"Flawless in Almost Every Aspect"

Introduction
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits - Flawless in Almost Every Aspect

Brother against brother...
Rivals against rivals...

Arc the Lad is another type of game that spawns sequels after sequels. Just like Final Fantasy and their never-ending series, Arc the Lad first made its debut in Japan at the year 1995 featuring the first ever Arc. Technically, whenever a game is released in Japan, it will take a couple of months for the game to be available in North America. However, the first Arc the Lad took a couple of years before it was imported to America. On the other hand, and fortunately for us gamers, Twilight of the Spirits did not suffer the same fate its predecessor did. It took a mere two to three months for the exact counterpart to appear on the other side of the world, and then exported to various country. Knowing its excellent features on all Arc the Lad games, I purchased it as soon as I saw it, and boy, was I delighted I did.

Arc the Lad is a solid RPG in all aspects. It does not feature hardcore RPG gameplay stuffs,
but the storyline is enough to suffice your gaming thirst. The graphics for this new sequel is also top-notch, and flawless in every aspect. Do not expect to see clippings, jagged and weird edges, or even the most sickening thing of all, slowdown in various parts. The battle system in this game may be rather slow and retarded in some boss battles, but the battles in this game surely promotes the usage of tactics. Thus, it takes more than just strength to win the game. You'll have to use your brain. The many battles that you will face comes alive with extensive battle voiceovers for all the characters, excluding the regular monsters, that is.

And that's only the start of it.

It's two characters for the price of one!
Despite many RPGs that rely on the graphics and gameplay for popularity and value, Arc the Lad is one of the few RPGs around that actually spawns an extremely intriguing storyline. In fact, the story of this game could be its strongest point, second only to its eye-candy graphics. So, basically the world of Arc the Lad is inhabited by two species of living being. One of them is the Human race, which is typically normal human. The other, is infested with intelligent monsters that go by the name of Demios.

Because of their historically scarred past, humans and Demios kill each other on sight almost all the time. Only a minority of each of the species could stand living next to each other. And as the typical human beings living on our planet, the virtual human living in the game share the same characteristics as us. They aim for power. The stronger ones rule over the weaker ones. They aim for dominance, and this leads to constant conflicts between the nations. This not only applies to the human race, as the Demios share the same vision as well. Deimos are simply evolutions of monsters, and thus they are born to fights. Hence, with the humans fighting each other, and the Demios fighting each other, and the both races fighting each other, and everyone fighting the Dilzweld Army, you can expect many interesting plot twists.

Presenting Kharg and Darc...
Kharg...the hero in the small town of Nidellia...
Darc...the despised Demios Wannabe...
The two brothers...shared the same blood...but were actually neither human or Demios...

Kharg is one of the brothers that were given life by Lady Nafia. Of course, having a queen has your mother obviously makes you a prince. With that in mind, Kharg holds a fierce determination to be the best fighter in the village, and thus be able to protect the town from invading monsters or Demios. He is born with a mysterious birthmark on his right shoulder, and is a sign of something between the two brothers. Darc, on the other hand, was raised by his father, who is a pure Demios. Having broken the law of his messy race, Darc's father is banished from his village and was ordered to be executed. He survived the many injuries that he sustained, and kept on moving and raising Darc to be a fine boy. However, he died very soon enough. Darc grew up in a childhood filled with hardship. Because of that, he have a very different personality from his twin brother, and was despised for having a human-like face and a Demios body. He also has the exact same birthmark that Kharg has, and yet is another proof of their brotherly ties.

Arc the Lad handles the gameplay in this manner. You play as Kharg for a little while, then switching to Darc and play as him. This repeats itself, thus creating a refreshing new storyline to follow every time. Along the way, you get to follow Kharg's story, in which he was planning to vanquish the world of Demios. Similarly, you get to play as Darc and uncover more of his miserable past. His vision is to rid the world of detestable human, which is the exact opposite of his brother's. Needless to say, this is bound to be a story filled with enriching plots, and many obstacles the brothers will have to cross.

Typical RPG structure compromises for both vets and new RPG players
Easily, Twilight of the Spirits can be played by any RPG player. All you need is determination and some common sense in what you are doing. No matter what character you are playing as, you travel to different towns on the world map, normally encountering some monster spots on the way. In short, its basically what every RPGs will deliver. This system makes traveling through towns quick, and keeps the storyline continuously moving.

Also, an unique aspect of this game is that the weapon shops do not sell weapons! Instead, they have weapon parts for sale, which adds stats or additional features to your weapon. Logically, this is how games should work. Because realistically, it should take quite a while for a person to handle a new weapon. And, a person who had used a weapon for quite a period of time would be able to handle it more effectively and efficiently.

Expect to see typical stats-raising parts, and maybe some special poison effect parts that is pretty rare.

Up to 14 characters to pick-and-choose!
Regardless of which character you are currently playing as, the story will somehow get you some comrades towards your quest, whatever it is. Kharg gets human partners, and Darc gets Demios partners. Very fitting, eh? You get a range of characters. Featuring from the hard fighters that packs a punch but are as slow as molasses, and you have the archers that specializes in long-ranged attacks. You also get some people who are practically useless in hand-to-hand fighting but blasts everything else to pieces with their magic or special moves.

What has this got to do with Twilight of the Spirits then?

Easy. This latest sequel introduces an ingenious battle system that takes turn-based battles to another step. You get to move characters in 3-D form, so no tiles this time. And you also have a choice of choosing your style of attacking. Its all up to you. Do you want to pack in like a turtle for strong defense? Or perhaps you would like to spread out and slaughter anyone that gets in your way? Go ahead.

Therefore, this battle system counts damage differently on what direction you're hitting the opponent on. If you hit them from behind, needless to say, it will cause a small amount of extra damage than it would if you hit them head on. However, this would cause you some extra steps to take, and could also cause you to end your turn while you're still heading to the enemies' back. Thus, you'll have to weigh your pros and cons, and bring your wits to the ultimate test.

In addition to that, attacks could also be evaded or guarded, which will either cause you to inflict totally no damage at all or inflict a miserable amount of damage respectively. And, if you manage to slaughter one of the enemies, they might drop an item or two and you'll have to consider whether you would forge a turn to pick up that item or just ditch it anyhow.

In conclusion, Twilight of the Spirits' battle system is surely one of a kind. It takes more than just skill to beat it.

Visually impressive, tolerable in audio - Enter the Spirits
Although Twilight of the Spirits may not deliver so much in its gameplay department, its enriching storyline and flawless graphics will definitely cover up the little mistakes there. In the audio section, what more could you ask? Each character has their own voiceover during battles, and some of the cinematic cut-scenes display outstanding camera angles and voice speeches. If there's anything to complain, it would be the background music chosen or made for this game.

As many of the battles would be pretty regular, you get to hear the same dull battle theme
all over again. The battle music for Twilight of the Spirits is just demoralizing the gamer, and not at all interesting. For towns and dungeons, you get a mixture of musical instruments playing, which majority comes from the guitar itself. Although this is easily tolerated, it brings the whole game down a level.

To end all this...
Twilight of the Spirits is just another RPG game that you must add to your shopping list. It features an intriguing, epic story that introduces a large range of characters. The graphics of this game is, like I said, flawless. The new battle system takes this game to a whole new level, and the only thing that you can complain about would be the lack of interesting themes. With so much pros weighing over the cons, do they actually matter?

I guess not.

Summary of the Pros and Cons
+ Impressive graphics
+ Storyline that features an interesting plot
+ New and improved battle system
- Lack of moralizing tunes

Buy or Rent: BUY!
Twilight of the Spirits is certainly a masterpiece in almost every aspect. There is simply no reason you should pass this one. Formal Arc the Lad players should purchase this one as soon as possible, and all RPG lovers should also follow suit. Do not regret it, for it would be too late.

Results:
Gameplay: 9/10
Innovative battle system says it all.
Graphics; 10/10
Really, there's nothing to say about this part.
Audio: 7/10
Expect dull music here and then, but this doesn't harm you much, does it?
Story: 10/10
Simply spectacular.
Replayability: 7/10
The game is lengthy, but some people must just play through it again.

+Final Score+
9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/08/03, Updated 07/08/03