to unlock secret characters, which there are two of), but the story runs so smoothly that they really aren't necessary.

I hope that many of you will buy this game and enjoy it as I have.

This is a game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: August 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Listen, and listen good, you don't have to buy this game, but I'd advise it. Heck, I'd give it a five star if only for one thing. The graphics aren't the best, so what. But it still counts toward a great review, and everything does. Trust me when I say this, its one of the best RPG's you'll find for the PS2. Yeah, I know, it doesn't look all that good, and it's kind of hidden and stuff. Even I was not sure about buying it, but after I did, I was happy. It features turn-based combat, but in a new way. Instead of the hits back and fourth, you actually move in combat, and then attack when in distance. Oh, fine, there's one more reason why I gave it a four, in battle the characters say things, and sometimes its freakin' annoying. The story great, the gameplay's great, graphics are fine, and the voices are good. I would recomend this game too anyone who likes RPG's, or all those like me who are huge RPG fans of all sorts, this game is a great buy. It's also kind of cheap. In the game, you will switch for a while between two brothers who are completely different, and have never met each other. Okay, fine, there more than a little different. It's hard, i'm sorry, but can't explain the story too much, if I do it will spoil a lot, and for two it's too hard. The story is so complex and everything, so yeah. I hope my review helped, now go buy it or rent it, or don't bother, it doesn't matter too me. Oh, yeah, and if you like this game you'll like Kingdom Hearts as well, no matter how dumb you think either look, and if you like Kingdom Hearts. you'll probobly like this, well, bye.

A sometimes-good RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

ATL:TOS is, at times, a very good RPG. Unfortunately, ATL does feel like the generic equivalent of the Final Fantasy series, but it has enough creativity and character development to keep things interesting.

The story in ATL is mostly superfluous, but the character development is very well done and fun to watch. In the game you play from two perspectives, Kharg and Darc. Their stories become more intertwined as you progress farther into the game, sort of like Suikoden III. The story itself is strictly generic; find elemental spirit stones to save the world from the evil force that wants to complete the ultimate weapon. The fun part is the characters themselves. Personally, I think one of the main characters (Kharg) is a tool, but his counterpart, Darc, is much more interesting and fun to play. They share a light/dark and good/evil dichotomy, and Darc is the dark/evil part. Much more interesting in my opinion. The supporting cast is well done, too, especially the later characters in Darc's story. I would describe the supporting cast as surprisingly creative.

Surprisingly creative is a good way to describe some of the monsters in the game as well. There are some of the obligatory attacking birds and plants, but there are also some creatures you have never seen before, something that is becoming more and more rare in modern RPGs.

PROS: Decent graphics, creative character and creature design, addictive in nature
CONS: Generic story, generic feel to the whole game
Score: 4

ScL

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Next 

Actions