Wild Arms XF

Wild Arms XF is a spin-off of the long-running Wild Arms series that, instead of a traditional JRPG with free movement across the world, offers tactical strategy on a battle grid in the spirit of the SRPG genre. The story takes place in a war-torn world divided between two empires and centers on a young mercenary who ends up in the conflict on a side he himself didn't initially expect. The series' motifs remain faithful - ancient technologies called ARMs and a western-flavored aesthetic - but instead of puzzle-filled dungeons, the game's core lies in carefully arranged battles on a tactical field.

This time, development wasn't handled by studio Media.Vision alone, but in collaboration with Acquire, known for its work on tactical and stealth titles, which showed above all in the more elaborate system of unit movement and terrain use in combat. The game ran on the portable PSP, which was reflected in the shorter pace of individual missions and the story's division into chapters suited for playing on the go. Characters can be developed between battles using a class system and a rich skill tree, which sets the game apart from the series' main entries, built on more action-oriented turn-based combat.

Battles take place on a grid divided into tiles, where terrain height, unit positioning, and mutual cover affect the success of attacks and movement options, similar to other tactical RPGs of that generation. Even though this is a spin-off outside the main numbered series, the game retains the series' key motifs - the ancient ARM technology, the desert western atmosphere, and the emphasis on a diverse party of companions - it just transposes them into a completely different mechanical framework than what players of the main entries are used to. Chapters are also interspersed with dialogue scenes that give characters room for characterization outside of the battles themselves, much like visual novels do.

Why play it: An interesting choice for series fans who want to experience the familiar Wild Arms world from the perspective of turn-based strategy, and also for SRPG players looking for a shorter game suited for travel with a solid character-development system.