I have never played the first Wild Arms game or the second, but of the third, fourth and fifth games I have played this one is by far my favorite. Granted, one day I would like to track down the first and second games to see if either of those can top this one. It is not out of the realm of possibility as though this one was on the PS2 and those on the original Playstation, there have been times when the Playstation did harbor my favorite game of a series. Final Fantasy IX is my favorite of that series and though Xenogears and Xenosaga are not really direct sequels, Xenogears is still better than the Xenosaga games. This game, meanwhile, has what one comes to expect from a Wild Arms game in that it has great characters, both heroes and villains, and a wild west type setting. Though not as much of a wild west setting as the third game as that one went all out, this one is way more western than the fourth game which had the fewest wild west touches of the three games, keeping the western theme to a minimum. This game also had a great story and a way more expansive over world compared to the fourth one, but less annoying than the over world in the third game where you had to search for every location on the map. When I started playing this game again, I wondered why I did not give it a 10 rather than a nine and it was not until later that I remembered...I will get to that later.
The story has a boy named Dean in a small village going through some ruins in the search of parts for golems. In this world golem hunting is a big thing, and also in this world there is a class system where there are humans and an elite people known as the Veruni. He wishes to be a golem hunter and hero worships a man named Nightburn who is the only human to seemingly be on equal footing with the Veruni. While searching through some ruins though, he and his childhood friend Rebbecca see something crash to the ground, when they investigate they discover a golem arm clutching an unconscious girl. This girl remembers nothing save her name, Avril, and the name Johnny Appleseed. They soon embark on a quest to figure out who this person is and soon Dean will learn the harsh realities of the world and how poorly the humans are treated by the Veruni while searching for Johnny Appleseed and Avril's memories. They will also find new companions in Chuck, an apprentice golem hunter; Greg, a man who destroys golems; and Carol, a girl searching for her mentor. What starts out as a search for a person, becomes a quest to bring humans and Veruni together and save the world from a sinister plan.
The game play is rather good as it takes the grid based fighting of the fourth game, but makes it a bit more challenging. In the fourth game, you could literally destroy most foes in no time thanks to one character, even bosses, but here the fighting can take a while, especially the bosses. The over world is the best of the three as it has sort of the Final Fantasy XII approach as it is a very large one that is more interactive than the third and not just a point and click map like the fourth. Searching like in the third has returned, but you do not have to search for destinations in this one, only treasures and puzzles. Now, why didn't the game get a 10? Well, there comes a point in the game where you have to go to these four towers and then a fifth before reaching the final destination. It is just the puzzles in these towers are very annoying and the clues to solve them too vague. I also had to use guides online just to find them. So it is annoying having to look at a guide every so often because you cannot find stuff or figure things out. Too many role playing games during this time and up till now, just seem made where you have to look for a strategy guide online or buy one. The game becomes less fun too, when it becomes just go to this dungeon or that one and you no longer run into any new towns to visit and such.
Overall, this Wild Arms was a lot of fun. The story was good and it had a decent ending as well. It did run into some problems at the end, but a lot of role playing games tend to do this as they simply make it so you have to go to dungeon after dungeon with no new towns and such to visit. Grandia III had this problem as did Legend of Legai II just off the top of my head, but it just seems like a common problem in most games of this type nothing that detracts too much, just stops the game from being a higher score. This is the last Wild Arms game that I know of, other than one of the PSP system. This is a shame as it was a fun series and it's too bad there have not been any new ones for the PS3 or 4 system, but a lot of the good role playing series seemed to find their final resting place on the PS2 system, and this one is a very good series and this is the best one of that series that I have played.
