What’s your favorite Wild Arms game? Why? Do you think the Wild Arms series is good or bad?
And that is precisely the reason that car is off limits to all passengers.
Well, Wild ARMs 2 is my favourite of the series, on the other hand I haven’t played Wild ARMs 4. But I do like the games, and would like to at least try out Wild ARMs: Alter Code F sometime.
Only played 3 and 4, and both were amazing on the first play-through, although I’ve found myself hesitant to go through either a second time… I did get solid enjoyment out of both though and I want to track down the first two games for that reason.
Hard to say which game was better… 4 was more consistently enjoyable, although 3 had a more interesting storyline. Tough call.
Why do you ask?
I played the first one and wasn’t really my thing. Never tried the rest of them.
I love the concept of Western + Fantasy. Of course, the WA games have focused on the mix differently (3 is the most “western” in feel, while 4 barely qualifies.) Also, the quality has gone up and down in between games, but still, I feel it’s a fun franchise with a lot of potential.
WA1: The original, and great for its time, though the graphics sucked BIG time (they were just starting to develop CG graphics at the time, you see.) It featured a great cast and what I consider the best villain team EVER. Plus great moments such as when Rudy cut off his own arm to avoid being dragged to his doom by the main villain. Or when Lady Harken turned out to be Jack’s long-lost girlfriend. The Code: F version recreates the original with much better graphics, better options, and (way too many) minigames. Definitely #2 in my list.
WA2: Better graphics than the first (not than Code F, obviously), a better story, but the characters weren’t as engaging (don’t get me wrong, they were great, just not as memorable, especially the villains.) It also stands out for featuring not one, not two, but THREE major menaces in one game, and very original ones too! I’ve certainly never seen anything like a living universe in any other RPG I’ve played so far. Bad points include way too many puzzles to solve (some requiring you to switch characters two or three times to navigate them) and a poor translation. Still, definitely my favorite WA game so far.
WA3: Storywise, this is the weakest one. Not a BAD story, mind you, but it gets confusing towards the end, and the characters barely stick to my (admittedly poor 
) memory. But it WAS the most “western” of them in atmosphere, and it was unusual in that the main character was a woman. Beter graphics than WA2, as well. Third in my list.
WA4: The lowest in my list: barely “western” at all, (intentionally) darkly-colored artwork, VERY “Emo” story (everybody from the heroes to the villains was unhappy for some reason) and I just plain HATED all the jumping you have to do in this game. Either the game’s controls were poor or my PS2’s were (hey, it’s pretty old) but I kept dying in those jumping parts. Not fun. HOWEVER, I will give this game points for trying to have a significant story, involving both social and evolutionary philosophies. It wasn’t as bad as some people say, even with the jumping. In fact, this is probably the one WA where I was HAPPY to reach the puzzle parts, as they took you away from the dreary stuff for a while. The graphics (color aside) are also probably the best so far, as well. I’ve played worse games, but still, a disappointment given the franchise’s usual coolness.
Sohee… you die, now, and you will be dying slowly over the coming week as well. Mark my words.
Anyway, I like the games, though I’ve only played the first and third one. They’re charming and pretty original… well, the third more than the first, but still rather different.
Sohee wins.
I played all 4 WA’s, but not Alter Code F.
1 is a standard FF clone. 2 is alright, they tried to play with it, this is when they started trying to tie certain themes into the WA series and what makes the WA series more interesting. I personally really enjoyed WA3 and 4, despite how 4 had its flaws with some of its story telling (the children’s angle was irritating but everything else was interesting). The series has a certain style to it and while I wouldn’t give the games 5/5s , I’d def give them 3.5 to 4 each.
I played through the 3rd one and most of the 1st one. I liked the 3rd one alright, but the puzzles were frustrating beyond all reason. More so in the first one. Who the fuck had the idea that to open a door, you had to arrange some blocks into fixtures, with one being not quite in all the way? That’s fucking ridiculous. I was stuck on that puzzle for a couple weeks.
I played all five installments that came to america. Now, grante,d I am very easy to please with games in general, but I lvoe these games more than any other series, save Seiken Densetsu. …Except for Wild ARMs 4. I HATED this game. The minute I beat it, I wanted to scream. But I guess I’m the only person, save my sister, who sees this game for the piece of shit it is. It’s one of two games I regret ever playing, and didn;t like. I can see it was trying to do some things, and I admit, some of the enemies were itneresting, but you couldn’t get me to play this game of my own free will ever again.
I love the puzzles and tools in WA, and wish more games would incorporate similar elements. The stories and characters are rarely interesting, and the localizations have a history of ranging from awkward to downright impossible to understand (WA2 has possibly the worst script of any translated RPG ever). I thought WA3 had an excellent mix of gameplay elements and a very cool style, probably the most fun IMO. Never played WA4. WA1 was my first PSX RPG and I have a lot of fond memories of it (the characters were by far the best in the series). The remake loses a lot of the good gameplay (e.g. by removing weapons and armor) but makes up for it by not forcing me to look at messes of polygons masquerading as 3D enemies.
I personally liked the first three, never played alter code, but they royally screwed up when it came to number 4. it was like they got manatees to make the story and game play. Hopefully when we get the fifth installment it won’t be like the fourth.
Hmm… I’m more less in a spot because I’ve only played WA 4, but I did really enjoy th e game even if it was pretty simple and all challenge was lost after a certain point. It wasn’t really tough, except for a boss or two and the extra bosses, but once you fight enemy that gives you an amount of experience based on your attack you can easily max your levels and the game is easy.
For some reason, I really liked the silly jump and slide on the field and found the game to be pretty entertaining, but I wasn’t fond of the story too /much/ and hearing the voice a character or two whining about growing up or so was irritating after a while. It also has a few really nice tracks, like the first enemy base theme, Perilous Change, when you go to sneak into the base of the stationed troops. A strangely… light jazzy theme for enemy territory.
I thought the game was a pretty easy play, though. I can probably see why some people would not like it since it’s really simple, but that may be a good or bad thing. I dont really remember many of the puzzles too much, but I can’t remember having any real trouble on any. Too bad some of the specials couldn’t be unlocked, without use of a pro action replay or so, because they took out some of the enemies for the damn NA release.
Too bad I can’t really pick a favorite having only played this one >_> But I strangely feel that 4 would be my favorite anyway. I pretty much liked it after seeing a trailer of the game. (though, I think I may have favored 2 if I had played it)
I own all 5 US games. My favorite is the 1st game. Loved the music, liked the characters, and the story was decent. Batttle system is standard. Graphics aren’t pretty, but that never bothered me. I haven’t played 4 and AC yet. I’m still playing 3 and never finished 2 because something was wrong with my disc.
I’m glad I’m not the only one here that liked Wild ARMS 2. The game tends to get a lot of flak, mostly because if its nigh incomprehensible script.
I really like the game, though. It was where they started to play aroudn with things, as Sinistral said, and make it its own series, rather than another generic RPG clone. The first Wild ARMS game was a classic, but the battle system especially was pretty generic. The changes made in Wild ARMS 2 followed the rest of the series (even if things were a bit broken in 2 as a result to the point of being far too easy. First Aid, anyone?)
The story in 2 was also really good. Keep in mind there’s a big difference between ‘story’ and ‘script’. You really need to play through the game a few times to pick up on everything and decipher it all. Once you understand the entire story you’d probably find it to be very very good, it has a lot of intricate things that make it stand out.
I also really enjoyed the music of 2, and it has what is probably one of my favorite final boss BGMs ever. Though, I like all the music in the series, it has a unique sound.
I haven’t played Wild ARMS 4 yet, though I’ll probably get 5 when it comes out. If I ever get a PSP someday then I may get the PSP Wild ARMs game as well.
I really like Alter Code F since I think it’s a superb remake of a great game. I think the adding of newer gimmicks from later in the series to the original story was handled well. Plus you could get Zed in your party, how could you not love that?
The only one I’ve ever played is Wild ARMS 2. I want to like it a lot, but it was waaaaaaaaay too hard to understand the specifics of what was going on. There was a lot of great stuff going for it, but a shitty script translation really screwed that game.
I didn’t try the others, because
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I heard that WA1 is just a cornier version of WA2, and
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It doesn’t sound like I would like WA3 or WA4.
Besides, if any of those games wound up being good with a terribly translated script, I’d be really sad. I’d dare say that if WA2 had a much better translation (and maybe a bit harder), I’d love it. …That, and I don’t want to spend time/money finding them.
That’s a problem with a lot of games isn’t it? They just get way too damn easy. Kills all the enjoyment of the game, honestly 
I suppose what I mean is ‘boring’ more than ‘easy’; if you don’t like easy games, you should choose a different genre than RPGs to play. Wild ARMS 2 manages to be easy and boring.
WA2 is by far the easiest of the series I’ve played. And WA1 is quite different from WA2 in a whole slough of ways. Unfortunately none of the WA games really have an awesome story, but WA1’s story and characters are the most solid.
THat I have to give, about the Wild ARMs Series. None of them are really HARD, so to speak… but 4 was the easiest, I think. Hell, msot of the boss fights were gimmick fights, the kind that require you only do certain thigns to win, like cornering an enemy, making sure you’re not in an adjacent Hex… I mean, at least when I first played WA2, I was caught unaware at times. (It didn;t help I’d never once used Personal Skills my first playthrough of 2.) THis one, though, I think I died… wlel, once, perhaps?
YAY people who actually like WA2. I love that game one of the first rpg I ever played way back in the day. But I have to agree with most of the statments already being made.
1=great
2= if it just had a better translation
3= good but weak characters
4=eh ok im still working on it, dont like the whole kid angle. Some make it work, I’ll just have to keep playing and see.