Wild Arms 4 - Second Play

Despite some frustration with seemingly endless jumping puzzles, and the occasional moment of trying to figure out what in the heck is going on with the story line, I’ve continued to enjoy my Wild Arms 4 experience immensely. The battle system, which truly is the standout feature of this game, has kept me glued to my controller. It’s a nice change from the typical turn based system, and feels incredibly well thought out. While I’ve often found recent RPGs with shorter lengths to be lacking in the story department, Wild Arms has impressed me with the compact-yet-satisfying plot. I’m about 20 hours into the game (guessing another 10 hours until the end, not including some of the little extras you can complete) and though Wild Arms hasn’t totally wowed me, I’ve really enjoyed my experience thus far.

In my last rating, I discussed the basic mechanics of the unique “hex” battle system. In addition to the basic combat features and commands, you can use force points to execute powerful attacks or support commands. Every time a character is attacked or makes some action, the FP bar on the right of the battle screen fills up a little bit; different actions require different levels of FP, so launching a killer attack may require some patience. In addition to single-character attacks, your party can learn combination attacks of 2, 3, or 4 members when situated on a hex together. The addition of combination attacks has added a bit more strategy to the battles, and while I’m not usually one for mulling over tactics, I’ve only grown to like the battle system more and more.

Wild Arms is pretty heavy on the puzzle solving, and at times, I’ve forgotten that I’m playing an RPG, not an action-adventure. I don’t mind pushing blocks around or finding my way through a maze; however, if I really wanted to test my coordination skills when it came to bouncing off of ten spring boards to get to an exit, I wouldn’t pick up an RPG. After an hour of dealing with jumping puzzle after jumping puzzle - jumping, falling, jumping, falling, and jumping again - I was ready to toss my TV out the window. Most of the puzzles are much less irritating (I really do like figuring out and utilizing the various tools for puzzle solving), and I like the addition of the “Accelerator”; hit L1, and time slows down for you, oh-so-handy for those bridges that collapse faster than you can run, among other things.

The music has continued to be well produced, and a couple of tracks have really caught my attention. The graphics are growing on me: I’m not crazy about the “cut scene” animation, but most of the time, the cel-shaded renditions that pop up on screen when a character is talking are very well-done. The plot is pretty classic in terms of RPG tropes, but the characters have been fairly engaging and I’ve enjoyed following the story. I do wish it were spaced a bit more evenly and didn’t have the tendency to take you entirely out of the game world, but it’s a fairly minor point.

Wild Arms 4 is a solid game, even though it isn’t blazing much new territory (with the large exception of the clever and novel battle system). I’ve definitely enjoyed my time with it, and some of the little touches, like some extraordinarily well composed music tracks, have just added to my experience. In my next and final play rating, I’ll be wrapping up and giving my overall impressions of the game. I have a feeling I will continue to be as pleased with Wild Arms as I have for the past 20 hours.