"An excellent way to prove Brains over Brawn."

Introduction:

Welcome to Filgaia, a world that strives for survival after a devastating conflict that turns most of the world into a wasteland. Wild Arms XF is the first game in its series to become a strategy RPG. The series is well known for its Western theme, with traditional bosses like Angol Moa or Ragu O Ragula and guns as some of the characters's standard weapons, with summons at the party's medium's disposal. Here in Wild Arms XF, it's a bit different on the side compared to its prequels (With Wild Arms 4 and 5 as an exception), besides it being obviously a strategy game. In this game, not many characters uses guns, let alone projectile weapons. Filgaia in this game has a lot of greenery compared to the other Wild Arms games, where most areas are barren wastelands. Last but not least, no more having to search for towns and places with a scanner. Every place you need to go to will open up, as well as some paths cutting off for a short amount of time when you make progressions in the game.

Game Play: 9/10

Like many strategy RPGs, you only choose where you want to go when you're in town, and your next destination when you're on the world map. However, the strategy system in this game is pretty refreshing. Instead of the usual "Build a brute army and kill everything along the way", there are various types of battles. You go from killing all enemies to saving the villagers, and then there's stealth missions and protecting the frontier of a town from an enemy invasion. And let's not forget turn limit battles and a race to the finish. Because of this, you must build a balanced party, plan a strategy ahead and pull it off. Otherwise, you're pretty much toast. So all in all, the strategy system in this game can be frustrating and difficult at times, but that's what makes this game so interesting.

Storyline: 8/10

With the world slowly dying, the people of Filgaia fight for the dwindling supplies of the natural resources. However, one area has managed to avoid all this trouble until recently, the kingdom of Elesius. The good king has suffered from a mysterious illness, keeping him bed-ridden and thus leaving the country under the rule of a council. Iskander Bey, a mysterious sword with an unknown power and origin has been stolen from the mother of our heroine, Clarissa Arwin, by a man named Rupert Dandrige. What started out as a pursuit for Rupert leads Clarissa and her half brother Felius to the kingdom of Elesius, where the battle for freedom unfolds.

Music: 10/10

Some of the best soundtracks in any Wild Arms game can be found in here. The game comes with a pre-default 20 tracks, so you can hear some of it without having to play through the game and then reaching a certain part. Listening to the music in this game kind of makes you feel nostalgic when it comes to an older Wild Arms game, especially if you've been a long time fan or have beaten Wild Arms 1 and 2. Whistling also returns in some of the tracks as well, which is what makes the music sound so great.

Sound: 7/10

Though the sound effects are decent in this game, what makes me give this section a 7 is the voice acting for the english language. Don't get me wrong, I usually prefer english voices over japanese voices, for the fact that I can at least understand what they say and hear what they say if I happen to miss a part in a dialogue. The english voice acting in this game aren't really convincing in most of the game. I mean, when it comes to a part when someone in the party is really happy or thrilled, they sound almost like a person who's speaking like nothing has happened (Take Labrynthia in the beginning of the game for an example). The game also comes with the option to choose japanese voice overs, but I haven't really bothered with that so there's really nothing I can say about it.

Rent or Buy: Buy

When the game is right, you must buy. I'm not a very big fan of strategy RPGs due to most of them being repetitive and some of them not needing strategy later on in the game, but this game is like a whole new story with me. I have quit halfway in just about almost every strategy RPG I've ever played (There are only some that I have ever completed), but this game is one of the few who has kept my boat afloat. Yeah, it's that awesome.

Final comments:

When I first heard about this game, I was a bit disappointed that it was a strategy RPG, but when I got my hands on this game just for the sake of having a complete collection of the Wild Arms series, I tried it out and my view of this game was dead wrong. I ended up really enjoying this game and coming up with strategies for all the story battles. It's not about brawn anymore, it's all about brains with this game now.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/08

Game Release: Wild ARMs XF (US, 03/11/08)