Post by Bytor on May 30, 2011 15:01:11 GMT -5
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (Arc the Lad: Seirei no Tasogare "アークザラッド 精霊の黄昏") is the first of the series to be developed for the PlayStation 2. The game was developed by Cattle Call and produced by Sony and released in Japan on March 20, 2003 in North America on June 25, 2003 and in Europe (with "the Lad" dropped from the title) on January 30, 2004. The music was composed by Koji Sakurai, Takayuki Hattori, Yuko Fukushima, Masahiro Andoh, and Takashi Harada. The game, like version III actually did not feature Arc as the lead character.
The story here focuses on the struggles between the humans and the Deimos, with each hoping to take control of the Five Great Spirit Stones and hence through them have the power to gain control of the world they inhabit (the same world of Arc but over 1000 yrs after Arc, which appears to be a post modern post apocalyptic earth type world,). The story centers on twins, one born and raise basically human and the other raised as a Deimos, Kharg and Darc who each own a piece of one of the Great Stones and their struggle to gain control of the other piece. Eventually they find that other forces also seek the stones in order to rule the world.
The game is at heart still a tactical RPG but it deviates from the previous versions in being more of a typical RPG with some strategy elements yet focusing much more on story than strictly SRPG gameplay. Battle does not take place on a traditional SRPG grid but mobility is limited although action time is irrelevant, as once you move into position the game becomes more of a traditional turn based RPG. Items are purchased or won ion battle and special attacks, which use up spirit stones, are also learned as the story progresses. Travel along the map is pretty much simply from place to place although the areas then may be explored somewhat.
The game received mostly mixed reviews with many praising the intricacies of the story and changed gameplay while others disliked the move towards a more action RPG and longed for the more SRPG approach the previous games used. Still, overall the game has done relatively well and insured the continuation of the series.
