Wild Arms 5

Wild Arms 5 is the fifth main entry in the long-running JRPG series, telling the story of the young girl Rebecca Streisand and her companions as they journey across a desert, western-flavored world full of ancient technology and supernatural threats. After the fourth entry, which experimented with a markedly different pace and narrative structure, the fifth returns closer to the series' traditional formula - free movement across the world, dungeons full of environmental puzzles solved using each character's tools, and turn-based battles taking place on a field divided into individual steps.

The game expands the battle system with a so-called ADP system and the ability to summon powerful guardians called Guardians, who lend the characters temporary bonuses and special abilities. Visually, it builds on stylized, hand-drawn character portraits combined with three-dimensional environments, which was at the time a characteristic signature of studio Media.Vision. In story and tone, the game is more welcoming and lighter than the darker fourth entry, trying to win back fans who felt the previous installment was a departure from the series' established style.

The game uses the PlayStation 2's performance for larger and more detailed environments than earlier entries in the series offered on the original PlayStation, both in open locations and within the dungeons themselves. The story is divided into chapters introduced by animated cutscenes, and throughout it the player alternately controls smaller groups from the wider team of characters, allowing the plot to be followed from multiple points of view. Battles between individual groups take place across a set of fields arranged on the battlefield, between which units move, so positioning plays a bigger role in battles than in older entries in the series.

Why play it: A recommendation for fans of classic JRPGs with a desert western aesthetic who are looking for a well-told story with a party of companions and don't want to work through the previous entry's more experimental structure.