If I told you that Wild Arms is the most underrated series in video games and that Wild Arms 3 is possibly the most perfect game in its genre, would you believe me?
Wild Arms 3 is a game that doesn't do anything even remotely in a mediocre manner, everything in here is done in a superlative way. From its opening (which is as good as those of the previous games), its protagonist who defies some unpleasant genre tropes, its unique and solid party, to its setting... And of course, the level design of its dungeons, its puzzles, and its incredibly rich, vast, and dense world map. Few times in my life have I had the pleasure of solving puzzles in a game or exploring its world map as in Wild Arms 3. Its gameplay system is also absurdly well-crafted, a game where you just don't buy healing items, that are fruits because the world is in decay and nothing else grows in this desert (except in one place), perfectly aligning with the setting of the game (a thematic consistency that I always admire, and of course, adding a survivalist aspect to the game that I also love).
And of course, the way the game itself is structured. Its plot twist in the final arc, when a game is so full of content that it has another entire arc ahead when you least expect it. And it's even better because it doesn't give any sense that it shouldn't be there. On the contrary, it's more of the excellence that the game has been providing for the last 50 hours. And in those moments, I almost forget to mention the soundtrack, which, as usual for the series, is of the highest possible level. "Fate Breaker" would be the highlight of any soundtrack in another game; in Wild Arms, it's just another excellent track for a dungeon, among many. Wild Arms 3 is such a high point that after it, the series changed completely, never reaching the same level as the initial trilogy.
And despite all this, it has never been a series widely discussed, never appears in rankings of the best games in the JRPG genre or never had good performances, sometimes not even remembered as a hidden gem or something like that, fated to limbo with inferior series even though it excels in many aspects compared to the greats of the JRPG genre. Wild Arms: the pride and sorrow of JRPGs, never receiving its due recognition. But it will always be my favorite series.
Wild Arms 3 is a game that doesn't do anything even remotely in a mediocre manner, everything in here is done in a superlative way. From its opening (which is as good as those of the previous games), its protagonist who defies some unpleasant genre tropes, its unique and solid party, to its setting... And of course, the level design of its dungeons, its puzzles, and its incredibly rich, vast, and dense world map. Few times in my life have I had the pleasure of solving puzzles in a game or exploring its world map as in Wild Arms 3. Its gameplay system is also absurdly well-crafted, a game where you just don't buy healing items, that are fruits because the world is in decay and nothing else grows in this desert (except in one place), perfectly aligning with the setting of the game (a thematic consistency that I always admire, and of course, adding a survivalist aspect to the game that I also love).
And of course, the way the game itself is structured. Its plot twist in the final arc, when a game is so full of content that it has another entire arc ahead when you least expect it. And it's even better because it doesn't give any sense that it shouldn't be there. On the contrary, it's more of the excellence that the game has been providing for the last 50 hours. And in those moments, I almost forget to mention the soundtrack, which, as usual for the series, is of the highest possible level. "Fate Breaker" would be the highlight of any soundtrack in another game; in Wild Arms, it's just another excellent track for a dungeon, among many. Wild Arms 3 is such a high point that after it, the series changed completely, never reaching the same level as the initial trilogy.
And despite all this, it has never been a series widely discussed, never appears in rankings of the best games in the JRPG genre or never had good performances, sometimes not even remembered as a hidden gem or something like that, fated to limbo with inferior series even though it excels in many aspects compared to the greats of the JRPG genre. Wild Arms: the pride and sorrow of JRPGs, never receiving its due recognition. But it will always be my favorite series.