So.
It took some time for me to digest things, but I managed to beat Wild ARMs 2 last Tuesday, and it's time for the final thoughts before I pick another game to take on.
The ending was actually pretty good, only marred by the age-old tradition of cutscenes overriding player input when it comes to text boxes. It came close to turning a fairly nice closing sequence (everything gets wrapped up fairly tightly, casualties are light and fairly deserved) into a boring set of static screens. An interesting thing is that except for the actual credits, everything was done using the in-game engine, which could be a turn-off to some but helped tie things nicely in my opinion.
SPOILERS: The final boss was an absolute blast, being the evil demon of doom Lord Blazer, that your main character Ashley channels for transformations Breath of Fire style (down to having blue hair). In a bit of plot escalation done right, he pops up right after you manage to wax the Kuiper Belt (AKA Lavos' granddaddy) and then Ashley channels the local anime Excalibur and, quite frankly, wrecks Blazer's face. It was a lot like final Power Rangers episode, and got further boosted by various other characters showing up to help fuel your best super move and say uplifting stuff. Eat your heart out, Final Fantasy IV! End Spoilers.
Anyway, it all works out in the end. I'm not particularly keen on trying out the local collection of superbosses, mostly because they require something like 5-10 hours of extra grinding that I flat don't have the patience for.
So, in conclusion, Wild ARMs 2 is a fun little game, and deserves attention from anybody looking to see what old-school Playstation RPG goodness was all about. It is a little rough around the edges (the graphics are overall fairly meh, the Wild West influences slowly dwindled to nil in only a few hours in favor of the usual JRPG clichés), but it works out pretty damned well. The puzzles were actually a nice touch, giving much-needed brain-stimulation to what usually amounts to monster mazes. the story actually made use of some tired elements in a fine way, giving them new life and taking them to new heights (a frickin' invading evil dimension, not just eldritch legions, a hostile alternate universe).
Yes, it was very enjoyable all around. The Harvest Has Triumphed!
Ian, you write well! The game sounds good, but you're days late with a new post (tisk) . . . perhaps you're crafting some profound literary manuscript to unleash your fantastic compositional inclinations?! You should! Gas shortage too . . . wonder how many departments we'll be expected to cover this week? :(
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