"An underrated and overlooked game."

For years, humans and deimos have fought a war over the Great Spirit Stones. The humans want the stones for power and light, while the deimos seek them further enhance their magic casting abilities. In Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits you will play as both Kharg, who is in search of the stones for human sake, and Darc, who wants to become the strongest deimos king ever.

Twilight of the Spirits is a role playing game with a simple but unique strategy element involved. You will control two parties (Darcs and Khargs) as you venture through towns as well as a world map. There are random battles as well as story battles. You will experience each character through chapters. You will start with Kharg and move to Darc when you have finished one chapter. There are 11 chapters between the two characters.

Within the battles you will move each character in a strategic way in order to attack. Each ability you use has a certain attack area that will be highlighted on the ground around the character. It is up to you to take advantage of the hit area to position yourself to hit, 2 or more enemies with one turn, instead of just one. This is very easy to get used to and quite simplistic to control. In fact, it may be too simple. Like most RPGs, there is a struggle to keep the same random encounters fresh throughout the game. Twilight of the Spirits does incorporate new abilities, items and equipment in order to liven up the ladder wave of battles. With each individual action the character that you use will gain experience. This will prompt you to use all of your character so you can maintain a party capable of battle.

The strategy element is done very well. While the random battles can be a bit slow the system works. Each character is unique enough to keep the battles from being bland. There are different enemies and items on the battle field that you can interact with. They often yield items or money and always give up some extra experience that you can use to gain precious levels. There are side quests and tournament battles you can fight for extra rewards. It is not particularly a hard game but it is challenging. If you are not properly prepared for some of the boss battles you will die.

Easily the strongest part of the game is its story. This is without a doubt the best multi-lead RPG available. As mentioned you will play as Kharg and Darc. Their stories will unfold through chapters of gameplay. The game is very character driven as the main conflicts don't appear until the final hours of the game. There are quite a few nice twists in the story to keep you on your toes. It employs amazing supporting characters like Volk and Maru who add depth and meaning but where the game really stands out is with is similarity and contrast of lead characters. The game ultimately lets you chose which of the two you want to control as you reach the end of the game. The ending is one the most deep and meaningful conclusions there are to encounter.

Picking which character you want to use is a nice touch. The game is almost presented with Kharg as the main sympathetic character with Darc taking a back seat. However the choice is given to the player as to which of the two will become the main character. Putting the power in the players hand is something that is not done enough in traditional role playing games. It will be very easy to cling to either character. They both present a strong emotional presence that is worthy of the lead role.

I always have to begin with the character design when talking about presentation. Ryuichi Kunisue has created an amazing cast of characters visually. The idea behind Darc is a young warrior trying to build a great empire, so designing Darc with a hint of a Roman soldier is very fitting and subtly promotes the idea of this warrior. Colors often become very important. Colors often symbolize the certain emotion. The game utilized those simple aspects of color to enhance most of the characters visual designs.

Maru is another character that jumps right off the screen. He had a role much bigger than any of the other side characters. Maru has a chapter essentially to himself. It give his character greater depth and makes him much easy to like as his story is quite noble. Maru is strong in battle and very well designed. He is just more important than the story makes him out to be.

Beyond the design and art of the game, Twilight of the Spirits is a bit behind in the technical graphic power of other Playstation 2 games. Models and animations are nice, but the environments lack the richness to really stand out. There are no CGI cut scenes which are almost standard now. The voice acting is good but not memorable and music doesn't hurt the game but doesn't help much either. Overall the developers were well educated in picking the aspects of the game to be average with.

The game offers a solid amount of game play. Over 50 hours to be exact. There are a few hidden characters you may not have gotten your first time through but there aren't really any extras to promote a replay. While the characters and the story are strong enough to justify a replay, there really is nothing more to offer.

By now, this game is dirt cheap. It would be worth 50 bucks to a hardcore RPG fan, but the fact that it is available for fewer than ten dollars U.S. makes it a steal for anyone. Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is an underrated and overlooked experience will worth the price. This game is a must have for any RPG fan.

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/06