Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
The Arc series finally moves to next-gen consoles, but can it hang with the PS2's already impressive RPG lineup?
Published: August 21, 2003
As RPGs go, Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits bests almost every contender out there in pure clichéd richness. It's as if developer Cattle Call turned the first next-gen Arc the Lad game into a literal laundry list of RPG truisms. Don't believe me? Fine, Dr. Doubtful, we'll just run by the story shall we?
Two brothers, separated a birth both most rise to meet their destiny as leaders of their people while battling the Evil Empire led by a Cruel Tyrant in search of the Five Great Spirit Stones that will awaken the Ultimate Power. Honestly, if we'd held a contest to come up with the most overused plot devices, it still wouldn't have measured up to Twilight of the Spirits' hackneyed basis.
Here's the catch, though: the game's actually not all that bad. No, it's nothing stunning, but in spite of the infinitely familiar territory, TotS manages to deliver decent (if mostly cookie-cutter) characters, a few plot twists, solid music and graphics and and overwhelming sense of... well, mediocrity. Yes, the game does have some noteworthy pluses, but if you're looking for a breath of fresh RPG air, you're not gonna find it anywhere near here.
With a storyline that barely manages to hold one's interest and characters that do little to stir the emotions, the bulk of entertainment will be gleaned from the game's admittedly solid combat engine. Battles have the feel of a grid-based combat engine (a la Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics or Front Mission 3), since strategies like attack distance, movement area and placement of attacks in relation to the target (to the side, behind, etc) have a direct outcome on the tactics of each battle. It's a decent system, though trudging through the overworld map (think Final Fantasy Tactics' point-to-point system) can make the fights seem rather tedious.
Where the game really shines is in presentation, however, something that rescues an otherwise bland adventure and helps raise it from a mindless, linear quest to the promise of seeing something interesting with each new locale.
While the game doesn't at first appear to be graphically stunning, the little touches slowly win you over. For starters the game manages some decent vistas when scoping out new territory. Spell effects are light (if only mildly entertaining), but the architecture of some of the places you explore exposes a bit more of Cattle Call's attention to detail. Subtle things like lighting, an abundance of smartly used particles for even simple events, or incredibly realistic animations for a random half-dozen fish in a pond go a very, very long way towards fleshing out the world.
Things nose down a bit when in combat, since it seems more of the muscle is dedicated to animations and the unfortunately trite, overused battle responses (more on those in a second), but it's a nice touch to have the battles take place in the actual environments where you were exploring - even if that means battles are limited to the more bland areas.
Aurally, the game is all over the map, simultaneously offering a sweeping, grandiose battle melody during the more plot-specific parts, but greedily tossing out utterly pointless and repetitive quips from the characters as they make their choices. You can turn off the battle quotes if you like, thankfully, but just cutting back on them would have made the fights a little less monotonous.
Effects-wise, things hold up nicely. Nothing will drop your jaw, but you won't be left wanting a little more oomph for the stuff that is there. Like most of the time, it simply gets the job done. The clomp-clomp of footprints traveling from dirt to metal to grass is done cleanly and effectively, and weapon clangs and thumps give the ears something to digest along with the peepers.
The voice acting is equally mixed, though the pendulum swings far less here, going from so-so to brief brushes with truly great deliveries, though nothing every really manages to register a serious emotional impact. Part of this may stem from the more clichéd character types and personalities, but games like Final Fantasy X showed that the right voices could impart a kind of personality that no amount of design documentation could ever sculpt for a game.
It's important to point out that Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is not a bad game. Hell, it's not a particularly good game either, but it does manage to break from total mediocrity in presentation, which keeps things interesting enough to tide someone over until the next big PS2 RPG hits (Final Fantasy X-2 and Star Ocean 3 will be arriving here soon). Unless you need to get your RPG fix, however, it's probably best to leave this as a rental or two.
Two brothers, separated a birth both most rise to meet their destiny as leaders of their people while battling the Evil Empire led by a Cruel Tyrant in search of the Five Great Spirit Stones that will awaken the Ultimate Power. Honestly, if we'd held a contest to come up with the most overused plot devices, it still wouldn't have measured up to Twilight of the Spirits' hackneyed basis.
Here's the catch, though: the game's actually not all that bad. No, it's nothing stunning, but in spite of the infinitely familiar territory, TotS manages to deliver decent (if mostly cookie-cutter) characters, a few plot twists, solid music and graphics and and overwhelming sense of... well, mediocrity. Yes, the game does have some noteworthy pluses, but if you're looking for a breath of fresh RPG air, you're not gonna find it anywhere near here.
With a storyline that barely manages to hold one's interest and characters that do little to stir the emotions, the bulk of entertainment will be gleaned from the game's admittedly solid combat engine. Battles have the feel of a grid-based combat engine (a la Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics or Front Mission 3), since strategies like attack distance, movement area and placement of attacks in relation to the target (to the side, behind, etc) have a direct outcome on the tactics of each battle. It's a decent system, though trudging through the overworld map (think Final Fantasy Tactics' point-to-point system) can make the fights seem rather tedious.
Where the game really shines is in presentation, however, something that rescues an otherwise bland adventure and helps raise it from a mindless, linear quest to the promise of seeing something interesting with each new locale.
While the game doesn't at first appear to be graphically stunning, the little touches slowly win you over. For starters the game manages some decent vistas when scoping out new territory. Spell effects are light (if only mildly entertaining), but the architecture of some of the places you explore exposes a bit more of Cattle Call's attention to detail. Subtle things like lighting, an abundance of smartly used particles for even simple events, or incredibly realistic animations for a random half-dozen fish in a pond go a very, very long way towards fleshing out the world.
Things nose down a bit when in combat, since it seems more of the muscle is dedicated to animations and the unfortunately trite, overused battle responses (more on those in a second), but it's a nice touch to have the battles take place in the actual environments where you were exploring - even if that means battles are limited to the more bland areas.
Aurally, the game is all over the map, simultaneously offering a sweeping, grandiose battle melody during the more plot-specific parts, but greedily tossing out utterly pointless and repetitive quips from the characters as they make their choices. You can turn off the battle quotes if you like, thankfully, but just cutting back on them would have made the fights a little less monotonous.
Effects-wise, things hold up nicely. Nothing will drop your jaw, but you won't be left wanting a little more oomph for the stuff that is there. Like most of the time, it simply gets the job done. The clomp-clomp of footprints traveling from dirt to metal to grass is done cleanly and effectively, and weapon clangs and thumps give the ears something to digest along with the peepers.
The voice acting is equally mixed, though the pendulum swings far less here, going from so-so to brief brushes with truly great deliveries, though nothing every really manages to register a serious emotional impact. Part of this may stem from the more clichéd character types and personalities, but games like Final Fantasy X showed that the right voices could impart a kind of personality that no amount of design documentation could ever sculpt for a game.
It's important to point out that Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is not a bad game. Hell, it's not a particularly good game either, but it does manage to break from total mediocrity in presentation, which keeps things interesting enough to tide someone over until the next big PS2 RPG hits (Final Fantasy X-2 and Star Ocean 3 will be arriving here soon). Unless you need to get your RPG fix, however, it's probably best to leave this as a rental or two.
