Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a continuation of a series of games that can be found more recently in the Arc the Lad Collection, and as such it has a lot of gameplay to live up to.

It is a story of two brothers on opposite sides of a conflict, and thus the game is broken down into chapters; each chapter is broken into two parts, one for each brother.

Twilight of the Spirits takes a long time to get into. Because of that, the review needs to be able to hint at certain things, or else I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about the game!

Kharg is the scion of the former royal family of a small country called Nidellia. The human brother, he begins his adventure as a way to protect his nation from the Deimos, a hard-to-categorize race that humans liken to demons. Darc, the Deimos brother, is on a mission to save the Deimos from both the humans and themselves.

Along the way, each brother collects various allies, as one would expect. However, the characters -- especially the Deimos characters -- are very original and well thought-out. I even respected the characters I didn't like, and that's hard for a game to do.

TotS is also a very... adult game. It doesn't involve any sex whatsoever, but it can be a violent game. No, not the violence that takes place in "combat," but actual violence. It's not gratuitous, and it's dealt with in a mature fashion, but this isn't a game that you would want your 10-year-old playing, and the Teen rating shows this.

As the early stages of the story progress, the human brother Kharg will not be your friend. Much of his story seems contrived, and the characters are, in general, very self-centered and oblivious. Darc, on the other hand, is a lot of fun to play as.

But have no fear, for by the time you complete the game, you may just find that everything was worth it. Unfortunately, Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is not a game you should rent.

The plot takes a very long time to explain itself, but when it does, it is worth every minute.

The in-game graphics are good, but surprisingly, they aren't flashy. Above all, they look good and are functional. TotS has fewer unique enemies than some other games, and does employ colorshifting, which adds to the effort they could devote to each monster's model (and hence more detail). Cutscenes have nearly lifelike realism, but aren't terribly ambitious. Unfortunately, some parts of the game can occasionally look pixellated.

The music in TotS can be roughly broken into 2 or 3 different styles, which may or may not be because the music team for the game was broken into 3 "projects" -- and each was a music "team" in its own right. The complete list has about 70 names on it! For all this, you would expect a huge soundtrack from the game, but alas -- no such luck. While some of the music is good, it is oft-reused, and nothing especially jumps at you, not even the game's token vocal track. The sound effects don't detract, but they don't add much either.

The voice acting, for a change, is spot-on. All the characters sound exactly like they should. One example I simply must use is Bebedora. The voice acting is perfect in this case -- Bebedora, you know, is just plain evil. Not that it makes dealing with Kharg any easier.

Twilight of the Spirits certainly lives up to previous games' gameplay. It employs a Tactics-like system, without a grid -- each character moves and then gets to act. Spells have a range, and then a radius.

An interesting touch is how spells are cast. Instead of MP, each character can hold a certain number of "Spirit Stones," and spells (for the Deimos) and skills (for the humans) use up these spirit stones. This leads to two developments: first, you have to buy spirit stones, and each use of an ability thus blatantly costs you money. Second, enemies drop spirit stones in battle after dying, so by killing enemies you can get more of this game's "MP."

TotS doesn't really have any minigames, or even many lock-and-key doors. It does, however, adhere to the old-style-RPG mantra of making dying hurt. You can only save at save points, and the world map doesn't count. So... don't die. It's not a terribly hard game, so this should not be a problem if you properly prepare.

This latest Arc the Lad release is admirable on many different grounds, but it too is not immune to criticism. It's not FUN to play as Kharg -- or at least, not as fun as Darc. For several chapters I'd dread his turn, and obviously you may disagree when you play -- but it could also be a major hurdle that this game has to overcome. The opening action scene I thought was particularly dreadful, and they don't get much better. While somewhat realistic, they try to make a few basic swings of the sword and cheesy poses far more dramatic than they really should be, and I found myself looking for the name of the action coordinator (Mitsuo Abe, as it were). Characters suffer from severe overreacting in many cases -- not the voices, but the movements, which in an incredibly poor decision loop continually. Should you leave the dialogue box open while Banjo is gesturing at his flabby midsection, you will return to find Banjo continually gesturing at his flabby midsection just as you left him. It gets very annoying.

On the other hand, the voice acting is wonderful. While the overacting is bad, the modelers had a high level of control over the characters' eyes, and they add a great touch. The game gives you lots of choices along the way, and the party union that you know has to be coming happens very smoothly. The dialogue is very good, and the game makes a strong statement about racism simply by showing you both sides of the story. And it also, in the end, is a wry statement about heroism and what one believes, even if it isn't thrown in your face.

The one major gripe I have that affects the entire game is ironically... the voice acting. Not the quality, but how it is used. In the somewhat typical "overhype" that was used to market the game, a very major feature was "extensive communication employed throughout battle and dramatic cutscenes." This primarily consisted of the characters shouting random things during combat, and with one character in particular, got very annoying. Luckily you can easily turn this feature off.

One final feature I haven't had the time to completely explore is the "new game plus"-like mode after you've finished the game already. I have accessed it, and not much seems to change. In lieu of experience, though... I can't speak for or against it.

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a very good pick for those of you with a few hours to burn each day, but if you're renting the game or stuck for time it may not be for you. Once you get a chance to play it, though, it is a very refreshing change for the better.

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