A Lad

We'll see if he's THE Lad.

Ark the Lad is a game. I think I heard about it a long time ago, but I don't know where or how. I think it's well respected, but I'm also unsure. I don't know anything about this game or franchise, so I might as well play it. It's an RPG that uses a simple tactical battle style, so it's got what it needs.

We start the game with a girl overlooking a long bridge and a mountain, Guardian Peak Base. The mayor of her town is beside her and reminds her of her fate. She's from a tribe that has sealed away something on this mountain for 3000 years, and it's her turn to fulfill that duty. The girl knows she will have to leave her village after this, and she isn't happy. Not wanting to think about this, she begins her ascent.

We jump to the Cion (not Sion) at the top of the mountain. Rather than follow through with fate, she bucks history. I don't know why she's here, but she's decided to extinguish the fire that's been raging in this kiln for three millennia. The girl's refusal to marry the prince and her headstrong emotions towards tradition are enduring. But she instantly has regrets. A voice echoes from the mountaintop and thanks her for freeing him. It begins to snow as she returns to the base.

The mayor has a little soliloquy about how happy he is that the flame is out. Everything is going to plan, but he returns to the kind elder when the girl returns. She says the voice shook her core and "has the sense of impending doom." The mayor suggests she forgets it as they return to town.

We cut again to a boy named Ark. He's trying to open a chest that contains his father's sword and armor. His mother tries to stop him, but Ark tells her his dad died the years to the day under the same blizzard conditions. He has to find out what happened. Reluctantly, she opens the chest, and we gain some control over Ark. Ark's father prophesied this would happen. We then see a flashback to that scene happening. Dad has a fate, too, that he needs to fulfill. But the future of our world hangs in the balance.

Ark can explore the house for some rocks, and mom gives us the basic sundries any adventurer needs. He then heads to the mountain. The girl is there, still feeling uneasy. Her name is Kukuru, and she wants to relight the flame. She's holding a torch at the ready, but the conditions aren't great for her. Ark will do it, as foretold, and Kukuri will wait here.

Partway up the mountain, Ark is spotted by Ark Demon (not a negative Ark). The demon states he isn't the one who freed him, so the monster kills our MC. The blizzard abates, and moonlight shines down on Ark, who begins to stir. A voice calls out to him to say Ark can't die. His race is on the verge of extinction, and it's up to him to save them. Ark's dad made a deal with the Guardians to prevent this from happening, but it's up to Ark to save them. They grant him their power, and he restarts the climb.

Ark enters the first battle of the game, and it's against slimes. It teaches us about movement, attacking, countering, jumping, items, skills, and jumping. All without handy and/or interfering tutorial popups. It's pretty simple, but I had fun. The slimes can split into two, which is good. Ark kills them in one hit regardless, so it's double the exp. They can poison you, so try to put yourself in a position they can't attack you from.

We see Ark Demon speaking to Kukuri at the gate, and he's glad to see her. As a present for breaking the seal, he'll kill her. But we skip again to Ark just as he reaches the top. He sets the torch in the kiln, and the mountain starts to shine again. We return to Kukuri and witness Ark Demon turn to dust, back to the seal.

Several days pass, and Ark has been called to the capital of Seirya, Palencia. As he leaves, he sees Kukuri waiting for him. She wants to come along because she feels guilty and not because she's in love. Ark tells her no and heads out. We come to the world map, and it's a pick a location, and we go there thing. It's kinda boring, but it keeps the action going. We arrive at the castle and see a squad of soldiers leave. One unlucky soldier is late and trips as he passes Ark, but he gets up and heads on his way. Inside, Ark meets with the King, but his Minister is a pain. The King tries to tell Ark about the Ark, but Minister thinks it's unwise to reveal family secrets to random boys. To prove that Ark is this hero, he's to join the knights that just left to kill the monsters on the Colbo {lains.

Ark gets there to see it empty. Only the soldier we saw trip is alive, and he says everyone was killed by monsters. Just then, more of them show up.

Poco joins us, and he works like a bard. His skills raise our stats, and he can lower enemies'. He attacks with cymbals and uses instruments when casting skills. The mobs are pretty easy, but there are a lot of them. Use Poco to heal when you need to. Ark's mission is complete, so they return to Palencia with bad news.

Everyone is shocked that only these two survived and don't believe them. Fortunately, more monsters are at the city gates. Even if the King believed, there was no time to tell the story. The knights are dead, so we have to defend the city.

We're at the bridge, and Kukuri is here and joins us as our third fighter. I'm not sure what her role is, but she hits hard and can heal. She makes this an easy battle, but let her fall back to advance your troops together.

All three return to the King, who's elated to see the hero. He tells Ark about the Ark that is said to have saved humanity centuries ago. Something bad is happening to the world, and we need to find it now to save it again. The King's brother knows about the Ark, but he went missing twenty years ago. His last known whereabouts were another kingdom, Millmana. The King lets us use his airship to reach Millmana. The Minister is in his room, speaking to a mirror. The two discuss Ark and how to kill him.

I did a battle hack at Colbo to get everyone to level five before going to the Capital HQ. We met a guy whose name I don't recall, and he hates us. He expected hardened warriors, not kids. He says this Kingdom is filled with tough monsters, and we'll likely die. As emissaries from another Kingdom, he can't let that happen. Maybe if we show our skills to his second in command at two locations...

We can walk around a room for some reason, but there's a spy here we can't do anything with. Before we leave, Kukuri puts the warrior who's supposed to watch us asleep. Apparently, he'd slow us down. None of the other people in the room care, so we leave to explore Mallmana. The battles at Ryvag Woods and Sembra Marsh are kinda hard. The repeatable Nicarus Forest is manageable, so do what you will. You only need to finish the first two. Do that and return to HQ. No one cares you drugged your escort, but we have access to Toyoke Forest, the last known location of the King's brother. The train we take gets a mid 90s anime scene, as did the airship flight before. We also see a scene where the guy tells a teleporting guy to kill us. Think he's working with the Minister?

The guy we drugged tells us to follow him, but we immediately get lost and into a fight. There are two ninjas, the teleporting guy, but the other mobs are from elsewhere in Millmana. The battlefield is a long path, and your characters might trip over each other. It's whatever...

We'll arrive at a beautiful tree in a spring. A voice talks to us before a naked tree lady appears. She tells us Ark's dad is the King's brother, and he made a deal with the Guardians to save the world. Well, for Ark to save the world. It does involve the Ark. She instructs us to return to our village; Yoshua will tell us the rest. Ark tries to get more information, but the naked lady ascends to heaven. So we'll go home...

...tomorrow!

I'm not sold on the graphics. The high quality SNES backgrounds are an art choice I don't mind, but character sprite work isn't as great as the PS1 could do. I need to get used to not having equipment. There are accessories but no weapons or armor. It's throwing me off for some reason.