Wild Arms 2 Thoughts

[Dracos]

This would be a review, except I never finished this game.  Certain parts of it's mechanics were so wretchedly thought out that I just stopped playing.

Wild Arms 2 was generally a slightly above average game with a single abominable world traveling feature.  In an attempt to be different, the game designers decided to use a 'search' feature to locate stuff on the world map.  Until you searched it would be invisible.  At first this logical fallacy didn't bug me too much as I'd press the search button rather frequently and never missed stuff.  But soon into the game you garner an airship.  It was around here that the mechanics of this really started tapping on my head saying: "There is a problem here".  It became slightly worse as the game went on.  Generally you were sent to a small island area after small island area and traveled on foot, making the search feature fine and nifty....

it was when I got to the 'find pillars' quest that I tossed down my controller in disgust.  This quest involved finding three gigantic purple pillars of evil that towered into the sky and likely could be seen for miles around.

I had an airship and normal ship.  I could cover the entire world map with these.  Why could I not clearly see these gigantic pillars?  How could I possibly miss such obvious landmarks.  Needless too say,  this annoyed me.

The graphics were okay, music was above average to good throughout...  and I'm told the storyline from there out is truly something special.  I'll probably give it another try soon (I've had months to work out my disgust at it).  If it manages to impress me more on my  next go through  you'll hear it here.

Fearless Leader

[Anastasia]

it was when I got to the 'find pillars' quest that I tossed down my controller in disgust.  This quest involved finding three gigantic purple pillars of evil that towered into the sky and likely could be seen for miles around.

4, not 3.

I'll save futher commentary for a completed review.

[Dracos]

Okay, just a wrap up here.  Between other distractions I never got back through this game.  I simply got annoyed at the traveling mechanism right off the bat.  I'll be trying out Wild Arms 3 soon enough.  I am told it is not as annoying.

Fearless Leader

[Anastasia]

Since it's done, I'll finally comment. Oh, and I'm having to use Netscape and the formatting is looking crazy here, so if anything odd happens in it...

Wild Arms 2 was generally a slightly above average game with a single abominable world traveling feature.  In an attempt to be different, the game designers decided to use a 'search' feature to locate stuff on the world map.  Until you searched it would be invisible.
At first this logical fallacy didn't bug me too much as I'd press the search button rather frequently and never missed stuff.  But soon into the game you garner an airship.  It was around here that the mechanics of this really started tapping on my head saying: "There is a problem here".  It became slightly worse as the game went on.  Generally you were sent to a small island area after small island area and traveled on foot, making the search feature fine and nifty....

It was when I got to the 'find pillars' quest that I tossed down my controller in disgust. This quest involved finding three gigantic purple pillars of evil that towered into the sky and likely could be seen for miles around.

I didn't think it was that big a deal, really. In most of the cases, it is something that you would have to search for to begin with. Caves, ruins, forests and so on are all understandibly not easy to find.  As far as the towers go...*Shrugs* I can't say I disagree with you, but I do think you're letting one minor detail derail the entire game.

The graphics were okay, music was above average to good throughout...  and I'm told the storyline from there out is truly something special.

Yeah, the graphics are alright for the time.  Some of the original designs and artwork are outstanding, also.

The music is good, as you said.  There are some phenominal tracks, and several good ones, with only one or two outright bad tracks to drag the sound performance down.

Oh, the storyline.  To be honest, I did not care for it at all, barring one twist at the end.

*Spoilers from this point*

Last call on that warning....
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Okay. With the exception of shock that Irving was paying for and semi controlling Odessa and fully running ARMS, the story was weak. Odessa wasn't a bad angle, and Vinsfeld, Ptolomea and Judecca added life to it. So, the first half of the game works fine.

It goes south when the Kupier belt makes the scene.  You went from dealing with a very human threat that you could interact with frequently to a faceless, mindless danger from above. With the exception of Caina's last stand in the middle of Disc 2, you are mostly dealing with a cold problem.  It was a real letdown from the first disk.

To be honest, I was hoping Lord Blazer would play a bigger role than just being cannon fodder in a easy last battle.(Although, he deserves credit for having the coolest boss music EVER.) And while I'm the area of the second disk, I have to address the whole 'hero' issue that the game so lovingly belched up over and over.

To Ashley, Kanon, Lilka, Tim and especially Brad:

Shut the fuck up.  I don't give a good shit about your bitching about heroism and not heroism.  Save the bullshit, psudeo philosphy for Evangelion, and don't pollute my video games with your rancid garbage.

Anyhow.  For extras, there were several extra dungeons to go though, as well as a hidden character to unveil.  Her name is Marivel and she is a Crimson Noble, or a quasi vampire.  Along with this is a large assortment of extra bosses to have fun with. Most of them aren't bad, but Rago O Ragula is a bitch even by hidden boss standards.