A look back at: Arc the Lad

That looks like something out of the Playstation 1 RPG maker.

And wowee, I finished an RPG in just a week. This game seems to be infamous because of its short length, at least compared to the others in its franchise/collection, which would obviously take longer. But a shorter RPG is welcoming. Did you really expect that this short RPG was however a TACTICAL RPG? Because it is.

I would argue that this is 100% the main thing that sells me to Arc the Lad. How quick and simple the battle system is. You're not bombarded with having to micromanage characters constantly, recruiting/creating new ones, or having to watch some rather slow AI make decisions that just elongate things. Everything is done swiftly. You move, do an action, enemies do the same, everything's dictated by the agility stat, and oddly enough you have no equipment or weapons at all in the game. Heck, you don't even have shops. Does that make things harder as the only source of items are from enemy drops or secret chests? Yes. Does it offer a different kind of challenge that actually is more enticing? Oddly yes. By the way, simplicity doesn't mean it's easy, as character stats grow up in a traditional way and there are some level spikes to watch out for.

This game's intent on setting the stage for a much longer sequel, so that explains its shortness. Nevertheless, while the gameplay is a high point, as is the music (was not expecting the sequences to be THAT GOOD), the plot is just full of RPG cliches. Let's list them!

Main hero has a missing parent (in this case father)? Check!

Crazy Pandora's box in the game? Check!

Main female lead ends up falling in love with male lead? Check!

Glowing things being a way to get party members or clues to new locations? Check!

Hero's home gets ransacked/destroyed/taken hostage? Check! This one is kind of all of the above, since Arc has a mountain home with a mom and his house gets burned down and mother taken prisoner, but we never even see her anymore afterwards so we have next to no idea where she even is.

Timid young man is the third main party member? Check! (Poco)
At least one or two beefcake characters? Check! (Tosh and Iga)

And one of those beefcake characters is a fistfighter? Check!

At least one or two creepy old men? Check! (Gogen and Chongara)

Unorthodox weapons in combat? Check! (Poco's instruments, Chongara can summon things from pots which makes him the gimmick character, thankfully he's not a bad one)

Elemental guardians? Check!
"Humans are evil bastards" speeches? Check!

Evil demons ACTUALLY being the reason humans get blamed? Check!

An evil minister and a good king? Check!

King gets backstabbed and dies by minister hands? Check!

Mirror on the wall? Check!

Global airship? Check!

At least one goofy cutscene with lame humour? Check!

A temple with lots of barefisted monks filled with honor? Check! Also includes an evil leader in the monks.

An inevitable fighting tournament section? Check!

The host of that tournament is a monster who gets champions killed? Check! (thanks Grubba from Paper Mario: TTYD)

A village of civilians getting nuked because the bad guys wanted a silly little trinket? Check!

A secret underground lab with evil scientists? Check!

Everywhere the hero goes there's trouble? Check!

Bad guys wait for heroes to do hard work before taking the treasure? Check!

Earthquakes destroying stuff? Check!
Heroes are branded as fugitives by the corrupt bad guys? Check!

Main leads get separated? Check!

Sidequests that can take longer than the main plot? Check!

I guess the only cliche this is missing is basically the hero isn't an idiot, Arc is actually quite smart and heroic and does hero things well. But if you're like me and played dozens of JRPGs at this point there's just too much to this plate that you've probably seen elsewhere.