I loved this series, especially the second one- it had some cool characters and cool introductions to those characters. Plus, the game was packed full of content, like as much content as one of the Dragon Quest series gives. It was a great jrpg that is way over due for a reboot.
I had just picked up a PS1 and I was looking for something to hold me over until the release of Final Fantasy 7. I bought Wild Arms based on what I saw on the back of the case. (That's how we used to shop in the days before the internet.) Wild Arms blew me away. I was enamored by the rich art design, the exquisite musical score, the amazing story, the puzzle and ability based gameplay and the 3D battle graphics was new and novel at the time. (They made the game seem so advanced and sophisticated!) Right from the intro cut scene enthralled, and wound up loving the game just as much as I ended up loving FF7. It's crazy now, to think the game was just going to be a holdover for me, when it was so good in it's own right. Still in my top 5 JRPG franchises alongside Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Breath of Fire and Star Ocean. (Suikoden's in there somewhere too.)
@@fredlaroche6969 Cannot agree more... I played Wild Arms 3 specifically till the disc was just on the verge of crumbling...maxing out all the characters, doing all the millenium puzzles, fight all the hidden bosses and when I was done couldn't wait to do the same with Wild Arms 4... which subsequently broke my PS2.... TWICE !!!
I was thinking about replaying Wild Arms and trying out the sequels for the first time. I think this video sealed the deal. Thanks Erick Great job as usual!
Im sure you've heard already, but in the wierd case you didnt: there's a double kickstarter campaign right now, from the creators of wild arms and shadow hearts, they are making spiritual successors of both franchises (Armed Fantasia & Penny Blood), it would be cool if you could make a video talking about it so you can spread the word thanks!
Honestly a wonderful RPG for the PS1. The vibe of this original work was just fantastic. And I never ever skipped the opening! Did you know if you let it sit at the start screen you get a hidden cut scene detailing the background of a particular character in the story?
I"ve been playing Jrpgs FOREVER, i played them on the NES all the way up to today and wild arms 1 remains one of my favorites, in my top 5 of jrpgs for sure. everytime anyone mentions the original wild arms they refer to it as though it were an average game, but i couldn't disagree more. and honestly, outside of some janky 3d battle models (which I admittedly love) it still holds up today. I dunno, I love it
I love and adore this series. I bought the first one in 2001 or 2002 when the local pawn shop I frequented had already sold Chrono Cross... To who I later found out was my mom and brother. It was a great December. I could only afford one so I had to pass up WA2 until the next summer or so when I found it at a yard sale.
I bought WA1 because the intro was on repeat in the gamestore and it looked like an action rpg. (Its the flashback into Jacks history). Anyhow... I didn't regret it. I don't know how many times I've watched the intro on my brothers PSX.
Very cool video! I am a huge fan of the series! You do have one error in this video: ARMs is officially translated as Ancient Relic Machines in the North American manual (see page 47). The translation for the original game is kind of weird though, and I have heard that this, among other things, was an odd choice by the localizers. You also see this with Belselk (should be Berserk), Jack (should be Zack), Rudy (should be Rody), Zeikfried (should be Siegfried), and Filgaia (should be Fargaia). Also as per Trigun, supposedly the devs were actually friends with Nightow, the creator of Trigun. You can actually see Vash the Stampede in a tiny cameo in Wild Arms 2! He appears in a tiny picture frame in one house!
I find it interesting that Sony chose to release Wild Arms 1 so close to FF7. Sony heavily marketed FF7 (you can even see the Sony Symbol on the cover of FF7). I can only imagine that they tried to get it out earlier but didn't succeed. Releasing after FF7 would've been to its detriment. Wild Arms 1 just didn't have the budget or talent to outshine FF7, which would go on to be the most successful game in the series yet. So, release it a month early and hope for the best. And, hey, 1 million units for an RPG is fantastic! This was before FF7 made the genre crazy popular on consoles in the west. Prior to that you had a few successes. The original FF1 and Dragon Quest did sell well in the west, with the latter being heavily marketed by Nintendo Power (they would even give away copies of the first Dragon Quest game) and FF4 and FF6 did well enough in America but never saw release in Europe.
Wild Arms did have the talent to outshine it... the issue is FF7 was over hyped and the first real "flashy" game I can think of where it pushed visuals an unhealthy way. Had it not been pushed so hard FF7 would've gotten a completely different reaction from people especially with Wild Arms existing. FF7 is literally what ushered in the "Hallways and visual focus over gameplay" design in gaming. FF7 couldn't stand up on its own, it needs to be Final Fantasy and be pushed. Take that out... and it becomes a game with many plot holes, annoying minigames which take up space on every disc, and overly flashy visuals with random twists for the sake of twists.
Thanx for this video bro, this was my first RPG, i remember i didnt have a memory card and i played for 3 straight days and i had to shut down the ps1 xD
Saying “no spoilers” is just the same as “Not going to talk about the things worth talking about/won’t include the most interesting aspects”. Just consider, what kinda audience you bring in with “10 things you didn’t know”.
Holy shit, I had no idea there was a remake of the first game. I immediately went to find a copy and I've been playing it for the past few hours. This is an incredible remake, this is what I'd hoped FF7R would be. I've been grinning like an idiot the whole time.
I played and beat the game around the time it first came out. Then, a few years later, played it again. When it dropped on the PS3 store, I bought it again. I eventually played through it again in this last year and I streamed my playthrough. I have played Alter Code F, but never beat it due to the Abyss's confusing layout. I went back to it, got ambushed (1 character in the battle) and was immediately killed with an instant death move. Luckily for me, I know the person who has the game and they still have it complete in box with all of the stuff it came with. I'm partially to blame for them owning it though. I have played and beat WA2 and WA3, but briefly played 4, and never played 5. I think the hexagon system was a bit confusing, and I vouched not to play 4 until Alter Code F was finished...it's been 15 years since I last played it. Who knows if I will ever finish it. WA1 is just a masterpiece by itself. If you haven't played it, it is worth a shot.
Loved wild arms. I didn't like the second one, I really tried to and with the wonky looking hex system I never gave the rest a go. The first one was legend though and alter code f was great too.
Personally I was never a fan of the all games are connected explaination mainly becasue of things like the vast apocolyptic events(especially 3) and the nature of the Guardians I felt that there was no way could be the same world and that they were just references like how Final Fantasy does with there games.
The original wild arms should easily be in the top 10 jrpgs of all time imho. It's one of the few rpgs that i've played through more than once. That one, ffx, suikoden 1 and 2 are the only rpgs i've ever replayed out of a ton that i normally only play through once.
Never played the original only 2 forward including alter code f. Would you recommend it? Sad about the sales for the series. I feel slightly responsible for pirating most of the series. Still have my copy of 2. Guess I'm playing Suikoden 2 again
@@photonsnphonons9349 Yeah you definitely need to play Wild Arms 1. I kinda fell off the series at part 3 (my own fault it's not that i didn't like parts 2 and 3) but i do plan on getting back into it someday.
agreed. The puzzles are almost alundra like in parts though not as tough. I adored alundra, vagrant story, wild arms 1, old ps1 tomb raiders etc These all had tough puzzles! :D
@@deerjohn2461 because they are ;) some have aged very poorly but others like alundra have aged like a fine wine :) Luckily modern remasters of some help a lot like the ff7 and ff8 remasters. They have much faster load times and up to triple speed combat :)
I still remember that i need to put off the game because i am giving up on the de le metallica chest puzzle. English is not my first language and i was on the fifth grade there, but later on i found out that im not that far, i thought we only need to read the book and the chest is not the main part too
I played this for the first time only a year or two ago, and I was really surprised at how high quality the game was. It was just a no-frills classic JRPG done well, and those tend to be the ones that I like the most. People tend to be split on this but I was quite happy with the slightly more puzzle-centric approach to dungeons in this game, as it helps to combat the usual tedium. I was quite disappointed going into the sequel though, as the awful translation at times made it really hard to understand what was going on :(
A friend of mine had wild arms and we played the crap out of it, I got alter code f years later and just really enjoyed it such a good game with many fond memories. Good times
Telnet that sounds familiar didn't they do White knight chronicles 1 and 2? speaking of what happened to them exactly I remember white knight chronicles 2 online feature scammed us all they took our money and disabled the service and went offline forever that was the last I saw of them.
i am so gland that i have all of these got all the games when the first release and i have the anima on my shelf which now i want to watch with my kids this weekend. furthermore now Sony can put them on there new game sub and give us a real game to play again. though i would preferer them to be in the style of the first 3 games/remake
I loved the Wild Arms series. Wild Arms 3 was one of my earliest rpgs i played on PS2. I enjoyed 4 and 5 as well. I really wish the franchise would return or we got remastered ports of 4 and 5. They did at least give us 3 on that short lived 'PS2 to PS4' program.
videos like this, remind me of why i keep coming back :) You should do some More Playthroughs!! maybe some BOF2 or something you enjoy playing :) Great content bud
My mom and stepdad purchased a Ps2 with the 3rd game(or 4th? I always mix those 2 up. The one with VIrginia, Clive, Jet and...a name escapes me lol) and Final Fantasy 10. I loved them both but 10 held a spot. I NEVER finished all of Wild Arms, though. I would say it would be good for passing the time, now, for ME.
I remember playing Wild Arms 2nd Ignition on an illegal pirate in '99 (European, so never released here), finally got the chance to enjoy it proper thanks to PS+ Premium where it can now be played. Tremendous series, Sony should have made a new one after Rockstar struck gold with Red Dead Redemption
As much as a Iove the game they haven't made a game in YEARS EVER Since Alter Code F/Wild arms 5 GOT PUT on the PS2 and no Wild arms 3 PS3/PS4 doesn't count as a new game since its a PORT not a new game/remaster.
Well.. Every old games backthen have it own uniqueness.. I am not a big fan of Wild Arms series, but it is worth 8,5/10 I remember renaming my character while playing (which we usually cannot do that) The story, the character, gameplay, music are original.. thats why people should love it.. If you compare it with todays mobile game, which is just imitating (or even using the same file) from other game.. lack of concept n originality..
There's still a lot of questions about Wild Arms you didn't answer. Like Who are the 2 other characters in the opening? Why is Jack's hair Blond in the intro and orange in the game? Why can't Jack use his mouse in fights? How much of a time skip is each Wild Arms? Are the characters from the Previous Wild Arms dead? If not, where are they? Why didn't the anime have or mention the characters from the game?
I remember really enjoying Wild Arms... probably 2 and 3? But as life moved on, I had less time for gaming and only being able to pick 1-2 games a year meant I had to get much more picky. And it just got overshadowed by titles like Xenogears, Suikoden, Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean etc. But that's a shame, as it had a feeling all of its own, and never got to try the later ones. There just needs to be more time in a year...
Hahaha! I have a mint copy of Alter Code: F. I only played it once so the disc is pristine. Last I checked it was worth ~$200. Side note - Wild Arms 3 is my favorite in the series. WA4 was good but too easy
Just downloaded this game on the PlayStation store about two months ago. Having played a lot of relatively iconic, influential games that you’ve referenced before on here from the PS1 era like pretty much anything square soft, legend of dragoon, or what have you, I felt confident that I’d figure out this game’s play style. I don’t wanna admit how long it took me before I realized I needed to change characters to continue progressing the story, but I’ll say it’s another game you’ve reviewed here that I’m not really getting into! Thanks for your content! Much love!
I've been writing a novel based on Wild Arms. No, it's not a fanfic. It's my own original ideas based upon what Wild Arms gave us. I'm really bad at writing, but I improve everyday.
Never understood the hate for Alter Code, maybe because I played it before the first one. And 5 is the perfect "farewell game": Filgaia is huge, tons of costumes, cameos everywhere. Still my favorite.
Where did the developers say the games take place on the same Filgaia. Every source to this game says the opposite. Filgaia only sharing themes with previous installments.
Wild arms. My First turn based game of my Life.. that opening makes me feel like a kid and im feel so honored to have started with a Good game like this.I only played the first one cause at that time my family didn't have too much money and this game was given as a gift by my mum's boss work they bought a PS3 for his son(btw the same Person gave ff7 too but since it had 3 CDS i felt pretty confused and went for wild arms First.Talking about wild arms 1:Good fking story with political issues, kinda racism to people like one of the protagonist for a Good reason in some terme and that's why it impressed me cause at my school other Kids were racist to me too so i loved the protagonist, Good character development holy moly,they have very Good interaction between the party and the side characters too. The overall development in small things i s so good even for this "era",Imagine back then.What can i say, truly a masterpiece that i can remember almost all the spots of the important items After like 14 Years.
I have not played this game in over 20 years now, but i can still whistle that theme song very well. I became an exceptional whistler, thanks to playing this game in my youth.
My first RPG when I didn't even know what an RPG is. Also my English is very bad at that time so I'm filling the story with my own imagination. I remember I was stuck and I don't know how to proceed so I go to anywhere else which made me over leveled. Turn out I just need to make the nun go away from the door using the rat. Ha ha.
Everyone, its awesome to now that there is others that played and experienced this game and love it just as much as myself, it really,really is awesome as i never have known anyone else to play ths game except my brother. We are like a small special community,its hard to explain to others what this game means to me but i think you will understand that feeling of haviing experienced ths beautiful masterpiece ❤😊🇮🇪
Funny thing is to me, I liked wild arms more than almost all the bigger jrpg franchises. It was so fresh and different from the rest. It stood apart, sadly others didn’t agree. Such a great franchise
There's some sorta relation between wild arms 5 and Gurren lagan that nobody has noticed actually...its more like one took ideas from the other im just not sure who did it first for example mech part falls from the sky blue hair protag gets close to white haired space girl...oh..and the theme for mirapulse is used as music for an early episode in gurren lagan I've had nobody to talk about this because nobody has managed to play wild arms 5 and watch Gurren lagan
The first three games were amazing but going into the Hex system after the third game was not a good idea. In my opinion, they should have expanded on the TB system and included some more dynamic elements like FFXII did later that same year. It also went with a more modern look and together with the new battle system, these two changes were fundamental into having the impression on players that it was more of a radical change.
First Wild Arms is the best one imo. Especially in regards to its music. In general the series has solid music but wild arms 1 is in top 10 soundtracks ever imo.
Three was great, but after that, it was all downhill. They tried to change it so much, like the whole hex system. As far as ACF: there was so many ways to break that game early without glitches, e.g. after Jane joins the first time, she is faster than those apple monsters and is able to steal something you can sell for a lot from an early game enemy.
My favorite ost extender, Alkahest, introduced me to this game, and the soundtrack is amazing. One day, I'll pick it up. Also, if there isn't one already, I'd love to see a 10 Things You Didn't Know about Shadow Hearts.
