So, you know what I said about striking a balance between staying true to the previous games in a series and bringing new mechanics to a series? Well, Wild Arms 4 (The 4th Detonator) goes pretty far to the new end of the scale. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just be prepared for a lot of explanations. After all, a series can’t just recycle the same old stuff or it would get pretty boring.
The story of Wild Arms 4 starts off in an idyllic little town, following the adventures of Jude, an energetic young boy with a taste for adventure. Pretty soon, the sky cracks open, and a bunch of military forces invade the town. By using a powerful gun, Jude is able to escape, but is left completely lost on the world below, hounded by the military forces who invaded his home. Hilarity ensues. Yeah, not too much to go on here, but at least it’s not a mission based storyline. The story definitely isn’t the main draw of this game.
I wish I could say that the characters are that main draw, but it’s only half true. Arnaud, who you may recognize from our cutest boys feature, is a high note, but his girlfriend Raquel, is impressive too. She wields a massive sword, is the main tank, and has to deal with some very sobering problems about her own mortality, and yet somehow manages to be moderately upbeat. On the other hand, Jude is pretty bland, being an impetuous brat and all, and Yulie is just another dumb healer chick. Oops! I almost forgot to mention this is the first game in the series to feature American voice acting. This is… not exactly a good thing. Listening to Jude shout and grunt while running around the map is moderately amusing, but it gets old fast. None of the main voice cast is particularly bad, but I’m not sure that it adds much to the game.
I suppose the most impressive feature of the game is the completely overhauled combat system. Instead of lining up, or even running free-form around the battlefield like in previous games, you fight it out on a hex-grid with six hexes placed around a seventh central hex. Instead of targeting individual enemies or allies, you simply target a hex, and anyone in that hex gets targeted by the effect. For example, status effects are targeted on hexes, so all you have to do to avoid poisoning is move to another hex, which uses up you turn. Enemies and allies can’t occupy the same hex, but enemies get the same benefits you do, so it’s usually not a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. Other additions include the class system, where everyone has their own class, and gets abilities as they gain levels. You can see every ability you’re going to get, and you can even leverage yourself up to get abilities that are higher than your level, at the temporary cost of max hp. It’s a neat system, but customization is somewhat lacking.
Puzzles in this game are handled rather differently than in any of the other games in the series. For starters, you don’t have any tools built-in. Instead, you’ll find the tools necessary to solve puzzles just lying around somewhere nearby. While this might make it seem too easy, since the game is basically telling you what tool you need for the job, there are several out of the way puzzles where you’ll need to carry a tool from several rooms away. Also added to this game are the ability to jump, slide, and slow down time, which adds a certain amount of platforming action to the puzzling. It’s a nice touch, and you’ll even get a sidescrolling minigame to test your skills.
This is about where I get around to replay value. This is going to be a short paragraph. Rating: “Nil.” Linear story, basically no customization opportunities, and no new game plus features.
Getting right down to it, this wasn’t exactly the most stellar title in the series. It did some interesting things with the battle system, and had some refinements on the leveling and puzzle systems, but really, most of the material was underwhelming. It gets about 7.7 out of 10. It’s not a terrible game by any means, and definitely has its moments, but a lot of its mechanics were not particularly well executed.
Fun Fact: It’s impossible to 100% complete the game in the American version, so don’t bother trying. Two enemies were taken out of the game, but not the monster list.
Quick Tip: If possible, split up your team so they take up four hexes before finishing a battle. This increases the likelihood of getting an item drop, some of which can be very good, like the weapon I got for Arnaud that made his attack power comparable to Jude’s.
If you enjoyed this game, you should give one of these games a try. Wild Arms 5 is the only other game in the series to share the hex-based battle system. Wild Arms Alter Code: F on the other hand, has carry-over data for this game, so if possible, you should complete it before playing Wild Arms 4. I guess Star Ocean: Til the End of Time has a somewhat similar style of story-telling, though it’s more action oriented. Honestly, you might find that a full-on SRPG like Disgaea: Hour of Darkness floats your boat pretty well, considering that the Wild Arms series ended up going off into the strategy genre after the main series was completed, and this was the game that started things going in that direction.
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