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A Nice Addition to the Series

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: September 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

You've got to hand it to the Wild Arms series. They definitely do things differently than several RPGs. If you're looking for an RPG that's just all around different then Wild Arms 5 is actually a treat. It doesn't reach as high as it could, though, but at least it does reach higher than most RPGs would dare to reach, and does a lot of things quite differently and out of tradition for RPGs.

Wild Arms 5 has a fairly simple story. Dean is a guy who loves exploring ruins. He's a Golem-Hunter, but he's tired of being cooped up in his town. When adventuring with his friend Rebecca, an arm suddenly falls from the sky. Clasped inside the arm is a girl named Avril. She only mentions something from the past but Dean has no clue what it means. Despite that he decides to investigate anyway. And in true RPG fashion, no one stops him. It's a simple story, but it has its own charm.

There's not a lot of character development going on in the storyline, though. For the most part, you like the characters, but you really wish you could learn more about them. This has usually been the case with all the Wild Arms games. It's no different here. Most of the dialog is good at least. However, despite the games well written dialog, its attempt at humor don't always succeed, and in some spots it hurts the dialog. In spite of all that, the game is fun.

Part of what makes Wild Arms 5 interesting is that it really does do a whole lot of things different from your traditional RPG. You've got your traditional things like battling, dungeons to explore and a myriad of sidequests to go about. But a lot of this stuff isn't presented to you in a traditional way. You'll go exploring through dungeons, but Wild Arms 5 throws tons and tons of puzzles your way, and a lot of them are actually complex and well done. Some are so mind numbing that you'll actually need a strategy guide for them. Another thing WIld Arms 5 manages to throw in is that the game will always inform you of what room your in as well as always letting you know when you've been through a door in a dungeon and whatnot. Throughout the dungeons you'll also get hints as to what to do next. In terms of dungeon crawling, Wild Arms 5 is all around different. The only games similar to it are other Wild Arms games.

There's also a platforming element going on. To get through some dungeons you'll have to jump and crouch. Not only that, but in each dungeon there are Sol Nigers. When you destroy these things, you're given the chance to completely turn off the random battles within the dungeon. A nice feature that can go a long way.

It's neat to have all these things within Wild Arms 5, but a lot of it makes dungeon crawling a cakewalk. Getting hints, always knowing where to go without having to explore for yourself. At times, it can feel like your hand is being held.

The HEX Battle system from Wild Arms 4 returns here. Much like Wild Arms 4 there's a deep strategic feel going on here. You'll move characters around to let them attack the enemy, and your enemy also moves around a lot. There are seven hexes in each battle, arranged randomly. The beauty of this battle system is how you can manipulate it and change things up. For example, you can cast a status effect on a HEX and any time someone (friend or foe) moves to that HEX they are affected with the status effect in question. Likewise, if they move off that HEX they're no longer afflicted. You can use this to your advantage, but so can your enemy. More than one person can stand on a HEX as well, and how far or close you are to an enemy does matter.

There are also Ley points. These are the elemental factors at work, that help to alter the weaknesses and strengths of those who stand in these hexes. For example if someone stands in a blue ley point they will take less damage from water based attacks, deal more damage with water based attacks, but at the same time they'll take more damage from fire based attacks, which is the weakness. It's a great battle system to mess around with. The only real problem with Wild Arms 5 is that it's disturbingly easy to take advantage of the system. The game is all around easy. Your enemies often don't take advantage of the hexes the way you will. Also, you're healed after battle. There's almost no challenge present. Some battles are also just slow going.

As with any RPG, character customization is key and Wild Arms 5 has mediums at work. Mediums allow your characters to perform more actions in combat or give them bonuses. Mediums will give you magic and skills. Like the ability to steal from your enemies or to cast spells. Some even give you the ability to change Ley points on the Hex. There's a lot to it, yet it's pretty simple to learn on the whole.

In terms of visuals, Wild Arms 5 isn't a bad looking game, but it's really not good looking either. It's colorful and there is some neat attention given to certain points, but for the most part, it's bland looking. The artwork is something to appreciate, though. The game runs pretty smoothly as well. The game also has some great music to help move things along.

Wild Arms 5 is definitely different. There are plenty of elements done here to make the game stand out. This is not your typical RPG by any means. These elements actually make Wild Arms 5 a treat. The story isn't anything special, but it's not bad either. If anything, the biggest hit against Wild Arms 5 is that it isn't difficult at all and it holds your hand a lot.

Pros:

+A well crafted battle system
+Dungeon designs are well done, full of fun puzzles to solve
+The ability to turn off random encounters (upon meeting certain conditions) is cool
+Tons of sidequests and optional bosses
+Great soundtrack

Cons:

-Despite the likeable characters, there's not much development
-The game is way too easy
-A few pitiful attempts at humor
-It can feel like the game is holding your hand at times

10 years of underrated RPG goodness

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: September 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Anyone old enough to remember when the Wild Arms series first debuted on these shores know what to expect from the series by now. A quirkiness-laden story and characters, a western-esque setting, and some tried and true, classic turn based RPG gameplay. Wild Arms 5 begins as a mystery unfolds, and as every other RPG features in it's story, there's team-up's, power up's, level-up's, amnesia, random encounters, and just some overall wackiness that you've got to see for yourself. The game features some great looking character models (particularly during battles), but the backgrounds are incredibly bland. Not to mention that it is worth noting that Wild Arms 5 also suffers from "annoying sound byte syndrome", which this has in spades. The game is also not very lengthy (clocking in at 25 to 30 hours of total gameplay) and has some very forgiving difficulty, yet there is something about this game which seperates it from the pack (well, mostly). The goofy, charming, and overly enjoyable story, dialogue, and characters make Wild Arms 5 more than worth checking out, and depending on your level of RPG playing, you should get at least some sort of enjoyment out of it at the very least. All in all, Wild Arms 5 may not offer anything necessarily new to an incredibly well worn genre, but it's still worth a look for RPG buffs.

Good but not great

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The 5th of the series certainly beats the unpalyable 4th, but still rates as OK.

Its certainly playable and I give it very strong rating for its well done storyline. The graphics aren't FF, but they're good 'nough...

Its the fighting I found rather dull. Enemies have strengths/weaknesses in some combo of the usual 4 elements (air/fire etc). Attacks are either physical or magical - some bosses are immune to one or the other. There's a scan button to tell you right off what each enemy is all about nothing for you to figure out here...

The balance is much better than in 4 (could it miss?), but I found the sidequests virtually unnecessary. There are 'super-boss' side quests like in the previous games, but I never bothered with them - I was level 98 out of 100 just before the final fight - and a few level Apples made a perfect 100, easily winning the final battle without searching out the 'super-bosses.' Use your experience-doubling lucky cards carefully, equip experience doubling Hen Badges and watch your levels grow....

Spells and abilites are gained by equipping Mediums, but I found that only four of them where worth anything (sword/fighter. sky/magic, sea/healing, and the 'thief' medium). I used the abilities of the Moon Medium twice in the whole game and the mountain/defense medium is worthless. You'll use about 4 abilities over and over in every fight and rarely use anything else....

Characters are more configureable using 'badges' - you can equip up to 5 depending on your level. Badges combine skills to make for some very strong characters - able to cast 2 spells/turn at 0 magic cost, for instance.

A side note - don't assume items with names from previous games do the same thing. I assumed a Finest Art badge did much the same thing as in Alter Code F (turned critical hits into insta-kills; useful against grunts but Bosses were immune). Instead, this Badge doubled critical hit damage - and worked fine against bosses. Combine this with badges that up critical hit chances, and your character is dishing out serious pain....

Lets see what Xseed does next...

Major Disapointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: October 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is my least favorite game of the series...a titled held by Wild Arms 4 up until this point. At least Wild Arms 4 ran smoothly.

Several problems with the game irritated me to the point where I put it down permanently. Aside from the cheesy music and mediocre voice acting, the game's frame rate on the world map is horrendous. The dungeon areas look great, but everything changes the moment you step outside. Also, whenever you enter a battle the game tends to freeze for a second or two during the transition from dungeon field / world map to battle field...it happens every single time. I've tested it on multiple PS2s so it's not a system issue. Finally, I can't stand how the characters mouths open and close during scenes that lack audio dialog. It just looks like they left the audio out.

This game had to have been rushed for two reasons: the limited lifespan of the PS2 and the 10th anniversary of Wild Arms. They should have spent more time refining it. I had high hope for this game and I ended up disappointed. If you are new to the series, pick up Wild Arms 3...you won't regret it. If you're along time fan, save yourself the agony and pick up something else.

A great purchase!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Wild ARMs 5 is a good game and a whole lot of fun. It's not particularly original, but it takes some of the best elements from each game in its series and blends them together into a quality offering that should appeal to those who've long been a fan. For those who haven't, the fifth game is almost certainly their best bet for an introduction into the world of Filgaia. There's still a lot of room for improvement with this series, but after a few disappointing entries, it's refreshing to have one that gets things so much more right overall.

Better than FF

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am an avid RPG player. I had just gotten done playing the FF XII game, when I moved on to WildArms 5. At first I was like.. WTH is this? It seemed too simple and Lame. I got trhough an hour of it and started to get into the game play and battle system. Than I really got into the story. It is much more involved in story and actions than the FF game was. You feel much more part of the game. AS game play progressed, I had trouble walking away to do the other things I needed to do.. Like eat? I haven't had so much fun playing an RPG in a long time. The last game I played that I lost myself in play was FF X. Though if anyone hasn't played Bard's Tale.. Its good for a laugh.

Really frustrating!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 24
Date: August 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am extremely angry at the developers of this game because Wild Arms 5 had the potential to be a terrific game.But it fails.... quite terribly.

One reason being that Dean (the hero) is weaker compared to his redheaded girlfriend Rebecca.She wields a pistol and can attack monsters from a distance and can kill them in one hit.

Meanwhile 'ol Dean attacks with a stupid shovel and does a little bit of damage--that is if his hits even connect.Many times,you get the dreaded MISS message.

Storyline wise;this makes sense,because Dean doesn't have an Arm yet.So okay,I guess I can deal with it for awhile.But here's the thing;at the end of the first dungeon (after getting your third party member,Avril) you finaly get your Arm!YESSS!!Now things are going to get better!! Right???

Nope.Your Arm is just a set of dual sabers,yet you are still given the bullet limit display.Every time you attack(swing your sword) one bullet is taken away.So even though you are fighting melee,you are still required to reload....

I have no idea who thought this was a good idea,but they should be fired.

ALL OF THE WILD ARMS featured the main hero using a gun;A GUN! You know; BANG! BANG! What the f*** is this???

It's also cruel when Deany boy can fire his guns in the dungeons to solve puzzles,but cannot during battle. Rrrrr... someone SO needs to be knocked in the head for such a stupid concept!

Before you set out on your quest,you are given Tony's Gift.But you can't examine it or use it,as it's always greyed out.So don't count on getting any info from that.Which leads me to another problem;the game never really EXPLAINS how to do anything!

It has little blurbs here and there,but there is no help menu that you can acess if you are stuck.And forget about an icon explaination for the map.Unless you have an idea of where to go,you are basically just going to run around until you find the right track.

Also,Avril has a sword that can retract into a whip.How do you do that?I don't know.I don't even know if you CAN do it!Again,the game offers no insight to it's players.It just assumes that they either have a guide or the ability to read the minds of the game's creators.

There is also a glitch in the game that got passed testing,that players should be aware of.Whenever you are asked to select a memory card file,or the save or hint option from the save parrot,YOUR ANALOG STICKS WILL NOT WORK!You have to use the cross pad to select a coice.I was really irritated at first because I thought something was wrong with my controllers or PS2.No... just another crappy aspect to a half-crap game.

Also the sound is,to put it mildly;annoying.I speck of Dean's voice the most.When you use the item radar thing,you will constantly cycle through the following phrases over and OVER:

"Let's take a little look see!"
"Don't miss anything!"
"Searching!"

When you keep searching and hear this dialouge over and over,it is enough to drive anyone to the brink of insanity.To all the supporters of this game who will defend it by saying "you can turn the voice volume down";you shouldn't even have to!What game creator would say"Hey,it's a good idea to have this moron of a hero babble out the same crap over and over as the player searches for junk.

And the battles;while good for the most part,do indeed suffer from SSS (severe suckiness syndrome) at many points.

1.)Unlike the MAJORITY of rpgs where heros go first,then monsters until the battle ends.The "masterpeice" of wild arms 5 shoots out another turd for it's gameplay.Many times just ONE member of your party will go first,then THREE of the monsters.WHY should the enemey have this advantage?Why is this considered a good idea??It's really lame when three to four enemies gang up on one member at the begining of a fight.It's also pathetic when one of your characters are at level 20 and STILL cannot kill an enemey in one hit;often times the monster will have just a liiitttle bit of HP left,so he can still live to annoy you.But that's the theme of this game:annoyance.

2.)When you analyze enemies to see what element they are weak against,it is not always correct.I have encountered three enemies where this has happened.For instance one monster was clearly shown to be weak against water;I USED a blast on a water hex on that same monster,and got a NO EFFECT! Why?Again,I don't know.I guess it applies to yet another rule that the player needs to learn. -Let's keep it simple folks;if I want to keep learning a bunch of new rules,I'll take another class at college and learn something that is WORTH learning.

3.)The analog controls DO NOT WORK when you select what kind of special attack you wish to use i.e. Blast or Absorb,for instance.The analog controls also fail to work when selecting between which monster you wish to analyze.I guess the developers figured that this game sucks so much,that it doesn't even deserve to have all the bugs worked out.I honestly,don't blame them.

Well,there is some good;although very little.The hex battle system returns,which was great in Wild Arms 4.However in this installment they put way to much emphasis on detail and elements.

A cool,new feature was added to the dungeons called a Sol Nger.It is like a save point,only purple.It contains a monster that is stronger than the other ones (still not very hard at all) and if you can defeat it,you purify the area.This gives you the option to change the random battle encounter to ON or OFF.This is great when you are looking for a way out, or you are trying to solve a puzzle.It also eliminates the annoying migrant pieces/concept found in 3 and the remake of 1.However,they also GREATLY increase random battles on purpose,just to make the player want to find the Sol Ngers,as it becomes a headache after getting attacked every three steps you take.

Also the graphics and the voice acting is decent (with the exception of Dean the spaz) The whistling REALLY gets old after awhile,and all the typical anime "humor" gets annoying as well.Dean and Rebecca argue like a married couple thrice seperated.Dean also likes golems more than girls wearing daisy dukes.... let me get that shovel of his so I can....

This other point must be made;WAAAAYYYY TO MANY CUTSCENES!While I don't mind cutscenes;the difference is that with other rpgs,a cutscene usually played out because something was important.Also,the dialouge in a cutscene was usually good.Not here.I met some little girl in a temple that I had to drop off wine to.This is a peice from the cutscene:

Hi!

Oh no! I'm just a typical little anime girl that is scared of her own shadow and speaks in a super high voice;I must run!! -THUD!-

-30 seconds of the camera panning around with goofy music playing-

I'm searching for someone

-More dead air and stupid music-

Down here?

Yes

Finally,I just skipped the scene for the sake of my own sanity and was thrust into a battle.Hey XSEED,if you are going to have a cutscene;GET TO THE FRIGGIN' POINT!

I really wanted to like this game,but it's all clumped together like a pile of puke on new year's eve.

A simple note to game designers out there.Think back to the glory days of the original Wild Arms and Wild Arms 2.Their genius was in their simplicity!

They were easy to get the hang of;and that was what made them fun.A player could just concentrate on gaming,rather than the mechanics of it!You didn't have to learn a thousand new things just to play a video game!Why is that SO HARD to accomplish nowadays?

I'm going to give this game a few more hours,and if Dean the Dumb doesn't learn to fire his gun,this sucker is geting traded in.I don't care if it's only worth a couple of bucks;I'm getting fed up with this garbage.

Traditional turn based,old school RPGs... THOSE were the days.Granted, there are some wonderful NEW RPGs out there with a catchy style,but Wild Arms 5 is just not one of them.

Anybody want to play Dragon Warrior 4?? Anybody???

A well developed story

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The story within Wild ARMs 5 borderlines on the last good story from the Wild ARMs series back when Wild ARMs 2 was released. This story involves a lot of things, comedy, drama and tragic events. The combat system is taken from Wild ARMs 4, which I didn't really care for since I mainly play JRPGs. The graphics are pretty good--similar to Wild ARMs 4 though yet faster--and the world map makes its comeback in this game.

If you want to get into Wild ARMs series, this one is a good start (if you play it all the way through.)

Wild Arms 5: Platformer RPG Goodness

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Wild Arms 5 is one of the few platformer RPGs out there. Your character has the ability to jump from object to object, you push items into holes, use different types of bullets to hit switches, and so on. What does this mean? The normal dungeon crawl becomes a fun experience and not as repetitive as many RPGs (does make you wonder though why whoever built all these structures made them so hard to get through!).

The game is all around fun and has some interesting aspects which make even some of the more annoying areas a pleasure to go through. One of which is the ability to turn off random encounters in areas you've beaten a special boss creature in. This is nice because you don't always want to have to fight the same weak enemies when you're just running through.

The battle system itself is different than most normal JRPGs. That being that you're on a hexagon matrix where certain spots have bonuses to elemental affinity which causes you to be more strategic especially when the enemy has a certain affinity and can use it against you.

Unfortunately, for the all the fun aspects of the game there are certain annoyances too. One of which is the fact that the game prevents you from going to areas you shouldn't go by using switches you cannot use unless you have certain bullets to get in. However, at one point in the game you have all the bullets and can, by mistake, progress the story by discovering places on the map important to the main quest. This happened to me while playing which is always annoying.

The worst part of this game, however, is the story and dialog. The characters are not really believable as well; Rebecca is one of the most annoying female figures ever to make it into a video game, for example. Her whole character motivation seems to be the fact that Dean, the main character, met Avril and she's jealous Dean likes her so she follows him on his adventure. The story (or lack there of) isn't that grand as well and it seems to be just a good versus evil keep walking because that leads us closer plot.

The only good part of the story is the ending but even then it's such a small piece of the overall story (although epic in nature) that you wonder what you got out of playing.

So, it's a fun Platformer RPG but don't expect anything wonderful. Just expect a corny character-bleh filled plot with an interesting dungeon system that relies on platformer like tendencies.

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