Wild Arms Code F
PostPosted:Mon Jan 02, 2006 2:56 pm
Picked this up over the new year. Nostalgia seems overrated, or at least Wild Arms remix doesn't come close to Shining Force Neo (which isn't relaly a mixed version of Shining Force 1, but close enough) as a remix. The opening starts on what happens after the ending, with everyone but the main 3 waiting for the main 3 to return. That's probably the only departure from the original.
The game system plugs the old loopholes like the rocket boots exploit by making just about every dungeon have somewhere you can 'fall' which does nothing but resets you to the beginning of the screen. Jack's MP is also severely hosed so you don't have stuff like nearly infinite Magnum Fang/Cosmic Nova/Trump Card. The game still remains trivial but now you can't just blow throgh everything, which I think was a change for the worse. You're supposed to use the new Migrant Seals which gains one square each time you fight something (max of 10) and you can use those to avoid enemies when you got enough. If you've been finding Migrant Seals like you're supposed to then it takes about 1 unit of Migrant Bar to cancel 1 encounter which roughly puts encounter rate at half (fight 1, cancel 1). However since I've missed quite a few now it takes 3 units to cancel 1 encounter which is pretty close to having the full encounter rate. The encounter rate unfortunately seems to be designed with the fact that you'll get all the Migrant Seals as you go so it is very high.
Rudy still doesn't talk. Jack is still the only interesting character until Cecilia get Raftina. Jack is severely weakened compared to his original incarnation because you can't just abuse fast draw like you used to be able to.
The music was and still is one of the greatest strength of the series. I don't know if it's better than Wild Arms 1, but it's still pretty darn good. The graphics is surprisingly good. They're not going to amaze anyone but I find it doing a good job of trying to convey what's going on in the important scenes.
Finally, playing this game after you know how the game and the series turns out is rather depressing. You know that although they all say hope will triumph and blah blah blah, that Filgaia really gets hosed at the end, and Cecilia is the last of the shrine maidens so the world is going to hell anyway after she dies without a child with Adlehyde blood.
The game system plugs the old loopholes like the rocket boots exploit by making just about every dungeon have somewhere you can 'fall' which does nothing but resets you to the beginning of the screen. Jack's MP is also severely hosed so you don't have stuff like nearly infinite Magnum Fang/Cosmic Nova/Trump Card. The game still remains trivial but now you can't just blow throgh everything, which I think was a change for the worse. You're supposed to use the new Migrant Seals which gains one square each time you fight something (max of 10) and you can use those to avoid enemies when you got enough. If you've been finding Migrant Seals like you're supposed to then it takes about 1 unit of Migrant Bar to cancel 1 encounter which roughly puts encounter rate at half (fight 1, cancel 1). However since I've missed quite a few now it takes 3 units to cancel 1 encounter which is pretty close to having the full encounter rate. The encounter rate unfortunately seems to be designed with the fact that you'll get all the Migrant Seals as you go so it is very high.
Rudy still doesn't talk. Jack is still the only interesting character until Cecilia get Raftina. Jack is severely weakened compared to his original incarnation because you can't just abuse fast draw like you used to be able to.
The music was and still is one of the greatest strength of the series. I don't know if it's better than Wild Arms 1, but it's still pretty darn good. The graphics is surprisingly good. They're not going to amaze anyone but I find it doing a good job of trying to convey what's going on in the important scenes.
Finally, playing this game after you know how the game and the series turns out is rather depressing. You know that although they all say hope will triumph and blah blah blah, that Filgaia really gets hosed at the end, and Cecilia is the last of the shrine maidens so the world is going to hell anyway after she dies without a child with Adlehyde blood.