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Arc: Twilight Of The Spirits PS2 Sony  Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of role playing games. The discovery of girls and music killed my enthusiasm for 'Dungeons & Dragons' when I was about 11 and hence these days I approach anything with a turn-based battle system with no small degree of trepidation. So why did I enjoy 'Arc: Twilight Of The Spirits'? It wasn't that the graphics were much cop (they're not bad, certainly, but hardly groundbreaking), and it's not exactly a pacey game (playing straight through will still take you around 35 hours, even if you avoid battles wherever possible). Most of the reviews I've read compare it unfavourably to the last few 'Final Fantasy' games, which left me cold despite my best attempts. Many of the characters are clich\u233\'8ed, and some downright unpleasant. Yet I had trouble putting the controller down. Why? The main plus is the story. In 'Arc' the world is split into two antagonistic races: the humans and the Deimos, which have lived in a precarious state of near-peace for decades. However, when the Ditzweld Empire starts invading and conquering other human countries in a search for the five Great Spirit Stones (which, naturally, grant the user unimaginable power), as well as slaughtering every Deimos they come across in the process, they precipitate a war not just among the humans, but between the humans and the Deimos. You play both as Kharg, a young human lord brought up in a small village in a hitherto peaceful part of the country, and as Darc, son of a deposed Deimos leader who has lived in slavery after his father's murder. Both are touched by destiny and seek to collect the Spirit Stones themselves and use the power to defeat Ditzweld and, respectively, wipe the Deimos off the face of the earth/unite the warring Deimos factions and destroy all of the humans. Hence, the first interesting touch to 'Arc' is the fact that you're playing both as your hero and nemesis- even as you come closer to your goal as, say, Kharg, you can't help but realise that you're just making life more difficult for yourself as Darc. Both characters gather new comrades along the way, with each character having certain advantages and weaknesses in battle. What's also interesting is that neither Kharg nor Darc are particularly likeable: both have an unbridled hatred for the others' species, for one thing, which makes their subsequent discovery that they're actually brothers, the spawn of a forbidden union between human and Deimos, even more entertaining (you, the player, discover this in the opening animation sequence, so I'm not ruining it). There's also a weirdly sexual element to their rivalry as they both vie to protect Lillia, the innocent girl who may just hold the key to the whole thing. On the plus side, most of the side characters have enough personality to outweigh the disagreeable elements of the protagonists (I'm a sucker for the evil puppet Bebedora, myself). Gameplay's nothing new: you takes your turn, you strikes your enemy. The coins you pick up in battle can be used to buy upgrades for your weapons, charms, antidotes and so forth as you travel from town to town, and most of the places you visit contain mini-games (arena battles, for the most part) that you can participate in, if you're in no hurry to save the world. The music is generally excellent and has an atmospherically Celtic feel, although there's one peculiar piece of battle music with frenetic Steve Vai-esque electric guitar that's as hideously inappropriate as it is hideous. Even as I write this review I'm having trouble identifying why I enjoyed 'Arc' so much, but also fighting the urge to play it again right now. There are probably better ways to spend a week, but I'm damned if I can think of any just at the minute.  |
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