can anyone tell me how this game is before i pick it up.
(how is the fighting system, and leveling up aspects, among other details anyone can add that sure would be helpfull)

I can't tell you what I don't know.

BUT it seems to me that most people are saying that it's just another RPG. Nothing special. Just another Wild Arms that won't inspire new gamers to play it. Kind of sad....but I still hear it's fun. Always was IMO. Solving puzzles and what not.

Story though...always leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

wildarms5 (http://www.wildarms5.com)

I've had the game for a couple days, and I think it's pretty good. The story may not be that great, but the gameplay and music are one of the best in the series.

excellent comrades!!!. i appreciate the remarks and comments. i will give the game a shot. watz the worst dat could happen. . .

oh i almost forgot.. how is da voice acting? (if any) is it great--okay--poor--horrible.?

oh i almost forgot.. how is da voice acting? (if any) is it great--okay--poor--horrible.?

The voice acting is pretty bad for some characters and tolerable for others, but that is just my opinion. It's nothing impressive, from what I've heard so far.

I can't tell you what I don't know.

BUT it seems to me that most people are saying that it's just another RPG. Nothing special. Just another Wild Arms that won't inspire new gamers to play it. Kind of sad....but I still hear it's fun. Always was IMO. Solving puzzles and what not.

Story though...always leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

You couldn't be more wrong. Don't talk about shit you don't know about.

Wild Arms 5 is the first great game in the series since the first one in my opinion, some of the other ones have been good or decent but this one really stands out. The story and character development is amazing in terms of quality, as to be expected since these things were dealt with by a famous novelist.

Music is fucking awesome and there's a lot of it. Pretty much every dungeon has it's own individual song and there are plenty of battle themes as well.

Moving on to the gameplay, the hex system returns... you have your elemental "ley points" and if you stand on them you can use special attacks based on that element if you like, you usually check the enemy's weakness often to see what to use against them, it's a pretty nice and strategic system.

One of the cooler parts is the dungeon stuff. You have dual guns and you can change what bullet types to use for the puzzles in the dungeons. This game also has TONS of secrets in it. I spent about 10 hours alone near the end of the game looking for all kinds of hidden items and dungeons, there's like 4 hidden dungeons for the endgame.

The voice acting is really good quality, kind of surprising really. Not many JRPGs get this kind of quality in terms of voice acting.

That's all I have to say, really. AMAZING game. I love it.

Lol did I somehow strike a nerve? And for some reason you seem to think that my statement was based on absolute truth and or me playing it. I clearly stated that I was only basing thing this on other people's opinions. I haven't tried the game so that's all I'm going on.

BUT from the previous installments I doubt that the voice acting is AWESOME like you say it is. But if it is I'll gladly welcome it and be surprised.

Yes, the voice acting is good quality. There's a dud or two but luckily they only have like 5 lines of dialogue in the entire game.

You may have struck a nerve but it's only because of people like you that awesome games like Tales of the Abyss got ignored. Spreading the word on what other people say and chances are the other people who said it just played previous games in the series which were lower in quality.

Pick the game up. It comes with an artbook, in a shiny, embossed collector's edition packaging, and I believe the game is only seeing a limited print run, anyway. WA4 didn't do too well in terms of sales, so I can only imagine they dialed back on the copies they were going to print for this new installment. Totally not joking.

I'll be renting this in a few weeks, :D

Wild Arms FIVE! It's like, you get not only 5, but 6 party members! SIX!

CHARACTERS

Yeah, Rebecca's spunky, and annoyingly so. Dean's one of those cliche protagonists, trying to pursue the same dreams of a childhood hero, but not particularly well thought out; this leads to Rebecca chiding him for his otherwise absurd pipe dreams.

This much you can find out within the first hour of the game.

What's so cool about Dean wielding a shovel, when he only does about half of as much damage, or less, than the chick with the gun? It also rather negates strategic movement and placement when she can shoot as many HEXes away as she wants.

VOICE-OVERS

More of the game's mandatory story dialogue scenes could stand to be voiced-over, in addition to the first time you meet each character; it's not as voiced over as WA4. We're missing out on all those scenes in which Dean's fascination with Golems is revealed to us; that's a major reason why he's going out and doing anything.

Doesn't look like there's going to be much of a plot recording to make, so I guess that's one less thing I'm going to feel obligated to do.

FIRST OR THIRD-PERSON VIEW? MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

Another annoying thing about the game, is that it's semi-first person third person; that is to say, you're chasing Dean around with a camera. They do give you a map for each dungeon, but what's the use when you have to keep opening and closing it to figure out where you are? They couldn't have just put it on the radar at the bottom-right hand corner of the screen? That thing is otherwise useless! It's harder to figure out where I need to go, or where I came from, and I end up unintentionally tracing my own steps!

OVERWORLD

The overworld's interesting; it seems almost ethereal, seeing as how it looks like it's differently lit than the areas of the game it connects to. It's like you walk out of the sunny village, onto some wide-open, misty fields, sprinkled with morning dew, and then you walk into a sunny forest. Change of weather, much?

MUSIC!

The music, so far, has been awesome-ish - all 8 tracks I've heard.

Opening
Southern Cave
Capo Branco
Voice-over with Rebecca
Overworld
Celestial Peak
Battle
Boss Battle

They say it's a hefty 6-disc soundtrack delivered in 2 installments, but following through it along with the game will have me sorted through it quickly. My guess is that all the filler material is all the cinema/dialogue scene tracks.

OVERALL

It's a very retro-styled game, but a very polished retro-styled game, despite all gripes, between gameplay, graphics, and music. It better be; it's the fifth game in the series!

So I ended up getting it and it's a fun game.



STORY
Like Schwarzer pretty much said...the story/plot is pretty simple, but I find that to be refreshing somewhat. It's not trying too hard to make some elaborate plot which in the end probably won't make sense. I like it.

Characters
So far I only like a few of the characters...mainly just the ones I started out with. Not too happy about it, but I think it's an improvement from 4's lineup. I just really can't stand Carol's voice. Please go away.

CAMERA
The camera angle gets some getting used to and it really didn't take long for me to get comfortable with it. I guess it was just a bit different. Nothing to really pout about.

MUSIC
Music is pretty good. My only gripe is the overuse of the western style whistling. I mean...I know it's a western game, but you don't have to whistle some tune all the time. Jeesh! But it's not like the whistling is bad...just overused. As for the other tracks, they are enjoyable.

OVERALL
Every Wild Arms game I've gotten since 3 has gotten bad or less than stellar reviews and I always end up enjoying it. This one is no different. I guess it's one of those love it or hate kind of games. I really like it though. Despite all the negatives it's still a fun game.

This reminds me of my situation where I really like a "mediocre" game, specifically Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus. I'm a big fan of that game! I got the game, strategy guide, special edition soundtrack with box, plus the Gackt - Redemption single! I beat the game, getting almost all memory capsules also, I only missed some of the hardest ones. I didn't beat the extra missions after the game was done to unlock some galleries, because I started playing Final Fantasy XII at that time! :)

Also, I'm a big fan of Secret of Evermore, join my club!! :p

on my list.
thank you so much..I'll try this game

WA5 is something you will either like or hate.(Kind of like FF X-2) Music is good. Graphics. . .are. . .well, graphics. In some places the graphics are great, in other places, not so great. The overworld however is awesome.

The Hex System does require strategy but not in the sanity of FF Tactics. As a general rule that I use, save before boss battle, skip any cut scenes, get into boss battle, examine boss weakness(Analysis is a menu skill that's free!), then reset the game and plan accordingly. I know that's cheap but if you go in blind most of the time, you'll find yourself spending the first couple of turns switching party members in and out of battle so you can get the right fighters. Dean isn't exactly strong with the magic.
Big disappointment - no traditional Tool System like in 1-3. Makes the other characters seem useless in a way.
Music - It's great for Wild Arms. (The day Sony botches the music in a WA game is the day I stop playing the series)
Plot - They use a blatant plot twist that you will see coming in order to hide the surprise plot twist WA is known for.(IE, the truth about Rudy in WA1/Alt. Code)
Voice Acting - Acceptable for the most part except for Carol. She sounds like she's voiced by a guy who has his testicles caught in a tightened vice-grip.

Well, won't place any opinions on the game, anymore, seeing as most of them have already been said by the other posters here. I do have something to say about the plot-- at times, some points just suddenly "drop out," especially in the ***ending*** (won't say much, but I'll put it this way... the ending wasn't much to write home about).

@beat: I checked the Character Guide (which is one of the EX-File secrets), and allow me to quote:

"Now if we can do something about the voice."

That's right! Carol's voice was really meant to be... ear-splitting.

Lol man...*headbutts Carol*

I must of missed that quote tho. She doesn't talk that much fortunately.

Wild Arms 5 is kinda cool...
I've never played any other Wild Arms ever but i really like this western background,the story still seems simple enough but there are some cut-scenes that give random info as how it will evolve and i think it will be great...

the battle system ain't something totally new so u might get bored after many hours of grinding...but if u don't spend hours in battles its ok u will problably not get bored...

what i would like to point out is that i really like the graphics of this game...
the characters are well-made and the dungeons give u a ''non-chilidish feeling''
i mean bosses are pretty scary,not some big pink balloons that make u think ''why did i get this game,am i ten years old or something?''

awesome games like Tales of the Abyss got ignored.
oh jesus, lets not over react now.