I enjoy WA3 for several reasons, and I always have something nice to say about it. This is not to say that this is one of my most favorite games of all time, or that it’s one of the best JRPGs ever, but it did some unique things that I feel should be used by other games in the future.
Some of the things I like about the game:
*The opening. The first two WA games start off by having you choose one of your three main characters, and then you play a short introductory scenario as that character. Repeat for the other two, and then the characters meet up and the game properly begins. WA3 takes this a small, but cool, step forward by starting with the game’s protagonist, who decides to investigate a possible robbery on the train she is riding. When she enters the train car where the theft is taking place, three other characters suddenly jump out and aim their guns at each other. The scene freezes, and you are then able to choose which of the four characters whose scenario you wish to play first. It’s nothing huge, but starting the game off with a little action makes you wonder why all these very different people are there, pointing guns at each other.
*The protagonist. Of the four main characters, there is one that the others call “leader” – Virginia Maxwell. That’s right, a JRPG with a female main character… and she is actually modestly dressed and proportioned. I’m not about to say that all women should wear long dresses or whatever, but it really fits the “Old West” aesthetic and it’s just a surprising change from most JRPGs, or games in general. The fact that she starts out being a bit naive but grows into a strong person is just icing.
*The weapons. Of course, in most RPGs, the characters would use swords, daggers, bows, staves, and so on. In WA3, all four of your characters use their own gun (or ARM) in battle. And instead of buying a new one in each town, they keep the same guns throughout the game and you pay for upgrades, with the option to forfeit the money you put into them and start over if you choose. One of my favorite parts about this is that it allows the game to play with a common JRPG trope – one of your characters is at least ten years older than the others, is married, bookish, wears glasses, and has the whole “mage” sort of vibe to him… but he’s your strongest character, because he uses a high-powered sniper rifle. There’s another character who is huge, strong, and kind of dumb, but he’s your strongest magic caster. He does less damage because he has a sawed-off shotgun with very low accuracy, and his magic aptitude is due to the fact that he belongs to the game world’s resident “Native American” tribe with close spiritual connections to the gods.
*The music. All of the WA games have excellent music, even after they switched composers in WA4, but I think this one has my favorite all-around soundtrack.
*Avoiding battles. When a random battle is about to occur, your character gets an exclamation point above his or her head. Normally it’s white, but sometimes it is green or red. Red means that you’re forced into the battle. White means that you can avoid the battle if you wish, but it will cost you about 1-4 “points”, of which you only start with 10 (and can increase to a total of 40 by the end of the game). If the exclamation point is green, you can skip the battle without losing any points. How do you get the green exclamation points? Throughout the game you can collect “migrant seals” which increase your “migrant level”. What this means is, if your migrant level is high enough, you can avoid stronger battles. When your migrant level increases high enough and you go back to an early dungeon, all of the battles will give you green exclamation points. This system reminds me of Earthbound, in which you could see enemies on the screen and try to avoid battles, and when your level was high enough not only would enemies actively avoid YOU, but you could win a battle instantly without having to waste time by going into a battle screen. And surprise, surprise, neither of these systems have been used again. (Earthbound’s sequel, Mother 3, has a similar system, only without being able to win a fight instantly. Instead, you can run through weaker enemies and temporarily stun them to avoid battle.)
Some of the things I don’t like about WA3:
*The story. It’s pretty “meh”, to be honest. The translation is pretty good, but the dialogue feels odd sometimes.
*Lack of diversity. The cast of characters feels very small because you fight the same people over, and over, and over again. I am not even kidding about this. There are about four sets of people who you fight as bosses no less than three or four times each throughout the game. They might have a new attack or strategy each time, but it’s basically the same fight. There are also very few notable NPCs in towns – usually you just talk to random people to get a clue to your next destination. There are a lot of dungeons, but most of them look very much alike (almost all of them are ancient ruins). The gameplay within the dungeons is typically pretty good, though, due to all four characters eventually obtaining three unique skills for puzzle solving.
*The game clock. This is an extremely minor annoyance but it’s just so odd I have to mention it. The game’s clock only runs when you are walking around, whether in a town or dungeon or whatever. When you are in a menu, or a cutscene, or even just talking to a townsperson, the clock stops until you’re done. As a result, whatever time it shows you is waaayy off.
That’s actually all I can think about for negatives right now. The game has a lot of good qualities, but the only reason why it turns me off sometimes is because the story isn’t very engaging and the dungeons start looking the same after a while.