Wild Arms XF
| Wild Arms XF | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Media.Vision |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Director(s) | Nobukazu Satō |
| Designer(s) | Nobuo Nakazawa |
| Series | Wild Arms |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Tactical role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Wild Arms XF (ワイルドアームズ クロスファイア Wairudo Āmuzu Kurosufaia?, pronounced "Wild Arms Crossfire") is a game in the Wild Arms series, the first for the PlayStation Portable. The game was unveiled at a Media.Vision fan event on September 2, 2006 and was released in Japan in 2007. A North American version of the game was released on March 11, 2008.
Wild Arms XF is a 2D turn-based tactical role-playing game, creating a gameplay experience somewhere between Dungeons & Dragons and chess. Players are given control of a small squad of characters (six or less) and placed on a grid-based map resembling a geographical location (a swamp, a town, a river), upon which they fight battles to progress through the game. As with most T/RPGs, positional advantage can be critical to victory, and players are encouraged to outmaneuver their enemies as well as outgun them. The game emphasizes positioning and maneuvering by the inclusion of "Formation Arts," which increase attack damage when an enemy is surrounded by your characters in a line, a triangle or a circle. Wild Arms XF is a member of the small subsection of T/RPGs whose battlefields are based around hexagonal tiles instead of squares. "Combination Arts" return from previous Wild ARMs titles, allowing characters to target an enemy in a waiting state and then deliver their attacks simultaneously with the next ally to attack their target. If the player succeeds in executing an uninterrupted series of commands, the damage inflicted upon enemies will increase significantly. On the other hand, the enemy gets the same advantage.
Like most T/RPGs, XF gives the player precision control over the composition and fighting style of their army. The player is given control of several plot-critical characters, and can additionally hire generic "Drifters" to strengthen their ranks. All characters (except one, Tony) have access to the game's "Class system," which allows them to change into different character classes outside of combat; each class comes with various "Skills", which allow them to perform different combat roles (offensive spellcasting, healing, item use, damage-dealing, etc.). Skills consist of a set of "Original Commands," active abilities which require MP to use, followed by a series of passive bonuses which help add character to the class. Drifters have access only to the basic 16 classes, but unique/plot-critical characters also have personal classes. The true depth of the system, however, is that it allows players to mix-and-match Skills. Each battle won provides Experience points and also "Class Skill Points", which allow characters to permanently learn Skills from their current class. The player can then fill each character's Skill Slots with those permanently learned Skills, no matter what Class that character currently is, allowing (for instance) the item-wielding Gadgeteer to wield an Elementalist's magic spells and/or passive bonuses, or vice versa. The number of available Skill Slots increases with the character's level, allowing a wide variety of customization.
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