Simple and clean

The first thing one notices about Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits are the graphics. As mentioned in our impressions from E3 2003, the visuals in Arc the Lad are all of a high-quality, clean style. Everything, including all the backgrounds and cut-scenes, are rendered in real-time. Texture work is varied and likely pushes the PlayStation 2’s video memory to the limit.

If there was one thing to complain about, it’d be the character animations. Whenever a character speaks, the camera focuses on him or her miming out the dialog. Since there’s no voice acting during the textual dialog, the characters’ mouths flap at random with their arms gesturing about. In an age where graphics technology can allow characterization through visuals alone, Arc the Lad sticks with the old-school method of showing emotion via text.

We're surrounded

So we meet again

Silly puppet acting aside, the graphics in Arc the Lad are among the best in RPGs today. It may not have the CG movies of Final Fantasy, but the in-game visuals are just as satisfying.

Thank you for the music

The sound design, on the other hand, can’t match up to the visuals. There’s nothing wrong with the sound effects, but nothing outstanding. Most of the sound effects in Arc the Lad come from the battle sequences, where swords and arrows impact with rather muted results. Then again, sound effects don’t usually play a huge role in RPGs in comparison to other genres, such as action games.

Stolen from Vega/Balrog

Throwing symmetry out the window

Thankfully, the soundtrack is constantly pleasant to the ear. In terms of quality, the music of Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is superb and is easily the best yet from the series. The unfortunate part is that what we get in quality, we don’t get in quantity. The limited selection of music means that many pieces are repeated again and again throughout the game. This isn’t as monotonous as it could have been, as some how each piece of music that plays over a given situation feels appropriate.