Arc Rise Fantasia
8.8
10
22
22
Worth it if you can get past the voice acting
At first I will admit I was a bit thrown off by the voice acting because there was barely much emotion into it. However as the game progresses the voices get better and their voice acting wont be so bothersome. The gameplay is nice and goes into the classic turn based with a twist of adding a few more components to make it a bit of a strategy combat style. The story makes the game worth playing and has many twists into the game and the events will change based on what you do. I would recommend this game to those who like a good story with some nice gameplay and wont be so superficial about voice acting.
10/7/12
One and done
I am a big fan of JRPGs, but what is typically wrong with one of them is typically wrong with all of them. The story is an interesting spin on already existing storylines. Pretty sure I've played this storyline in pther games at least 3 times already. The music is absolutely great, but its a shame i frequently had to mute the TV because of the terrible voice acting (which I sadly got used to). The battle system is very, very addicting. I loved the battle system, but towards the end of the game, no abilities really mattered except excel trinities and lvl3+ magic. Boss Battles? Ridiculous. Hardest boss battles i've seen in a long time. Both a pro and a con though, because at times I just got frustrated. Overall, I thought it was a great game, but replay value in my opinion sucks. Borrow this game from a friend, spend the 60+ hours or so it takes to beat it, and give it back to him.
6/1/12
Good Turn-Based RPG, but...
Arc Rise Fantasia is one of the best RPG's on the Wii. The graphics are superb, there's a wide arrange of weapons for all the characters, and you learn cool skills as you go (well except for Niko ^.^) The only bad things about this game is the somewhat bad voice actors, the game took almost 60 hours for me to beat, and the ending (The end, Fin, DONE!) is ridiculous given the plot set-up! Other than that, I highly reccomend this game to those who are looking for a long-term RPG!
1/23/12
Total Awesome
This is one of the best turn-based rpg's I have ever played. The gameplay is great and the bosses are what they should be in any game. Regular enemies are on the flimsy side they either suck or they don't. My only two complaints about the game are for a good portion of the game you don't have a consistent party and the voice acting will be bad once in a while. Honestly though neither of those are that big of a deal. So overall very good game and it is just what other games that are turn-based should be leaning towards.
11/22/11
Best RPG Ever
Haven't Played An RPG Like This In Years. Very Good Concept Of Gameply, Great Story, & Overall Wish It Was A Movie. Ya'll Have To Own This Game If You Definitely Love RPGs.
9/11/11
Amazing game, careless mistakes
This was with out a doubt the best RPG game for the Wii I ever played. I can't give it a perfect score though. First off I couldn't see the whole game on my T.V. Also the voice acting was really bad at times, but don't let that stop you. The game was amazing and there's a huge plot twist around the third quarter of the game. (Witch I won't say any thing about) The story was great, it had all kinds of characters from funny and silly to angry and serious all in one game and the boss battles were hard. Really hard, something I wish I could say about all the games I play. I easily lost track of time playing this game. If you like RPG games or need a new video game with a challenge buy this game!
9/5/11
love this,
the main character personality was soo real. at times i caught myself talking out loud before it was his turn to talk and then when i pressed A, he says the exact same thing. not only that i enjoy replaying it with different party mixes. my fav is l'arc, rastan and cecille or leslie
8/13/11
WORTH EVERY PENNY!
i was finally able to get my hands on this game for the wii, bought it for 20 dollars with the coupon $10 off brand new! it is exactly what i thought it would be, so far the animations/gameplay/sound/etc seems soo great, the only problem is the voice acting....oh boy the voice acting, wow at times it can be bad, but if it doen't bother you then this game is worth your money used or new! what i'm so shocked is that this is the last copy for this game where i live, its hard to come by a game like this one..but if anyone out there is looking for a great classic RPG then buy this game!!
7/25/11
Not what I expected, but very good.
After I played Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World I was looking for a similar RPG experience... and looking... and looking. As you probably know, this genre is largely neglected by Nintendo. I stumbled across the reviews for Arc Rise Fantasia and thought I'd give it a shot. Although the animation and battle system are not nearly the same caliber as Tales of Symphonia, it's still a fun game.
5/29/11
Better than it ought to be
Five minutes into Arc Rise Fantasia and I was wondering what I had got myself into. The first battle was underwhelming, the interface unwieldy and requiring too many button pushes to get anywhere. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural sounding. I thought I had made a big mistake buying this game. Ten minutes later though, I had completly changed my mind. Visually, Fantasia can't hold a candle to games like Final Fantasy or Star Ocean, so if you're looking for a game to visually wow and astound you then you're probably on the wrong system. Not that Fantasia's graphics are bad, the enviroments are lush and everything is done in a cheerful animesque style like the Tales series. In fact, much of Fantasia is reminiscent of the Tales games, even sharing the "character skits" Tales is known for. The skits, along with minor bits of dialogue are animated through anime-type images of the characters showing the relevant emotion. It works quite well. Other cut-scenes are fully animated, and it's nice to see the characters don't use a set of stock movemets over and over again. The only thing that really stands out is the dialogue and the voice acting. Though the story itself is well written, on occasion, lines of dialogue will come across as being cheesy. This happens more in the beginning, when the characters are still being established, and after a bit this problem mostly disappears. The other rough spot is the voice acting, the voice acting is neither excellent nor terrible. It won't compare to games like Persona 3 and 4, but it is a far cry above being intolerable. Like the dialogue, the voice acting seems to get better as time passes' whether this is due to fewer cheesy lines or simply because you get used to the voices I don't know. I can at least say that none of the voices are grating to listen to, and a couple are even truly pleasant. Ignoring these two issues though, the dialogue of Fantasia can often be quite amusing, making this one of the few games where I laughed at parts that were intended to be funny. The characters react and act in realistic ways, and the brusqe, snarky lead gets you to enjoy the characters as well. Shortly after the game starts you get a second character, and this is when the battle system really starts to shine. Fantasia utilizes a turn-based system, so if that's not your thing then you won't like this game. The battle system is described as being a system that pools your character's "AP" (basically how many movements a character can make per turn) together, meaning one character could make 3 attacks and everyone else do nothing, much like how in Magna Carta: Tears of Blood one character could bash the living daylights out of the enemies without any help. You can do that in Fantasia, but the game makes it clear it doesn't want you to. Having one character make more than one movement automatically puts all but their initial move at the end of the line. In most cases, it just isn't a good idea. The pooled AP let's you use stronger attacks at the cost of more AP, meaning fewer attacks. After selecting all your actions, the characters and enemies all move at the time in a visually appealing manner. The battle system works well and looks good. A few other notable things are the ability to choose which controller you want to play the game with, nuchuk, classic, or gamecube. The game supports all three. Also, the game includes a costume system for your characters To change their look. The music in the game ranges from pleasant, unobtrusive background music, ti enjoyable battle music. In closing, Arc Rise Fantasia is a solid JRPG, and the people who will enjoy the most are most likely vetrans of the genre who can handle a game that doesn't quite take itself seriously. Newcomers to JRPGs may find they like it, if they give it a chance.
7/29/10