Wild Arms

Moby ID: 3693
PlayStation Specs
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Description official description

Rudy is a fifteen-year-old orphan who discovers that he has been endowed with the ability of using powerful forbidden weapons called ARMs (Ancient Relic Machines); forced to use an ARMs technique when fighting a demon, he is cast out of his home village. Jack is a treasure hunter who is seeking for an ancient device that would help him to deal with his troubled past. Cecilia is a young princess who has been studying magic at an abbey; on her seventeenth birthday, she is contacted by a mysterious voice who tells her that she can serve as a medium between the worlds of humans and spirits. The paths of these three heroes converge, and they team up to embark on a long journey, eager to understand their roles in a grand scheme of events that go back a thousand years into the past.

Wild Arms is a Japanese-style role-playing game set in Filgaia, a fictional world that has elements of American Old West setting and medieval fantasy. The game's prologue consists of three chapters, each dedicated to one of its three main characters; afterwards, the player controls them as a party. Like most representatives of the genre, the game features turn-based battles against randomly appearing regular enemies and bosses. Besides attacking physically, the characters possess unique abilities - ARMs for Rudy, sword techniques for Jack, and magic for Cecilia. Characters can also equip special accessories (runes), which conjure powerful creatures known as the Guardians during battles, to attack enemies or assist the party by casting supportive spells.

The game has a stronger inclination towards puzzle-solving than most other Japanese RPG. Each of the three playable characters possesses a set of non-combat abilities called "Tools"; for example, Rudy starts with an ability to blow up obstacles, Jack can send his talking mouse Hanpan to manipulate objects out of his reach, and Cecilia can rewind time to ensure another attempt at solving a puzzle. The game's dungeons contain puzzles, many of which must be solved by using these abilities. During the course of the game, the three heroes will gradually learn additional Tools.

Various mini-games are also available. Characters and backgrounds in the game are done with 2D graphics during exploration; conversely, battles utilize a fully 3D environment with cinematic camera angles.

Spellings

  • ワイルドアームズ - Japanese spelling
  • 荒野兵器 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (PlayStation version)

87 People (73 developers, 14 thanks) · View all

Producer
Lead Design
Level / Scenario Design
Field Plans
Battle Plans
Field Programs
Battle Programs
Utility Programs
Event Scripts
Character Graphics
Field Graphics
Battle Graphics
Character Design
Monster Design
Music Producer
Sound Director
Music
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 21 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 46 ratings with 1 reviews)

It's high noon in Filgaia...

The Good
As one of the Playstation’s first rpg’s, Wild Arms is a good example of old school meeting new, and doing a good job of it. Released before the FFVII hype, Wild Arms still stands out as one of the Playstation’s best.

The Storyline in Wild Arms is an rpg classic, a fantasy world is threatened by the return of an ancient evil,(Does the estate of H.P. Lovecraft get paid for this?) in this case the ‘Metal Demons’. (hmm sounds like a garage band I used to be in.) However Wild Arms still leaves room for originality. For example at the beginning of the game you get to chose which of the three characters you wish to play as first. And the game also successfully mixes Action/RPG elements in to it’s gameplay bag. Yes it is mainly a fantasy world, with just a hint of the wild west, I.e. Rudy’s guns. The story also features A.R.M. s which are ancient weapons that few can wield let alone understand. Except (of course) one of the main characters.

The graphics in the game are also a mix of old and new. The majority of the graphics are a sprite based 2D affair. But in battle things are transformed in to 3D, with the characters retaining there “super deformed” look. The graphics look good considering the games age. The spells and ARM’s attacks all look sweet. There is also the ability to “summon” Guardians that your party acquires. While most of these are impressive quite a few are also weak. There are also anime style cut scenes, these are not very frequent but they look great.

The music and sounds do there job. The music is the stronger of the two, most of the score is quite memorable. The sounds just do there job nothing excels here but this is normal.

The Gameplay is classic rpg with enhancements like using a magic wand in real time to activate a switch, and avoiding traps. There are also an occasional puzzle or two. Battles are unfortunately random, and can get tedious. At some points you will be attacked about every 5 seconds.

The Bad
The bad comes from the tedious nature of most Japanese rpgs. Particularly the amount of random battles. Even having a vehicle does not stop the random battles! There are side quests to partake in but the rewards for such endeavors are generally weak.

The Bottom Line
Fans of old or new rpgs will find something to like here. Pick this one up if you can find it for a reasonable price.

PlayStation · by MasterMegid (723) · 2006

Trivia

Music

The music was inspired by Spaghetti Western movies, known as "macaroni Westerns" in Japan.

References to the game

In the anime series Great Teacher Onizuka, Wild Arms was featured in the 3rd episode.

Awards

  • EGM
    • July 1997 (Issue 96) - Game of the Month
    • March 1998 (Issue 104) - RPG Game of the Year Runner-Up
    • March 1998 (Issue 104) - RPG Game of the Year Runner-Up (Readers' Choice)

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  • MobyGames ID: 3693
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Fafnir.

PSP, PlayStation 3 added by Charly2.0. PS Vita added by GTramp. PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 added by firefang9212. Android added by Sciere.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Alaka, DreinIX, Master_Sandro, Thomas Thompson, 64er.

Game added April 4, 2001. Last modified February 20, 2024.