Most of the games from the original Playstation fall into a certain category in gamers' minds: those that have aged poorly. Although the graphics were cutting edge at the time, even beloved titles like Final Fantasy VII can be rough in some areas, and even my own personal favorites like the original Silent Hill prove to be a real chore to replay.
Some titles chose a different route, however, choosing to hold on to the graphics of the past while integrating some of the new-fangled Playstation technology. Wild ARMs is one of these, and while it does have some of the now-famous blocky PS1 syndrome, it still provides an excellent RPG experience with a touch of the Wild West, which eventually trademarked the series and set the stage for future installments ( there are 7 games total.)
The game was remade as Wild ARMs Alter Code: F, adding in an extended script and full 3D upgrades, but whenever I replay the game I still settle down to play the original. Nostalgia is a hard habit to kick, I guess. At any rate, both versions offer an appealing adventure for the RPG obsessee, and if you read on I'll spill a bit more of the reason why.
Wild ARMs Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Released: 1996 Platform: Playstation (re-released on the PSN in 2008)
An RPG draws near!
Around the end of 1996, a trusted friend and fellow RPG addict said to me, "You really need to check out Wild ARMs -- it's RPG style meets the Wild West." My first thought was "Ugh." While I would play pretty much every RPG that I could get my grubby little hands on, I had zero interest in a Western-style RPG. I've come to enjoy some Westerns in my old age, but at 19 my interests were mostly writing bad poetry and goth bands, which is about as far away from Western influence as you can get.
Luckily, at some point I did pick up the game, and although I initially cringed when I heard the theme music, it's now some of my favorite game music from the Playstation era. It vaulted the title from good to distinctive, and much like the Phantasy Star series took a chance in setting the series in the future, Wild ARMs did the same by mixing the Western theme into the RPG format.
The story begins in the world of Filgaia, where you are introduced to the Dream Chasers, a gang of adventure seekers looking for the usual-- fortune, fame, and lots of turn-based battles and political intrigue. You eventually play Rudy, who has the unique ability to operate ARMs (Ancient Relic Machines,) but at points in the game you can also play as Jack, a blond aspiring Indiana Jones type, or Cecilia, a blue haired expert magician (surprise, the magic user is female.)
The game takes place near the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and the emphasis on technology's positive and negative attributes is pronounced. Rudy is abandoned with an ARM at his side as an infant, but raised by the town mayor who hid the gun from him in fear of what it might mean if Rudy knew of it. Rudy grew up peacefully but eventually realized he had a psychic link with the ARM, at which point he was cast out of the village and forced to seek out more about his identity.
The adventure is mostly played in top down 2D, which hits my sweet spot every time when it comes to RPGs. It must be all that Super Nintendo talking. The only exception is for battles, when the game changes from 2D to 3D. At the time, as I said before, these 3D battles looked great at the time, but now they look incredibly dated. If you're enjoying playing the game but the battles look too antiquated for you, you may enjoy Wild ARMs Alter Code:F, which is a solid remake and updates the look of the battles (see gallery attached for some pics from the remake.)
Battles have the usual feel of RPG fights, but each character also has special abilities to use. Rudy can use ARMs, as mentioned previously, Jack uses "Fast Draw" for multiple uses of his sword, and Cecilia can use her magic to damage enemies and heal the party. Runes can also be rquipped to summon guardians Final Fantasy VII style (although at the time the game was originally released FFVII had yet to come out.) It's all basic as RPGs go, but likable characters and a fun story make the battles worthwhile as well.
As I mentioned earlier, the soundtrack to Wild ARMs is a key factor in the game's awesome factor. It was composed by Michiko Naruke and heavily influenced by American Westerns. The game's main theme actually contains the melody from Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstacy of Gold" which was featured in the classic Western The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Naruke went on to compose the majority of the music for the Wild ARMs series, having written over 400 songs for it as of today.
While this feature is about the first game, its worth mentioning that the series itself is excellent and holds strong popularity in Japan. The fanbase in North America is smaller but quite dedicated. The theme of the games continue as outlined in the first title, but sci-fi and cybernetic themes are introduced in the second and then vanish later down the line. While I have to admit this one is still my favorite, if you enjoy playing it you should look up the rest of the series (the newest title, Wild Arms XF, is the series' first venture onto a portable console and actually is a tactics-based title rather than the usual action RPG format.)
Command?
>Attack: if you have a soft spot for top down RPGs, like games that have the balls to do something a little different thematically and enjoy the adventurer aspect of gaming. Attack with +2 to strength if you love Westerns.
>Parry: if the Playstation One look is more than you can stand, the sight of Clint Eastwood in a hat makes you want to puke on your own shoes, or you prefer the post Final Fantasy VII era of RPGs (less quirk, more mature themes.)
Hooray for Colette, I've been pushing this game and the series for the longest time. I'm glad to see that there others here at Destructoid who feel the same. Also, how wierd I got my start with bad poetry and goth music too...
I hate to admit this, because I'm a pretty big proponent of "graphics don't matter if the gameplay and story are good", but the early 3D in PS1 titles really, really hurt me physically to see. In my whole PS1 libray, most of what I still play are sprite-based games like Breath of Fire. (I have to disagree with you on Silent Hill 1, though. In that one special case I feel the poor graphics actually enhance the game, as I'm more scared of things I can't see than of anything that I actually can.)
I own Wild ARMS 1 but I've tried to play it a few times and just can't seem to get past the hurdle of how nearly unplayable it is because of the terrible 3D. Funny enough Wild ARMS 2 doesn't bother me at all. I've been hunting down the remake though, because I really want to play this game badly. This post has invigorated my search.
One of my favorite for a long time, great that someone did a write up on it. If I wasn't in a nostalgia mood for the past 2 months I'd get Wild ARMs too, but I just finished Chrono Trigger, and still have Earthbound and all the FF's to get through. Curse you Collette!
I did give Alter Code F a spin, but it didn't feel like the same game even though it was an enhanced remake. I still refer to play through the original despite the laughable 3D chibi battles. I think I never fell out of love with 2D sprites or ever will. Long live 2D gaming!
Wild Arms, yeah! This was a pretty good game, I thought, at the time. It got a little slow in places but was a pretty solid RPG, and you're right, the Western theme really gave the game a different feeling.
My brother and I must've watched that intro fifty times. Every time we started up the game we'd watch it, and that's largely because of the music (the animation's fine, but only fine).
The Wild ARMs series is in contention for my favorite RPG series of all time. I love these games so much. I like how the battle system felt familiar yet always had it's own distinct style (more so in 2 and up). The stories, while a bit stereotypical for JRPGs, were always top notch as well. You get the awesome feeling of growth and emotional attachment that most RPGs strive for with out all the rampant emo of the later titles in the FF series.
I love this game! I picked it up to tide me over until FFVII because there really weren't an abundance of RPGs on the PlayStation at that time (weird thought, I know). It turned out to be a pleasant surprise and well worth my time.
Unlike Gen Eric Gui, Wild ARMs is one of the few PS1 games I can go back and play simply because a good portion of the game is played as a 2D sprite. The 3D battles, while slightly clunky, are perfectly manageable--like most JRPGs of that era, all of the battle action takes place in the menus anyway. Speaking of the menus, I have mixed feelings on the "cross" menu system that the game used.
No talk of Wild ARMs is complete without discussing about the main character, Rudy, a bit. Rudy was a pretty great example of the "silent protagonist" archetype that was so heavily discussed on Destructoid recently. However, I do believe he had a few lines of dialogue throughout the game. One thing that most people don't realize is that Wild ARMs wasn't "Rudy's" first game. The same character (although he may have had a slightly different name) was in an early PS1 game called Gunner's Heaven--a Gunstar Heroes-style shooter.
My personal feelings are that I loved the original Wild ARMs, but it was an older game, and there were certain problems you were willing to forgive. They didn't fix these things in Alter Code F, which is inexcusable by modern RPG standards. That fighting gauge didn't help because you get in fights every 5 steps!
The original Wild Arms for the Playstation is in my top 5 favorite RPGs ever made. I followed the series up through Wild Arms 4, but that game was painful to play and I got about 3/4ths of the way through and quit. I've not picked up (nor do I plan to) the 5th game, and I don't have a portable console though I heard that XF was really good.
Anyway, the original Wild Arms brings back great memoreis and I'd really like to play it again. Unfortunately I let my buddy borrow it probably 4 or 5 years ago and I never got it back.
Good call on this one! Classic game! Though it was the only game in the series that I played (can never keep up with JRPGs anymore) I remember being very impressed with the characters and the anime feel it pulled off nicely with the animation cut scenes and the music. I must have watched that intro movie like 4 times before I started the game. The battles are a little quirky because the 3D models are so horrendous but the funny thing about the game for me was it didn't matter at all because the story tied me in to the characters so much.
Am I wrong or are some of those pics in the photo gallery from a different game in the series? I'm confused.
They made an actual Anime series for Wild Arms too if I remember correctly, never had the chance to watch it though.
The Wild ARMS games were ones that could never really love but enjoyed playing. Alter code F was a let down for me as it lacked any character that the original had and I think they changed the battle system to resemble Wild ARMS 3 since that was the engine it was based on but I may be mistaken.
@Dementor: Wild ARMS: Twilight Venom was just plain awful. The first episode was cute but after that it just spiraled further and further into complete crap.
Wild Arms was a great game. It sits besides Suikoden 1 & 2, Chrono Trigger, Zelda LTTP, etc for superb 2d-style games.
I finished the first two games, but lost interest during the third game. I guess the fancier 3d graphics didn't appeal to me for this series.
Ugh, I played through the whole game, but I wasn't a fan. It was totally generic, and while the sprites were fine, the PSX polygonal character models were just atrocious. I'd say parry this one, unless you're any RPG fanatic and you intend to play every single RPG ever.
@demtor - I added some screens from the Wild ARMs remake in the gallery as well to illustrate the difference between the two. Originals I used in the actual post, remake shots are only in the gallery. Hope that helps!
This my second major RPG, I enjoyed FF7 and bought this one on a whim as I wanted more RPG's, so far I've played and completed all 5 Wild Arms, only missing the PSP one, great set of games though WA5 was rather lackluster and remake was kinda shitty.
I loved the original. So much so that I went out of my way to purchase Alter Code F later just to show my girlfriend how badass a remake with updated graphics had to be. Then I found futility in the screwed up encounter system about 2/3 of the way through the game and quit.
That had to be one of the worst bugs I've ever seen in a game. Although not a game-crashing bug, I found that after enough time in combat, anytime I had to go somewhere via sailing, I could no longer run from any encounters while at sea. These encounters would also pop up every five seconds or so. Maybe not a big deal for some people, but it pissed me off beyond belief. Like Suikoden 4's encounter rate amped up x10.
But the original Wild Arms was fucking amazing. The end.
Ahhhh. I understand now... it slowly set in that they remade the original and renamed it to Wild ARMs Alter Code: F (I'm slow)
WOW! I need to get this. Some games I'm torn between 3D and 2D (Final Fantasy remakes in particular) but this looks amazing.
Being that it was in the Playstation era and I don't really hold that many cherished memories for its graphics like I do the SNES, it would be easy to leave the original graphics behind.
Simply put, this is my favorite turn based RPG of all time, and my second favorite game period (right after Castlevania SOTN). To this day the story is one of the best that I have ever encountered, and when paired with the music, this game will always own a chunk of my heart. I got goosepimply just reading this article.
Perhaps my favorite thing about the Wild Arms series is the way in which the clever (read "obsessive") fan can actually begin to piece together a delicately intertwined history of the world of Filgaia by following clues in each game. Whereas they seem to follow the Final Fantasy mold of independent-yet-still-numbered titles, one with enough puzzle solving skill and memory can start begging the questions of what led to what. Sometime these connections are not hidden (3 contains myriad refferences to 1 & 2, including the return of Siegfried and Lombardia), but others are much more cryptic. Absolute Genius.
Definitely one of my fave RPGs! I love 2 and 3 as well, but the first will always be special. Remember about a quarter into the game when the king dies and the game was "over?" They have the funeral and start ending everyone's story, and the freaking credits start rolling!!! And then the princess sez "Hold up, peeps! We gotta finish this thing!" Game on.
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Contest:
11:45 AM on 04.08.2008
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I own Wild ARMS 1 but I've tried to play it a few times and just can't seem to get past the hurdle of how nearly unplayable it is because of the terrible 3D. Funny enough Wild ARMS 2 doesn't bother me at all. I've been hunting down the remake though, because I really want to play this game badly. This post has invigorated my search.
I did give Alter Code F a spin, but it didn't feel like the same game even though it was an enhanced remake. I still refer to play through the original despite the laughable 3D chibi battles. I think I never fell out of love with 2D sprites or ever will. Long live 2D gaming!
My brother and I must've watched that intro fifty times. Every time we started up the game we'd watch it, and that's largely because of the music (the animation's fine, but only fine).
Unlike Gen Eric Gui, Wild ARMs is one of the few PS1 games I can go back and play simply because a good portion of the game is played as a 2D sprite. The 3D battles, while slightly clunky, are perfectly manageable--like most JRPGs of that era, all of the battle action takes place in the menus anyway. Speaking of the menus, I have mixed feelings on the "cross" menu system that the game used.
No talk of Wild ARMs is complete without discussing about the main character, Rudy, a bit. Rudy was a pretty great example of the "silent protagonist" archetype that was so heavily discussed on Destructoid recently. However, I do believe he had a few lines of dialogue throughout the game. One thing that most people don't realize is that Wild ARMs wasn't "Rudy's" first game. The same character (although he may have had a slightly different name) was in an early PS1 game called Gunner's Heaven--a Gunstar Heroes-style shooter.
Damn Sony and their shitty lasers!
Also, I love this feature. It is amazing.
Anyway, the original Wild Arms brings back great memoreis and I'd really like to play it again. Unfortunately I let my buddy borrow it probably 4 or 5 years ago and I never got it back.
Am I wrong or are some of those pics in the photo gallery from a different game in the series? I'm confused.
They made an actual Anime series for Wild Arms too if I remember correctly, never had the chance to watch it though.
The Wild ARMS games were ones that could never really love but enjoyed playing. Alter code F was a let down for me as it lacked any character that the original had and I think they changed the battle system to resemble Wild ARMS 3 since that was the engine it was based on but I may be mistaken.
Anyways great write up as always :-D
God I remember this game, I couldn't beat the first boss..
-_-
I finished the first two games, but lost interest during the third game. I guess the fancier 3d graphics didn't appeal to me for this series.
I haven't played any of the latest ones, are they any good?
That had to be one of the worst bugs I've ever seen in a game. Although not a game-crashing bug, I found that after enough time in combat, anytime I had to go somewhere via sailing, I could no longer run from any encounters while at sea. These encounters would also pop up every five seconds or so. Maybe not a big deal for some people, but it pissed me off beyond belief. Like Suikoden 4's encounter rate amped up x10.
But the original Wild Arms was fucking amazing. The end.
WOW! I need to get this. Some games I'm torn between 3D and 2D (Final Fantasy remakes in particular) but this looks amazing.
Being that it was in the Playstation era and I don't really hold that many cherished memories for its graphics like I do the SNES, it would be easy to leave the original graphics behind.
Perhaps my favorite thing about the Wild Arms series is the way in which the clever (read "obsessive") fan can actually begin to piece together a delicately intertwined history of the world of Filgaia by following clues in each game. Whereas they seem to follow the Final Fantasy mold of independent-yet-still-numbered titles, one with enough puzzle solving skill and memory can start begging the questions of what led to what. Sometime these connections are not hidden (3 contains myriad refferences to 1 & 2, including the return of Siegfried and Lombardia), but others are much more cryptic. Absolute Genius.
Awesome.