[PS2] Wild Arms: Vth Vanguard

New scans and information released!





General Information

The fifth game will be returning to the traditional style of Wild Arms. The game takes place on Filgaia as always but the game will be structured like the first three games where there will be a world map with dungeons and towns scattered around. No word if the search function will make a return.

Dungeons will be more similar to the first three games, being structured like 3D puzzle maps. However the ability to jump slide and use Accelerator to 'slow time' will be available to use in dungeons so I would expect some of the platforming aspects of WA4 to return, though not to such a degree as they were used in WA4. No word on how the tool system will be handled as of yet. The encounter avoidance system from WA5 is also based off of the system defined in WA4.

The HEX battle system of Wild Arms 4 will be making a return in Wild Arms 5. It's said to be greatly refined and the battle camera has been largely reworked to give the player a 'battlefield' level view of the action rather than a top-down perspective used in WA4.

Character Information

Returning to the original Wild Arms, there will only be three main characters. Unlike past games, there will not be a prologue to introduce each character. The three characters are as follows:

Dean Stark

16 year old boy raised in a quiet town who dream about becoming a Golem Hunter. Considered the 'main character' of the game.

Avalil Van Freul

20 year old non-human girl who falls from the sky in the left hand of a Golem. Seems she has lost her memory and can only recall the phase Johnny Appleseed. (what?) Unlike most characters of this archtype, she is actually talkative and full of life.

Rebecca Streisand

16 year old girl. Not much is know about her at this point other that she is the traditional ARM user of the group.


Here are a few in-game shots courtesy of Rpgamer:



Most amazing jew boots

Excellent. I'm pretty excited for this game. I think WA4 was a step in a good direction, and it's good to see that they didn't abandon some of its features completely. I really liked the platforming aspects.

The main character seems like a polar opposite of Jude from WA4, and much more mature. That will be good. I just hope they don't pull the "cliche I don't remember who I am" card with Avalil. It's so old. I hope there's a twist.

Hopefully we get this.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Is... is his weapon a shovel?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Really glad to see they're keeping the features from WA4. I really liked that game, and was afraid it would be the odd one out. Hope it gets a timely localization. XSEED did send me a survey about the next WA game, so I hope they're already thinking about picking this one up.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Generic Badass

Is... is his weapon a shovel?

Noticed the exact same thing ;D

Beware, evildoers! I shall give it to you in SPADES!

Good to see the main character has a cool outfit unlike most games out of Japan lately...

I was speaking idiomatically.

Damn. WA5 is coming out and I haven't even played 4 or Alter Code F yet! I've definitely got some catching up to do.

I can see the shovel working... somebody in Suikoden V fought with farming equipment.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

The 'shovel' is a Chinese weapon which I cannot recall the name of at the moment. It's more of an axe but yeah it does look like a shovel. The name was something that roughly translated to "Crescent Heaven Blade Shovel" or something ridiculous like that.

FELIPE NO

Regardless of the shovel, this game's gonna rock. I'm glad to see the Wild Arms series continuing on the upswing, instead of taking Suikoden's downward spiral. I'm still playing 4 right now, but I'll be done with this one long before the Fifth Vanguard gets here.

Plus, while I can't see X-Seed refusing to pick this up, does anyone know the sales figures of Wild Arms 4? I...can't say I've heard of anyone in my area even playing it, much less knowing what it is.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Uhm. Play Suiko V. That's an upswing if I've ever seen one.

Have yet to touch Alter Code F and I don't think I'll try IV. I've heard disappointing things about it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I guess I've got a bit of a grudge against the Suikoden games, had one since 3 came out. I've heard that 5 is getting back on track to being a good game, but that it's ultimately still average and still lacking compared to Suikoden 2. I'll wait until one gets up to Suikoden 2's level.

Alter Code F, though, was kinda boring. They really could've done so much more with regards to remaking the first game, but I think they just stopped a little too short. Wild Arms 4 though is awesome -- I'm disappointed in myself for having owned it from January 16th and not even opening it until a couple weeks ago. Since 4's only $20 now, I'd highly recommend you grab a copy, Gech.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Quote:

Have yet to touch Alter Code F and I don't think I'll try IV. I've heard disappointhing things about it.

WA4 was excellent. I thought it was easily the best in the series. While it was a bit short, the gameplay was great and the characters were really likeable. I love Raquel.

Quote:

I've heard that 5 is getting back on track to being a good game, but that it's ultimately still average and still lacking compared to Suikoden 2. I'll wait until one gets up to Suikoden 2's level.

It is at the level of Suikoden 2, and the only reason someone would say otherwise is because they're steeped in nostalgia.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Suiko V is on a level of II, definitely ;D I recommend it, Jag.

Well, if ya'll recommend it and you're fans of the series, then I'll give it a crack. The reviews I saw could've been from newbies who never tried the series before =d

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Let me put it this way: I played the crap out of Suikoden V for over a month after getting caught up in it. Not only do I honestly think it's better than 2 (MOST parts...nothing quite as emotionally raw as 2's best parts, but improves on most everything else very nicely. Especially the gameplay/party set-up options), but I'm slowly and painfully sailing through Suikoden IV now, just to:

A: Ease the fact that Suikoden V is over.
B: See how IV ties into V and the rest of the series.
C: See how many stars I can get on my own, as I have no plans on doing a perfect 108 run here.

But yeah...I can definitely see how IV can rub fans of S2 the wrong way. Lack of direction, horrible characters, 4-man parties, the opening sections are painful and nothing you do really seems important. Very eerily reminds me of Chrono Cross (not a good thing).

Um, yeah...You owe it to yourself to play V.

As for the game in the actual topic...Best news is Naruke coming back to do the music. Then again, WA4's music really grew on me, once I weeded out some of Masato Kouda's lousier tracks and the varied styles grew on me.

I have WA4 now and I'm planning on going through it as soon as I finish...*shudder*...Suikoden IV. Then again, if something something doesn't happen REAL soon to explain where I have to go next, I might be starting WA4 sooner than later.

I did play the intro though...Love the new battle system and the Klonoa-style platforming. Definitely looks like fun. Not crazy about Vth going from 4 down to 3 characters...The more, the better.

Mucknuggle: Were you thinking of Goesch (a big farmer who fought with a giant log)?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Goldfish, do you have the WA4 soundtrack (or for that matter, anyone) that you could upload to YSI, perhaps? I seem to be missing mine...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Off-topic, but how does WA IV's soundtrack live up to its predecessors?

Still huffy that Alter Code F didn't have a theme for Zed ;__; BLASPHEMY. I read about it ><

FELIPE NO

Jag: Uploading now. S-L-O-W-L-Y.

Gechmir: It's very different, I'll say that. It's four different composers, each with their own styles and none of the others really tend to sound like Naruke. She has about 1 disc worth of material (her tracks are practically unmistakable if you're familiar with her style), Masato Kouda has about 2 discs (half of his tracks tend to be too atmospheric for my liking, but he does have some great stuff like "Dark Grey Back Ry" and especially "Nightless City Guara Bobelo", which has a spot in the BSC...I'd say he leans towards jazz compositions but he's really all over the place) and the other two, Ryuta Suzuki and Nobuyuki Shimizu, combine to do about 1 disc worth of material...They probably had my favorite tracks on the whole thing ("Manifestation from Hell", "Howling at an Unstoppable Fate" and "Black Trigger" come to mind immediately). Lot's of straight action themes from them. It's too diverse to really describe...Worth the listen. Just be warned that not every track is gold (probably Kouda stretching himself too thin) Me personally, I'll say it's my second-favorite after Wild Arms 3, followed by 1, Code F then 2 (I loved the music in 2 as well, but it doesn't work too well in straight-soundtrack form). I can't wait to see where Vth fits into that mix...

Edit: Sigh...Might want to try an FTP or direct connect...My upload keeps dying. Sorry.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I hope that go back to the old western theme again..I think thats what really makes the series unique...I never played 4 but I heard the setting was kinda futuristic or techy almost? Could be wrong..

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Eww, they're bringing back the hexes? I hope they're doing a serious overhaul, because the implementation in Wild Arms 4 is sloppy at best. The combat system varies between killing bosses in three hits and "No matter what I do, the boss gets two moves before I can even act and instantly kills Arnaud and Yulie. Yay." A LOT of room for improvement there.

Glad to hear they're going back to more world map exploration. RPGs just are fun unless you're getting your ass lost out in the woods. Not sure I like how tightly they've pulled in the camera in dungeons, but those may just be promotional shots.

I hope they've kept their writers around, since the plots have wound up being the strongest draw for me with this series. Even when they start wallowing in RPG cliches, they manage to present them in a coherent fashion, which is quite refreshing. I don't demand surprises, just don't insult my intelligence.

<3 jailbait female lead.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Haha, the "-th" suffix doesn't work at all with Roman numerals. People are gonna call it "Veeth Vanguard" or something ridiculous.

Looking forward to this, though. Big fan of the series.

How ya doing, buddy?

I'm going to wet my pants over the eventual newest release of Wild Arms yet again! With a fifth in the works, I'm guessing that the 4th held it's own despite mixed feelings over some of the new in-game systems.

I am excited that there are two girls supporting the main character this time. Very nice, seeing as how WA3 had Virginia as the female lead, and WA4 had Raquel as the overkill princess. I was sort of hoping that they'd continue to break convention with the guy being the mage type, but I don't think spellcasters would have use for shovels.

I like the encounter avoidance system in WA5 since you could totally skip it without sacrificing ENC gauge points anymore, although by the time you were able to seal off encounters, you had already cleared the dungeon most of the time. Plus, a good amount of the time, you had to beat stronger than average monsters due to detonation status in order to work for your break point rights.

I'm a bit suspicious about there being no prologue this time around. I know WA4 didn't do the "separate characters uniting" thing that was done for the first three, but I really liked that concept. Hopefully they can still retain the feel of "we all met by fate" that I love so much.

I loved the hex system as well, even though some people hated it. The trade off of having all characters in one hex as opposed to separate hexes is a neat balance. Even if you beefed up your hex(es) with Arnaud, and weakened the opponents' hex(es), you could be in danger if you were sloppy still.

Geting excited about this already

How ya doing, buddy?

Seems funny that half this thread is about Suikoden when it's over WA.

The only experience with WA I've had was with 3, and even then I thought it was average. My brother is bugging me to buy 4, but I've read some pretty negative reviews on it. I think I'm going to buy it anyway for his sake. =p

The graphics look pretty nice. Oh, yeah, SHOVEL. Cool.

Then my own comment on Suikoden. XD Goldfish, take everyone's advice and do not finish IV. It will literally break your heart as it did mine. I haven't played V yet but from reading the comments on this thread it makes me want to rush out and play it immediately. I'm skeptical about the "better than II" opinions; I'll have to play it for myself. The literal heartbreak with the "bad ending" with II led me to leave the game unplayed for a week before I can return to it again. The emotions were that bad for me.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm glad to see that the ability to jump remains. The platforming bits in number 4 were probably one of my favorite parts of the game.

If XSEED does pick this up and localizes it (which I'm sure they will), I hope the game will have a more polished feel to it. I'm sorry, but text flying off the TV screen is a big no-no to me. I enjoyed the voice acting though.

While on the subject of XSEED, anyone know what's going on with them lately? I expected them to at least announce a new title or two during E3, but nothing has been announced since the release of Shadow Hearts 3. I was thinking about emailing them with a few suggestions. Probably a few PSP titles worthy of translation. Some of which include a few Falcom ports such as Gurumin and the Legend of Heroes 6 game.

How ya doing, buddy?

Wild Arms 4 had text overflow problems as well? The only text related problem I recall was the issue with Judes first ability. Though I could be completely wrong as I pretty much played WA4 and WA:ACF back to back and may be confusing the two. I know ACF had tons of localization issues and a ridiculous level of text overflow problems.

How ya doing, buddy?

I really enjoyed Wild Arms 2 and 3 but I've yet to get my hands of WA 4 because every store I go to is either sold out or still selling it for $40. None the less, this is some good news and something to look foreward too.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I believe WA4 is up online for $20, last I've seen it. Check Amazon or something.

Jam it back in, in the dark.