Holly and I have been faithfully playing Arc the Lad for over a week now, having been captivated by the story (in the beginning). The fighting system is quite ingenious, and I rather like it. When I have to battle it's not so boring (though the number of battles I have to go through does get to be a little too much). We both are quite thankful for the Christmas elf that gave the game to us, as it was much fun . . . for the first 25 hours, and then the game should have been over.

Arc the Lad suffers from the Drag It Out Syndrome (TM), not only that but some really insidious writing and programming. On the one hand when you get to some boss battles they cheat, which is not entirely unusual, but when you fight characters you once controlled and they now have skills you never gave them . . . I [we] got really pissed. In that regard I take issue with the programmers. If you need to make something challenging, do it without "cheating".

As to the story, this is where the game really pisses us both off, so much so that we cannot wait to finish it (we are at what we think is the last battle, but we've though that before) and promptly trade it in for ANYTHING else. As I said, the first 25 hours of the game are great. The story builds, as does your team, and your goal is evident . . . until everything falls apart. For the first half of the game you are trying to collect The Special Items so the enemy cannot use them for Bad Things (TM). Easy right? Simple right? Sure. You actually do it, and you think all is well with the world and you only need to continue collecting, confront your long-lost-twin-brother who has half of one of The Special Items and lay the smack down on the Bad Guy (TM). If only; they let you believe this, they even encourage it, then at the 25 hour mark they change the story.

The Bad Guy (TM) steals all your Special Items and there is nothing you can do about it. Not only that he steals them in such an obviously stupid way you cannot help but get pissed off at the character for giving up the Items and getting massively pissed at the out-of-work-Hollywood-screenplay writer who thought it was a Good Idea (TM). It is a Good Idea, if you want to extend the gameplay beyond 30 hours, which by all appearances is all they wanted to do. At this point you fail every mission they give you, and there is nothing you can do about it. You have to rescue the damsel, but you don't. You need to re-capture The Special Items before they are used for Real Bad Stuff (TM) but you're too late. Then you need to beat down an even Bigger Bad Guy (TM) but in order to do that you need to go through 2 hours of pointless battles; battles for the sake of fighting, and you fight monsters that have no means of getting to where you are at mind you.

When you face off against the Bigger Bad Guy (TM) you are supposed to thwart his plan, but guess what? Yup, you are too late, and now you have to fight to undo the damage and really save the world, because now it's about to be destroyed. This entire time you have a goal they told you will end the game, then when are just about to accomplish that goal they change that goal, because the timeclock reads something less that 45 hours of gameplay, and we cannot have that, even though it's only a 20 hour game. The end is predictable, and if it doesn't happen the way we think it will then it will be so cheesy I'll be forced to demand my life back from the hapless writers who shall feel the wrath of 1e+100 papercuts.

Another note, and this one of inconsistency. In the battles you fight against Baddies With Guns (TM). They shoot you; they shoot you often and repeatedly and it never kills you. You can heal yourself from 1 HP back to the 200 you had, and you can even been resurrected from death. Mind you this is a break from reality, but it's a game so you let it slide. Then, in two different cut scenes two important NPCs (important in that each is a parent to one of the characters you play/care about) get shot ONCE, in the gut, and despite the fact that they can hang on long enough to tell a story, it's a mortal wound. No one tried to heal them; you could not resurrect them. One shot and their dead, but you, the 17-year-old son can survive a repeated volley of bullets and reign victorious after kicking their butt with your sword. Yeah. F*ck off you hack writers.

The fighting engine is great. The first 25 hours of the story is great. After that it goes down hill, complete with typos, and Bad Writing (TM). I might have been more forgiving of the endless battles, but moving the goal line when we get to it, and forcing us to fail every mission we are given . . . I cannot accept that. We will save the world, hopefully in only one more evening, but we were hoping to finish the game Saturday, but 15 hours later and we are still not sure if we are at the last battle (even though one other battled was actually titled "The Final Battle"). Maybe Bard's Tale will be better.