Games - Wild Arms series

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	Games - Wild Arms series

Wild Arms is a series of role playing games for the PlayStation video game console. The most unique trait that sets these games apart from other RPGs is the dominant influence of cowboy and Native American culture, similar to the Deadlands system of paper roleplaying or the Doomtown collectible card game. But the worlds and stories of Wild Arms games also contain elements of fantasy, science fiction, and Asian animism. The original Wild Arms games was released for the PlayStation in 1997. Wild Arms 2nd Ignition was released for the PlayStation in 2000. Wild Arms Advanced 3rd was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2002. Wild Arms Alter Code: F, a remake of the original Wild Arms, was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. Wild Arms: The 4th Detonator was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. All five games were developed by Media.Vision, and published by Sony.

Wild Arms Universe

Filgaia

The story of each Wild Arms game takes place on a planet called Filgaia, though each "Filgaia" appears to be an entirely separate world with a different arrangement of continents, in similar tradition to the discontinuity between games of the Final Fantasy series. The recurring theme in the series is that Filgaia was once a green healthy world, but, at the time of the story, the planet is gradually dying, as its natural resources and ecosystems slowly wither away. As a result, most of Filgaia is a desolate wasteland, and life is never easy for anyone or anything. Organized settlements tend to be sparse, and their longterm survival is never certain.

The Guardians

Though ailing, Filgaia still has a degree of vitality, and the forces of nature are represented by kami-like beings called Guardians. They govern traditional natural elements (earth, water, wind, fire), light and darkness, states of being (e.g. luck), human emotions (e.g. desire), and notable natural events (e.g. meteor showers). Most of these Guardians take the physical form of large beasts with awesome supernatural powers.

The Elw

In every Wild Arms story, there is a historical civilized demi-human race called the Elw
, who have long since died, vanished or otherwise departed Filgaia, leaving the planet to the dominance of humans. The Elw are immortal, and are granted continued long life as a reward for service to the welfare of Filgaia. They are granted legendary and mythical status in human record.

The appearance of Elw is generally that of humans, except that their ears are long and drooping.

The Crimson Nobles

A glorified synonym for the vampire civilizations of Filgaia. Crimson Nobles meet the criteria of most fictional gothic vampires: they are immortal, they drink the blood of others, they have ghostly pale skin, and they cannot survive direct sunlight. In the Wild Arms universes, Crimson Nobles are a hereditary race of vampires with an independent civilization, and generally consider themselves superior to all other sentient beings, especially humans. However, their populations are always small with almost no population growth rate.

The Baskar

The Baskar are a recurring culture of humans who have devoted themselves to protecting the Guardians and the environment of Filgaia. They generally live a simple and deeply religious lifestyle, abstractly resembling the cultures of Native Americans. Their village is the one constant location in all Wild Arms games.

ARMs

ARMs are a recurring feature in the Wild Arms series, though the acronym A.R.M. has a different expansion for each story. The common definition is that an ARM is an automated machine weapon, essentially just a firearm. They can take the form of guns, rocket launchers, etc., but as such they are always called ARMs, and never referred to as "guns" or other words used in real world language. In the first game, "A.R.M" stood for "Ancient Relic Machine". In 2nd Ignition, A.R.M.S. stands for "Agile Remote Mission Squad", a special forces unit without any political affiliations, and in Advanced 3rd, "A.R.M." stands for 'Artifacts of Ruins: Memories'. In the fourth, ARM is "Ambient Reorganization Material". ARMs cannot be used by just anybody: they must be synchronized with the user's "spirit". This concept is never fully explained, however, and the widespread use of ARMs in 2nd Ignition may indicate that the synchronization rule may have been changed. The synchronization rule of Advanced 3rd seems to be the opposite of the synchronization rule in the original game. In Advance 3rd only Jet is said to have been unable to synchronize with any ARMs other than the one specially made for him. The rule did make an appearance in Wild Arms 4.

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