Arc the Lad 2
The Old Meets the New

Review by Chi Phan

With a disaster of an rpg game from Arc 1, I wasn't looking forward to playing the sequel. In all honestly, I don't think there would've been a sequel made if the game developers hadn't set up Arc the Lad as a two part storyline. Of course the series became a trilogy due to the popularity of Arc 2. Like with the Star Wars trilogy, the sequel to Arc the Lad 1 lives up to it's reputation as one of the best rpg sequel around. Read on to find out why or maybe it's because Arc 1 was so bad that you really can't get any worse. LOL.

Our ship is a blimp? I have a dream, Lieza. Arc 2 story starts off where Arc 1 left off but this time it focusses on new characters and their background. The story begins, with Elc. Elc is a hunter working for the Hunter Guild. He's taken on a hostage job at the Airport. At the airport, Elc chases off the terrorist towards a plane. From here he meets up with Lieza. A woman with a unique ability to talk with animals. It turns out that some unkown group of men are after Lieza cause she escape from an institute for children with unique abilities. Elc intervenes on Lieza behalf and help Lieza escaped from these men. Here the story begins as Elc with the help of his friend Shu journey with Lieza across the world helping her escape from these men who are trying to harm Lieza. As the story progresses, we soon learn that Elc came from the same institute that Lieza escaped from when he was an orphanage. Before escaping that institute when he was little, Elc made a promise to his friends there that he will someday come back and rescue them. Back to the present, he decides now is the right time to make good on his promise so he wants to find out more about these mysterious men and why they are kidnapping kids with unique abilities. In the meantime when all this is going down, Arc and his gang are now on a mission from the previous Arc 1 storyline to stop Andel and his Romalian government from their destruction of the world. Soon Elc's gang and Arc's gang path will collide as it turns out that the men behind the kidnapping of the kids from the institute are from Romalia and that Andel is behind everything. With the 2 sides having the same goals, they soon join up with Arc being the leader as he is the chosen one from the elemental spirits. This should break down the story summary somewhat. The overall story of Arc 2 is very long, in-depth with good plot and character developement. This is an interesting story that is done just right. I really enjoyed it. I would've love to see a little more suspense when Elc meets up with Arc but that's just a minor thing. There are some good emotional moments in the game but I just wasn't moved by them. But that doesn't mean anything as it could just be me with a heartless heart. Overall I say an 8 out of 10.

Get ready for a rumble! There are 14 characters feature in this game. 7 characters from the previous Arc the Lad game that was carried over to this game and 7 new characters introduced in Arc the Lad 2. Lack of characters in this game is not a problem. The first half of the story centers around the 7 new characters. Elc, Lieza, Shu, Shante, Gruga, Sania, and Diekbeck. Elc is the main character out of the 7 new characters with Lieza being the main female character. The second half of the story blends in the 7 characters (Arc, Kukuru, Poco, Tosh, Gogen, Iga, & Chongara) from Arc the Lad 1. Unlike the previous Arc the Lad, Arc the Lad 2 really spends it's time developing the 7 new characters in this game. As the game slowly progresses, the story starts to dig deep in the new characters past and each of their own history. The characters interact with one another well in a group too. The downside is that the 7 old characters from Arc the Lad 1 is still underdeveloped. But that's due to Arc the Lad 1 then Arc the Lad 2 as Lad 2 is more or less for the new characters. It is however very nice to see Arc's gang having a little bit more personality and interaction with one another than what was shown in Lad 1. Overall I sincerely like the characters in this game alot.

Please don't die Guardian. Graphics are pretty much the same as the first Arc the Lad but more of an improvement in certain areas. Everything is still pretty much made up of a 2-D background world and small shorts sprites. However the background artwork is very good. Especially in the case of the world map where each country is drawn excellently. The graphics look more smoother and cleaner compare to Arc the Lad 1 graphics. I still think the colors could've been more better. There's more FMV in here as well but the FMV aren't very good. It's not clean, smooth, and clear as later Playstation game FMV. You're still pretty much looking at a 16 bit graphics here on a Playstation console but good 16 bit graphics as oppose to poor 16 bit graphics used in Arc 1. A score of 7. Would give it an 8 if if the FMV was better.

Whoa! Is that a submarine? Like everything else, the music is carried over from Arc the Lad 1. All the same tunes from the first one with some added new ones. Well at least I think they added a few new ones. So I guess you could say a somewhat bigger selection but still not that great of tunes. I wasn't impressed with the music in the first Arc and still not impressed with the music from the second Arc since it's pretty much a rehash of the first one. Even with the new added tunes. Overall the music is okay. Nothing that will blow you away. It's not like there's an unforgettable tune in the game. Nevertheless, it's an improvement from the first Arc with more variety and key story moments where music can make a difference. The battle voices of the sprites are still in this one too. Gotta love that.^_^

At last I've found you father.. Feel the power of vanish! Game Information    Genre: Traditional Rpg    Publisher: Working Designs    Disc: 1 Disc CD    Memory: 1 Memory Block    Players: 1 Player Mode    Vibration: Yes    Dual Analog: Yes    Digital Control: No    Rating: Teen    Release: April 2002 Gameplay is very similar to Arc 1 but more vast and longer. The game is pretty easy and pretty much very straightforward. Just progress in the storyline to get things going. As you enter each new story sequence, a battle sequence would usually follow up. Battles are in a turn base strategy that involve a maximum of 5 fighters. This is less than what Arc 1 allows. But the game does allow you more characters to pick from for fights though. You can choose from the 14 characters involve in the game as well as the monsters you capture and tamed. Of course the typical fighting options during battles are present from attack, magic, and items use. Bottomline is that battle system is pretty basic stuff that doesn't really need much mentioning. Now the improvement of the gameplay comes from outside the battle system. You now have towns and dungeons to explore whereas in Arc 1, there were no towns exploration or any real dungeons exploration. With towns you have shops to buy weapons and armours. In dungeons, there are some puzzles to be done. In other words, the gameplay now has elements of what an rpg should have. A very big improvement here. A couple of unique things to mention here before we end this segment. Weapons and armours are unique in this game as each weapon and armour comes with it's own stats. When I say stats, I'm talking about levels and attack/defense stats. Now inorder to max out a weapon/armour you need to raise it's level. You raise a weapon's level by using it to attack the monster. Armour level is raise whenever you get hit. Of course that's the old fashion way to raise level for your weapon/armours. The quick way is to pay money to a smyth so he can raise the level for you. In addition to this, you can combine weapons/armours to make a new weapons/armours. Combining weapons/armours is done through a smyth as well. But you need to collect the right materials first before combining things. Lastly, Lieza has a magic spell where she can capture monsters. Once Lieza has successfully capture a monster, you can then use the monster as a party member or sell the monster off. Experiment with new and different monsters to find the monsters that you like to keep. Arc 2 gameplay is a huge improvement over Arc 1. Gameplay time is well over 40 hours alone. This isn't including all the sidequests that you may want to do. The game may be simple and easy but it's also very fun. And I enjoy playing this game. One final note before I forget is that you can convert the save file from your Arc the Lad 1 game and use it here. With this save file, all the characters level and stats from Arc 1 is carried over as well as weapons and items. A unique feature that you don't really see anywhere else.

Score: 8/10

Good-bye everyone. There are quite a bit of stuff to do in this game that will take alot of your time. In game extras such as side quests comes in two fold. The first side quest is known as the Seal Ruins sidequest. Basically each country/region have 2 seal ruins. The main purpose of going inside the seal ruins is to get Diekbeck power units accessories since this is the only way to upgrade his stats. Exploring all the seal ruins takes quite an enormous amount of gameplay time. Big bonus there. Second side quests comes in Hunter Jobs. Basically Elc is a hunter. As a member of the Hunter's Guild, jobs positions are posted in various Hunter Guilds across the world of Arc the Lad. It's an option on whether or not you want to take on these jobs and complete them. It's obtional stuff but completing these Job Task is very time consuming and provides additional gameplay time. The sidequests from the Hunter's Guild and Seal Ruins will next you over 20 gameplay hours. Opps, there's also the Choko story sidequest that you might want to do. More gameplay for you. Now addition to the in game extras, you have the Arc the Arena Cd game. We'll do a short review of Arc Arena. Arc Arena: Basically the purpose of Arc Arena is to have tournaments with your monsters to win rare weapons and items that you can't get in the regular game. You must have capture monsters from your regular Arc 2 game inorder to use them in the Arena. Of course you can win monsters in the Arena later on. Now the Arc Arena tournament consist of 3 modes. Arena mode, VS mode, and Battle Tournament. In Arena mode you fight in a best out of tournament with your monsters and the CPU monsters. Problem in Arena mode is that you can't control your monsters. You can only set fighting modes for your monsters and watch helpless as the CPU aimlessly control your monsters. If that's not bad enough, the monsters are usually at 10-20 levels higher than your monsters. Not a very fun mode to play in. I can't comment on VS mode as that's a 2 player mode so I don't have anyone to play against. The final mode is a tournament, where you battle continueously to reach your goal to get all the treasure chests. This is very hard and with the CPU monsters being well over 100 levels higher than your monsters at times. Overall the Arc Arena Cd is not a very fun game. But as an added extra in the Arc the Lad 2 game, it scores high point for providing extra gameplay to the already large Arc the Lad 2 game.

Arc the Lad 2 is a very good old school strategy rpg game. With a good storyline and deep gameplay (although the gameplay is simple basic stuff), this rpg game will satisfy most true rpgers out there. As sequels goes, Arc 2 is way above it's predecessor Arc 1 in every aspect. If you got time to sit through a long rpg game then Arc 2 is for you. Final Score: 8/10 Time to complete: about 60 hours for the story game. Difficulty: medium Favorite character: Choko Waste of good character: Chongara Best magic: Vanish from Choko Best fighter: Choko Worst overall fighter: Shu Best advice: Find Choko and level her up Also try: Arc the Lad 1 Up next: Arc the Lad 3

STORY A longer in-depth story than the first Arc with some good plot twists involved. 8 CHARACTERS A large selection of characters feature from both Arc 1 and Arc 2. 8 GRAPHICS Still uses short sprites and a 2-D world graphics. Cleaner and better 16 bit graphics than the first Arc. 7 MUSIC An above average of tunes. Most tunes are rehash from the first Arc game. 7 GAMEPLAY A long and in-depth gameplay. Battle system is still to simple though. 8 EXTRAS/REPLAY Lot's of mini quest to do plus one whole new game from Arc Arena. 10