Wild Arms 5 celebrates the saga's ten years with style. Refined hex combat, sturdier plot and a regained Wild West mood. A fine close for the PS2 franchise.
Your verdict
Category
RPG1 player12+
Description
A Media.Vision and XSEED RPG released in 2007, the Western edition of Wild Arms 5, fifth main franchise entry. Dean Stark, young farmer, finds himself involved in a mythical Drifters story and fights forces threatening Filgaia. Refined Hex Search Battle System, more mature narrative. Western edition of the Japanese The Vth Vanguard version, celebrating the franchise's tenth anniversary. Last main Wild Arms entry.
Wild Arms 5 review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
This western edition brings forward the hexagonal-grid battle system. The battlefield is divided into cells where character placement counts as much as their blows: posting at range, flanking an enemy, aligning a line of fire. The art direction gives this honeycomb grid a clear legibility, turning each clash into a small problem of position, an original tactical twist on the series' gunslinger duels.
Beneath the western whistling surfaces a more tender vein. Alongside the frontier themes, the score reserves melancholic, intimate melodies for the characters and the story's key moments: restrained strings, piano and gentle motifs that speak the fragility of a dying world and the bonds of a band of young people. This emotional side, in counterpoint to the energy of the battles, gives the game an unexpected affective depth.
Around Dean, a band of six young Drifters carries the story and its central theme: coexistence. Filgaia is peopled by humans and Veruni, a race from elsewhere, and the prejudices between the two peoples fuel the conflict as much as outside threats.
Gameplay
"Solid"
Fun
"Pleasant"
Addictiveness
"Captivating"
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Marking the saga's tenth anniversary unfolds a Western JRPG of grid-based combat and a generous quest. Exploring the world, mastering positioning and flushing out the side content fills dozens of hours. That scope, true to the Wild Arms series, founds a longevity JRPG fans savour.
An RPG from Media.Vision celebrating the series' tenth anniversary, Wild Arms 5 extends the HEX hexagonal grid combat in a fantasy western adventure of brisker pace, carried by more dynamic gunplay and staging. The tactical positioning system, the melancholy western mood and the endearing cast win over JRPG fans. The classic story and a modest production weigh on it. A title for fans of Japanese RPGs with original tactical combat and the Wild Arms saga.
