The Secret of Everyone: Arc Arath!
One of the best-looking RPG Maker games coming down the pipeline
gets its working explored by RPGMM!
Vital Stats
Developer: L & E Productions
Genre: Traditional Fantasy
Release: Tentative 2008
Rating: Teen
GAME FOCUS
In Pictures (click to enlarge)
Expect mini-games such as battleship.
The party is always changing, so you won't have to worry about repetition.
You'll have alot of choices to make, they may or may not affect the story.
These choices might even trigger special bonus matterial in the ending.
Every game has a iconic place, the Forest Relic would be that place in Arc Arath.
"We tried to push visuals in RM1 such as tentacles bursting from a cave."
SoE has gone a long way, even as far as a title change. This was before the game was named Arc Arath.
Every dungeon in Arc Arath will be unique in it's own way.
Seeing as Arc Arath doesn't take place on just one continent, expect a bit of travelling.
There will be several people in many scenes, every one will have their own unique personality.
Arc Arath is an epic story with intense battle and deep story.
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THE ADVENTURE AWAITS...
The Secret of Everyone has been in the ears of
a good amount of people over the last year, with some
hard-working and talented people over at L & E Productions
working their butts off. We've heard about the creators a
good bit, but what of the game itself?
We managed to catch the guys on a break in order to bring
our readers a fresh spin on our cover story this issue (and
hopefully for many issues in the future, depending on how
much interest there is).
Without further ado, I turn it over to the guys.
FRIENDS TAKEN ON A TRIP
A lot has been reveiled as the progress of Arc Arath's creation
has taken place, but not too much of the story. All that is
known is what's available from the most current demo. We
hope to clear some of the fog around SoE's story here.
As you know, Arc Arath is a traditional RPG and starts out
in such a manner. Four college students get together weekly.
During the past few weeks, they notice less and less of
one of the group. One day, after hanging out, there is a
disturbing sound outside. Upon investigating they run into
a very strange person. This person said they were sent by
the Dark Lord to prohibit them from damaging his plans.
This makes no sense to the three as they are forced to
fight the unknown invader. Blaming his weakness on being
on a different planet, he quickly uses a magic spell to go back
from whence he came. The only problem with that is he
mistakenly takes the three with him.
Once the fog clears, all four (the three college students
and the attacker) are all in different places.
AN ALIEN WORLD AND PROPHECY
The new world the party appears in is called Elvenia. It's a
vast world filled with many places, all of which is
governed by the Goddess Serena. That is, before the earlier
mentioned 'Dark Lord's' descent. Before he came to Elvenia,
the people were faithful, peaceful, and lived day to day
without fear. Along side of Serena were her Guardian
Angels: Pryan, Aries, Chermes, and Michiru. These four
Guardian Angels crafted a powerful brooch for Serena. But
upon the Dark Lord's entrance to Elvenia, the brooch
shattered. And soon after, Serena's presence was missing.
Not even the Guardian Angels are much comfort to the
people, as they can no longer make their presence known
with Serena gone. There are only a select few who can even
feel their presence at all. One of which has already passed
away. Her name was the Holy Priestess, Lisa Winters. Before
her passing she wrote a prophecy. That prophecy was of four
youths who would come to Elvenia to rid them of the
onslaught of darkness.
Eventually, the three meet up and progress to a near by
village. Here they find out of this prophecy. The people
from this village believe these three to be the ones spoke
of. Of course, the party is skeptical of these assumptions.
But upon leaving the village, they are attacked.
Arc Arath comes with a complete walkthrough so you'll never worry about being stuck.
REBIRTH AND PURPOSE
They are beaten badly by this new threat. But before they
are killed, the Guardian Angels were able to reach them. In
the moment of need, they were bestowed with the power of
magic… which sense has vanished due to the Dark Lord.
Now with their new power, they were able to scrape by with
their lives. They take into account what has happened and
figured, prophecy or not, they need to find a way home.
The only way they can do that is to venture farther into
Evlenia.
THE WORLD, THE PEOPLE, AND GAMEPLAY
Arc Arath's story only deepens from there. It spans over
seven continents on two worlds. There are run-ins with
several characters with detailed personalities. The story
unfolds from both the sides of the party as well as those
from the antagonists. Also, the battle system will be
used to its best potential. Arc Arath will utilize the
elemental weaknesses towards enemies and bosses. Each party
member will be able to use around 15 to 20 spells each.
And each character gains spells according to their
elemental affinity. The main protagonist, for example,
will only learn fire based spells which will do 50% more
damage to ice based enemies. Some weapons will have
elemental strengths and the ability to strike twice. And
later in, you may be able to use both the left and right
hands on the party to be able to strike 4 times in on
attack. Techs are custom made through skills that allow
each character to learn around 12 or so techs each. Guest
party members are abundant that will be the saving grace
in some boss fights.
It is estimated that Arc Arath will top off around 14
memory cards worth of scenario data. It may be less, it
may be more… But it's promised to be a long journey.
TAKING A BREAK FROM SAVING THE WORLD
There are plenty of side quests available in Arc Arath that
range from a search for stat raising shards, to a detailed
trading town. The trading side quest's goal is to get the
hilts for the 4 best weapons in the game. You will run
across the blades of each later in the game. With all
these in hand, you can have them forged by a smithy.
There's also a side quest that leads you all around the
world of Evlenia. And the biggest side quest available
is a whole continent with multiple dungeons. The optional
boss at the end reveals behind the scene story to the
world of Elvenia as well as some rather interesting items.
Also, depending on how you play the game, you could get
into the bonus rooms. Here you will find some extra content
and behind the scenes information about Arc Arath. Also,
one of the "interesting items" from the optional boss is
an item that unlocks the password on the system data and
scenario data to the entire game.
This is a shot of the offline website for Arc Arath.
TIME TO (RE)PLAY!
Game + Mode will be available once you've beaten the game.
This means you can play Arc Arath again from the beginning
with the stats and items from your last game. It is
suggested that you attempt the optional boss in Game +
Mode because it's not going to be easy. Also, in Game +
Mode you will have access to Easter eggs such as the
ability to turn off random battles.
It has seemed that over time, I and Sarah's Knight have
had less input from other members of Arc Arath's creation.
This isn't an issue as while their input is a big part of
its creation, it isn't vital it its success.
THE HISTORY OF ELVENIA
Earth and Elvenia co-exist side by side in the universe.
But they don't know of each other's existence. Elvenia
and its inhabitance have furthered the study of magic.
Also, there are more than just humans that dwell there.
Earth, on the other hand, only has humans and has not
studied magic at all. Earth has, however, furthered in
technology.
There is a connection between the two planets called the
Lunasphere. It acts as a bridge between the two. It hasn't
been used, however, in thousands of years. Originally it
was placed there by Serena, the goddess of Elvenia.
Serena has governed over Elvenia for many thousands of
years, but for the past few years, people have seen very
little of her. But they still hold their faith strong.
Serena had Guardian Angels
at her right side that act as the medium between Elvenia
and Serena.
There are 4 Guardian Angels (GA's). One for each element
of magic in Elvinia (Fire, Ice, Thunder, and Terra). There
presence isn't well known because they never actually show
themselves to the
Elvenians, but they help keep everything in balance none
the less.
The balance of the two planets was disrupted when Lord
Xennobia opened the Lunasphere and kept Serena from
influencing her people. Which is why no one has seen
Serena as of late.
There was a human in Elvenia who was extremely close to
Serena. Her name was Lisa Winters. She came from the
snowy land of Kalinka. Though Elvenia is known for its
magic, because of the lacking presence
of Serena, Kalinka was the only place where magic truly
would flow. Known as a maiden, everyone in Elvenia held
her high. Unfortunately she passed away, but left behind
a diary that held a prophecy that
when the Dark Lord appears, that there might still be
hope. That's where the protagonists take place.
The offline website has alot of information, expect a lot of content.
CLOSING REMARKS
The Secret of Everyone: Arc Arath is shaping up to be
something to watch for. How will it fare when in comes
out? No one knows (but RPGMM will, when it reviews it!) for
sure. Nevertheless, it is but one of loads of games out there
that need to be seen by the RPG Maker community and RPGMM
is proud to be in the position and have the opportunity to
make that happen.
If you are interested in talking with the developers of the
game, please visit their
Development Studio
here at the Mag.
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