What in Blazes!? It's Wild Arms 2!

"The five of us are good only when we are all together."
"What about when Brad was dead?"
"I think we can all agree that was bad."
"What about before Kanon joined the party? That was, like, most of the game so far."
"Look, I'm trying to have a moment here."

Ashley just said that to remind Kanon not to try to kill him again. We're only good, Kanon. Good. Gooooooooood.

Previously on Wild Arms 2: ARMS is on a pretty solid murder rampage. Not only have they banished the entirety of Cocytus, but they also killed a ghost! Or a geist. Sorry, I don’t mean to offend any of my spectral friends.



But no time to be ectoplasmically sensitive now, we’ve got a Death Star to raid!



First rule of storming the enemy base is that you can always leave if you want to. This… probably won’t happen, because the enemy encounter rate for this area is low, and the only boss is behind a point of no return, but it’s nice to have options.



And we’re off!



I guess Vinsfeld set up a bunch of black lights? Some villains know how to decorate.



Here’s the signature puzzle of this dungeon: there are many doors, and they’re all color coded. Our choices are red, blue, and green. There aren’t any green doors around here, but red appears to be locked, and blue is open. Let’s go check out that blue door.



Switch time!



And now red and blue are unlocked, but green is barricaded. You can see where this is going.



For now, let’s hit those red doors.



Yep, our next goal is unlocking green (and presumably locking blue).



So the other red door leads to a darkened area. Hey! Vinsfeld! You forgot to beautify here!



This area is a maze, and the place most likely to toss a few enemy encounters your way. These Odessa Man 3s are exclusive to the area, and are the natural evolution of the Odessa Man 1 and Odessa Man 2 breeds.



Remember when we promised Ptolomea that we’d be merciful to his men? We’re the good guys! With knives!



This light switch is about as far from the entrance as it gets. Vinsfeld is a masochist.



But it does make the maze a little easier to navigate.



What dis?



Ah, a teleporter. I’m sure that’s the only one we’ll find in this dungeon.



And now we can unlock the green door, backtrack through that whole maze, fight a few battles, and…



Ready to go!



Enemy variety! Doppelgangers return from the Alchemic Plant, and they presumably want revenge on Brad for his plot cheating. However, these dittos don’t transform very quickly, so go ahead and smash ‘em before they have a chance to dopple.



Oh dammit! Teleporter room!



Alright, this is one of the least aggravating teleportation puzzles in gaming. There are basically two rooms, and the teleporter relative locations match up perfectly between the two rooms…



But the teleporters are not necessarily on the same planes between rooms. So this is the time that you’re gonna have to go with whichever teleporter is gonna get you the highest.



Once you’re walking around atop walls, you’re pretty much set.



Okay, maybe we’re not completely set.



There. Needed to bump around the maze a little more to find the switch that will let us proceed.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

A save point! Now we’re making forward progress. Incidentally, thanks to the constant teleporting of the previous room, there have barely been any random encounters in this dungeon.



A few rooms later, and we’re about to bar our way backwards. That switch panel will enable the green door, but lock the red door. No going back now!



And there’s a good reason for that.



“Trying? Dude, we have julienned your ideals.”



Oh yeah! I guess this is the first ARMS has actually encountered Vinsfeld. We’ve seen the Cocytus members over and over, and Vinsfeld appeared once in a projection, but, other than that, he’s been pretty good about hanging back at HQ.



“Vinsfeld, this is as far as your treachery goes! I, no we, are going to put a stop to your foolish ambitions. I promised ‘Him’ and Ptolomea that I'd stop you before you run wild. I'm going to stop you for the Liberation Army you betrayed as well.”

Brad made a damn list of reasons he has to defeat Vinsfeld. And considering “him” is a clear reference to Billy (or… given the capitalization… God?), Brad has been curating that list for a while.



Aw, Vinny remembers when Brad was but a babe.



Does it have something to do with the fact that we’ve foiled, like, every plan you’ve ever hatched?



Oh, that. Congratulations, Antenora, your whole life’s ambition amounted to one box of dialogue.



Mad Mountains? Yeah, I want to say that is a crazy translation of something that could sound much cooler. “Rage of the Earth” or something, I’d suspect.



Have at thee!



Mad Mountains does cut a pretty cool silhouette.



“Where did they come from? And where are they going?”



“We” is just you at this point, buddy.



“Why does this ‘dril’ fellow have more followers than I do? Why? This world should burn.”



The future bites!



I just realized that you could interpret Vinsfeld’s hairstyle as emo, and that is wonderful.



Anyway, time for a fight.



Fun bit of potential storytelling: Caina’s strongest attack is one of Vinsfeld’s “regular” attacks. He probably taught his lil protégé the move, and that’s adorable.



So anyway, Vinsfeld is mostly manageable, save this one scary move. Incur my Wrath seems to summon angry ghosts to attack, and it’s powerful all on its own. But it also has a chance of instant kill (technically the status effect), so every hit is a gamble as to whether or not it will wipe out the whole party in one shot. Or it could just sting. Who knows?! Luckily, there is a save point literally steps from here, so if the RNG is feeling salty, it’s not too big of a deal.



And Kanon learned another new technique! She’s on fire!



Get ‘em!



Anyway, if you can keep up on healing the damage incurred by Incur my Wrath, you should be fine. Vinsfeld is really only a threat if you’re particularly unlucky.



Nobody asked you. Like, literally.



Going to just go full anime villain now?

CONTINUED NEXT POST

Monsters like you?



Oh, wait, he wasn’t speaking metaphorically. He meant monster-monsters.



Yeah! Still! Monsters like you!



“I dunno. JRPG rules?”



Oh, what the hell, Vinsfeld? You’re telling us you’re the mini boss?



It’s that last “ha” that gets him really excited.



Welp, ARMS has been in the same place for longer than a half hour. Time for it to explode.



Stupid suicidal mini boss…



And he teleported away! What a dick!



Well, at least we’re succeeding at destroying this Death Star. Only problem is we’re still inside…



“Can’t we just teleport like Vinsfeld?”
“No! For some reason!”



So gameplay/plot synergy, we locked the exit on our way into the room with that stupid door puzzle. Time to go rustle up an escape pod or five.



Luckily, they’re not that far away.



Party splitting time!



But someone has to work the control panel.



Ashley! What did we say about suicide missions?



This sounds stupid, but it worked for Brad.



“How about saying you’re not going to die at all?”
“No promises.”



Well, gosh, wouldn’t want to piss off Lilka.



Ashley really is the best man for this job. He successfully tossed himself out of an airship and survived once already, so this should be no big deal.



Yes, it might seem convenient that there are exactly five escape pods, but there are also five Odessa bigwigs, so it makes sense. Well, there were five until about a day ago…



“We’re all counting on you.”



Dungeon Part 2: The party is separated, but there are no random encounters, so hooray for that.



But Brad isn’t going anywhere.



So just as easily as we can switch the party leader during a normal dungeon, we can flip between the different party members and their separate locations.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

So, to start, only Lilka can exit her room.



And it becomes readily apparent that Dungeon Part 2 is going to be a complete puzzle dungeon all on its own.



First important thing: switches need to be permanently depressed to lower blocking walls. Sometimes there’s a block to make things easier, sometimes you need a body.



Lilka is able to find a switch to unlock some doors.



So now Brad is free!



And is immediately blocked again!



Let’s try Tim.



Tim’s area will remind you that a person works as well as a block to lower a wall.



Also, for no reason in particular, Tim’s area has some dummy switches and blocks that don’t do anything. Window dressing? Another excuse to screw with the orphan? Who knows.



Tim seems to have a lot of freedom.



But it ends at this point. Pretty obvious we’ll need a couple of friends to lower that gate.



So how’s Kanon doing?



Yay! She can release Brad!



And then Brad can help Kanon make progress.



This dungeon is designed very well: the way the various gates work guarantee that you can’t accidentally “trap” a character, as you “need” to hit the right switches to jointly proceed. Additionally, some of the blocking walls exist to bar you from backtracking, so that way you’re not covering the whole dungeon when you’re “lost” and looking for the next switch. It’s all surprisingly meticulous.



And Kanon has reached one of the Tim switches.



And Brad… is blocked by a blue door. That guy just can’t catch a break.



So, in another Tim area, the Air Ballet may be used to move a block…



Which can work for giving Lilka a little room to breathe.



And now Lilka can reach the second Tim switch.



So Tim can use Pooka to reach a console.



Which finally lets Brad out of his temporary prison (don’t worry, he’s used to it).



Then Brad can make some solo progress.



Play with a few switches…



And hit this area. It’s kind of hard to see, but that block needs to fall down to a lower plane/switch, and Brad has no way to move the block horizontally.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

But if we get Tim to Air Ballet from another angle…



Then we’re good!



Now Tim has to deal with a switch that is all the way up there. What’s a boy to do?



How about getting Kanon to help out?



That will lower the switch properly…



And now Tim can flip that switch, and be the first to make it to his escape pod.



Tim is briefly stymied by the tiny barricade that he could clearly just step over, but he’s not giving up!



Thanks, magical floating purple stuffed animal!



Oh yeah, we still have those telepathic rocks.



“Go! Do it for Tony!”



Toodles!



Tim’s final switch impacted everybody, so now Brad can reach his pod, too.



I want to say this is the only time Brad refers to “Vins” in a familiar manner. An old “hero” getting nostalgic, or a localization error? You decide.



No need to die like every other one of his compatriots.



“Stop reading my mind, Ashley!”
“Nah.”



Yeah, I guess taking a nap in your escape pod is a fine plan.



Lilka is up next. She really bought that pep talk about everyone being “good when we’re together”.



Curse this miniscule guard rail!



“Lilka, dammit, don’t you lilka this up.”



Lilka is the only party member that maybe has an issue with this whole telepathy thing.



“It’s cool. It takes my mind off Brad’s telepathic snoring.”



Kanon, you’re the best.



Kanon has already had enough character development over the last few updates, so she reveals the plot relevant bit that the Heimdal Gazzo is apparently ascending, not descending.



Ashley isn’t thinking too hard about it, though.



Yeah yeah, hearts connected as one, let’s get moving.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

Oh, right, Ashley’s heart has a demon pumping in there, too. Well, Kanon will be glad to take care of that.



Okay, Ashley, time to go.



Gasp! Incidentally, Vinsfeld came directly from the room he teleported away from… so… Maybe he just teleported to the ceiling, and nobody noticed?



“Sup?”



“Uh, because I’m alive, and you’re not, Vins?”



Ashley gives him the ol’ “I fight for my friends” speech.



“Wait, let me get this straight. You’ve been fighting terrorism because you have a girlfriend?”
“Well it sounds silly when you say it like that.”



“Had a really good pizza once, but other than that, nothing.”



So, oh man…



One-on-one battle to the death.



Vinsfeld versus Ashley! A battle for the ages! They just met a half hour ago!



So this battle is thematically interesting, but not necessarily mechanically interesting.



Vinny has all the same skills, except they do less damage, and, obviously, you no longer have to worry about healing the whole party simultaneously.



Ultimately, the battle seems tense, because it’s one-on-one with a big bad boss, but there really isn’t much to it. It still winds up more exciting than every single final Cocytus fight, though.



To take a quick moment to discuss this “Dungeon Part 2” area: this whole section of the game is weird… but a good kind of weird. There’s a save point, then a very difficult boss, then a complete puzzle dungeon, and then a solo boss battle. The whole thing becomes surprisingly stressful, because you have a lot to lose in the event of a party wipe… but that’s probably not going to happen. But false tension is good! It makes this “End of Odessa” finale more stirring and memorable, and you (the player) are really anxious for a reprieve as the members of ARMS are more and more anxious themselves. And each section of this area is pretty carefully designed, too, so bonus!

On the other hand, what amounts to a four-way block puzzle dungeon on the way to an escape pod is a really weird bit of pacing. Why the heck is there a block puzzle path on the way to emergency exits? And, if we’re supposed to be in a ship that is rapidly hurdling toward destruction, why wedge a puzzle area in there that could take a healthy amount of time to solve? From a plot perspective, this whole section seems oddly placed.

But it works out, so let’s not worry too much about it.

Also, if you ever wondered what it would be like to play the ending of Final Fantasy 6...



We now resume the death of our villain already in progress.



Oh. Right. That.



Rock out with your sword out.



Hey, Heimdal Gazzo? You’re pointed in the wrong direction. Filgaia is down there.



Or space is good, too. I guess.



Err… what?



Yeah, I’d like an answer to that, too.



Fun fact: “The Grauswein” returns in Wild Arms XF, the Final Fantasy Tactics of the Wild Arms franchise. Also, if I know my German, “swein” means “piggy”. The Gray Piggy?



But in this case, the Grauswein is just going to hang out in space, and, when it gets bored, belch out a nuclear bomb. When will that happen? We don’t know! Please look forward to it!



And, having doomed Filgaia to the worst random number generator in the universe, Vinsfeld dies, leaving Ashley with little time to escape.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

… At least make an attempt to step over a corpse and reach a control panel?



Or go super saiyan. Whatever.



Really, localization team? Really?



This sounds familiar…



Meanwhile!

I like that this justifies the bakery having roof access.



Marivel apparently just hangs out with Marina when ARMS is off on missions. Secondary characters unite!



“Don’t get your hopes up. Ever.”



Your wish is granted!



… Eventually!



Meanwhile…



Yep, this certainly seems familiar.



“Maybe there was a doppelganger that…”
“Not now!”



But don’t give up hope yet!



If we zoom out a bit…



Little more…



Maybe a lot more…



What’s that over there?



No. There was a bubble…



No, not quite…



There we go!



And… time for a break. First save point since before the intial Vinsfeld fight.

ARMS Mission #18:
Destroy Odessa
Status: Success!
Notes: Let's try not to die in space!



I haven’t been tracking the game counter too much because technically this save file involves me re-speeding through the opening chapters (thanks to the incident), but we’re officially at the 12 hour mark. And consider this something of a speed run.



And I note that because it’s time for Disc 2! Was everything involving Odessa only the first half of the game? Guess we’ll find out!

Next time on Wild Arms: Never meet your heroes.

Heimdal Gazzo returns in WA3...in name only, as an optional boss.

IIRC, the name Grauswein also comes up again in WA4, though it's not something you ever see.

Graus + wein, or "gray wine", according to some very rusty high school German, anyway. Google Translate seems to agree.

Oh hey let's talk music again!

Heimdal Gazzo gets its own dungeon theme! It makes the whole place seem more interesting than it really is, check out that heroic tune!

Vinsfeld gets his own battle theme as well, as you'd expect. Seems to remix some of that inexplicably named 'Battle Robot Jack' track from way back when.

Bonus! Vinsfeld also gets his own victory theme! All to himself!

Finally, the animated scene out in space that ends off the disc gets its own track too. I really dig this tune, actually, it grants the moment a sort of heaviness that it otherwise doesn't really have because Wild ARMS 2 is too bonkers to be dramatic. This track though...

This is crazy and I love it.

Previously on Wild Arms 2: Odessa is defeated! But Ashley got launched into space! And nobody knows what happened to Liz and Ard! Are they okay?!



But we know where Marina is! She’s standing out in the wind by Valeria Chateau.



And here’s Altaecia, Irving’s sister. I’ll forgive you for not remembering she existed at all, as the last time we saw her was for twelve seconds before even Brad joined ARMS.



“Maybe with a step ladder? No, tried that yesterday…”



I want to say that that isn’t even figuratively accurate. Just buy a cell phone!



Hey, Altaecia, we literally know nothing about you, care to elaborate on… something?



Aw, is someone special living in the chateau? Does your brother know about this mystery man? Kinda? What does that mean?



So Marina continues to hope that thinking really hard is going to save the day.



Meanwhile!



Hooray! Wild Arms 2 didn’t kill its main character!



Overwhelming light? Grecian pillars? Should be dead? … This is probably Kansas.



And then a girl dropped by.



Yep! Go back and check, “A Girl Seen Before” appeared briefly at the Sword Cathedral about ten seconds after Ashley grabbed Argetlahm, the sacred sword.



And she was apparently responsible for that shining light at the end of the last update, too. Probably a safe bet to blame her for the last time Ashley survived getting sucked out of an airlock, too.



Good, we’ve got a name. Hi, Anastasia. That sure is a name with no historical relevance!



And, if you somehow missed all the clues from earlier, yes, this is the Sword Magess of myth.



A celebrity knows your name, Ashley! Be polite!



So, I love this entire update/section of Wild Arms 2. First and foremost, for a game that has proven it has absolutely no problem with having four characters stand around in a nondescript room to hash out the plot for minutes on end, this area is weirdly cinematic. Like, maybe-there-was-a-guest-director cinematic. This initial “getting to know you” scene could easily continue to take place in the pillar courtyard (?), but, no, there is walking and characters with sprite-y expressions.

Also, Anastasia is a hoot. Here’s the big damn Sword Magess that saved the entire world, and she’s like “yeah, so what’s up with you and your girlfriend, huh?”



And she’s polite, too!



Ashley, don’t ruin this.



And here’s kind of the point of meeting Anastasia…



Anastasia is human.



Wild Arms 2 has this running thesis about what heroes are to themselves and others, but this area drives home the point that heroes are people, too. In short, everybody poops, and we might be in a better place if we acknowledge that, say, the Constitution was written by a bunch of inexperienced young dudes still drunk off winning a war (and also maybe literally drunk). Applying this kind of thinking to a fantasy universe is downright novel, as “the ancient generation that sealed away the greatest evil” is usually venerated as a bunch of gods, and not a girl in mittens occasionally calling herself “big sis”. Ultimately, this whole section’s real life (or at least “real” mythology) parallel would be like finding out King Arthur was some random gal who just happened to yank on the wrong sword.



Oh, you stay out of this.



“Anyway, Ash, wanna get out of here?”
“Yeah, the glow in this place is hurting my eyes.”



The living live one place, the dead live (huh?) in another, and this area is the inbetween. I love inbetween places!

CONTINUED NEXT POST

If I have one complaint about this section, it’s that we’re going to explore the Filgaia of Anastasia’s time… and it’s just a lame temple.



But if Dumbo here believes in his feather enough, he’ll fly back home.



… Or at least walk.



Dungeon time!



And who is this?



This magical chosen one has her own pet wolf. I wonder if she has a friend that is really good with machines, too…



Lucied is the Guardian of Desire, and, unlike literally every other Guardian we (and Anastasia) have ever encountered, he’s got a physical body. This is consistent with Wild Arms 1, where Lucied also appeared, and she (physically) accompanied Boomerang (a bad guy) who just plain appealed to her.

Incidentally, it’s canon that Lucied will flip genders to match the desires of her mate. Nobody tell Neil Gaiman about this, or we’re going to get a lecture.



Anastasia’s theory is that Desire is just, ya know, strong like that.



Anastasia would like to thank her special good boy and magical sword for this honor.



And I’d like to get through one Let’s Play without having to explain some kooky version of time travel.



Basically, this whole area is a memory-based recreation of Anastasia’s time, but because of -reasons-, everything that happens here also ripples back through the past. So if any historians are wandering around, thanks to this nonsense, Ashley now officially joined the Sword Magess for a dungeon a thousand years ago.



And away we go!



So Anastasia and Lucied are not just for show, they’re officially 66% of our party for this area. Hooray! New friends!



For posterity, here’s how everyone’s stats compare. Anastasia appears to be a better mage than Ashley, but he wins out on the vitality front. Also note that Anastasia’s class is “Sword Saint”, which I want to say is supposed to be consistent with “Sword Magess”, but, ya know, translation woes. I vastly prefer the title Sword Saint, because it’s alliterative and implies martyrdom. And it makes sense that she’d have her own cathedral, too.



Anastasia’s special abilities are known as “Argetlahm”, which seems to imply her skills come directly from her magic sword. These skills are predominantly what you’d expect to see on a white mage… which is kind of cool. I can count on only one hand how many JRPGS employ the “combat white mage” archetype, and more’s the pity. What is the point in having a healing character if they don’t have anything better to do when the party is healthy?



Anastasia has decided to go into battle wearing only an “Ankh Cross” and her favorite tiara. Stylish.



Lucied is naked (he is a wolf, after all), and his abilities are “ruination”. Again, Lucied is being labeled a “werewolf”, but he’s always a wolf. There’s no were about it!



So, Memory Maze… Pretty boring dungeon.



Couple of hallways, and… Who is this?



Let’s bring her down to earth.



Graceful.



I love the days before voice acting. “You are supposed to recognize this girl’s voice, but literally no one in this game has a voice, so just trust us on that one.”



Meet Anastasia’s only non-wolf friend.



For some bizarre reason, this section of the script has decided to drop any gender-based pronouns (it also happened earlier with Lucied). Or maybe Blondy is just bad at identifying humans.



Blondy is a good friend to Anastasia… and that’s all we got. Also, is it just me, or is Lucied wearing booties?

CONTINUED NEXT POST

And away she goes.



Can you guess the clandestine identity of “that girl”? I will reveal the shocking secret by the end of this update.



“Any other friends I should know about?”
“Actually, no.”



Reminder: We just screwed up the space time continuum.



But no matter, let’s get out of here.



HP Crystals! … We haven’t even had a battle yet.



Oh, there we go.



Time to see that Sword Magess in action!



Or her pet wolf! That’s good, too! Lucied attacks with claws and flipkicks, as is proper to a good boy.



Anastasia performs a worthy, solid hit, but it’s also kind of… awkward. This is a cool bit of visual storytelling that we’ll explore shortly. She’s got the God Sword, but she’s not exactly a fencer.



Lucied learned most of his special moves from Red XIII.



Hey, is Anastasia left handed? Awesome. Anastasia is my new favorite hero.



Oh boy! A glowing crystal thingy!



Time for a creepy flashback.



Here’s a fun little memory about a gigantic demon that flash fried the entire planet.



I think Anastasia is wearing too many layers to fight a fire elemental.



Ashley finds the feeling of Lord Blazer… familiar.



And, yes, if you haven’t gotten it yet (Kanon would like words with you), Ashley is technically the host to Lord Blazer, He That Burns All. Maybe Ashley just assumed he was possessed by a generic demon up to this point.



“Wasn’t that a Quintet game?”
“No, you’re thinking of something else.”



Hey! You didn’t tell us the story of Lord Blazer at all!



Anastasia comforts Ashley with this knowledge… that Ashley himself recounted to Kanon a few updates ago. I guess he suffered a touch of a head injury when he was blasted into space.



“Don’t burn down the planet. Got it. Let’s go.”



So the gimmick of this area is that some areas have invisible walls. For instance, here’s a shot of Ashley walking into nothing, so he has to go around the other side of the pillar. For the record, it is also really hard to get a screenshot of an invisible wall.



Another battle. Here’s Anastasia activating her most powerful sword spell, Life 3. Look, I know it has another name, but I don’t feel like scrolling up. Incidentally, this area is kind of deliberately easy, so it’s not like you’d ever actually need any of Anastasia’s amazing white magic abilities.



And here’s a “werewolf” mowing down a golem.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

Do Anastasia and Ashley have parallel win poses?



More switches! It’s a shame Ashley only has one active tool (his other tool is the Booty Call, which doesn’t technically “do” anything), as it means the throwing knife needs to see a lot of use.



Here is Anastasia’s level 1 FP ability, Impulse. You will notice that it does an impossible amount of damage. That’s the Sword Magess for ya.



And Blondy is creeping around again.



Considering her possible raw damage output, the answer is “kinda”.



And Blondy reveals that she’s a “Crimson Noble”. This is Wild Arms 2 trying to be cute with its “unique” mythology. She’s a vampire. The end.



And Anastasia reveals that Ashley can pull his own weight because he’s got crazy demon powers.



Bloody Blondy be not pleased.



You might be asking what BB could even do here, but she did help defeat Lord Blazer once… Or is going to… Damn time travel…



“He’s probably not going to kill us all. Please understand.”



I bet this gal would get along well with Lilka. Or they’d fight like cats. One or the other.



We’ll talk later!



Dashing on.



More invisible walls, more switches.



More wolves summoning the power of the moon to defeat their enemies.



This Anastasia victory pose is very close to her official art… which I should probably post as part of one of these updates…



But no time for that now! Another crystal!



Here is the reason Anastasia is the hero of legend: dunno.



You hear that, nerds? Studying the blade is dumb.



This is another time where I choose to believe a character is completely glib about the whole situation. “You beat Lord Blazer.” “Yeah, well, ya know, there wasn’t anything good on TV.”



Soooooooo you fight for your friends?



Anastasia is the best.



Saving the entire world was a really selfish move.



Yeah, Kanon should really take notes on… Wait a tick…



Swear I’ve heard that name before…

CONTINUED NEXT POST

Flashback! Or… flashforward… because we’re in the past… but we’re looking at the present’s past… and… Ugh, time travel gives me a headache.



Here’s Irving Valeria, and you’ll note he doesn’t have his signature limp/crutch.



And he’s taking a go at the ol’ sword of legend.



I don’t think hugging the sword is going to help, Irving.



And… yeesh, what’s happening here? Irving, are you summoning demons to help yank out a sword? That does not seem like something in the spirit of the exercise.



And the sword agrees. Eat magical feedback, Irving.



Because you’re the worst, Irving. Also, looks like you got a bit of a leg injury there, eh?



Look who comes crawling back…



Oh, that wasn’t strictly a flashback, it was Irving dreaming of his past failures. And I guess we got to watch? Neat.



Somebody was sleep screaming again.



(Note the crutch)



Okay, look, people have been debating this scene for ages. Is Irving taking out his frustrations on his sister? Grabbing her in an affectionate way? Outright strangling his twin? It’s difficult to say, but what’s important is that Irving is a giant douche.



But we’re not going to dwell on it.



Fun fact: Anastasia’s life sucked. Dead at 16 after a week of solid demon slaying.



“Hey, you sound like my girlfriend.”



Now that we have the knowledge that Irving is a descendant of the legendary hero and an incredible asshole, we’re moving on.



Thanks for blessing us, Sword Saint.



Hello again, Vampire Lady!



This is the only puzzle in this area that isn’t completely brainless. Blondy paces up on the top area, and you have to activate the switch when she’s on the proper, upper plank. If you activate the switch too early, she’ll stay up top, and you’ll have to exit and reenter the room to reactivate the trap.



And there are any number of monsters wandering around to make that difficult.



Take 2!



Now we got her.



Remember how we learned that she’s a vampire?



Well, she’s the last vampire.



Ashley, we are currently a thousand years in the past. Stop trying to recruit ARMS members!

CONTINUED NEXT POST

It’s okay, Ashley, she’s too young for you. Or too old? God, can we just go back to time being linear?



Two switches? This is a place of wonders.



Get your popcorn, kids.



The secret of Anastasia: she had hiiiiiigh hopes.



High apple pie in the sky hopes.



Literally apple pie hopes.



“I just wanted to eat at the Golden Corral so fucking bad that the very spirit of desire materialized and helped me save the world. And I still never got those fucking mashed potatoes.”



Anastasia admits that she can’t even remember when Lucied, a freaking god, showed up and started hanging out with her. You’d think she’d remember a thing like that, but, hey, maybe she was distracted.



Side note: Lucied hasn’t spoken for this entire journey.



“Fight for those mashed potatoes I’ll never have, Ashley.”



In case you’re not getting it: legends are people too.



Sad people.



Sad people who wind up with statues and songs, because the living must honor the dead. It helps the living sleep at night.



Anyway, Ashley, please look forward to it!



“They’re going to strap you to a cross and watch you die.”
“Oh, my friends actually did that once.”
“What?”



You know Ashley’s answer. And Anastasia saw it coming, too.



“We’re running out of dungeon here, so shouldn’t be too much longer.”



Oh, good, more switches.



Diagonal switches!



Narrow bridges!



Vampire women!



“Risked.” Technically, Anastasia knows her final fate, but I don’t think Blondy knows everything at this point.



So he’ll break out, slink into the soul of some blue-haired kid, and then it will be time for tea.



But Ashley is sure he can handle it.



Ashley might have another convert on his hands.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

Yay! Official new friend!



“So look me up in a thousand years.”



Hundreds of years of napping? Marivel is inordinately lazy. … Sorry, I was getting tired of this charade. I’m lazy, too.



Yes, “Blonde Vampire Girl” with a “familiar voice” is Marivel, that scientist woman with the straw hat. She wasn’t in disguise, she just had to look out for those dangerous UV rays. Even at night… with Marina…



So the screwy time paradox here is that Marivel exists back in Anastasia’s past, where she meets Ashley, whom Anastasia explains is housing Lord Blazer. Marivel is impressed with Ashley, so she agrees to help him in the future when Lord Blazer is back in threat mode. Fast forward a thousand years, and Marivel of course knows who Ashley is, and knows his Knight Blazer transformation is the result of the Lord Blazer “infection”. Basically, thanks to time travel hijinks, Marivel had a thousand years to prepare for the arrival of Ashley/Lord Blazer, and that’s why she’s such an excellent information resource in the present.

Also, later materials will reveal that she was always kind of a gadget-meister, so that’s convenient, too.

Also, yes, Marivel is supposed to be one of those “eternal 12 year old” vampires you see in a lot of anime. Luckily, Wild Arms 2 was released before that particular trend got unimaginably creepy, so Marivel’s childishness only manifests in her general brattiness… which could be mistaken for the haughtiness of being a thousand years ahead of all these stupid humans.

Also, I am physically incapable of disparaging a character rocking a pair of green goggles.



But that’s it for her for now. We’ll have to remember to say hi when we get back to the present.



And speaking of it being… it. One would assume this temple is where Anastasia fought Lord Blazer, and now we’re at the end.



“Try not to get lost in time! Toodles!”



He keeps thinking he wants to return to Marina, and is then really confused when he winds up in a world ruled by squid kids…



The Ashley signal is beeping!



Ashley is on his way home… but he might need some help!



Ominous!



But we know who is going to retrieve Ashley! Time for everybody else in the party to actually do something!



But first: we’re on Disc 2 now, so there’s a new intro/closing every time you boot up/turn off the game. We’ll look at the new intro in an update or two (it’s a little bit spoiler-y for the start of Disc 2), but the closing seems appropriate for this update. Who doesn’t like to see a girl and her dog?



And speaking of which, here’s some official art of the duo. Anastasia always looks sad in her official art. Lucied just looks… spikey. I think he picked that up from Boomerang…

Next time on Wild Arms: Now it’s Lilka’s turn! It’s the worst!

Well that's not excatly an épée.

This is a great sequence that does its best to bring together one of the main themes of the story ('Heroes' are just sacrifices people want to rely on), and it helps that Anastasia seems like a fun character. Like, she's Lilka done right, almost. I'd much rather have her in the main party, shame we can't have em swap places.

(the 16k damage attacks might be part of that too)

Also, for you WA2 noobs who think the story has gotten as weird as it's going to get... wellllllllllll....

Please look forward to it.

Damn right.

Previously on Wild Arms: Ashley got blasted into the past… more or less… and now we’re trying to get him back to the future.



But before we get to that bit of business… New intro!



And may the crows feast on your eyes!



Or whatever that thing is… we’ll come back to it.



So, incidentally, this is all scored by another song that, in the original Japanese version, had lyrics and vocals. Here, it’s just a guitar and harpsichord(?) replacing the vocals, but a trumpet kicks into the lead around the halfway point, and that’s the best.



Now back to… Dracula?



No, it’s just our boss posing as Dracula.



And Brad is fighting a harpy or two!



Here Tim is using a guardian to fight a serpent.



Interestingly enough, the guardian chosen for this intro is entirely optional, and I’ve even missed it thus far in this playthrough.



Lilka is playing with some friends.



And Marivel apparently got her own giant robot while we weren’t looking.



Then everybody starts kicking into gear.



Yeah! Lilka! You show ‘em what Dazzler can do!



Marivel! No! Gamera is a friend to children!



Tim’s Pokémon just outright tears a serpent in half…



And Irving forgot to take his sister in from the rain. Again.



Kanon! I knew we were forgetting someone!



For a minute and a half intro to a PS1 game, these production values are amazing. Or maybe they just blew the budget on 3 minutes of animation, so of course it’s great. Whatever. Take me back to the late 90’s, and let me watch the Wild Arms 2 anime that never was.



A brief break to hang out with our new favorite character.



Miss you already, Annie!



And now we get to see that erupting creature from the start of this mess. Somebody order a hydra?



Not Ashley!



Link gets a new sword skill…



And we close on a group shot of a sort.

So, just for the record, I vastly prefer the Disc 2 Intro, as it shows everyone “divided but working together” as a short story of ARMS saving the world around the world is told in a minute or so. Were this any other medium (as opposed to a JRPG, where your party being separated is a threat), I could easily see this minute expanded into an entire arc where each ARMS member must battle their own opponent in their own corner of the planet. And the mere fact that that intro inspires such a fun narrative is exciting! Go intro!

CONTINUED NEXT POST

And now back to a boring ol’ boardroom.



At the end of the last update, Kate & Amy picked up an Ashley signal… somewhere.



And Tim is just relieved there’s a chance.



All of our equipment is loaded in a flying castle. I’m sure we’ll find some way to trace a signal.



Let’s go!



Oh yeah, that makes sense. And it’s within walking distance!



Stupid space time continuum… Hey, why didn’t anybody invite Marivel to this meeting?



Oh… oh no…



You remember! From Lilka’s intro! It got Lilka’s sister killed! We think!



“Lilka, we’re all counting on you.”
“But I’m Lilka!”



“Can we just get a different crest sorceress? I swear we stopped at a town full of them…”



“And could someone get a maid in here!? Lilka nervous puked on the floor!”



“And, remember, Lilka is standing right here.”



God dammit, Irving.



We are so boned.



But Lilka gets her second wind!



“We’ve only failed, like, one mission so far. We’ll be fine.”



So Lilka presumably warped over to Sielje, got lost in six different towns on her way, beat some kid in a children’s card game, eventually earned a Millennium Puzzle, and then reconvened with the team at Sword Cathedral.



Of all the crazy nonsense in Wild Arms 2, I find it most odd that a portable puzzle dungeon is apparently the only accepted way to cross dimensions.



Excuse me, a growing portable puzzle dungeon.



Lilka knows what to do!



Try not to die!



“Why did you say that out loud?”
“No… reason…”



So Millennium Puzzle Mk. 2. The concept here is exactly the same as the first one, just this puzzle is larger and so much more annoying.



We seem to have five different teleporter points here (the original was a mere three), so let’s head south to the most center point.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

Ah, a save point! Yay!



There wasn’t a single save point in Annie’s dream world, so this is the first we’ve seen a break since the Odessa space base exploded. I wonder if that’s a deliberate move to keep the player marching through the very self-contained/informational Memory Maze.



Just beyond the save point is the ol’ “make the colored pillars the right height” puzzle from the last Millennium Puzzle. Hopefully you remember this puzzle from possibly the first dungeon you ever played in this game, as it’s absolutely essential to solving this dungeon.

For now, we don’t know the exact heights of the blocks, so we’ll come back later.



So let’s try the next teleporter over.



One frequent thing you’ll see in this dungeon is platforms that only move when a nearby block is activated with magic.



Also, there are a lot of branching paths in this dungeon.



A lot.



And stuff like this: basically, one path is the way forward, and another is the “exit” from another path, and, no, you can’t make any progress until you go the “right” way. It’s frustrating.



So much backtracking…



Each path ideally leads to the block you need to activate, and a clue to the center pillar puzzle. In this case, please remember that the blue pillar is supposed to be one block high.



And now we can activate our first mission block. 20% done!



Moving on.



Some platforms move on their own!



And I surely didn’t spend a half hour falling off blocks because walking is hard!



Some areas look complicated, but there’s really only one way forward in this room.



But first, a reminder that random battles still exist. There’s no boss for this area (yay!), so if you’re really missing Ashley, feel free to go nuts with Brad’s ammo.



Sometimes you have to activate switches to get walls out of your way.



Oh, we were in this room before. Now we can go in the “right” direction… assuming we remember which side of this area is the actual exit.



Move a few more platforms…



This side of the room certainly doesn’t look like a carbon copy of the other side!



Dammit!



Okay, let’s try the other side.



This is new!



This room is kind of a trick, as you absolutely can’t get to that far left teleporter with the way the blocks are currently moving. We’ll tackle that one later.



Have I been here before? I’m genuinely asking.

CONTINUED NEXT POST

Dammit! Now I know I have!



Let’s try a different fork.



This room is a complete trick. It’s a “puzzle room” where you can fall down the squares like steps… but I clearly just walked into an area that is the lowest rung.



May as well kill some monsters to feel better.



This room still sucks. Why won’t you blocks run into each other at the same time!



This room is new!



No it’s not! I’m just on the other side of that room with the moving blocks. The trick here is that you can use Lilka’s ice powers to freeze the blocks in place, and then force them to intersect properly.



It takes some timing.



But we don’t need to do a thing, because we’re trying to reach the teleporter we can walk to anyway.



The next room requires a little magic, though.



And then a little walking.



More walking.



Some platform surfing.



There! Finally! Goal 2/5. Yellow is a four block pillar.



Let’s see what else we can find.



Turns out #3 was like a room away. Convenient!



Almost done!



I think the worst part of this dungeon is that you can apparently be stuck in the same stupid loop for ages, and then make oodles of progress the minute you get on the right track. It doesn’t help that basically every room in this place is visually similar.



Now we’re at the top of that “falling” room. Aim away from that one teleporter that we know goes nowhere!



But aim for the right exit…



And we’re just about done! Now we’ve seen all the pillar “answers”. Note that if you didn’t realize (or remember) what you were supposed to do with that central room, you’re basically stuck retreading the whole dungeon… Or at least looking up a FAQ.



Now we can return to the middle area…



Move the pillars into position…



And we’ve activated the fifth and final block.



BEHOLD THE OMEGA BLOCK!

CONTINUED NEXT POST

“And by ‘we’, I mean ‘you’, Lilka.”



Oh, dammit.



“Come on, Lilka. Did you get confused? Do you need a Lilka snack?”



Lilka goes for it!



And fails!



And… we completely failed!



You will note that Kanon is offering zero words of encouragement. She was really looking forward to murdering Ashley again.



So, there’s theoretically something important going on here, and that’s that Lilka doesn’t sacrifice herself like her sister in an effort to bring Ashley back. Lilka is her own person! With people that care about her! She’s different from her “hero” sister.



On the other hand, that dungeon sucked, and Lilka whiffed it at the finish line, meaning the whole thing was pointless.



So screw you and your character development, Lilka!



Meanwhile, back at the cleft of dimension or whatever.



Yes, that is the literal light at the end of the tunnel.



Aw, no, it’s the actual hopes and prayers of Marina. You go, girl!



Yes, please. Please let Anastasia join the party. Please? I’ve been ever so good.



Dammit! Come on! You “died” sealing Lord Blazer, and he got to come out and play! Don't be the one heroine in a JRPG that actually proves death has meaning!




And then Anastasia has a little breakdown.



“What am I supposed to say? Lucied, help me out here.”
“Woof.”









I’m glad this is our last impression of Anastasia. She’s not a composed “Sword Saint”, she’s a girl that really didn’t want to have to die to save her world, but did anyway. Sacrifice isn’t giving yourself to a cause, it’s giving up what you could be for that cause.



“Whoa, uh… hm… Lot to unpack there. Uhh… I… won’t do that?”

CONTINUED NEXT POST

It’s nice to have a good guy (gal) give you the ol’ “we’re not so different, you and I.”



“I’m going to do exactly what you did. But better! Probably!”



Big Sis believes in you!



“Bye! Just leave me alone in this endless limbo for the rest of eternity!”



And, in an act of totally unnecessary sacrifice, Anastasia gives up her dog, too.



“Maybe he needs somebody to chase rabbits out of his yard? I don’t know.”



Lucied is kind of a jerk, so he’s just going to chill in an optional cave until Ashley maybe decides to find him.



And that’s it for Anastasia. Can’t stress this enough: she was the best character in this whole story. I’m moderately certain she made an impression on the Wild Arms team, too, as I will continue to argue that the main protagonist of Wild Arms 3 is her indirect descendant. And Annie pops up in a storybook in that title, too. You don’t see that same kind of love with Marina.



Though, speaking of which...



Don’t you just hate when your cell phone goes off in a dark room?



Well, you are standing in his room… and I imagine a guy that guts monsters all day is going to have a distinct funk…



Looks like ARMS left the cathedral a little too quickly.



That sure makes perfect sense!



“The real Sword Magess is here, in our hearts.”
“No! I’m still stuck in a void!”
“Shut-up, you’re ruining this.”



Good morning!



Kate? Are you high?



“Code 618… let’s check the book here… Oh! A member of ARMS has popped back into existence after being lost in space. Cool!”



So there’s this whole big sequence about “finding” Ashley… but, guys? We were just at Sword Cathedral because we knew that’s where his signal was in the first place. Maybe we don’t need to take down the global cellular network…



Lilka is still having a time-out.



Brad and Tim are roommates? Oh man, I’d watch that sitcom.



Kanon is just chilling, thinking about when she gets to murder Ashley again.



Tim is excited!



And we get a mysterious first person view of someone returning to town. Who could it be!?



Lilka has recovered, and is on her way… somewhere.



Mysterious person is going to the bakery! I bet it’s Liz & Ard!

CONTINUED NEXT POST

“Late” like “the late Ashley Winchester”?



She’s looking out a window, so I completely believe she sees Ashley’s reflection as he enters, and she hasn’t just gone completely insane.



You know you’re the hero’s girlfriend when you have a distinct crying animation.



“…”



That the best you got?



D’aw.



Meanwhile! Literally right outside Ashley’s room.



So, it has been lightly touched on since practically her introduction, but Lilka has basically always had a crush on Ashley.



And right about here is when she gets crushed. It wasn’t Lilka’s magic that brought Ashley back, it was Marina’s deep, unconditional love.



And Lilka just got that.



Everybody was looking all over the Earth, but of course Ashley would only return to one place.



And Lilka was a tweak late.



Sorry, magical girl. We’re not going to have any inner-office romances in this game.

ARMS Mission #19:
Rescue Ashley from the Void
Status: Success!
Notes: Okay, ARMS proper didn’t technically have anything to do with this rescue, but we’re taking credit for it anyway!



And we’ll close on Ashley and Marina together at last. I think those crazy kids are going to be alright!

Next time on Wild Arms 2: Burn the land and boil the sea, you can’t take the sky from me. Until you do.

This is my favorite Wild Arms intro don't @ me

It sounds a bit different with JPoP lyrics.

I dunno how I feel about this opening track, the video accompaniment is better than the first one (Hey let's all walk around and strike mysterious poses and maybe fight a monster for three seconds!) but personally I vastly prefer the BGM of the first opening, for reasons I'll get into when the time is right.

Also the title is weird. The title of the first opening BGM is "You'll Never Be Alone", which will come to make perfect sense as the title for the main theme's leitmotif, but the title of the second opening is, for some reason, "Resistance Line", and... buh? What does that have to do with anything? Nothin', that's what! Not to mention there's no callbacks to this track at all in the game's OST, that I'm aware of, not like the first opening. I can certainly see enjoying the track on its own merits, (it's a good track!) but taken as a part of the Wild Arms 2 whole it's just such a non-sequitur.

But it has a few seconds of Kanon impaling a goddamn dragon's skull so what am I even complaining about, really?