Niahak's Place

One of the first RPGs to land on the Playstation in 1997 was an unassuming, Old West-inspired game by the name of Wild Arms. Though it never managed to compete with more mainstream series, it has a greatness all its own; with a solid difficulty balance, a variety of puzzles, and a plot that dwells more on loneliness and a decaying world than on long-haired villains or a large but irrelevant main cast, I consider it one of the best RPGs on the system.

In the past couple weeks, the news got out that Akifumi Kaneko, the lead designer and scenario writer for the entire Wild Arms series, left Media.Vision in 2008. This came a couple years after Michiko Naruke, who had been the primary composer for the first four games, had stopped working on the series due to illness. Although it’s possible that we’ll see more Wild Arms games, these two were the heart of the series – any more we’d see would probably have a completely different feel (though the most recent two had already reached that point). In memory of the loss of the core of the series, I’d like to dwell a little on the best and most innovative elements of the first five games (and F). I exclude XF only because I’ve not yet played it (it’s on my to-do list). I’ll generally avoid major spoilers where I can.