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WildArms

The English-language Wild Arms series logo.

The Wild Arms series is a franchise of Japanese Role-Playing Games, developed by Media.Vision. The series began in 1996 with the release of the original Wild Arms, and later grew to include a total of 5 main games, several spin-offs, a remake, a TV show, and several manga series.

Common elements[]

"Wild West" World[]

Most works in the Wild Arms series take place on Filgaia, a mostly-desert world, that lends itself to Western-inspired designs. Many locations across the series are reminiscent of stereotypical American Frontier, from single-street towns to deserts, plains, and red rock canyons. Much of the soundtracks draw from Ennio Morricone's style of Western music, incorporating copious amounts of whistling, harmonicas, chorusing, and the like, and even the album art for many of the soundtracks features photography of Monument Valley, a landmark famous for its portrayal in cowboy movies. Wild Arms 3 reflects this aesthetic the most prominently, whereas Wild Arms 4 and Wild Arms XF markedly lacked this theme.

Sci-Fi influences[]

Games in the series commonly include various science fiction elements, such as extraterrestial threats, nanomachines, or giant robots, known as Golems. Many of these technologies are lost by the games' events.

ARMs[]

Template:Main ARMs, featured in every game in the series, are various hi-tech weapons that's treated as powerful and rare, if not completely unique. They range from relatively mundane revolvers and rifles, to missile launchers and grenades, to lasers and railguns. Often, the secret of their production is partly or completely lost. ARMs often represent dangers of technology, but their usage by the heroes shows that its power can be used for good.[1]

Fantasy influences[]

At the same time, the series employs various fantasy elements, most notably - magic, such as Crest Sorcery or Arnaud's "Formula". Fantasy enemies, from undead monsters to dragons, are a common sight in games.

Guardians[]

Guardians are kind of deity-like guardian spirits of Filgaia, possessing incredible power, and even worshipped by some. Contacting Guardians is a plot point in early games, but they appear even in later games, available for being summoned by the heroes. Their power is granted by the Mediums, which can be collected and used by the player. However, they are not necessarily good, as their impartial nature puts them outside human morals.[2]

Myth[]

There are a myriad of allusions to occult and esoteric studies that can be found throughout the franchise. Any number of persons, places or things are named after deities and concepts mixed in from different cultures. Wild Arms 3, for example, is heavy in its allegories to Norse myth, with references to Mimir's Well, Nidhogg and Yggdrasil percolating the screenplay, with one of the main antagonists Zeikfried taking his name from a corrupted form of the name Sigurd. The same story, however, will include minor and more sparse references to other pantheons such as Hyades and Asgard from Greek myth as well Adam Kadmon and gimel from Kabbalah. Furthermore, the "arcana" related to the mediums, particularly the first four (water, fire, earth and wind/air) correspond to the minor arcana of Tarot cards. Wild Arms 5 seems to do this with more intention, as many of the Veruni who are dominating the human race seem to be named after gods from many different polytheistic religions, such as Kartikeya, Persephone, and Fereydoon.

Development[]

Production[]

The original Wild Arms was the first JRPG made by Media.Vision, which previously made only several shooter titles like Rapid Reload. Sony commisioned the company to create a game that would showcase 3D capabilities of the newly-released PlayStation console. By the game's release it would become one of the first JRPGs with fully 3D battles.

The first game laid down the mythos of the series, with all later games using it as a base. Such elements as themes, recurring monsters, items, Force system, and limited ammo were first introduced in the first game, and refined in the following titles.

Music[]

Much like with visual style, music of Wild Arms is meant to invoke Western films. The score, containing acoustic guitars, mandolins, drums, woodwind instruments, brass instruments, and pianos, accompanied by clapping and whistling samples, was composed by Michiko Naruke. However, later games veer into other genres as well. Naruke would go on to create soundtracks for Wild Arms 2 and 3, as well as contributing to 4. Sountrack for 5 was done without her involvement, with Noriyasu Agematsu, Masato Kouda and Kazuya Taniguchi emulating her now-established style.

Many compositions from Wild Arms games received arrangements, released in such albums as Alone the world: Wild Arms Vocal Collection and its follow-ups.

Name[]

Initially, the series' name was stylized as "WILD ARMS", in all-caps. However, some Western sources reported the game's name as "Wild ARMs", as if the acronym ARM was used in the title. However, back of boxes of the first three games reads "Wild Arms", with normal capitalization.[3][4][5]

However, in pre-release materials for Wild Arms 4 and 5 the games' localiser, Xseed, called the series "Wild ARMs". The back of the box of WA4 reads "Wild ARMS",[6] while WA5 and WAXF - "Wild ARMs".[7][8]. However, the European release of WAXF uses normal capitalization.[9]

From the legal standpoint, the series is called "Wild Arms", as copyright and trademark laws don't allow for the protection of an acronym with multiple meanings. Its stylization, however, may vary.


Series overview[]

Games[]

As a Sony franchise, all Wild Arms video games appear exclusively on PlayStation video game consoles. While each individual title is set in worlds completely independent of one another, they contain several consistencies that have become series mainstays, including similar races, monsters, technologies, and plot points.

  • Wild Arms established many of the recurring themes of the series. It introduced the "tool" system, in which special items such as bombs or grappling hooks can be used out of combat to cross otherwise impassable terrain and destroy objects. Originally released in Japan for the PlayStation in 1996, the game was later translated published in North America and the PAL region over the next two years by Sony Computer Entertainment. Wild Arms features two-dimensional characters and environments for normal gameplay, while battle sequences are instead rendered in full 3D computer graphics. The game follows the adventures of a band of "Dream Chasers", Rudy, Jack, and Cecilia, as they make their way across the desert-like world of Filgaia. Contacted by the avatars of the forces of nature that protect the world, the heroes are chosen to be mankind's champions in the face of a demon invasion.
  • Wild Arms 2, the sequel to the first Wild Arms, was the second and final title for the original PlayStation. While keeping many of the themes from the previous title, Wild Arms 2 introduced additional science fiction elements, including more abundant high technology and cybernetics, with additional fantasy and steampunk themes. A total of six characters can be recruited, with the player able to switch between any of them at any time. While characters remained in 2D, environments such as dungeons and towns were now rendered in isometric 3D. Wild Arms 2 involves a group of international peace-keepers known as "Operation ARMS" that are assigned by a wealthy benefactor to protect the world from the terrorist organization Odessa. The player assumes control of each member of ARMS as they make their way through the game, and eventually confront an ancient evil that once threatened to destroy all of Filgaia.
  • Wild Arms 3 is the first Wild Arms game for the PlayStation 2 console and the first title to be presented entirely using 3D cel-shaded graphics. Though combat remains turn-based, a minor addition to the battle system, the "crossfire sequence", gives the appearance that characters and enemies are moving around the battlefield between rounds. Going back to the series' Wild West roots, the game takes place on a desert world almost totally devoid of large bodies of water, where roving bands of adventurers and outlaws roam the land in search of vast fortune, either through robberies or treasure hunting. Four strangers united by circumstance, Virginia, Jet, Clive, and Gallows, are the main characters who must confront a group of mystics trying to revive the world, and a demon who would have it destroyed.
  • Wild Arms Alter Code: F is an enhanced remake of the original Wild Arms, featuring an expanded script, additional story sequences, and a re-recorded soundtrack by Naruke. While all the previous locations from the initial version return, they are now presented in full 3D with new layouts and puzzles. New gameplay additions from Wild Arms 3 include the Migrant System for avoiding battles, and the Crossfire Sequence added to combat.
  • Wild Arms 4 takes a more action game-like approach to the series, including environments that only allow horizontal movement, and the ability to run, jump, and slide past obstacles. The tool system is absent for the first time, and combat sequences are handled dramatically different from previous games. Utilizing the "Hex System", battlefields are now made up of seven equally-sized hexagons that characters may move between each combat round, allowing the player to attack enemies or aid allies stationed in adjacent hexes. The story follows the journey of Jude, a young boy from an isolated village who is the unwilling owner of a secretly-developed ARM weapon and now on the run from the government. He is joined by his companions Yulie, Arnaud, and Raquel as they embark on a quest to re-unite Jude with his mother, as well as defeat a number of superhuman government agents with a hidden plot involving the safety of the world.
  • Wild Arms 5, the final title for the PlayStation 2, makes further use of Wild Arms 4's HEX combat system with minor adjustments, including a combat party of no more than three characters. Released in Japan in December 2006, the game was released in North America by XSEED Games in August, 2007. A PAL-region version was published by 505 Games in limited quantities only available in France, Italy and the UK. The story concerns Dean Stark, a 16-year-old adventurer from a village specializing in collecting lost technology, and his friend Rebecca who discover a mysterious amnesiac young woman named Avril outside town. The duo agrees to help Avril in her quest to recover her memory, while Dean commits himself to learning how to use ARMs so he may one day become a successful "Golem Hunter", a finder of ancient robotic giants.
  • Wild Arms XF is the series' first handheld console|handheld title, developed for the PlayStation Portable. Unlike the other titles, it is a tactical role-playing game. The story centers around Clarissa Arwin, the leader of the Chevalet Blanc knights, who is swept up into a political war when she travels to the Kingdom of Elesius to retrieve her mother's sword.

Mobile[]

  • Wild Arms Mobile was a series of Adobe Flash-based mobile phone games distributed by Yahoo! Keitai, I-Mode, and EZWeb for the NTT DoCoMo cellphone brand in Japan. First developed in 2006, the download-to-play service includes two Wild Arms-themed minigames: a Tetris-style puzzle game, and Wild Arms Twin Guns of the Wilderness, a shooting game featuring characters and locations from Wild Arms 3. Additional downloadable features include backgrounds, calendar skins, music, and visual styles based on several Wild Arms games. A routine news feed can also be accessed with information from Sony Computer Entertainment.
  • Wild Arms: Million Memories was released for smart phones in Japan on September 26, 2018. The game was developed by ForwardWorks and features characters from various Wild Arms games. The game was shut down February 27, 2020.

Spiritual successor[]

Armed Fantasia, a crowdfunded indie spiritual successor to the series, was announced in 2022 by Kaneko, who had not developed a game in the 15 years since Wild Arms XF. He had previously faced resistance from Sony towards continuing the Wild Arms series, despite proposing a game "over and over again". Developed by Wild Bunch Productions, its music is planned to be composed by Elements Garden and long-time series composers such as Michiko Naruke. It was fully funded in a "double Kickstarter" along with Shadow Hearts-inspired JRPG Penny Blood. Armed Fantasia is planned to include an open-world environment, while bringing back elements from Wild Arms like a Weird West setting and kaiju-inspired creatures. The game includes the ability to chain attacks for both players and enemies.

The game takes place in a slowly desertifying world called Londenium governed by the Order of the Sacred Key, which fights creatures known as Anomalies using powerful ARM weapons. The main characters of Armed Fantasia are wandering Anomaly fighters dubbed Pathfinders, akin to Drifters in Wild Arms. They include 17-year-old street-smart protagonist Ingram Goodweather, 19-year-old Order knight Alicia Fairhead, and Euclid Sturges, a highly-intelligent 18-year-old mage.


Manga[]

File:WildArmsFlowerThieves.png

Cover to the Wild Arms Flower Thieves manga collection

First appearing in the Japanese Magazine Z in 2001, Wild ARMs: Flower Thieves, is a 187-page manga commissioned by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (now known as Sony Interactive Entertainment) published by Kodansha. The manga features artwork by Wakako Ōba and contains plot elements from the first two Wild Arms titles, though it is set in its own unique world. "Flower Thieves" takes place thousands of years after a war between humans and demons destroyed much of the life on the planet, turning the world into a scorched wasteland. Set in a dystopian future, the manga features a large group of humans on their last leg, living in the overcrowded city of Upper Hose where flowers and other flora are rare and valuable. When a plant-eating monster known as a "Flower-Thief" attacks a mysterious girl named Jechika, a young boy, Maxi Remington, must use a forbidden ARM weapon to save her, and is subsequently expelled from the city for using illegal technology. Traveling into the wilderness with Jechika and a florist named Gi, Maxi sets off on a quest to restore the balance of nature throughout the world and make the earth habitable again.

Beginning with Wild Arms 2 in 1999, official adaptations of each Wild Arms game were produced by such manga companies as DNA Media, Enix, Bros. Comics, GanGan Wing, and 4Kings for release exclusively in Japan. Each work follows the plot of each game it is based on, with minor interpretations to the original script and characters.

Anime[]

Template:Main Wild Arms Twilight Venom is a 22-episode anime series originally broadcast on Japan's WOWOW network from October 1999 to March 2000 produced by Studio Bee Train. Directed by Kōichi Mashimo, the series follows the adventures of two treasure hunters - Loretta, an aspiring sorceress and Mirabelle, a Crimson Noble - who stumble upon the body of Sheyenne Rainstorm, a warrior from the past reborn as a 10 year-old boy. Able to use the archaic yet powerful ARM devices found with him, Sheyenne and the others team up with gung-ho scientist Dr. Aronnax to discover the secret of his past. The series features music by Kō Ōtani and Sho Wada, as well as themes from the first two Wild Arms games.

Albums[]

Alone the world

alone the World.

In addition to commercial soundtracks for each individual game and the anime, two sets of arranged albums have been released featuring music from multiple games in the Wild Arms series. The compilation album alone the world: Wild Arms Vocal Collection, released in July 2002, features all vocal tracks from the first three Wild Arms titles, as well as sung versions of previously instrumental songs provided by Kaori Asoh.

In celebration of the Wild Arms series 10th anniversary, Media.Vision and King Records produced two separate albums under the Wild Arms: Music the Best label which feature music from the first four Wild Arms games as well as the Twilight Venom anime. The first album, Feeling Wind, released August 2006, contains piano interpretations of various songs performed by Haruki Mino and Fumito Hirata and arranged by Yasuo Sako, and came packaged with a special edition songbook entitled Piece of Tears featuring linear notes for each track as well as interviews with long-time series composer Michiko Naruke. The second album, Rocking Heart, released the following October, is a rock and jazz-inspired remix album featuring arrangements by Nittoku Inoue, Nobuhiko Kashiwara, Nao Tokisawa, Atsushi Tomita, Transquillo, and Ryo Yonemitsu.

References[]

  1. Jude: That guy...He referred to my ARM as the "power that sparked and fueled a war"... Weapons such as ARMs are responsible for what happened to places like Ciel and that other town, aren't they...? Maybe my power really can't protect anything...
    Raquel: Remember when I told you that there are both good and bad Drifters? And that I wanted to be a good Drifter?
    Jude: Yeah...
    Raquel: Well, it's the same for you. You just need to focus on using your power for good, that's all.
  2. Gaia: To give your life to protect what's important to you... How can you object to this?
  3. GameFAQ: Wild Arms – Box Scan (NA)
  4. GameFAQ: Wild ARMs 2 – Box Scan (NA)
  5. GameFAQ: Wild Arms 3 – Box Scan (NA)]
  6. GameFAQ: Wild Arms 4 – Box Scan (NA)
  7. GameFAQ: Wild ARMs 5 – Box Scan (NA)
  8. GameFAQ: Wild ARMs XF – Box Scan (NA)
  9. GameFAQ: Wild ARMs XF – Box Scan (EU)
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