Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is played in two parts. Gamers will get a chance to follow two destinies and both character's stories will alternate. One path is the tale of Kharg, a young man in a small rural town who is the likely candidate to inherit the position of Captain in the town guard. Kharg's mother was actually a monarch but she refuted the title and instead chose to allow the town to decide its government via democracy. Because of this, Kharg still possesses a formal place in society as some of the villagers still have a hard time believing that the monarchy no longer holds any power. Fiercely loyal and protective over his town, Kharg has sworn to defend it from outside evils including the monsterous Deimos race that approaches human territory.

In another region of the world, gamers will play the story of Darc, a half-human half-deimos character who has been forced into slavery. Darc is different from the other Deimos. His heart is purer and he has a hard time relating to the savage power hungry ways of the Deimos. Darc knows little about his past other than his father helped him escape from a distant Deimos camp long ago and died in the process. Both Kharg and Darc have destinies that will eventually meet but you'll need to play the game for several hours before you start to see how their fates are intertwined.

The gameplay in Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is fairly easy to pick up. It borrows a few concepts such as elemental damage and turn-based combat from its JRPG peers but it also uses a movement system that not many current JRPGs employ. When moving a character, a zone is displayed showing you where your character can move. After making your move (to perhaps flank the enemy), you then select a number of special moves or magic attacks from your menu. You can also use items at any time. Depending on how much experience you have built up, your special attacks will increase in magnitude and by the end of the game all of your companions will have a nice assortment of lethal attacks in their repertoire. The game also allows you to upgrade your weapons and armor. During the course of the game, you will find treasures or come across vendors who sell necessary items. The key ingredient throughout all of this, though, are spirit stones. Spirit stones are the life forces that drive the world in Arc the Lad. Without them, magic and special abilities are null and void. One of the biggest tricks in the game is spending spirit stones when needed. If you spend too many, you'll run out of them and lose necessary energy for later battles, but if you conserve too wisely you may have problems defeating earlier opponents. It's a give and take system that requires some strategy to master.

The characters and story in Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits are all top notch. Not since Final Fantasy X has this reviewer played such a quality role-playing game on the PlayStation 2. If you're only into voice acting, you may be disappointed because most of the drama plays out in text and the game does require a lot of reading so keep that in mind if you're not someone who enjoys heavy reading games. The voice acting that is used is extremely poor and sometimes makes the game feel a little fake.

The graphics are pretty good in Arc the Lad, especially when you consider its genre. The sounds aren't that impressive and some of the music can get old fast. Many scenes use the same theme and it sometimes doesn't fit the mood of the moment. This game can also be long with as many as 50 hours of gameplay so it will definitely take a dedicated gamer to finish it. The game allows you unlimited saves at several in-game save points so it avoids some of the frustrations of long JRPGs that have limited saves. The save game slots also take up little memory so you'll be fine if your memory card is starting to get full.

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is fairly easy to find on the Game Trading Zone. It still has moderate supply and moderate demand so you should be able to work out a deal with someone. This is a game that you'll want to trade for because of its length. Arc the Lad won't be completed over a weekend rental. If you're into Japanese RPGs and have been meaning to find a new one to occupy your time, I'd highly recommend this game. In this reviewer's opinion, it is one of the top three RPGs on the PlayStation 2 and a memorable experience for most gamers.


Decent story until the end   June 30, 2004
This was one of my main problems with the game. It tells a mildly interesting story. Then, at the end, they throw it all in the trash for some "friendship conquers all" junk. Bleah.

Still, there are some positive aspects to this game. The battles are a little slow, but they're mildly entertaining. Character designs are decent, graphics are decent, music is decent...That's pretty much all there is to say. It's a decent game. If you can get it for 20 bucks, you'll probably get your money's worth.

By the way, this doesn't matter too much, but the game's main character (Kharg) is voiced by the same [bad]-sounding actor that voiced Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2 (and Isaaru in Final Fantasy X).


A Great Game, Indeed!   May 5, 2004
Well, I have to say first of all, I regret not playing this game sooner. I have gone to Blockbuster countless times, seeing this game on the case and turning my nose up at it, and, until recently, I borrowed Arc from a friend, negligently at first, though. Well anyway, to the review.

Graphics: Not the best in the world, but the storyline and the music, more than make up for it. The magic spells cast makes the game more visually accepted, good eye candy.

Music: Wow! This is what truly makes the game feel like your accomplishing something. The music makes you feel like your fighting a giant army of billions...well not quite, but it has encouraging music. Beautiful is nothing short of what the music is like.

Storyline: War, racism, betrayal, love, and death. What else is there to like in a story? Well, nothing...this game has it all. The creators really almost make you feel for the characters. You play the game as two main characters, Darc and Kharg. Darc is a half-human, half-demon (Deimos), but physically looks more like a Deimos. Kharg is the same as Darc, but looks more like a human; in fact, he shows no sign of having a Deimos origin until later. The game wages war in two different ways. In Khargs story, it's Humans vs. Deimos vs. Other humans. And with Darc it's Deimos vs. Humans vs. Other Deimos. I don't want to ruin the story by explaining why Darc and Kharg are fighting the people they fight. The characters are completely different physically, but mentally they are very much alike. Of course with war, usually comes racism and a lot of betrayal...A LOT...I mean you get back-stabbed dozens of times, though, at times Kharg seems to get back-stabbed the most and most of the back-stabbings are a result of his own stupidity and gullibility. At one point Darc literally does get "back-stabbed". This is just a touch on the story and I'll leave it up to the readers to find out the rest.

Overall: A definite 5/5. A great game in anybodies collection, though not for the person who wrote his/her review in a giant on-going sentence, but the point is I'm sure you'll like it, because I sure did.


Quite good   April 10, 2004
This is a very good game, overall. The tactical battles are a good progression from the previous Arc games, and are a lot of fun. The two alternating viewpoints of the story are good, and the game does a good job of creating a hero who is apealing and sympathetic despite being a pretty far cry from a conventional good-guy RPG hero. As an added bonus, it has some of the best music- especially battle music- I've heard in a while.


Arc the lad: twilight of the spirits   March 2, 2004
my first arc the lad game, not bad! at times it gets boring but if you really get into games, this is one you'll have to check out. It only takes a lil over 50 hours to beat but its worth your time. Minus the long conversations and this game will rock!