Arc the Lad Collection – Reviewing ALL 6 DISCS!
2There's a lot here to cover. It's not an exaggeration to say that Arc the Lad is an absolutely LEGENDARY series of RPGs - especially in Japan - so hopefully this mega-review does the Collection justice.
SRPG Academy article for Arc 1: https://www.srpg.academy/ps1/arc-the-lad-1/
SRPG Academy article for Arc 2: https://www.srpg.academy/ps1/arc-the-lad-2/
SRPG Academy article for Arc 3: https://www.srpg.academy/ps1/arc-the-lad-3/
Songs used:
"Area Map" from Arc the Lad 2
"Miror B. Battle" from Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness
"Critical Moment" from Arc the Lad
"Counter Attacker" from Feda: The Emblem of Justice
"Arc" from Arc the Lad
"Wandering Warriors" from Shining Force 2
"Seirya" from Arc the Lad
"Battle 6" from Arc the Lad
"Battle 4" from Shining Force
"Song of Soul's Rest" from Shining Force 3
"Concealed Ruins" from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness
"Battle 2" from Arc the Lad
"West Aldia" from Arc the Lad 2
"Shu's Theme" from Arc the Lad 2
"Hailfire Peaks (Icy Side)" from Banjo Tooie
"Battle 6" from Arc the Lad 2
"The Lone Wolf" from Shining Force 3
"Loneliness" from Skies of Arcadia
"Battle 5" from Arc the Lad 2
"Niedel" from Arc the Lad
"Battle 1" from Arc the Lad
"Harvest Dance" from Tactics Ogre
"Hard Man" from Megaman 3
"Gerudo Valley" from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
"Sub Battle" from Bahamut Lagoon
"Separation" from Arc the Lad
"Final Transmission" from Megaman Battle Network 3
"Last Battle" from Arc the Lad 2
"One" by Metallica (lol)
"...And Tomorrow" from Arc the Lad 2
"Party Management" from Children of the Zodiarcs
"Light and Darkness" from Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War
"Battle 1" from Arc the Lad 2
"Lively Town" from Shining Force 2
"Sasha Town" from Arc the Lad 3
"Lieza's Theme" from Arc the Lad 2
"Lutz's Theme" from Arc the Lad 3
"The Veil of Night" from Professor Layton and the Curious Village
"Battle 1" from Arc the Lad 3
"Alec's Theme" from Arc the Lad 3
"Desire Village" from Shining: The Holy Ark
"Rocket Hideout" from Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow
"Knight of Razelia" from TearRing Saga
"Friend Area (Swamp)" from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue/Red
"Comical Music" from Arc the Lad 3
"Way of the Earth" from Arc the Lad 3
"Theme of Arc the Lad"
"Opening2" from Der Langrisser
"Arc" from the Original Arc the Lad Soundtrack
"Cheryl's Theme" from Arc the Lad 3
Table of Contents
| Timecode | Title |
|---|---|
| 00:00:00 | Brief history of Arc the Lad (as a series) |
| 00:03:46 | Arc the Lad 1 review |
| 00:12:47 | Arc the Lad 2 review, AKA "Elc The Lad" |
| 00:22:46 | Skip the first spoiler |
| 00:36:00 | Skip the second spoiler |
| 00:39:22 | Arc Arena review |
| 00:41:00 | Arc the Lad 3 review, AKA "Alec the Lad" |
| 00:55:40 | The Making of Arc the Lad documentary |
| 01:00:05 | Closing thoughts |
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4 Comments
So I think the reason Fu-Jin and Rai-Jin are so broken is because of the data transfer. In the first game, they had absurdly high magic stats which directly transfered over to the second game. Even if you never leveled them up. They gain very little magic upon leveling up in Arc the Lad 2, so I'm guessing that if you don't do the transfer their magic sucks. Perhaps it's an oversight by the develop team.
As for Choko, she's only broken if you recruit her in the first game and finish her sidequest in the second. Which is a lot of effort that isn't necessary when you get Fu-Jin and Rai-Jin for free in the first.
Anyways, this was a fantastic review that definitely did the games justice. Particularly Arc the Lad 2. Such an underappreciated game by the West.
Interesting. I never recruited Fujin and Raijin in Arc 1 and they still ended up being my best damage dealers.
And yes, I wish I had heard about Arc 2 sooner. For some reason, I don't hear these games talked about very often.
I have the first game on PSP via PSOne classics, and overall liked it but got sidetracked. After watching this, I want to go back to it, but now the PSOne classics store is gone, and I never bought the 2nd game, so I'll have to buy the discs for my PS1/2 on ebay. I might even be able to transfer my old save data from virtual memory card to actual memory card, I've done that before. Btw "Wine, women, camels, an' song" is most likely a reference to Ronfar, a main party member in Lunar: Eternal Blue (also localized by Working Designs), it's the name of his theme song in the game OST, minus the "camels" part. WD had some hillarious outtakes and dev interviews for both Lunar games too lol (the latter only for the PS1 remakes.) Anyway, Arc the Lad I and II both look good. Arc the Lad III...you said your playthrough was around 27 hours, how long was the more-sidequest focused act 1? I can't take more than 5 hours for a plot to develop in the most basic of forms (ie there has to be some major conflict by that point.)
Arc 3 spent almost its entire first disc on whimsical sidequests and venturing from continent to continent. That took me ~13 hours, I want to say. But if you don't compulsively do every sidequest like I did, it's probably much less.