0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Arc the Lad II

  

  

Arc the Lad II is the second game in the Tactical RPG, Arc the Lad series and released a year after the first in the series on the 1^st of November 1996, again the game was developed by G-Craft and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and was exclusively released in Japan, Although did get a North American release in the Arc the Lad collection and a PSN release in 2007 in Japan, 2010 in North America and 2012 for Europe.

One major change from the first game and what is a major improvement was the far more developed world map, unlike the original where only battles and occasional dialogue could be access on each continent, the sequel greatly expands on what the player can access.

Towns can now be accessed something that was a major absence from the original, initially the player is restricted in where they can go but progressing through the story allows the player access to an airship either the Hein or Silver Noah, after which the player is not restricted to where they can go. Most cities have a hunters guild this is where the player receives side quest such as fetch quests, monster hunts and deliveries, most just feature some kind of battle, certain jobs only become available after completing certain jobs or passing certain plot points.

Another major change is the battle system with the strict turn based movement while going through dungeons and field areas changed with battles now varying from random encounters to automatic entries to a section. 

Just like the first game players do battle in a strategy based combat system with players now choosing between 1 and 6 characters per battle, this depends on the battle requirements. The game also allows the player to recruit monsters into the party with the player having the option to upgrade these monsters.

This is a direct sequel to the first game and carries on where the previous story left off, but with the player playing from a different perspective with the player controlling a bounty hunter named Elk, suffering from amnesia he sets off on a quest to find out who he is, the powers that are within him and learns the destiny of his entire tribe. During the course of Elk’s quest he will run into the first games protagonist Arc with both realising they are looking to destroy the same evil.

Not a huge number of reviews available for this game but overall they are very positive IGN had the following to say IGN praised the game's expansion over the first game, writing that "Arc II grafts a bigger world map, more detailed dungeons, more complex character development, a far larger cast, and most of all a longer quest onto a combat system that remains pretty familiar.

RPGFan gave the game a very good 88/100 they had the following to say, If you loved Arc The Lad but thought it was too short, Arc The Lad II is the perfect game for you. If you didn't like Arc The Lad, Arc The Lad II is extremely unlikely to change your mind about the series. I greatly enjoyed both games, and I wholeheartedly recommend Arc The Lad II to all strategy RPG fans.

French publication Joypad called it a good game in their 80 rated review however did find the game a bit on the repetitive side and recommended Vandal Hearts over this game. RPGDreamers praised the improvements over the original saying it surpassed its predecessor in every way in their 80/100 review.

Another French publication this time Jeuxvideo.com praised the game in their 80/100 review, while definitely not an excellent game Arc the Lad II is nevertheless one of those games to which one attaches very quickly. All its strength lies in this perpetual staging mastered from one end to the other, and encompassing characters on which hovers a continual mystery. Even if some moments are sometimes flat, or the gameplay is still lacking in depth, we let ourselves totally sail in this beautiful adventure always as quick to wonder and surprise us.

Another 80 rated review this time from Absolute Playstation praised the music and graphics and praised the ability to carry over your save game from the previous game in the series. The lowest review score I have been able to find for this title is a 7/10 from Pocket Gamer UK, who concluded their review with the following.

It's easy to nitpick over Arc the Lad II's lacklustre visuals, music, and combat. In all areas it fails to bring anything new to a well-stuffed genre not known for its variety. But it's easily forgiven. Arc the Lad II is everything you'd expect from an aged JRPG, and it has enough personality to remind us of genre's heyday.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I've heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, who don’t currently stock this title as an individual game they do stock the Arc the Lad collection but I will be covering that later on, so moving on to Retrogames.co.uk who have one imported copy of the game currently available, the game is described as being in excellent condition and is priced at £15

eStarland.com up next who have a single imported used copy of the game, this is a complete copy of the game and is priced at $8.95, as is frequently the case eStarland offer a trade In for a copy of this game and are willing to pay $2.50 for a copy.

Finally on to Amazon.com where like the first entry in this series a used copy in good or better condition can be picked up pretty cheaply, at this moment Amazon has two good quality used copies priced between $7 and $8, with a very good condition copy available for just a couple of dollars more.

If you are looking for better quality than that then this is where things start getting a little more pricey with a like new copy setting you back a minimum of $19.99, this ships with Amazon so free shipping only if you spend more than $25, the other like new copy currently on the market is priced at over $40.

As you have probably already guessed by the big jump from good and very good quality up to like new, then another big jump in price is on the cards for a new copy, and you would not be wrong. The cheapest is currently sitting at $112.00 with free shipping.

From here though the prices take another huge leap upwards with the next cheapest new copy on the market for $345.36 again with free shipping like most of the new copies, prices continue to rise from her reaching a current high of around $448.

Written by

P J Gibbon