Arc the Lad

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad is a somewhat obscure series of tactical RPGs for the Playstation.  I tend to think this genre has several main categories:  "Final Fantasy Tactics type", "Shining Force type", and "Fire Emblem type".  Arc the Lad feels closest to Shining Force.  Dead characters can be revived, turn order is based on Agility rather than a "Player Phase", and the arenas are top-down rather than isometric.


I bought Arc the Lad 2 first, but soon realized I should have imported items from the first game if I wanted to try out any variants for it.  The reason is that the final dungeon of Arc 2 is a point of no return, and has a boss with 9999 HP in a game where powerful characters may do damage in the low hundreds.  If my Arc 1 file import succeeds, I'll attempt a (mostly) Elc solo of Arc 2.


Arc 1 is fun to play, but feels less polished than Arc 2 because it was rushed to be a PSX launch title.  The plot is as generic as a tactical RPG can get, with an environmental theme that's somehow less subtle than Chrono Cross.  The only dungeon is the 50 floor bonus area, and the rest of the fights are in their own separate arenas.  Arc starts out as so much better than the other characters that a normal playthrough feels like a solo at times.  Level matters a lot too, so expect your characters to die without getting a turn if they're weak.

The arena is a good way to remedy this issue.  All fights are 1 on 1 and scale to your chosen character's level to some degree.  You can get good prizes there too.  I would never have made it through the 50 floor dungeon without giving Tosh a +30% Agility accessory that he won in the arena.  You get a lot of items if you hit 1,000 wins, but few have the patience for that, and I certainly didn't.


The Forbidden Ruins is the 50 floor dungeon I mentioned earlier.  Players on various forums said it would take 3-4 hours to complete (without any save points!), but I did it in less than 2 or so by having Tosh rush to the stairs.  You don't actually have to clear out the enemies or get the treasure (mostly generic consumables, but a few unique items are available) to proceed.  All I wanted was the Romancing Stone at the bottom.


Arc the Lad 1 has 4 Romancing Stones to find.  The first one is in Arc's house after it burns down, the second is in the mailbox right after meeting the Earth Guardian (BEFORE going to the arena).  Gogen gives you the 3rd when he joins.  (Yes, you get Romancing Stone 3 before 2.  It's confusing.)  The 4th is at the bottom of the Forbidden Ruins in a treasure chest in front of a statue.  Then you have to fight the bonus summon Choko.  Choko wasn't too hard for me because I overprepared.  Tosh's paralysis special move rendered her unable to act for most of the fight.  Tosh and Iga pounded away until she was defeated.  Then I beat the final boss battle with dark versions of the player characters to make sure the save file transferred to Arc 2.  Hopefully it'll work, because Arc 2 didn't make any chiming sounds or fanfare when it happened.


Arc 1 characters:


Arc:  He's a typical RPG well-rounded main character.  He has various attack spells, good melee, Total Healing, and an Agility debuff.  One of Arc's unique items regenerates MP.  It's easy to make him steal all the experience.


Kukuru:  She's the main healer, because that's how the female lead is usually typecast in RPGs.  Unfortunately, her starter heal spell is melee range and her physical attack is weak, so it's very easy to have her fall behind.


Poco:  Poco's a musician, but he's not spoony like Edward from Final Fantasy 4.  His spells provide useful stat buffs, healing, and can deal damage as well.  He was underleveled in my playthrough, but that was mostly because he didn't get his attack abilities until it was too later.  


Tosh:  I didn't get much out of him during the main playthrough, but he was wonderful in the arena and Forbidden Ruins.  He's a fast melee fighter with mostly offensive special moves.  One of them hits exactly two tiles away.  No more, no less.  The paralysis slash can work on even some bosses, including Choko.


Iga:  He's another physical fighter, but his specials have more range than Tosh's.  One hits in a line in front of him, while another is a tornado that picks up enemies in a certain radius.  Iga isn't quite as fast as Tosh, though, but he's still worth building up.


Gogen:  Gogen is the Black Mage of the group, with various area of effect spells.  Too bad he's in a game where there isn't any easy way to restore MP!  (Unless I'm missing something.)  Be sure to listen to his Engrish voice acting.  If you think Arc's "Total Healing" sounds bad, you haven't heard Gogen try to pronounce "Diamond Dust".


Chongara: Chongara is a weird kind of summoner.  He doesn't use them to cast spells like a Final Fantasy character.  Instead, Chongara opens a pot and spawns a controllable character onto the field.  Most of them weren't very useful from my experience, except for the healing one he starts with.  Choko is the best one, but you get her at the bottom of the Forbidden Ruins, and she can only be used in specific areas.  She's effectively useless in Arc 1, but will save your party in Arc 2 if the Internet is correct about her.  Chongara's King's Image accessory lets him gain experience from his summons' actions.


EDIT:  I forgot to mention the "Ogre Battle" type of tactical RPG, but not many games try to copy March of the Black Queen from what I can recall.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad 2:  Solo Run?


When you play Arc the Lad 2 right after the first game, you quickly notice the improvements.  Some of them were even featured in the tutorial battle at the Aldia Skyport.  A strange man with magical powers was holding a woman hostage, and only Elc the experienced Hunter (i.e. mercenary) could stop him.
 

Arc 1 characters could only hit an enemy in the square next  to them with regular attacks, but Elc was smart enough to bring a spear.  He could use it to pierce enemies two squares away from him, thus avoiding the risk of counterattacks.  Another benefit was the ability to hit two enemies at once.  Elc had different abilities from Arc, but his starter spell was a very similar to Arc’s Burn Ground.  
 

Since Elc had no healing magic, I had to use some decent tactics.  Lieza and Paundit remained on the left side and wasted their turns to remain true to the variant.  Arc stood one square to the north of them.  This prevented the bats and wizard from attacking him all at once.  Herbs came in handy because they restored 20 HP each. 
 

Some shady guys who looked like 1930s gangsters showed up and shot Lieza.  Elc took her to his friend Shu’s apartment in Indigos so she could be healed.  Elc completed a few side missions here to earn money and gain experience.  This was mandatory, since Shante would only give Elc information if he offered her 1500 gold. 
 

Indigos Sewer Research had a lot of slimes blocking the flow of sewage, and they could hit hard.  Herbs and melee were sufficient to carry Elc through.  His fire spell was weak in comparison, and was only good for hitting foes in odd formations.  Ghost House Ruin Town ended as soon as Elc skewered the skeleton boss.  Barn’s Lost Dog was the most interesting.  That mission was in the sewers, but had fierce zombie opponents.  These were so tough that Elc succumbed to paralysis on the first attempt.  (I reset as soon as I knew the situation was hopeless)
 
Death Count:  1
 
Before going back and trying it again, I forgot to talk to the NPC that triggered the mission, and instead wound up in an easy grinding session with bats and slimes.  This taught Elc the Charge buff spell.  Buffs are quite useful in Arc 2, so be sure not to neglect them!  On take 2, I learned to position Elc properly.  There were two bridge bottlenecks on the left and right sides of the sewer arena, so I put Elc on the top side of the left bridge.  The zombies shambled to the southwest area.  Elc cast Charge and started thrusting at them with his spear. 

Undead monsters in Arc 2 are paralyzed for a few turns when hit with a fatal blow, and require another attack to kill permanently.  This worked to my advantage here.  Paralyzed zombies could clog up the bridge a bit, so the boss couldn’t hit with his melee attack.   It had a head throwing ability that couldn’t be counterattacked, but it only used that move once.  Elc was forced to adopt the dog after the mission since the owner ran away.  He at least had the courtesy to provide some dog treats!
 


Indigos’s bar became another arena after I had the money to pay Shante.  The mobster Gallarno’s goons attacked, but this was an easier “kill the boss” battle.  Elc stood between a few tables and hit with his spear until he won.  I think I forgot to mention that I unequipped the other party members earlier.  Elc stole Lieza’s Chaos Herb accessory and benefited from its HP regeneration.     
 


After that, it was time to go to Elc’s hometown Prodias and attend the opening ceremony of the goddess statue.  After a few childhood flashbacks, the game gave me a bonus mission for importing my Arc 1 characters.  Monsters had invaded Arc’s airship, leading to a battle with Arc, Tosh, and Poco.  Poco was still as weak as ever, and died to an instant death spell.  Arc and Tosh still did quite well, even if they didn’t have their overpowered equipment yet.  They even had new skills.
 

Gogen attacked the statue with the power of Engrish voice acting to prevent Romalia from mind controlling the citizens of Prodias.  Elc still thought Arc was responsible for destroying his village, so he tried to pursue Arc’s airship.  He ended up crash landing in Yudo Village instead.
 

Stats and Equipment
 
Elc Level 12, Fire element
 
HP:  49
MP:  28
Attack:  8 + 6
Defense:  8 + 8
Magic:  7 + 0
Agility:  5 + 0
Throw:  1 + 0
Counter:  1 + 0
Range:  4 + 0
Catch:  1 + 0
Jump:  1 + 0
 
Weapon Proficiencies
Sword:  1
Spear:  4
Ax:  1
 
Weapon:  Wild Spear lv 10
Armor:  Chaos Gauze Wrap lv 10
Accessory:  Chaos Herb lv 10 (weak HP regeneration per turn)
 
Spells
 
Fire Storm
Fire Shield
Charge
Retaliation

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad 2:  Marooned

Elc was stuck on the Yudo Village island until he could advance the plot.  A local scientist was willing to help after I rescued a girl named Lia.  She was stuck in a dungeon similar to the Forbidden Ruins from Arc 1 called the Sealed Ruins.  These were much shorter, however.  Most of the enemies were mummies and bats, which were KOd with melee.  I trained Elc’s Sword proficiency somewhat because an NPC said they were more powerful.  It didn’t seem to make much of a difference.  Lia was on the third floor or so, and Dieckbeck the robot destroyed the enemies there.
 

The scientist wanted me to return to the Sealed Ruins to dig Diebeck out of the wall.  The only way to do so was to find a power unit at the bottom.  Good thing there was a healing statue on a later floor, because Elc certainly needed the help.  Several undead scythe-wielding monsters along with a few gargoyles were on the bottom floor.  They could buff each other’s Agility and hit hard with melee.  What I tried to do was stick Elc in the corner and attack with the spear.  I had barely enough Blood Herbs to outlast the enemies, but Elc won in the end.

 
Some monsters were holding the scientist hostage at night, and the shop with Blood Herbs was closed.  This resulted in Elc running out of HP on the first try before I realized what I was doing.  Explosion was rather disappointing relative to the hype the game gives Elc’s fire magic. 
 

Death Count:  2

 
On Take 2, I removed Elc’s Blood Herb and had him eat it when he was low on HP.  There wasn’t a small alcove to take advantage of here.  The closest thing available was a crate out in the open.  Reco’s Grass gave a small Defense buff too.  Elc replaced his edible accessory with the Senior Bandanna.  Yes, Elc can wear two bandannas at once.  He cares about combat efficiency, not fashion.  Spear melee did the job as usual.  After that, there was yet another flashback sequence.  Yudo Village’s scientist was involved in the same experiments that turned Elc’s childhood friends into monsters, and left when he found out what was occurring there.
 
 
Stats and Equipment
 
Elc Level 19
 
HP:  70
MP:  42
Attack:  11 + 6
Defense:  12 + 10
Magic: 10 + 0
Agility:  7 + 0
Throw:  1 + 0
Counter:  1 + 1
Range:  4 + 0
Catch:  1 + 0
Jump:  1 + 0
 
Weapon Proficiencies
Sword:  4
Spear:  7
Ax:  1
 
Weapon:  Wild Spear
Armor:  Revenge Bandanna
Armor2:  Senior Bandanna


Spells
 
Fire Storm
Fire Shield
Charge
Retaliation
Might Mind
Expand Range
Explosion

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Elc completed a few side missions before moving on with the main plot.  There were two that featured the same villain, but in different roles.  He started off as a necromancer in the sewers, and then became a “doll master” in the ruined town next to Indigos.  In the second battle, one of his own summoned spirits KOd him and sent him running away in fear.
 

Another mission allowed me to offer to sacrifice Lieza to a cult, but Elc only said it to find out how’d they react.  I backed Elc into a corner and had him try out Fire Storm level 2.  It wasn’t much stronger, but at least it had a wider range than the awkward cross.  Elc’s spells could be useful for large crowds if nothing else.
 

A human/monster hybrid called “The Slasher” attacked Elc in Shu’s apartment before he could talk to Shante again.  But Elc was prepared for him, because he learned the spell Invincible in the meantime.  Elc naturally has a spell that makes him invulnerable at will.  It’s supposed to be balanced by its high MP cost, but there will be a way around it if the Arc 1 save conversion works properly.  In case you think this is cheating, consider how much of a difficulty spike the final dungeon is. 

When I looked at an FAQ, I realized that there are also “trials” for various other characters, so this playthrough may not be a pure solo, or even a solo at all by the end.  A semi-normal playthrough would be more interesting anyway, because the characters’ abilities are quite different from each other.
 

I don’t want to exploit Invincible too much where it isn’t necessary, so I may not use it for most fights.  Testing out its mechanics was nice against the Slasher, though.  The level 1 variant only lasted until Elc’s next turn, but it was good enough to dodge various enemy attacks.  Elc’s spear worked as well as usual.
 
 
Shante took the party to Gallarno’s mansion in the northwestern part of the map after Elc chased off the Slasher.  She told me it was a point of no return, so I stocked up on Blood Herbs.  It turned out I had way more than I needed.  Most of the enemies loved casting MP draining spells, so Elc relied on his melee yet again.  The Slasher made another appearance, as well as Gallarno’s monster form.  They weren’t particularly special, though it took a few Blood Herbs to survive.
 

Shante revealed that she betrayed the party because of a hostage situation.  It turned out her brother was the boss from the tutorial.  She wasn’t too angry at Elc for this, but instead wanted to take vengeance on the Chimera Lab that transformed her brother.
 
 
Stats and Equipment
 
Elc Level 23
 
HP:  82
MP:  50
Attack:  12 + 10
Defense:  14 + 10
Magic:  12 + 0
Agility:  7 + 0
Throw:  1 + 0
Counter:  1 + 1
Range:  4 + 0
Catch:  1 + 0
Jump:  1 + 0
 
Weapon Proficiencies
Sword:  4
Spear:  8
Ax:  1
 
Weapon:  EarthLong Sword
Armor1:  Revenge Bandanna
Armor2:  Senior Bandanna
 
Spells
 
Fire Storm
Fire Shield
Charge
Retaliation
Might Mind
Expand Range
Invincible
Explosion

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad 2:  Why Don't More Games Have Dieckbeck?

After completing the battles in Gallarno's mansion, I went back to Yudo Village.  The scientist had finished repairing Dieckbeck, a robot that looked like a steampunk Gyroid.  He also gave Dieckbeck some equipment.


Dieckbeck is a gimmick character, but a useful one.  He never gains levels, but can still get experience points as if he were a level 1 character.  Dieckbeck's experience can be transferred to other characters via a machine in the Yudo Village laboratory.  Having Dieckbeck solo fights is a great way to grind levels, but you want to make sure your other characters gain weapon and armor proficiency too.

To make up for his lack of levels, Dieckbeck gets Power Units for equipment.  Even his starter Power Units give him better stats than my Elc.  Most Power Units have elements attached to them, and you can exploit this to have a versatile list of spells.  You can't use Power Units of opposite elements together, though. (e.g. Fire and Water)  



Dieckbeck died once during the piano mission at the bar because I didn't heal him.  I thought his HP would restore automatically when his Power Units were equipped.


Death Count:  3


Dieckbeck could easily solo the piano mission and some battles in the Sealed Ruins once he was at full health, however.  I transferred the experience to Lieza so she wouldn't be dead weight for the rest of the game.  That, and Lieza can capture monsters, which could be useful for some optional areas later on.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad 2:  Never Play 1990s Japanese RPGs Without a Guide



The next few areas were a gauntlet of several dungeons.  First was the Salba Desert, which consisted of a few short areas filled with bandits and birds.  The monsters weren't as interesting as the differences between solo and party combat. 

Arc the Lad characters can't walk through each other in combat, making positioning more difficult than in, say, Fire Emblem.  (Especially the Fire Emblems with rescuing or pairing up.)  This is another reason why I prefer 2 range weapons like spears and throwing knives.  Even if they don't have the strength of swords and whips, you can hit an enemy with them if they're otherwise blocked by your own allies.  This is probably the purpose of offensive magic as well.  However, some characters like Dieckbeck can hop over allies if their Jump stat is high enough.


The Lost Forest was on the other side of the desert.  Since there was no Mark Trail and his Fists of Justice to help, Elc and friends had to slog their way through skeletons and plants.  The enemies' ability to survive with 1 HP allowed the weak Lieza and Shante to get a few kills.  Dieckbeck, Shu, and Elc did most of their damage with regular attacks.


Lost Forest is probably another incarnation of the infamous "mayoi no mori" mentioned in a Legends of Localization article.  Places such as the Lost Woods in Zelda, the Forest of Illusion in Super Mario World, and the Phantom Forest from FF6 all have the same Japanese name according to that site. 

The first time I attempted this dungeon, I was frustrated when I got lost and got stuck in a loop filled with random encounters for a while.  One day later, an ASCII map on GameFAQs got Elc and company through the place easily.  As far as I can tell, there are no cues to indicate where to go within the game itself.  This sort of thing is why you should never play older Japanese RPGs without a guide.  (Especially Phantasy Star 2)  Elc happened to acquire a spear with a random paralysis chance from one of the monsters, which was useful on occasion.


Next up was the inevitable sewer dungeon.  I thought at first that I would be spared because there was a small sewer arena for several side quests in Indigos, but no!  Sewer levels must be included in the Japanese RPG Standardization Act of 1997.  There was also a Platformer Standardization Act of 1998, also known as the "Banjo-Kazooie Bill", that mandated some form of double jump or glide for platformer characters made afterwards.


The dungeon itself wasn't so painful once I looked at GameFAQs for tonight's attempt.  None of the treasures were worth getting, and there was a save point and healing bed that I missed during Take 1 yesterday.  There was a tough fight with slimes and skeletons at the end, but Shante and Lieza's Cure spells helped with that.


Once he got through the sewers, Elc had to fight his way through the laboratories where he was experimented on as a kid.  For some reason, this area was called "White House", despite having nothing to do with the real life location.  Whatever social commentary Sony Computer Entertainment or Working Designs intended is lost on me.

There was a fun boss fight near the end.  The giant robot Gunhed had several parts to destroy.  Shu attacked the left arm, while Elc and Dieckbeck hit the right.  The arms' attacks weren't very strong and dealt less than 20 damage.  The reason I didn't go for the center immediately was because of the guns nearby.  Shu's Plasma Shock debuffed the left arm's Defense.  I was surprised that it worked.  Once the other parts were dead, Elc attacked the center.  Dieckbeck gave some supplemental damage with Diamond Dust level 2 spells, which finished it off.  Shante and Lieza healed when necessary.  The center part counterattacked with bombs, and once poisoned several characters.


The play room featured a battle with several kids who were transformed into monsters.  Gallarno taunted Elc the whole time.  Then there was a solo fight with Elc's childhood friend Mariel.  Casting Charge buffed Elc's attack power, and it didn't take long to win.  Arc and his party attacked the laboratory before evacuating anyone.  This part seems odd considering Arc was an idealist in the first game who criticized Andel's forces for having an "ends justify the means" philosophy.


Elc was hurt badly during this sequence, and was forced to stay behind in Arc's hometown of Touvil.  Lieza and Dieckbeck remained with him.  Surprisingly, Arc the Lad 2 came out in 1996 in Japan, so this wasn't a ripoff of Cloud's coma in Final Fantasy 7.  Shu and Shante were the only party members who decided to go investigate the city of Palencia.  Good thing I didn't make this into a solo challenge!

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad 2:  Duo Battles on the Airship

Shu and Shante were the only party members available after the fiasco in Gallarno's lab.  This wasn't an ideal setup.  Shu was a competent melee fighter with Agility buffs and Defense debuffs, but little else.  All of Shante's magic at this point was for healing, and she could only do subpar damage with her kicks.

Before being able to advance the plot, Shu and Shante had to give 4 Shimmer Stones to a patron in the Palencia Downtown bar.  The only way to get those was to fight Wyverns on Quina Hill.  In other words, my team was sent out on a stock MMO fetch quest.  The small dragons weren't too hard to defeat with Shu's kicks.


The Romalian airship, however, was long and somewhat difficult.  It was similar to the sewers because it involved having to find switches.  The monsters often poisoned my characters, and the Evil Eyes could petrify them for a few rounds.  Fighting monsters was annoying because Shu had no ranged attacks.  Even Tosh from Arc 1 had his oddly specific ability that only hit at 2 range!  One of these fights was a loss.

Death Count:  4


Arc 2 is merciful when it comes to death.  Seeing "The party's over" means you can reset the fight you lost without losing progress.  This will probably be necessary later on considering the game's reputation for difficulty spikes.


Eventually, Shu learned "Random Attack".  This useful ability let him randomly shoot adjacent squares for variable damage.  (Why can't Shu use that gun normally instead of kicking?)  Random Attack sometimes finished off several weakened enemies at once.

At the end of the dungeon, Shante was blown off the hangar and washed up on Clenia Isle's beach.  Insert your own Phantasy Star 3 or Final Fantasy 6 joke here.  Hopefully I won't have to endure solo battles with Shante. . .


EDIT:  Sequences like these and the difficulty of the final boss make Arc the Lad 2 a hostile environment for variants.  The most interesting one would probably be playing through the game without Arc 1 transfer bonuses.  This means losing out on optimal equipment like the Romancing Stone and having lower level Arc 1 characters once they join you.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad 2:  Uncanny Pokemon and Final Fantasy 7 Similarities

Fortunately for me, the developers realized most players would shut off the game if Shante were forced to go it alone.  On Clenia Isle, she found a companion named Gruga.  His only special moves were an attack buff and a melee move, but his raw strength with axes was enough to carry him through a few battles with ninjas and mutant dragonflies.  There was a tournament story arc, but unlike most RPGs, it was just a series of cutscenes.


The story then went to Lieza after she decided sitting next to a guy in a plot-induced coma wasn't going to save her village.  This segment was much harder than Shante's.  The developers expected me to use her wolf companion Paundit in the early game, and I did not want to "waste experience points" on him.  This was a mistake.  Chongara from Arc 1 took pity on Lieza and loaned her two summon monsters.  Kelack the healer was as good as in Arc 1, but Mofly was weak.  Lieza happened to capture a few monsters in the desert, so she relied on those for a bit.


One battle on a bridge south of Lieza's hometown of Holn was perhaps the hardest fight in the game so far.  Several demonic-looking Knight Stalkers, Wyverns, and Barbarians attacked.  (One of those Barbarians was a named monster wanted by Hunters too.)  I had to take full advantage of Arc 2's mercy in order to win.  Lieza could keep monsters she captured with Ravish after a Game Over, so she ended up getting a Wyvern and a Knight Stalker.  In an odd resemblance to Pokemon, the monster capture odds seem to increase when they're at low health.  (Arc 2 came out the same year as Pokemon Red/Green in Japan.)  Gogen attacked with his Engrish voice acted spells.


Death Count:  6


The Chimera Lab to the west of Holn wasn't quite as difficult as the bridge.  The Wyvern and Knight Stalker weren't the strongest monster companions, but they served as useful distractions and had ranged breath attacks with Fire and Sleep properties.  I'm sure nobody will blame me for using GameFAQs to get past the switch puzzles.  (Why don't RPGs steal their puzzles from Wild Arms instead?) 


The enemies were palette-swapped wolves, skeletons, and dragons.  Even the boss of the area had become a dragon, since for some reason Arc 2 villains think monsters are more powerful than humans.  Kelack had the Agility buff Speed Up in addition to Cure, so he was quite useful.  Explosion from Gogen took out the Fire element Stone Jackals quickly.  Lieza's grandfather was still alive, and gave her Nol's Crystal to allow her to transfer experience to monsters.  Nol's Crystal also gives access to Mother Claire's cave so characters can learn special moves that can't be acquired through leveling.


I thought I was kidding about the Cloud coma comparisons in a previous update, but Elc had to wake up by confronting his subconscious.  He did this via a battle in deep red graphics that made me think of the Virtual Boy.  All the illusions of Mariel and company were much lower level, so all it took was Charge and spear attacks.  Kukuru told Elc to go to Palencia to learn the truth about Arc 1's events, and Dieckbeck offered to join him. 

(Dieckbeck will have so much extra experience to transfer when this is all done. . .)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad 2:  Pacing Problems


Elc, Poco, and Dieckbeck had to slog through the prison under the ruins of Palencia Castle to rescue the Touvil villagers.  Like all too many dungeons in Arc 2, there were switch puzzles that required GameFAQs help.  The fights were difficult considering the restricted party.  Arc and Dieckbeck used melee as usual, while Poco healed and buffed with his instruments.  The only interesting part of the fights was using a bridge as a choke point.

One nasty battle near the end was an Elc solo, because he had foolishly sent Dieckbeck and Poco to guard the villagers.  Invincible level 1 helped on occasion, but the enemies didn't always take the counterattack bait.  Elc had few healing items and no healing spells.  In a point of no return dungeon.  The birds could debuff Elc's Attack with their breath, and one enemy soldier got a lucky critical and finished him off.

Death Count:  7


A second round with the enemies succeeded.  Poco and Dieckbeck distracted a few enemies while the villagers ran towards the northern exit.  This was preceded by an annoying cutscene where one villager tripped and woke up the monsters.  She tripped a lot in the prison sequences too.  Japanese video game programmers probably think tripping and naming characters after food is the highest form of comedy.


Elc joined the battle once the villagers had escaped.  At least Poco could heal him with his music this time!  Poco's Atrophy Horn was a surprisingly powerful spell that KOd two of the palette swapped bats.  Once the monsters were defeated, everyone teleported back to Touvil.  Chongara told Elc that the airship was ready.  Is it finally time to distribute Dieckbeck's experience points?


This might be a controversial opinion among the 3 people who've played Arc the Lad, but I prefer the first game.  The mechanics aren't as refined as the sequel, but it doesn't waste your time with bland puzzles or long dungeons.  Battles in Strategy RPGs take considerably longer than in standard Japanese RPGs, so it's even more important to keep pacing in mind.  Chances are this issue is why Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, and Front Mission type games stick to missions rather than dungeons.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Arc the Lad 2:  More Tedious Missions

Shu was trapped in Romalian territory alone, so he had to fight alone for a few missions.  One nasty bit of scripting resulted in a fight he wasn't prepared for  (i.e. no recovery items), so I got a Game Over before knowing what to do.

Death Count:  8


The trick was to use Time Bomb on several of the enemies.  Time Bomb places an explosive on an enemy that causes more damage than a physical attack and also hits adjacent squares.  It can be a viable tactic to use Time Bomb and then run away to recover or buff yourself.  Unfortunately, it's also one of the very few abilities that can cause friendly fire damage.  I learned that the hard way later, but Shu managed to survive.


Several Hunter quests involved going into the Heap and Heap Cave-in areas.  One was a sort of escort mission where Shu had to take hits from monsters for a few turns until a "Recycler" found enough items to scavenge.  This was easier than the premise sounded.  Other quests required Shu to enter tunnels and stop a gas leak, or push blocks in front of a skeleton spawning machine.  The latter was annoying because the puzzle was easy to mess up.  (One trap switch was right in front of the area where I had to push blocks. . .)


Doing the missions was worth it for Hunter ranking, money, and a Power Unit for Dieckbeck.  I had no idea why the developers put the 5th Power Unit in an area where you don't have Dieckbeck. . .


The next story mission involved beating up Tosh to prove that Shu was sincere about joining the Resistance.  If Tosh were at his full Arc 1 power, there would be no more Realms Beyond updates.  Tosh was weakened for this fight, and it only took two Time Bombs to beat some sense into him.  Tosh led Shu to the Resistance base, which was hidden behind a conspicuous bookcase (?).  The switch to move the bookcase was on a cask of beer.  The Resistance is about as stealthy as Team Rocket.  Tosh and Shu discussed their efforts to hunt down Gallarno at the main Chimera Lab.  To do so, they would have to seize a train.  Hopefully, this won't be as convoluted as a similar part in Final Fantasy 8. . .