I remember all the way back in June that Arc Rise Fantasia was one of the games Ignition was showing at E3. It looked interesting, but I did not want to spend time with it. The reason I ignored it was because I felt I should pay attention to those games that might not have the same amount of time in the limelight. I also knew I would get my hands on the game at some point, so I was in no rush to go out and get a sneak peak at it. I am glad I did not play it, because I feel I would be even more disappointed with Arc Rise Fantasia than I already am.
Do not get me wrong. Everything about Arc Rise Fantasia works rather well. But it contains the same tropes we, as gamers, have seen over and over again. L’arc is a mercenary fighting dragons on behalf of the kingdom. During one of those battles, he falls off the airship where a young priestess by the name of Ryfia finds him and decides to protect him with her healing magic. From there, it is quickly discovered he has the power to save and reshape the world. Insert melodramatic music here.
The presentation of the game should be extremely strong in order to avoid pitfalls considering the clichéd plot. Unfortunately, the storytelling is not consistent. There are times when the plot is shown to the player, with the characters gesturing and their portrait reflecting their moods. There are times it plays out in a cinematic fashion, with everything being bright and colorful and entertaining. And then the rest of time you just read about what is happening. The voices are missing during the skits, and the portraits on screen just emote. Here is an opportunity for an extra scene that is occurring behind the scenes with the party to add some gravity to their story, and it fails.
Sound wise, everything is rather decent. The music is well-orchestrated and perfectly fits each area. The traditional bells and whistles are also present and well-performed. The voice acting, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the voices do not seem to work with their characters. Yet, I cannot imagine anyone else lending their voices to them. However, what truly drives me nuts is that it quickly alternates between overdramatic and forced. Ryfia sounds like a girl who’s suffered a traumatic childhood and has trouble experiencing emotions. The prince sounds far too regal for a guy who’s all about the people. And L’arc just sounds like a like-able jerk.
Gameplay is that of a traditional role-playing game. You run the characters around town, purchase items and destroy monsters. There are a few things that differentiate it from other RPGs. First, weapons are customizable. After every battle, weapons gain some experience. After so many points are earned, it’ll release a characteristic of the weapon. You can then take those characteristics and customize the weapon however you like. The problem with this system is simple: Weapons are not inherently stronger than others of its type. The only reason to purchase weapons is so you have characteristics to play around with. Second, magic is orb-based. You can increase the number of slots of your characters’ medallion to insert more orbs. This allows you to gain access to more potent spells of the same type, or you can mix them to gain access to spells that are ordinarily out of reach. There’s a catch: You can only use a spell level so many times. So instead of relying on magic, it forces you to rely on your weapons and items. Although this is not new to RPGs, it does make things a bit more challenging than what most modern gamers are familiar.
Thankfully, battles move very quickly. Or at least it feels that way. You usually have three party members with you in battle, though sometimes a fourth character will join for a period of time. Each of those three members brings so many action points each round. The more AP your party has, the more actions you can do each round. But not everyone has to act. You can issue one order and ignore the rest of the party to regain AP. You can tell the same party member to act multiple times, though this is not recommended as the character slows down each time during the round. As such, you’re better off distributing commands. Furthermore, each action takes up so many AP. So be careful when you craft your strategy as the game can be downright brutal in difficulty.
Graphically, Arc Rise Fantasia is done in high-resolution cel-shaded style. Water pulses around the world and flies out of fountains. Characters move around the screen smoothly, and monsters can be clearly seen around the screen. Monsters look unique, and special attacks are suitably flashy. This is true for magic as well. However, it doesn’t always flow smoothly. There are times when there are these gorgeous backdrops, such as an overwhelmingly statuesque castle that looks like an awesome place to get lost in, and the game shutters. There are times during battles it slows down. It seems to occur more often when there are about seven or so characters (this includes monsters) are on screen at once.
This brings us to the part of the conversation about RPGs in general. This is one of the few genres that presentation matters more than the gameplay itself. RPGs live and die by their presentation. This is what gets Arc Rise Fantasia into trouble: The presentation is inconsistent. Portraits are seen and then taken away. It alternates between telling and showing. Voice acting is not always present when it should be. The plot treads the same ground as other games in the genre. Even battling is something we have seen before and is just a bit too bland to be satisfying to play on its own. Any RPG with stronger and consistent presentation knocks this game out of the water. Yet, if this game was released when I was a teen, I would have played it to completion.
That’s what bothers me the most about Arc Rise Fantasia: It feels like something from about 10 years ago. This is not a Wii game but something that could have been — no, it should have been — released on the Gamecube. It looks and feels like an early GC game, not a Wii game. This is something that could have been released a year or so after a particularly popular GC game made in 2003. It feels like a cousin, a spinoff if you will, of that series and not of the Luminous Arc universe it belongs in.
As such, Arc Rise Fantasia is a disappointment if you follow the hype generated at E3. However, if you ignore all of the hype, it is a solid RPG. This is an excellent game to tide you over until you find the “next great” RPG to take up all of your free time. If you can find this game for about $30, then you’re set. It’s not a perfect symphony, but it comes close to it at times. Isn’t that something good to fantasize about?
