Just last year, gamers finally received the Arc the Lad mother lode when Working Designs released its Arc the Lad Collection for the PlayStation. The hefty parcel was, in its own symbolic way, almost a history of the PlayStation as much as it was a trilogy of engaging strategy RPGs. Now, Sony's unleashed the latest sequel to the series in Japan, and perhaps thanks to that crash course, has decided to release it in the U.S. for the first time. Whether you dove into the original trilogy, or are new to the series, it appears that Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits will be an accessible, if staid, RPG adventure.

The game's tried-and-true fantasy theme should come as no surprise to the few of you that played Cattle Call's last game, Tsugunai: Atonement. More so than perhaps any Japanese RPG developer -- OK, I'm ignoring From Software, but there's a reason for that -- it seems to adhere to a straight fantasy style that eschews many of the fashionable embellishments or anime-flavored touches opted for by just about everybody. The scenario of ATL: Twilight of the Spirits reflects this; you're introduced to the young Kharg, a teenager who lives in a peaceful village and practices swordplay with his mentor, Lloyd. In the manner of your "average" fantasy hero, Kharg is of a royal bloodline, but circumstance separates him from his duty.

The story doesn't stop with Kharg, though. After you complete the introductory first chapter -- which is full of hints about a divided bloodline -- you're introduced to his brother, Darc, who's got demonic Deimos blood running through his veins; his appearance is that of a half-breed demon, with a gruff voice, patches of scales, a clawed arm, and bat-like wings. Darc's story is less comfortable, but no less familiar than Kharg's -- he's a half-breed who's scored by his people and enslaved by a cruel mistress. The Deimos city where he finds himself is clearly built on the ruins of the civilization of the previous Arc the Lad games, though little remains but the bombed-out shell of those times.

Of course, what's a fantasy RPG without battles? As with most starting villages, Kharg's hometown doesn't remain peaceful for long. An attack by the demonic-looking Deimos brings out the fighter in Kharg and launches you into the first substantial strategic battle of the game. If you've played the previous Arc the Lad games you're probably wondering what any of this actually has to do with them. As far as I can tell from the beginnings -- not a heck of a lot, though a static shot of Arc 1's characters does appear in an introductory flashback. Where the game does resemble its forebears is the battle system; even so, that's seen some changes.

Taste cold steel, vermin.
Arc the Lad is a series of tactical RPGs, but in truth they're extremely light on the actual strategy. If your chief experience with the genre is something like Final Fantasy Tactics or Hoshigami, then ATL will practically seem like an action game. Kharg and his cohorts can be positioned quickly and attack with ease; battles are quicker and more simplistic than just about every other game in the genre. While the PS1 originals featured a grid-based movement system, the advent of full 3D for the game has brought a movement system that's a little different -- your range is still represented by blue, but you can move anywhere within that area, not to set squares. The difference is subtle, but can definitely affect the gameplay, as encircling enemies more completely is now possible, for instance.