Ignition Entertainment only showed off one Nintendo title at this year’s E3, but it was definitely a good one. Arc Rise Fantasia has been out in Japan for awhile, but is now making its way to the US this week. I was able to play the demo for about 20 minutes and came away more impressed with the game than what I had seen so far. First off, Arc Rise Fantasia is a traditional JRPG, and a good one at that. Ignition had the full title on display at their booth and I started from the very beginning. The game is full of beautifully rendered cutscenes which add a lot to the story of Arc Rise Fantasia. You can choose to watch every cutscene in the game, or you can skip through and just watch the highlights as you go. Most of the dialogue is voiced, although there are parts in the game that are just text.

After the opening cinematic, I was immediately put into a battle sequence. The game’s combat is all turn based and uses the action point (AP) system. Different moves require different amounts of action points and you can only use a certain amount in a given turn. So you could do a basic attack maybe 3 times in a turn, or one large, special attack. You can also select freely between your party’s characters and select attacks for them as well. All enemies you come across in the world/overworld will be visible to you, so no randomly encountered battles (thank goodness!). Another really cool aspect of the combat is you can select presets when you first enter a battle. One example is choosing the ‘Adaptive’ mode which will automatically choose moves based on the situation. This can be really helpful with gaining experience points since you can just choose the preset at the start of battle and watch the fireworks.

I also got to challenge a boss that happens later in the game (around level 17 for your main character). It was an incredibly challenging battle, and I ended up dying just before beating him. However, I was able to see how the combat holds up in long, epic battles and I must say Arc Rise Fantasia delivers a fun RPG experience all around. The graphics are also very well done and the presentation is top-notch. Not only will traditional RPG fans be pleased, newcomers will also find fun in every aspect of the game.