The Arc the Lad Collection

The Arc the Lad Collection, name ring a bell? Its the game that got delayed so many times you forgot it existed? Well, your in luck cause this is an Arc the Lad page. Where you can learn about all things Arc. First up on your trip is Arc the Lad . So hop aboardddd!

Arc the Lad

How it scored

Graphics: 9/10 The graphics are great, sure they are not 3d but for its time Arc had amazing graphics. With super deformed sprites it is a trip back to the good old days. The graphics, like most games of its time are a bit grainy but you really don't notice. The spells are done well and the characters just look, well awesome. The baddies are so big and ugly looking that you just can't help pounding on them. (See a bit grainy but its all good)


Music: 9/10 The music is great, done by the Royal Philharmonic. The character voices are nice, when you do a spell or an attack or get attacked the characters often utter a few words that are cool, specially gogen ;) ) I hope they make a soundtrack cd for it.

Game Play: 10/10 If your not a fan of Strategy games then Arc the Lad will seem very linear. As the game pushes you forward and you see your character acting things out. Most strat games focus on the battles and the story elements are movie like. Arc is like that, but more free spirited. Instead of only having 1 choice of where to go you can move around and explore the countries, fighting in one place as many times as you would like, moving from place to place. The battle system is nice. Kind of like FFT or TO combined with zelda. You can move around within the character range giving it a free feeling. Its simple and easy to learn, to attack you walk up to an enemy and press X and you attack. Spells and Items are easy to use.

Story: 9/10 The story is a nice prelude to Arc 2. Its pretty good and has metophors for todays society. Its not the deepest most complex story, its a fantastic story. It will grab hold and will not let go. The villans are cool because they are easy to hate and are not just villans for the heck of it. The hero's are not hero's just for the hecl of it. They have a reason, which many games nowadays do not. You will find that you can relate many things to todays living, well atleast I can. I would tell more but don't want to spoil it for you.

Length: About 10 to 20+ hours Depending on what you do you may beat arc in 8 hours. Or it may take you 15 or more. You can choose to just breeze your way through the game and beat it lickety split. You can choose to explore the dungeons and participate in everything you can. Or you may choose to COMPLETE each side quest and then it will take you a longer amount of time. Arc 1 can be as long as you want it to be. Completing just one dungeon fully meaning getting to the bottom and returning will take about 3 hours. However its not required. With most of the dungeons you only have to go about 10 floors down.

Overall: 10/10 Arc the Lad is a game that I recommend to anyone even if you don't like strat games you'll like the Arc the Lad Collection. It shows just what you can do with a little charm, great game play and a knock out story. It was well worth all the delays. Go rent (hahaha good luck finding one to rent) or buy a copy and experience the fun for yourself.

Images

Arc the Lad Artwork

Hows my review? Tell me at Tooksrule@hotmail.com
The Arc the Lad II, Arc the Lad III and Arc Arena reviews will be added when I complete the games.