Arc Rise Fantasia is a 2009 role-playing video game (RPG) co-developed by Imageepoch and Marvelous Entertainment for the Wii. It was published in Japan by Marvelous Entertainment in 2009 and in North America by Ignition Entertainment in 2010. A planned European release through Rising Star Games was cancelled. Set in a fantasy world split between hostile factions beset by attacks from destructive Feldragons, the story follows mercenary L'Arc Bright Lagoon after he is saved by the priestess Ryfia and chosen as a Child of Easa, a figure who can remake the world. Gameplay features a growing party led by L'Arc navigating both an overworld and dungeon environments, taking part in turn-based battles.
Production lasted three years, with Nintendo approaching the developers to create an RPG for the Wii. The team included Tales scenario writer Takumi Miyajima, and artists Kenichi Yoshida and Shin Nagasawa. The music was a collaborative effort between Yasunori Mitsuda, Shunsuke Tsuchiya and Yuki Harada, with the theme song written and performed by Ryfia's voice actress Yui Makino. Debuting to poor sales, the game saw a mixed reaction from critics, with most of the praise going towards its battle system. Reactions to its story, music, and graphics were more varied. A recurring complaint was the localization and English dub, with Ignition later admitting its poor quality and changing its localization partners.
Gameplay
Arc Rise Fantasia is a role-playing video game (RPG) where players principally take on the role of protagonist L'Arc Bright Lagoon and a growing party of companions. The story is communicated through full motion cutscenes using CGI or in-game character models, visual novel-like voiced sequences showing dialogue between characters represented as portraits, and text-based "Skits" activated by the player during exploration. Controlling L'Arc, the player navigates overworld zones, and more detailed dungeon and town environments. In towns, the party can interact with shop keepers to buy supplies and items such as weapons and armor or accessories. Guilds found through the game give access to side quests. The player can also engage in a slot machine minigame to win powerful equipment and items using special coins found during exploration. Similar rare items and equipment can be earned by defeating special monsters in dungeons.
Combat is triggered upon running into an enemy sprite in a dungeon or overworld, with player or enemy ambushes impacting the party's starting performance. The battle system, dubbed the "Trinity Battle System", uses turn-based mechanics, with the party and enemies each getting opportunities to act; the player's party is limited to three, with an AI-controlled fourth character joining during certain story-driven sections. Actions available to the party are attacking, defending, using skills and equipped magic, passing or moving their turn which changes that character's position in the turn order, and using an item. All combatants draw on a shared pool of Action Points (AP), with all actions requiring AP and one character able to take multiple turns. Magic spells require both AP and magic points to cast successfully. If a party member is knocked out, the AP meter shrinks, though skills are reduced in price to compensate. Characters can be individually controlled, or the player can use an AI command "Tactics" menu to activate preset commands for one turn based on behavioral instructions, with the party automatically carrying the instructions out.
Each character has a character class which dictates their strengths and ability growth. Several mechanics revolve around character cooperation. Using two consecutive identical spells on an enemy triggers "Tandem Sync", allowing a free follow-up attack regardless of the turn order and triggering a combo, additionally granting special effects such as increased AP during the next turn. Magic is learned and equipped using Orbs slotted into a character's weapon, with the slot being limited by its size and the shape of Orbs; Orbs degrade over time and must be repaired in towns. Special character skills called Excel Arts are fuelled by another resource called SP. The most powerful are Trinity Acts, when a set of three Excel Arts are chained together to perform a powerful combined move. Some characters can also summon Rogress, magical beings with powerful attacks that draw on their own power metre which fills up during battle. Defeating an enemy grants experience points and in-game currency.
Synopsis Setting and characters Arc Rise Fantasia is set in the fantasy world of Fulheim, which is split between three competing political factions; the Meridian Empire, the Turmelian Republic, and a theocratic alliance of countries dubbed Olquina which is controlling the flow of a vital energy called Ray. All three are worshippers of the creator deity Easa, espousing different interpretations of their "Law" dubbed the Real and Imaginal. Legend says that Easa must be presented with a chosen version of the Law to form the foundation of the world; the Real Law advocates destroying the current world to create a new one, while the Imaginal Law seeks the continuation of the current world. Each faction has a priestess of Easa dubbed a Diva, who have magical powers based on their song. By the game's events, flocks of monsters called Feldragons have started appearing, and parts of the world are being crystallized by an energy called Hozon.
The main protagonist is L'Arc Bright Lagoon, a noted mercenary working with the Empire who has a taciturn personality. He partners at an early point with Ryfia, the Imaginal Diva of the Turmelian Republic whose sheltered upbringing leaves her socially awkward. L'Arc is childhood friends with Alfonse "Alf" Zena Meridia, current heir to the Imperial throne after his brother Weiss Dona Meridia, and Adele Nevanlinna who has secret affection for L'Arc. L'Arc is joined during the campaign by Cecille Garcia, a young girl with combat skills; Serge, a flirtatious mercenary thief; Leslie Ferrati, an agent from the Republic; and Rastan Oigen, an enigmatic swordsman. Other characters include Niko Bennex, a notoriously cowardly Imperial soldier; Dynos, a man with power to command the undead; Ignacy, a leader of the political and criminal underworld; and Hosea, Patriarch of the Imaginal faith.
Plot During a battle with a Feldragon swarm, L'Arc is saved from one's death explosion by Ryfia, who disperses the Feldragon with her song. They later meet up with Alphonse and Niko, and see Rastan fighting Dylon with both escaping in the chaos. Ryfia leaves for the forbidden Feldragon Prison, with L'Arc and Alphonse following and the three forced to enter when ambushed by Dymos. Ryfia locates a Rogress inside, and L'Arc becomes a Child of Easa representing the Imaginal Law. Simmah and the Empire's remaining Ray supply vanishes, prompting Weiss to arrest L'Arc and Ryfia and force them on a mission into Olquina to deactivate a device blocking Ray from the Empire. L'Arc's home is then attacked by thieves hired by the criminal Ignacy to steal Adele's pendant. Serge, who was among the thieves, helps the party reach Olquina on the ship, going on to team up with Leslie and narrowly escape another attack by Dymos.
Adele is kidnapped and awakened as Diva of the Real Law, and Weiss arrives with an invasion fleet to kill Adele, turning on L'Arc and Alphonse when they try to stop him. L'Arc summons Simmah, which injures Adele and triggers Alphonse to awaken as a second Child of Easa aligned to the Real Law. An enraged Adele almost kills them but is calmed and rescued by Alphonse; Adele, Dymos, Serge and Leslie are all revealed to be aligned with the Real Law. Weiss, who despises both Laws, gives L'Arc, Niko and Cecille a final mission to go as an emissary to the Republic; the mission turns out to be an open provocation to war, which causes L'Arc's group to be arrested. They escape with help from Rastan, taking shelter in the remains of Ryfia's home under the protection of Hosea. There they learn that L'Arc can stop the Hozone's effects on the world by gathering Rogress and meeting with Easa to enact the Imaginal Law. Adele's group, together with Alphonse as the Real Law's Child of Easa, start stirring up support against Weiss and gathering other Rogress.
During their journey, L'Arc fights both the Imperial forces led by Weiss, who was cursed by Easa, and corruption within the Republic orchestrated by Ignacy and Hosea to further the Imaginal Law. Serge and Leslie eventually join L'Arc as he proves his willingness to save people on all sides of the conflict. Adele and Alphonse also gather support and Rogress, though Adele manipulates Alphonse into killing Weiss. Ignacy and Hosea seek to create a new Child of Easa as their puppet. It is eventually revealed that a thousand years before, a Hozone blight nearly wiped out the earlier Divine Race, with infected members turning into Feldragons; Cecille, Rastan and Dynos are survivors of the Divine Race who went into hibernation. The Imaginal Law resulted in the birth of the current Common Race, designed to survive the remaining Hozone. If either Law is enacted by a Child of Easa, one of the Races will be wiped out. L'Arc is also revealed to be Weiss's illegitimate brother, descended from both Divine and Common Races. L'Arc decides to create a new Law which will allow both Races to exist.
Ignacy and Hosea kidnap Niko to force Alphonse and L'Arc to give up their power and create a new Child of Easa, but Adele dies to save Alphonse and the party kill Lunacy and Hosea. Niko sacrifices himself to stop a Divine Race weapon as they escape, and a disillusioned Alphonse allows L'Arc to destroy the Real Law's magical core after defeating the corrupted Dynos, opening the way to Easa. The party defeats Easa, revealed to be a construct with an artificial human as its core, and L'Arc takes control of the system so the Hozone can be removed and both Races saved. Since this will take five centuries, his companions vow to improve the world in his absence. A post-credits scene shows L'Arc reuniting with Ryfia, who hibernated to remain by his side.
Development Arc Rise Fantasia was a co-production between Imageepoch and Marvelous Entertainment, the latter acting as publisher. They had previously worked together on Imageepoch's first game Luminous Arc (2007). Imageepoch founder and CEO Ryoei Mikage acted as co-producer with Marvelous's Hideyuki Mizutani. Mikage had been introduced to Mizutani through a mutual friend, and during production on the Luminous Arc series, they were approached by Nintendo about making an RPG for the Wii, which had a deficit of that genre. The team accepted, wanting to pay tribute to other notable RPG series of the time, which had their origins on Nintendo consoles. Mizutani had also long wished to produce an RPG. Mikage's target audience for the game was the "hardcore" RPG demographic. The production was described as a highly collaborative effort between the different divisions, with each bringing up ideas for making the game and putting effort and care into the final product. Initially known under the codename "Project Ray", production lasted three years. Many of the lead production staff, which included several notable names, was assembled quickly due to pre-existing working relationships with Imageepoch. Mizutani attributed the development of Luminous Arc with bringing together the staff who would create Arc Rise Fantasia. Among the team were several veterans of the Tales series, including director Hiroyuki Kanemaru. When Kanemaru came on board, the game's platform had already been decided; he joined when a mutual acquaintance directed him towards Imageepoch, and he found the project had several former co-workers already involved.