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

      

Arc the Lad Collection is the first three main line games in the Arc the Lad series in one package and was released in North America in 2002, this was the first time any of the Arc the Lad games had been released outside of Japan. Working Designs handled the localisation of the game and had been planning on localising the game since then 90s eventually releasing on the 18^th of April 2002

Games in the Arc the Lad series of games up until the release of Arc the Lad: End of Darkness in 2004 use a turn based tactical battle system, with each character and enemy assigned agility points which dictates the order of battle, characters agility can be increased by levelling up characters as well as equipping certain equipment as well.

During battle a character may perform several actions from moving around the battlefield which is a grid with various obstacles, the amount of movement of a character is decided by their range statistic, this number is set at the begin of the game and can not be changed or improved, the only things that can alter this stat is by equipping certain items to increase this figure or using spells to decrease this stat.

During combat characters are able to use a basic attack, the strength of this attack is based on the characters attack stat which increases as the players experience level increases. This stat can also be increased by equipping certain accessories as well as temporary buffs using spells and items.

The battle system is definitely not all melee combat with a verity of spells or special abilities than can be used offensively against opponents of defensively for healing members of your party. As with other RPGs magical spells use magic points and if a character does not have enough the spell can not be used, and like other RPGs magic points can be replenished using spells or items.

The original Arc the Lad from 1995 is a very limited game with very little exploration, the world map is only really used for battles and the odd bit of dialogue, the following two entries in the Arc the Lad series vastly expand on their world building the 1996 sequel added towns and much more exploration while the third entry expands on that even further.

Arc the Lad begins with Kukuru a girl from a small village controlled by the Sacred Tribe, a group of people who guard the Ancient Flame, the flame contains a powerful spirit that was sealed away many years ago. Kukuru must marry a man she does not love and in order to avoid the marriage she makes a deal with the Mayor, to extinguish the Ancient Flame.

Kukuru does this and as a result she unleashes the spirit trapped within the flame and threatens to destroy the world. It is at this time Arc arrives at the village, he notices the terrified Kukuru standing in front of the spirit, which he immediately recognises as the thing that killed his father.

Before he can act however the spirit disappears, now Arc and Kukuru must do everything in their power to stop the spirit from destroying the world and seek revenge on the thing that killed Arc’s father

Arc the Lad II 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.

Arc the Lad III is set several years after the conclusion of Elk and Arc’s story in Arc the Lad II, with the player controlling Alec, a teen who’s entire village was destroyed by the events of the second game, an event known as The Great Disaster.

Saved by a mysterious hunter and taken to a village which would become a new home for the survivors of The Great Disaster, safe here Alec would grow up always dreaming of meeting again, the hunter that saved him and becoming a hunter himself.

The village of Sasha where Alec lives is attacked one day by bandits, he and his best friend Lutz must race to the nearest village Itio for help, there they hire a hunter to save the village, on the way back to Sasha they face off against monsters and realise the rush they get while fighting, after the village is saved the pair decided to set out to become hunters.

Alec and his best friend Lutz set out on their adventure taking small scale hunter jobs around the local area, the pair then cross paths with a mysterious organization called The Acadamy, and the pairs adventure really beings.

While receiving a handful of average review scores the vast majority of critics were very positive for this collection with The Next Level scoring the game with a maximum 100/100 or A grade in their own scoring scale they had the following to say.

It is an engrossing and enjoyable experience that all RPG fans should really be able to get hooked into. The flowing storyline of the series is possibly its greatest highlight and the pay off at the end of Arc The Lad III proves that. This really isn't a game that can be rented to enjoy (along with the fact that you'll have a hard time finding it to rent anyway) they were critical of the MSRP at the time which could put some people off.

GamesAreFun.com called the game addictive, fun, and involving in their 90 rated review while Absolute Playstation who were just 1 point behind GamesAreFun.com said, This was truly a wonderful series to play. IGN praised the work of Working Designs saying they have done its fanbase a kind service with this one, and in exceptionally classy style -- the translation from beginning to end is thoroughly readable and pleasantly restrained.

Down at the other end of the rating scale we find RPGFan this outlet broke down the collection into the three separate games before giving an overall rating, the original Arc the Lad and a more of a teaser game was rated a 6/10 by them. The far more superior second entry in the series earned a highly impressive 9/10 from them, while they found the third entry superfluous to requirements rating it at just a 3/10. Overall they rated the collection as an 8/10 and had the following to say.

Arc the Lad is a short but sweet title, taking only ten hours to complete. However, upon completion, saved data can be imported to Arc the Lad II which allows players to bring their characters and equipment into the new game.  Arc the Lad II is a far grander game in scope and production values featuring a dark storyline, many interesting characters, and some very solid gameplay.

While the third entry in the series they were critical of the same feature that proved so popular in the second, the save transfer all the effort put into the second game is rendered pointless with all of you characters stats and inventory being carried over to characters who only make cameos in the third game.

Game Revolution scored the game at 67/100 and had the following to say. Arc the Lad Collection offers a good amount of role-playing depth. You get a real sense of accomplishment saving the world with three generations of heroes. All in all, this is a solid collection that is worth a look, provided the price is right.

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 will pay you $40 for your copy of Arc the Lad collection if on the other hand you are wanting to buy a copy it will set you back a tidy sum of $79, yes this is a rare collection that released late on in the Playstation 1s life cycle.

Heading over the pond to Retrogames.co.uk who unsurprisingly don’t stock this North American only release, so we quickly move on to eStarland.com. Who currently have a complete used copy of the game available, which will set you back even more than Gamedude and is priced at $87.95. They also offer a trade in for the game and will pay you $48 for a copy of the game.

Finally on to Amazon.com which as you would expect is cheaper for a used copy than the previous outlets mentioned, however the cheapest copies on offer at Amazon are incomplete ones. If you are looking for a complete used copy of this game from Amazon, you will be looking at a minimum spend of $90 for a very good condition copy.

For an even better quality used copy that price takes a significant jump up to a minimum of $123, while a new copy price jumps up to a minimum spend of $153 with prices currently reaching as high as $266.

Written by

P J Gibbon