I quit Wild Arms 2
I played Ashley’s prologue and started Lillia’s, so that’s about an hour in. When I played Wild Arms 1 back in 2003-ish, what I really liked about it was all the different Arms the characters had and how those were used to solve dungeon puzzles and progress. You have to realize I was 9 years younger back then and had a TON of patience for crap like that. Right now, 1. I hate dungeon puzzles with a passion and 2. My memory has gotten fuzzy, so I’m probably remembering the first game a lot more fondly than it deserves.
I mean, I really, really liked the dungeon construction in WA. The puzzles made enough sense that I did most of them without a FAQ. Plus they weren’t all that plentiful. And I don’t remember falling off a narrow ledge every five steps just trying to make my way from room to room. Or having to change the camera angle every 5 seconds just to figure out what I was doing. They were normal dungeons with clever puzzles scattered here and there (is what my notoriously unreliable memory is telling me).
Sony probably misunderstood what made the first game popular. For me at least, it was the loveable characters, both good and bad, and the simple storyline and the kickass soundtrack. Oh, and the bitching opening sequence. WA2 was no slouch on that score, at least. Beautiful song, just listening to it got me so pumped to play! This is such a nice change from the usual jpop warbling! This is awesome! This is gonna be the best RPG ev— DUNGEON PUZZLES.
… I don’t suppose there’s a cheat that pre-solves all the puzzles, is there? No? Ah well. I had WA3, 4 and 5 in mind after this, but there’s no way I’ll be able to play them. That won’t stop me from trying, but I don’t have much hope.
In other news, I’m a few hours into Shining Hearts now. If I had to compare it to previous games, it’s like… hmm, Rune Factory meets Atelier Iris? But much slower and less focused. I’m liking it so far.
Wild Arms 1 is one of those games that is best having fond memories of than destroying them playing it again. What i like most of WA1 is the intro video music, to this day i listen to it regularly. it’s a masterpiece.
I agree that we were more patient 15 years ago (in my case) with games of this kind than nowadays.
I blame the overexposition and multitude of titles that made us more selective in the games we spent our precious time with. Specially cuz 80% of those titles were recycled ideas with almost 0 innovation in gameplay, but again i too like to play some monotone grinding and carefree games sometimes even if it’s a blatant copy version of good games.
On other topic, i’ve been working with japanesse for 1 month, maybe a little more, and now i’m able to read and write both kana syllables, it’s a joy for me to finally read most of the text i want knowing these two syllables.Now i wish i could understand what the heck i’m reading about =(.
Guess i only have to improve in vocabulary and start with basic Kanji
There were a lot of fantastic opening sequences back in the PSX era, but WA1’s stands at the top. It falls behind the others graphically, but the music and the sheer emotion packed into those 2 short minutes… I have never been able to forget it. I was getting the same feeling from WA2, but the gameplay… *shakes head*
Congrats on your progress in Japanese! As I said, it might be a slow process, but you’ll make it eventually if you don’t give up. So don’t get discouraged if you don’t understand stuff. I look back and laugh over all the things I couldn’t make head or tails of at first.
Two or three years of hard work and then a lifetime of being able to play any JRPG you want without worrying about localization. It’s a good trade off, imo.
I played Wild Arms 2 for a little more than you (http://grindingdown.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/skirting-the-wild-side-with-wild-arms-2/) but never went back after that. The most fun I had was naming characters stoopid names; nothing will recapture the spirit and charm of the original Wild Arms, alas.
You got a lot further than me. I mean, you actually got people to level 3! 😀 Just like you,
Lillia’sBrickface’s route is what made me turn off the game. Ashley’s prolgue was like, okay that’s kind of annoying but I can put up with it, but those magical block puzzles were like NO FRICKIN’ WAY.I haven’t given up on the rest of the series though. If they went on to make 3, 4 and 5 then maybe they figured out their mistakes somewhere along the line.
[…] a good game, so far. It doesn’t have as many immediately off-putting puzzles the way Wild Arms 2 did, and the Hex battle system took me all of 5 seconds to get the hang of. The whole Hex thing […]
[…] Wild Arms 2 (PSX) – I haven’t touched my PSOne in years. I think it’s still working, but […]