It’s time for a really old school RPG. I’ve owned Wild Arms 3 for many years and hadn’t ever gotten around to it before. Well, now I’m one step closer to checking that game out. This one’s a whole lot of fun so I can only imagine how much they continue polishing the gameplay mechanics from here on out. Wild Arms is considerably long and it’s also quite challenging. If you’re looking for a great game to play, then you’ve just found one!

The game starts off by introducing us to 3 main characters. The first is a man who was cursed with the power of ARMS which some consider to be a sign of bad luck. The second is a bounty hunter who travels with his sidekick who looks like a rat in search of great treasures while also being on a quest of vengeance. Finally you have the priestess who has ties to royalty. The three of them are all brought together as an evil force seeks to resurrect all of the golems and destroy the planet. These 3 unlikely teammates will have to foil these plans but it won’t be easy.

Now this is a game that is well over 20 hours so you can bet that there will be a lot of twists and turns along the way. The game gets real cosmic by the end and just never stopped impressing me all the way. The story is really engaging and the cast actually gets rather large. The villains are also a lot of fun as we get a formal villain group. I always enjoy seeing that and each of the villains really got some time to shine. The main leader of the group in particular just kept getting up over and over again. He’s not someone who would be giving up very easily.

One of the phases to the final boss fight even got me good. He had me locked into an unwinnable situation where he attacked first with a teamwide KO move. So I had to rewind to the previous phase and adjust my strategy. Without rewind this would even be crazier. I would have definitely had to do a lot of extra grinding but it’s safe to say that this is one of the tougher RPGs. I’m curious if the next one will be quite as difficult as this game was.

The gameplay is a classic turn based style. Each of your characters get to use their attacks and then the opponents strike. The turn order is based on your speed. You can use normal attacks, magic, super attacks, and summons. You learn magic at the local shop by using talismans but can reroll your spells at any time. Buying the latest equipment is also very important here. As a result money is a premium currency throughout the game. You really can’t do much of anything without money. You’ll be left without items or weapons to survive the encounters with.

Generally I prioritize getting the weapons first and then the shields. It’s also important to note that you cannot buy MP items in this game. Meaning if you run out of magic meter then you have to go find an inn. For that reason I saved just about all of my MP items for the final boss. As the meme goes, that meant I beat the game while still having a lot of MP items left. Ah well, I still thought that was worth it. Better safe than sorry right?

The wild encounters are fairly aggressive in this game. You can expect to be fighting minions a whole lot and they don’t let you run away unless you are vastly overleveled. That’s something that I think the game could have toned down quit a bit. Towards the end of the game you learn a spell to reduce encounters but the catch is that it costs quite a bit of magic that you will need for the bosses. The final dungeons in general are really long and detailed so you can expect to be using a whole lot of magic left and right.

It also feels absolutely amazing to finally have quick travel by the end of the game. Trust me when I say that this title really makes you work for it though. You don’t get it for the longest time which means a lot of running everywhere straight into more minions to defeat. The enemies are always going to be tough enough to deal some damage and their curses can be tough to brush off. Make sure you buy some of every kind of medicine.

The game’s puzzles can be a bit difficult at times too. This is one of those titles that is just old enough where it can be hard to know where to go next at different points. There aren’t always obvious markers of where to go. So in those times just be prepared to visit each town over and over until you have a lead. I’m not the biggest fan of puzzles in general but I couldn’t say that any of these were unfair.

Meanwhile the graphics for the game are definitely ahead of their time. I enjoyed all of the effects and the colorful backgrounds. Additionally after the credits we see a bunch of hand drawn illustrations of what the characters would have looked like. That was definitely neat and I also thought that the soundtrack was pretty good. There may not have been any tunes that made it to my playlist but I was still satisfied all the way through.

Overall, This is the kind of game where you get a ton of bang for your buck. There may not be much in the way of replay value but RPGs really don’t have to rely on that. You get to just go in and have a bunch of fun all around. The story is really good and I always enjoy turn based combat. Mix those two elements together and you have all the makings of a great game. Wild Arms does not disappoint! I eagerly look forward to playing the second one.

Overall 8/10