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My first Wild Arms game and its now one of my favorite RPGs!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: November 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is my first Wild Arms game, everybody told me it was a great series and ya know what they're right! This is a great game that shouldn't be overlooked, and that EVERY RPGer should consider trying out.

First of all, the game is a more traditional RPG. What I mean by that, is that you walk around on the world map and gain levels the old-fashioned way or in my opinion the way an RPG on the console should be. More exploration of the world than other RPGs out there (Grandia games come to mind) and you can explore the world at your own pace instead of having to be at the end of the game to do it (FFX comes to mind).

The games battle system presents something new to me. Again, its a more traditional turn based RPG battle system. Much like Lunar and Legend of Legaia and that sort. You select all your characters actions and then watch tbe battle progress. It make you be more strategic, but like most battle systems if you exploit this then the game becomes to easy. The battle animations and Camara angles are spectacular. You can even battle on horseback and in a giant sand craft making it more enjoyable.

Now for the juicy parts. The Cel-shaded graphics are beautiful! They're astounding even if it does give it a cartoon like look it makes it look more amazing. The cutscenes are also fantastic...just wish they had more of them. Now for the next bit of juice, the storyline. The story is absolutely brilliant. The only problem with it is that some parts of the storyline move really slowly, but the story does shed some originality.

The "field" system in this game is quite unique. You can use tools and you actually need to reveal the town/dungeon to actually go into it. Also you can pick up stuff as well and throw it. The puzzles are quite interesting and complex and you actually have to think on them. Also you have an encounter gauge that goes down if you want to avoid battles. Pretty cool.

Character developement is actually pretty well done. Each character has their own indiviual personality and are adventuring for their own personal reasons. Also, something new to me in an RPG (I understand for those who've played WA2 this isn't though) is that you play through each main characters prolouge to see just how they got there...to me thats pretty new.

Now my small gripes. As mentioned the story does move slow at times. Also, there's the fact that the world map screen doesn't exactly help you locate that many towns...you have to discover them first making the World Map utterly useless. Lastly is that the game just WAY to easy near the end.

OVERALL
The good stuff
+Brilliant storyline
+Great Characters
+Amazing Cel-shaded graphics
+Great camara angles
+Amazing Battle animations and cinematics
+Great Interface
+Nicely done "field" system
+Tons of side quest and hidden bosses

The bad stuff
-Not enough cinematics
-Story moves slow at times
-Near the end the game is just too easy

-In the beginning the world map is useless

Overall I give the game a five even with the little gripes (even FFVII and CT had cons). The game is a great game to own espcially if you're an RPGer, Zelda and Final Fantasy aren't the only two RPGs out there ya know.

Third time's the charm!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 16
Date: April 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This WA is by far an excellent addition to anyone's RPG drawer. Unlike SOME people's bland analyses, this WA is unique in many ways in comparison to its previous cousins.

First of all, the story will feel familiar to those of you who played the first WA. A lot of references and names are used in conjunction with this one (including two big surprises in the middle I won't spoil for anyone yet to play this game) and make this game more engrossing. Second, the main character of this game is the first female protagonist for the Wild Arms series and she does a good job of playing the courageous heroine. While she's no Lenneth Valkyrie or Elly Van Houten, Virginia Maxwell performs well fighting injustice throughout Filgaia. To make it more interesting, she is the only female member of the team and the leader of a party that composes males. How's that for girl power? Third, if you loved the ARMS in the last two games, you'll be surprised to know that in this WA, ARMS are your regular weapons and that they are the main weapon of just about everyone you come across in the story. This brings on a feeling of classic wild west since cowboys and cowgirls relied on the same trusty pistols.

Now, for the gameplay stats:

Story-This WA's story is a tad on the huge side, so you must pay careful attention to details as they come. Of course, if you remember any info from the first WA, this won't be a problem for you. Most of the story's content centers around a lot of scientific detail and terms though, so be prepared for complex explanations.

Characters-Your party will compose the same four people for the entire game and each of them develops quite nicely as the story rolls along. In fact, each character has a tough dungeon later on that exclusively stars him/her as the central figure for the plot and helps explain some things that may have confused you before (a.k.a plot fillers, but by no means boring ones).

Music-Michiko Naruke, what a genius! She knows her wild west music. Reading everyone's other comments, I'm appalled by your rudeness and lack of musical comprehension. These are some of Naruke's best pieces to date. The use of strings, whistles and drums blend into some nice wild west themes, especially the many town and battle themes. Don't forget that there are also the traditional dark, sad, heroic, goofy and serious themes.

Battle System-This WA keeps the tradition of Force Points but now has a newer simplified setup. Each character has one unique Force move (ex: Virginia uses Mystic) and two that they all share, Gatling and Summon. Also, a new feature lets you turn monsters into magic gems when defeated by an elemental guardian summon or spell. The gems can be sold for quick money (which is scarce) or used to cast the same elemental spell that made it. Your ARMS can be upgraded and there are countless setups to have for each ally and while quite expensive, can improve your odds against tougher monsters. Each character's gun is unique in its stats, so you must consider carefully what parameters to build (especially since you can reset them but you don't get your money back). Guardians play a bigger role than before. There are 12 in all and each character can equip three. Each one ups certain parameters and gives the equipper four spells to use (sorry folks, no Crest magic in this WA). There are once again, endless setups, but certain Guardians work best with certain characters.

Sound-Magic spells, guns, explosions, horseriding and monster noises all in one game? Quite a coloful bunch of sound FX if you ask me. The gun sounds are especially on the mark.

I give this Wild Arms a 5/5. Buy it and enjoy, it rocks! And for those of you who want an extra challenge, the Abyss is back from WA1, but it's now 100 floors and a familiar face awaits at the end. Good luck!

I bought it based on the cover but there's SO MUCH MORE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: October 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Ahhh, nothing quite as exciting as when a new anime rpg hits the scene. But does Wild Arms 3 deserve your hard-earned money or could it be spent better elsewhere? IMHO passing up this game would be a HUGE mistake!

First of all, EGM reviewed Wild Arms 3 and gave it some lack-luster comments and rating. This didn't stop me from buying the game, but it raised questions as to the overall fun once the wicked cut scenes wear out.

When you first put in WA3, the cell-shaded graphics stand out. If you haven't played a game that utilizes this new approach to video game animation, you've got to see it.

The story line and progression is standard RPG fare with some innovation. No cheesy voice acting (a la FFX); in fact, the text based conversations are more advanced than anything I've seen. The "ASK" system lets you dynamically branch the conversation subject mid-conversation (by using different buttons to talk with).

The battle system isn't lacking at all. You have character-specific abilities, customizable weapons, etc. The turn-based progression plays out with MUCH more dynamic character movement. FFX you have monsters on one line and characters on another and everyone takes turns hitting each other (like a napolean style battle). WA3's battles are chaotic with monsters chasing characters and changing directions constantly.

The play control is superb. Running and sliding is easy to master, there are tons of ways to interact with your surroundings. You can "scan" the area for key items illuminating them for a second if they were line-of-sight.

Game saving is not as generous as some RPGs. You must EARN the right to save any-where any-time or contining by getting tokens. The only thing I can compare this to is Resident Evil where you are finding typewriter ribbons.

I could go on, but this review is already too big! BUY THE GAME, if you like either RPGs OR anime, you'll agree WILD ARMS 3 is the BEST!

The third installment turns up a winner.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: October 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Having waited for "Wild Arms 3" for quite some time, and considering the minimal promotion behind it (seen any screenshots online? I doubt it), I seriously didn't know what to expect. But I am happy to see that the attributes that made the first game great, and even gave some quality to part 2, are alive and well in part 3.

The first thing you'll notice is the cell-shading graphics, which you will either love or hate. I am not familiar with how cell-shading works, but it gives the game a cartoony, almost hyper-reality feel. I think the graphics are nicely done, with fluid animation and colorful characters and enemies alike. The settings are nicely detailed, and the camera is nice and easy to control. The cell-shading might turn a few people off, as it is already doing with the latest installment of Zelda for Gamecube, but as with all RPGs you need to look beyond the graphics. The music is also excellent, hailing from the composer of the first two games. Veteran "Wild Arms" players will notices quite a few familiar tunes, especially in battles. My one gripe in the sound department is the lack of voice acting, which would have greatly enhanced the gameplay, as it did in "Final Fantasy X". Otherwise, it is pleasing to the eyes and ears.

Storyline wise, it is very similar to the first "Wild Arms", with each character having a separate story that the player goes through before they all meet up. I like that because it nicely sets the stage for events that happen later in the game. The game is set in a fantasy version of the Wild West, but don't expect any "High Noon" moments. One thing that will attract the more seasoned RPGamers is the turn-based battle system, which is almost identical to the first "Wild Arms". In "Wild Arms 3", you have the ability to use a variety of magic and, as a nice twist, the ability to summon guardian powers. This is an idea that has been used countless times before, but somehow works on a whole new level here.

The control in "Wild Arms 3", again, is almost identical to the first game, with the ability to dash by holding down the X button, and the square button uses the tool command, so whatever tool you have equipped is that you can use. The camera is controlled quite easily by the L1 or R1 buttons, which does a smooth 360 when held down. One noticeable improvement in this installment is the menus, which are much easier to navigate, thus making it easier to find what you are looking for. My only complaint here is that your characters cannot jump, and jumping down from a ledge is a chore, because you have to push the directional button twice. Overall, the control needed little improvement in the first place, and is a simple learning curve on the first time playing.

"Wild Arms 3" fares quite in 128-bit, and is a fine addition to the fast-growing PS2 library of RPGs. Despite what others might tell you, the cell-shading graphics are very nice, and this is by no means a cartoon game. Fans of the first two games will feel at home here, but the challenge of dungeon-crawling and battling will please almost any gamer, regardless of taste.

Great Wild West Adventure

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: March 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Wild Arms 3 is one of the better PS2 RPGs. It does have a few flaws, btu it makes up for them with plenty of good features. The story is set in a futuristic "Wild West" world where saloon bars and horse-riding mix with space craft and magical monsters...sounds odd, but it works. Our heroes are four drifters who find themselves on a quest to save the world from a crazed super-power, whilst unearthing secrets and/or discovering personal fulfillment along the way, yadda yadda...all very safe RPG territory. One thing to note first off is that there are only four charcaters to play for the whole of the game, so there are no worries about characters not getting levelled up evenly. To make up for any possible lack of variety, the equipment/skill system for the game is entertainingly complex, with many options for assigning fighting abilities, stat boosters and magical attributes to your four characters. In addition to this, the game throws more into the mix with a unique opening chapter in which you play 4 prologues, one for each character alone. Still more fun (or hardship) is ensured by the random battles in which an ambush occurs, and you will find just one of your band surrounded and left to fight alone for a predetermined number of rounds before the other 3 appear. On this note, the random battle sytem is set slightly on the frequent side, but this is tempered with an "encounter-meter" that gives you the option of avoiding fights if you wish, however, the number of "passes" you are allowed is limited and continually skipping battles will eventually leave you are unable skip any battles at all, so usage of this needs to be carefully monitered in very dangerous areas. The encounter meter is yet another stat that can be boosted by rare items, adding further variety to the quest.
Another credit to the game is the highly engaging World Map, equal to those of the Final Fantasy games (apart from FFX!), in my opinion. Starting off on foot, the player is limited to only a few parts of the world, but gradual upgrading leads to riding horses, piloting a sand-cruiser (the "seas" of this world are all made of moving sand), and finally to boarding a flying dragon with which you can soar past inaccessible crevasses and mountain ranges. All 4 modes have their own specific type of fighting style, with the latter two very reminiscent of the ship battles in "Skies Of Arcadia". The dungeons themselves are loaded with assorted monsters and puzzles, and there are plenty of side missions and secrets to uncover. It's not an easy game by any means, despite the bright-coloured cel shaded graphics (which do work surpisingly well), so prepare for a few tough boss battles and some mind-bending logic puzzles that have to be solved to make progress through some of the later dungeons.
The game has a possible huge lifespan, so if you have the stamina there's a lot of fun on offer here, in my opinion. The learning curve is gradual, and fans of RPG's will find probably find the early chapters far too easy, but things become quite challenging later on, so while its easy to get stuck into Wild Arms 3, it may prove a real achievement to finish. Try doing so, and I think you'l be glad you did.

Pretty good, but lacks in some areas.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: October 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The "Wild Arms" series has never been one of my favorites but it's also not too bad. It takes place in a refreshing "wild west" setting which is a healthy break from typical RPG scenery. The battle system hasn't changed much in this installment save having to reload your ARM(weapon) in battle. The story starts off just like the others in the series: You play as every main character by themselves and learn the story of how they teamed up before the real adventure begins. The music has some good tracks but a few of them can get really annoying. The constant whistling in some of the songs can drive you out of your mind sometimes. The intro movie also isn't as compelling as Wild Arms 2. The story line seems a little different. You assume the role of Virginia, a novice Drifter who sets out into the Wastelands to help the people that she encounters....Most enemies take about one or two hits before dieing. The boss encounters require one extra tactic that varies between each boss but is still relatively easy. The cel-shaded graphics look better than alot of other cel-shahded games which is a nice touch. The puzzles are well balanced. Some are easy while others are mind-numbingly hard. You have to use all of the different character's Tools, special items that aid you in some way, to solve different puzzles and to get past certain obstacles. Overall the game is good for novice RPG gamers or is you're looking for something a little different.

New look for RPG's

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: March 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Wild Arms 3 is a great game, set in a novel-looking wild-west-like world which is about to be consumed by evil...okay, so that's not quite so novel, but it is an RPG! The cel-shading looked great and gave the game an anime feel. The characters faces and eyes, especially, were done well and conveyed a lot of emotion and expression during cutscenes. There's no voice acting, but the characters, even NPC's, are well developed and interesting. The story is engaging-I really cared what happened to them.
As far as gameplay goes, it's very linear, with fewer sidequests than some. I felt also that some of the sidequests were a bit tedious, such as the Telepath Towers and The Abyss. However, the dungeons and towns are exciting and unique-you don't feel like "haven't I been here before?" every time you start a new dungeon. Another excellent feature is the use of tools. Each character finds tools along the journey which they use to solve puzzles and gain access to new areas. Many puzzles, especially as the game progresses, require the combined efforts of several party members, and this makes things really intriguing, as well as paying tribute to the "jobs" tradition in RPG's (you know, Muscles the warrior, Wispy the healer, Demonia the dark mage, and Sneaky the thief)where every character has a specific function. In combat the characters roles are less well-defined. You can equip "guardians" to add stats and abilities, similar to the junctioning system in FF8. They can also be customized to a certain point through upgrades to their weapons, guns called ARMs. Each character has one weapon with 5 characteristics you can upgrade to different levels, making some characters the tough guys while others increase speed and reaction time, or critical hit percentages. Although I missed finding new weapons and being able to check out the eye candy, I thought this system was actually a lot of fun and fit well with the game.

Battles were basically enjoyable, and the random-battle thing has a twist here where you have the option of skipping battles with weaker enemies(very nice, especially since there are no enemy "upgrades" in areas you explore early on). There are also not a great variety of critters in a lot of areas, although this improves some towards the last third of the game. Personally, I hate fighting the same two kinds of enemies through an entire dungeon, so that part got a bit annoying. I also really don't want to see those manky little level one baddies (remember the jellies in the old rpgs?)when I'm level 8 million and revisiting my first town, so this battle skipping system works really nicely. As far as the system, it's turn based and looks dynamic, with everybody running around the whole time, sometimes conveniently turning semi-transparent as they cross before the camera(heehee). They could get a little bland at times, although boss battles tended to be fun and challenging enough to require varied strategies and attention. One weakness I found was that I thought the summons looked pretty disappointing, almost PS1 at times. I wonder if they did them at the last minute?

To sum it up, this is a highly enjoyable game with excellent characters, a fun new setting, lots of detailed dungeons and an involved, linear storyline. I think if you enjoy traditional RPGs but want a new flavor and some intersting tweaks to the conventions, you should really try this one out.

Wild Arms 3

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: September 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

A semi-traditional RPG with a Wild West theme and action elements.

Graphics

The layer of "haze" that occurs between the action on the screen and the screen itself makes you feel like you are really watching an old Wild West film; but don't worry, if a layer of "haze" sounds obnoxious to you, it is only really apparent in close-up views.

Environments are fully 3D and rotateable. Characters are done in a 2D/3D manner; that is to say, they are 2D cel-shaded figures that only appear 3D polygonal, the same visual style they used for characters in Dark Cloud 2. The characters are very anime-ish styled. The atmosphere is that of dusty, desert Wild West world.

An anime "screen-saver" also starts up when you leave the game idle for awhile, and I find myself watching it every time I play the game; it's actually real short, though.

Sound

The music is done in the traditional style of the Wild West, but they manage to through some rock and jazz in there too. A lot of the music is very action-oriented, as you would expect from something Wild West.

There is no voice-acting in this game to complain or complement, except for maybe the vocal song that accompanies the aforementioned anime screen-saver. Although, some voice-acting might've helped, as, when the text proceeds automatically, it sometimes proceeds too quickly.

Gameplay

Battles are very simple and fast-paced: click attack and watch 'em die! Although, there is some strategy involved, too.

Like Chrono Cross, you must charge up to use spells and special skills, in which case, you must hit and be hit to acquire "Force Points" to use said spells and special skills. Each character has their own special skill, and you can equip different spell sets as you like.

One thing that is irksome about the battle system: you can only run away from a battle BEFORE it begins, but not after the battle has begun. And if you have no idea how powerful the local enemies are, you may be dispositioned to either charge in guns blazing, or avoid the battle with your tail between your legs.

Outside of battle, there is a good degree of action, jumping off ledges, avoiding and destroying obstacles and traps, climbing ladders and overhead nets; they let you get some exercise.

Another departure from conventional RPGs is having to "search" for your destination on the world map; press the square button, and you can scan the area around you. This is a double-edged sword; it can force you to study the geography of the land and allow you to get in a few level-building battles, but it can also be annoying when you keep searching the same area for your destination and cannot find it. Just keep searching though, your destination will usually appear right out from under your nose, so to speak.

Overall

Aside from the one point of the battle system, it is a rather well-designed game. You want to play this for the characters and story, the Wild West theme, the music, and the action, if not for the traditional RPG strategy.

Scanning Across the Wastelands

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: June 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Wild Arms is an alternative RPG series that managed to move through time. However, seriously Wild Arms is very similar to your standard turn-based RPG but replacing swords, axes and hammers with Arms - literally guns.

Nonetheless, Wild Arms 3 weaved the different aspects of the gameplay together pretty well. Just like materia in FF VII, it managed to have a logical connection between the story and the battle system. The battle system is very similar to all your standard turn based system. In fact the level up system is a mix of FF IX and FF VI - you acquire skills and need to assign points to them but compared ot FF IX you have more freedom of what skills to give to your characters. Also similar to FF VI, you need the summons to help you learn new skills. The difference is in FF VI you permanently acquire those skills but in Wild Arms 3, the skills move with your summons, as in FF VIII's Junction System.

Story wise it started off pretty good but then started to drag after you went to 3/4 of the story. Probably this is a way to prolong gameplay time. One of the worst aspect is that you need to perform scanning around the world to unlock locations. This is really annoying when you only have a rough idea where the location should be then need to go on scanning for hours before you find the location you need to go to. Also, in certain dungeons, the way to solve the puzzles are quite annoying e.g. timing extremely accurately to just turn on several buttons together. These are things that I think should be paid attention to for the sequels.

In terms of side quests, there are a lot for you to do and some of the side quests give you something call EX File keys for you to unlock bonus materials in the future play throughs. However, none of them come in easy, and sometimes actually frustrating. Further the reward with these keys aren't as prominent and useful as one would think they are. So if you are tired of scanning all over the world to finish some of them, you can just move on to finish the main story.

Graphic wise, it is Cel-shaded. The quality is not too bad, but once you enjoyed the Cel-shading in Zelda: The Wind Waker, none of the other Cel-shading games meet that kind of aesthetic quality anymore. The soundtrack is not too bad though certain music were recycled too much and eventually you just switch the music off, particularly in the 100 Abyss (what's up with games nowadays? Some many have those 100 dungeons!)

To sum up, Wild Arms 3 is not a bad RPG and it does have its attraction for you to play through it again in the future. There are certain things that definitely needed to be fixed e.g. story driven locations should be showing up automatically instead of requiring extensive scanning. Also certain annoying puzzle formulars should be revised or removed. However, it is a solid RPG that can take up a lot of hours of your gaming life if you want to do everything in the game. A good buy indeed.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: January 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I love RPGs. The PS2 has produced some really excellent games for the genre including Final Fantasy X, the Shadow Hearts series, and Disgea: Hour of Darkness. Wild Arms 3 is not going to be joining this list of RPG awesomeness any time soon. It's not even going to be joining my list of decent RPGs. This game is terrible, and I just could not finish it! Trust me I tried and there was a period of two weeks when I couldn't bring myself to even turn the game on.

I thought a western-themed RPG would be something really unique, but I was wrong. This has got to be one of the most cliched things I've ever seen. It's the third in a series that appears to be rather popular. I did end up hating this game, but strangely I'm not totally put off from playing a Wild Arms game ever again. Maybe since this is the third game, it's just an unfortunate casuality of sequel-itis.

The Good:
The music's pretty good. It's appropriately whistlely and twangy like the fare you'd find in most spagetti westerns and really sets the western tone.

Fighting on horseback! This only unique from a visual point of view. The game still plays in exactly the same turn-based Final Fantasy-esque way as if you were on foot, but it looks really cool as you race across the desert fending off creepies.

Save Anywhere! You can provided you have an item called a Gimel Coin, but luckily those are easy to find.

The Bad:
Cliched plot. It starts out with promise. Your four heroes meet up during a train robbery when some burly gunmen try to steal an artifact belonging to this Indian Shaman tribe called the Baskars. Classic Western! Then the adventurers, called Drifters, team up and take an assignment from the Baskar's head Shaman to awaken the four guardians of the planet Filgaia so maybe the desertification of the planet will stop. It's down hill from there. Suddenly, instead of a Western game, I'm playing a cliched find the four scared elemental crystals/dragons/betamax VCRs quest.... but with firearms! Soon our foursome discovers that this weird demon cult is out to infuse the planet with evil energy and transform it into a demon world or some other rot by using guardians and ancient artifacts. So they set out, to discover why Filgaia is dying and play follow-the-bad guys. It's almost like playing Final Fantasy VII over again, and I never liked that game much in the first place.

Characters that come right out of anime central casting. The characters are very archetypal and never try to break out of their mold. You have Gallows, a ne'er-do-well Shaman, who learns some bland lesson on freedom, heritage, and self-actualization on the journey. Brainy, tough guy Clive, who might have been a better drawn character if his marital troubles were explored in more detail. Jet Enduro, surly anti-social amnesiac, and worst of the bunch Virginia Maxwell. For some reason they make her their leader even though she is the least expirenced of the bunch. She's naive, gulliable, and not all that smart trusting people she should know better than to trust and walking into obvious traps. She's one of those annoyingly perky types and her "Come on guys! Let's do our best for Justice, Truth, and blah blah" is more Big Bird than Clint Eastwood. She's also looking for the dead-beat dad she hasn't seen in 10 years. The anime feel is helped along by the video sequences (complete with corny songs) that sandwich the game when you begin and end it during each period of play. Trust me. It's frickk'n annoying after you've seen them ten times.

Sandcraft battles. During the game you get a sandcraft vehicle. If you run into a monster in this thing, the way the battles plays out is very different than on foot or horseback. That's not good because they battles are so bloody slow that they can last for over five minutes each!

The Ugly:
Healing Items are hard to find. Healing Items are scarce, so it becomes neccesary to ration stretigically. There are some sections of the game that are so hard that having a big cache of heal berries is the only way to stay alive. It adds challenge, but since I didn't enjoy the game it just it that more annoying.

Search system. If you want to find something on the map, you need to get directions first and move slowly across the map sending out some kind of sonar to make the ruin, town, or whatever appear. It's time consuming and also makes the game extremely linear.

Boring Level Design. You'll send more of you're time trekking through the various ruins that litter the landscape. In the ruins, you solve various puzzles ranging from easy to what am I supposed to do here? difficulty. A critic once said level design was key, and Wild Arms 3 makes me see how right he was. All the ruins look exactly the same. I know I'm throwing a switch in the ruin in the North, but I did the exact same thing in the ruin to the South which also had a box puzzle like the ruin in the West. Get my point? It feels like I'm doing the same thing over and over again. I'm not traveling to a Forest of Doom or a Cloud City of Eternal Happiness. It's just ruins and towns, and they all look the same!

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