On 31 August 2018, Forward Works released a new promo video for Wild Arms: Million Memories and opened its official website during a live streaming event in which new information on the game was released, and the anime opening movie by A-1 Pictures and CloverWorks was shown as well.
The archived stream can be seen below, with the game’s opening movie (fully animated by A-1 Pictures) commencing at the 0:50 mark, footage of the game’s opening story sequence at 5:05, and gameplay shown from 9:38.
The story takes place in the world of Fargaia (also commonly localized as “Filgaia”). The characters of the various previous games in the series are not treated as coming from their own different worlds, but as inhabitants of this one, same planet, with their stories taking place concurrently, akin to the way the Super Robot Wars series handles its treatment of participating series’ stories. There will also be new characters introduced, such as the ARM Meister Britney Shrewsbury, who is said to be a key person in the story. The story sequence and trailer shown both ended with the stinger of the characters questioning why Rody (also localized as “Rudy”), the protagonist of Wild Arms and Wild Arms: Alter Code F, has betrayed them.
The gameplay shown appears to be a third person action RPG using a three quarter view. “ARM” in this setting is an abbreviation of “Awakening of Resonant Memories”, and they are said to be powerful artifacts which are dragon fossils with the memories of “a Fargaia somewhere, sometime” sealed into them. These appear to be the game’s collectibles, and players use them in battle to execute skills. Characters also each have their own Force Ability, which are skills that require the building up of Force Points in a gauge.
The voice cast of some of the characters has also been revealed:
- Rody Ragnite (Rudy Roughknight): Suzumura Kenichi
- Ashley Winchester: Sakurai Takahiro
- Virginia Maxwell: Komatsu Mikako
- Jude Maverick: Shiraishi Ryoko
- Dien Stag (Dean Stark): Shimono Hiro
- Clarissa Awill (Clarissa Arwin): Takahashi Rie
- Britney Shrewsbury: Toyama Nao
The casting of Sakurai Takahiro as Ashley Winchester seems to have been taken from the 2002 drama CD of Wild Arms 2. It should be noted, however, that Virginia Maxwell was previously voiced by Asano Masami in Wild Arms 3’s 2002 drama CD, and Clarissa Awill was voiced by Sakuno Airi in Wild Arms XF. No reason has yet been given for the changes made.
The website was also opened, with details on all of the above.
An RPG series that started on the Playstation in 1996, the Wild Arms series, unique for its wild west aesthetic combined with steampunk and science fiction and known for deep and engaging stories, was hugely popular throughout the lifetime of the Playstation and Playstation 2, even getting a TV anime spinoff in 1999, but has been in hibernation since the portable spinoff Wild Arms XF was released for the PSP in 2007.
Million Memories is being overseen by the series’ original designer and writer, Kaneko Akifumi, who writes on the official website that he assures that the game will contain the Wild Arms “taste, mind, and spirit”. The game’s music is also being handled by the series’ original composer, Naruke Michiko.
Wild Arms: Million Memories for iOS and Android has been announced for a 2018 release.
