Wild ARMs 5: The definition of convoluted.

While I remain a huge fan of the whistling found in Wild ARMs 1, disappointed in its loss in 2 and bemused with the 3rd, I actually hung up the gloves on the series entirely. I decided to revisit now that I'm older and a bit more tolerant of things.

It took some hardcore thought on how to write this up without spoiling. Kudos to me.

What I Liked

In dungeons there were some really good music tracks. Not memorable, but good in their own right.

At least initially and at the end, there were plenty of voiced cutscenes (but see below).

There were only a slim few puzzles that were downright annoying. The vast majority weren't that bad.

Fairly well developed characters, certainly done better than earlier members of the series. Persephone and Rebecca were standouts.

It's not a short game. If you enjoy it, you'll be enjoying it for quite a while.

What I Didn't Like

ENCOUNTER. RATE. Is just way too frickin high. About midway through the game, you'll get a vehicle that negates this on the world map, but until then...ugh.

The story is all over the place. I mean just incoherent and nonsensical. None of it "clicks" until the VERY last cutscene of the game, then it's like they just tipped over a barrel all at once, hitting you with everything you needed to know throughout. I can't stand games that do that. Also games that implement some form of time paradox are never going to turn out good.

Buying improved armor yields only a marginal benefit at best. Leveling up gives you way more of a benefit than the armor - to the point I just skipped it.

Characters and towns had time spent from a development perspective, but the world map looks and feels sparse. Train stations out in the middle of nowhere with no roads leading to them, etc.

Fortunately this is not a game I will ever have to touch again, and it's not like I regretted playing it, but I saw a lot more potential than it was given. It almost felt like they were in a budget crunch and had to throw something out there.