Gaming Chronicles - Wild Arms: Well, Excuuuuse Me, Princess!

Wild Arms: Well, Excuse Me Princess! or Cecilia's Burgers

(Disclaimer: I discuss foodstuffs with meat, so no offense to my veggies out there! Or all the offense. Whichever you prefer or find more amusing.)

To kick off the summer, I've decided to start into another game/game series. This time, it's the RPG "Wild Arms," developed by Media Vision. Thanks to YouTube, and the series called "The Completionist," I found out about an interesting RPG that I wouldn't have otherwise known about. I may have watched another series, by the same guy, that was a complete play-through of the game... Maybe that says something about the game, that despite seeing the whole thing played out, I still want to explore it. (With videos, you're at the mercy of the person playing. There were a lot of things that they didn't look at or read during their play-through.)

Anyway, I finally made use of my Playstation Network membership to purchase Wild Arms (and also download a free game I had gotten for PSP, years ago. That game warrants an article. Maybe later!) and promptly downloaded it to my PSP. Now I finally have a game to play on it, after all this time! Then I boot the game up.

First off, they give us a cool anime sequence to begin the game. I saw in the play-through that all the things featured here show up later, so there's a nifty bit of foreshadowing. Once the game proper begins, you have the choice of three characters: an impatient looking blonde dude, a blue-haired guy, and a blonde female, dressed in white-magey clothes. Because the LP I watched were slightly antagonistic to Cecilia, I decided to play as her first.

And I chose correctly. She may be the "white mage" of the group, but after exploring the abbey in which her story begins, I feel that I can relate to her, a lot. This is because of my recent graduation from college. Similarly, Cecelia's part of the prologue finds her finishing up her magic studies. She faces the prospect of leaving the abbey and returning to her home, Adlehyde, and continuing her duties as princess.

OK, so I'm not a prince, let alone a princess. However, the theme of figuring out one's future speaks to me at this phase in my life. As it is, my immediate plans are decided. Likewise, Cecilia's plans are also decided, if in a slightly negative way, by the end of the overall prologue.

On an amusing note, Cecilia is apparently a big eater. Well, that's what a bunch of her classmates and the cook's help all say. Not only before I went to the first "dungeon" of the game, but after that and when I was supposed to switch to one of the other two characters, a lot of the NPCs talked to me about it. Specifically, hamburgers. I, too, enjoy a good hamburger, especially a bacon cheeseburger. From what I can tell, the trope of a small female who eats a lot is widespread in anime, and apparently video games too!

So far, Cecilia is my favorite character. She faces the challenge of figuring out her own life, and really likes hamburgers. And she does the magical arts! Which is almost the same as the liberal arts (Totally).

Now I have to figure out which guy I want to play as next. Hmmm...