In a time before the great RPG renaissance, brought forth by the trend-setting Final Fantasy 7 in late 1997, a few mean creatures dwelled in the epic adventure wasteland which was the Sony Playstation. Gaming magazines such as 'Gamefan' struggled to find titles worthy of the connoisseur; heralding the more tactical It-girls of Vandal Hearts and Suidoken. Wild Arms obtained high marks as well, but with only a few months ahead of the radioactive cloud which was FF7 there was the question of whether it would be overshadowed and thus grossly mutated in the passage of time (Thanks to advances in polygon graphics).

Part of the answer can be found in that I'm doing a review of this game eleven years later. I followed Squaresoft more than anything else, from my dynasty of Super Nintendo cartridges to when the chocobo was practically crapping out masterpieces like Xenogears and Parasite Eve. But at the same time, it's unfortunate that I didn't play Wild Arms earlier; it's in that sweet transition spot between 16 bit and 32 bit where you had gameplay and the graphics were polished.

To put things in a quick nutshell of comparison; Wild Arms has a tool system like Lufia (or the Legend of Zelda, but that's only if you don't know Lufia), a 16-bit style overhead map and town scheme, and a battle system featuring polygon monsters. If this sounds like an uneasy mix, Wild Arms pulls it off.

Start with an epic story. Enter the world of Filgaia, where humanity has been reduced to a few sparse settlements in a wasteland filled with ruins and monsters. The greenery of the planet is dying. Only the few, known as the Dreamchasers, have the courage to venture out from the petty concerns of their townships to put all the pieces together. Here you have the relics of a thousand-year-old war mixing company with elemental guardians, and an elf-like race who disappeared to another dimension. It gets even better when the few 'safe' kingdoms get attacked by metal demons from another planet, and three wandering Dreamchasers get to play cowboy with gun, sword, and spell.

And don't get me started on the benefits of having only three main characters in an RPG. While playing Wild Arms, I almost never had to spend time ' power leveling ' (though I did go through some temple sites twice just because I like being fully charged before meeting a boss). Moreover it allowed for character development, with some high drama as when the princess cut her hair and you learn the origin of the Fenril knights in the frozen wastes. But in any case, the three character model gives you an excellent division of labor when in battle. The blue-haired Rudy has a high vitality, and for what he lacks up in speed, he makes up in ARMS ('ancient relic machines', such as lasers and bazookas and bang-bangs of all sorts--upgradeable too!). Jack is your samurai crossed with Indiana Jones in a duster, a high-speed assault character who crosses over into magic a little with his 'Fast Draw' sword skills. Though his status change attacks aren't that thrilling, you'll be surprised how much 'healing sword' frees up the other characters. Which brings us to Cecilia, the willful princess with a tapeworm and devoted magic user. Magic could warrant a whole section of its own, but let's suffice to say that it's based on a crest graph system which allows you to choose any spell out of 32 (later 64) for development. That means you can go to a magic guild and change your "flame" spell into a "freeze" spell as the situation demands. We're talking monster weakness here. There's also plenty of status changing effects in this game, both beneficial and inflictatory. Sleep is especially malevolent as you can't just beat the crap out of your ally to wake them up, like in certain other RPGs. You have to either wait for them to build up their limit gauge--crap, Wild Arms calls it a force meter--or use an above-average healing item (nectars). Later in the game, Cecilia will serve as a crucial support character, doing nifty things like doubling Jack's attack power, locking your status so that you won't GO TO SLEEP, and slowing the bosses down (She also has a Life 3 kind of spell--and to make her even cooler, she can cast spells for free from items using her "Mystic" ability).

Oh God, what to talk about now. *touches Ceclia on the elbow* As I was about to say, Wild Arms borrows from some of the best RPG stock. Not to give too much away, but Adlehyde Kingdom holds a festival, one which could compete against anything Chrono Trigger has to offer. Through the mole-pulling game you can potentially earn unlimited Mystic/Strength/Vitality/Response Apples, each of which raises your beloved stats by one. Not to mention those nectars which bring in good money early in the game.

You have your ever-popular vehicles of world transport: boat, flying machine, and shallows-walking golem. Okay, they put their creativity into that last one.

You get a good bit of your depth in the game, secrets-wise, by tracking down guardian glyphs and finding duplicator keys. The former act as summon spells and, much like in the game Persona, offer a certain degree of stat-boosting customization. The latter gives you access to otherwise unlockable (un-unlockable?) unopenable magic doors which give you many Crest graphs for Cecilia and sword-secrets for Jack.

If there's any downside to this pleasant adventure that I should have played earlier, it's that occasionally the dialog throws out some clunkers (Emma: No one knows the location of my secret laboratory. That's why it's called a secret) and some of the guardian spirits look more like neopets. And I know the demons are by nature chaotic, but if you had a plan for world conquest, you wouldn't be like "Well, that failed. Whatever." Don't get me wrong, this game doesn't tear apart your self-respect for playing as much as Disgaea would, but it's a B+ essay--there's a rough spot now and then.

Oh, before I forget. Each character gets their own set of four tools to use. You can also switch characters on the fly in dungeons for most of the game. Some of the tools are fairly standard (like Jack's hookshot, will spanning that gap ever get old?) and Rudy's bombs (used to mine berries of all things), but then you have my personal favorite: Cecilia's pocketwatch. Lufia 2 had a similar feature for resetting failed puzzles, but there's one part in Wild Arms where a green-haired goon throws a switch and traps you in a cell. By turning back time, you can close a door to block that switch, not only foiling his trap, but altering his dialog. Another case, in a subterranean library, you can turn back time to get through a door which people could enter--two hours ago. Rudy also comes with a nifty radar feature which puts a green beacon on any treasure in the area. If that treasure happens to be across a stream of water and at a diagonal, Jack's spirit-rat, Hanpan (less annoying than most anime cute 'n' fuzzies), can zoom over the gap, grab the treasure, and come back like a boomerang!

As a final word, this has to be the first RPG where I took notes. We're talking eighteen-pages of stickman maps, civilian clues; and, of course, the pseudo-philosophical dialog. There's a forth wall breaker too.

Calamity Jane: Do you have any special weapons.

Bartholomew: This is a trade ship, not the USS Missouri.

Calamity Jane: You haven't got a clue, have you? This is a game! You should always carry a special weapon!

If this doesn't teach me screenwriting and dialog, I don't know what I'll do with my odes to futuristic statue breasts. Is that a nipple, or a single pixel darkened?