Developer: G-Craft
Publisher: Sony (Jp) Working Designs (US)
Release date: June 30, 1995 (JP) 4-18-02 (US)
Arc the Lad has a bit of an interesting release history. In Japan it was released way back in the summer of 1995 and became one of the first big hit RPGs on the new Playstation console. The Playstation didn’t launch until a few months later in America and as a result there was no Arc the Lad release. Over the next few years three more Arc games were released in Japan which didn’t get localized but sold well and created some buzz. Finally, in the spring of 2002 Working Designs brought all four games to America as Arc the Lad Collection. It was a game originally made in the SNES era that didn’t get its first release in America until after the debut of the Playstation 2. For those of you keeping score at home the only Playstation RPG released after Arc the Lad Collection in America was Digimon World 3. This made for a very primitive RPG coming out during a generation change. I am sure its release confused come people. I don’t think it matters quite as much now as most people playing it either bought it digitally on the Playstation store or are emulating it. If you play PS1 games today you know that they are going to look a hundred years old but still have the potential for greatness.
Arc the Lad certainly looks like it’s from 1995. The bare landscapes and stubby characters have a Super Nintendo look to them. This is contrasted by the very nice looking cutscenes featured throughout. I was very impressed by scenes like the airship taking off, and I don’t think they were only good by comparison. I would guess they used too much memory for the cutscenes so they had to keep the rest of the game simple. You play as a lad named Arc who is looking for an Ark. I guess he should’ve seen that coming. It’s a little bit like if Indiana Jones was searching for the Indiana of the Covenant, but I don’t mind a little silly in my JRPGs. The other characters have names that are less prophetic but more difficult to pronounce so it’s a bit of a trade off.
I do enjoy the kooky map screen with all the characters on it
The game itself is the quickest playing strategy RPG I have ever experienced. In most SRPGs the battles are slow and methodical. Arc the Lad somehow makes turn-based grid battles feel quick. Only the toughest battles lasted more than fifteen minutes or so. In most strategy games the battles can drag on for a half hour or more. They do this by stripping things down which I both like and dislike. The characters move quickly and the commands are very easy to understand while the game isn’t bogged down too much in stats and economy. Actually there isn’t any money to collect. The only equipment to change is accessories that are either dropped in battles or found in chests. So the battles were quick and fun, but sometimes they could be a little too simple. I wish I could’ve switched the directions of the characters without moving them. Many of their attacks are based on direction, and I would often be put in a position where I had to be standing right in front of an enemy even though I was using a ranged attack. The clunky interface does make the game feel rushed which wouldn’t surprise me given the early release date. It is, however, fun enough to overcome its mild irritations.
Probably the biggest strike against this game is its short length. It’s definitely one of the shortest RPGs on Playstation. I beat it in about thirteen hours which is a little long for an Arc the Lad playthrough. I fell into the classic SRPG trap of not leveling up my characters evenly so I had to do some grinding at the end. I think a more typical game lasts 8-10 hours. It ends on a cliffhanger too so if you are the kind of person who just has to know how a story ends you will have to buy the whole series. I didn’t really mind the short length too much because it didn’t feel short. It was a fully developed game with plenty of battles, a compelling story, and interesting characters. It just all moves very quickly.
In the end Arc the Lad is fun and definitely belongs in the green section. I can’t help comparing genres when I rank games so I am looking at the space between Exodus and Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX. There are a whole bunch of arcade games in that section that need breaking up. For now I am going to put it right about Clu Clu Land which is a game I of course really enjoyed. Still I don’t think I would enjoy playing Clu Clu Land for thirteen hours as much as I enjoyed playing Arc the Lad. Excitebike has more replay value so it still wins out. Arc the Lad is my new #8 game which makes it a decent way to introduce the Playstation. I only have about 1300 more Playstation games to rank so I better start posting these things more often.
1. Super Mario Odyssey
2. Galaga
3. Donkey Kong
4. Exodus: Ultima III
5. Pac-Mania
6. Pac-Man
7. Excitebike
8. Arc the Lad
9. Clu Clu Land
10. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX
11. Mickey’s Racing Adventure
12. Metro-Cross
13. Ice Climber
14. Gaplus
15. Dragon Spirit
16. Pinball (NES)
17. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)
18. Red Sea Crossing
19. Baraduke
20. Gamma-Attack
21. The Legend of “Valkyrie”
22. Galaxian
23. Evoland
24. Defunct
25. Gyruss (2600)
26. Looney Tunes Racing
27. Squidlit
28. Baseball
29. Birthday Mania
30. Bad Street Brawler
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