Wild Arms

Wild Arms is an Action-adventure Role Playing Game made for the Sony Playstation by Media Vision. It has a standard 2-D top-down design with many western and fantasy elements in it.

Story
(From the American manual)

The Legend of Filgaia

The world of Filgaia is now only a shell of what existed long before. Ages ago, under the protection of the Guardians, the world of Filgaia was a prosperous land filled with ancient and magical beings. It was a rich, green and fertile realm. All was well with the inhabitants of Filgaia... until a surprise invasion by a race of Metal Demons with bodies of steel robbed them of peace.

In order to survive, the three races of this world banded together. The Guardians and humans fought together with the Elws, a clever race that used technology laced with magic, to rid their planet of the alien demons. Working together, they forced the Metal Demons to the arctic edge of Filgaia where they have not been seen since. Having helped win the war to save Filgaia, the Elw became disenchanted by the greed and ruthlessness of the human race. They became alienated and abandoned Filgaia after seeing the rapid decline of the planet.

Even though the war to save Filgaia was won, the planet suffered terribly during the battle. Shortly after the war, plants began to disappear one by one until most of the grasslands were nothing more than desert wastelands.

As for the Guardians, the battle to save Filgaia drained them of their power, and they were lost to the myths of time. Although some still hold faith in the Guardians, they are now considered by most to be just one of the many legends that surround the old world.

Now, 1000 years later, the war is but a memory, and slowly a new civilization is rising from the ashes. But once again an ominous cloud hangs over the horizon. The Metal Demons, who witnessed the collapse of their own planet, Hiades, are preparing for the moment when they can once again descend upon Filgaia and claim it as their new home.

Three brave warriors will hear the call of the mythic Guardians. As they ready themselves to embark upon a journey to save their world, each is unaware of the others' existence as they are of their own fates. In a world brought to ruin under the merciless attack of an alien race, the wheels of fortune are about to turn.

Heroes

 * Rudy Roughknight: A gentle Dream Chaser who is an outcast due to the fact he uses the forbidden technology of ARMs.
 * Jack Van Burace: A treasure hunter and Fast Draw swordsman who harbors a sense of guilt for a previous failure. Hanpan travels with him.
 * Cecilia Lynn Adlehyde: A princess of the royal Adlehyde family. She leaves her kingdom in order to fight for the good of Filgaia.

Supporting Characters

 * Bartholomew: A somewhat befuddled sailor and captain of The Sweet Candy.
 * Emma Hetfield: A brilliant and egotistic scientist who often assists the main characters.
 * Elmina Niet: One of the Fenril Knights; a former love of Jack Van Burace.
 * Hanpan: A wise mouse who travels with Jack Van Burace.
 * Jane Maxwell: A member of the formerly well-to-do Maxwell Family. She's a treasure hunter and an ARMs user who also goes by the alias "Calamity Jane."
 * Magdalen Harts: Jane Maxwell's butler who travels with her at all times.
 * Mariel: The last Elw on Filgaia. She is an outcast due to her otherness.

Metal Demons

 * Alhazad: An intellectual Metal Demon who is a scientist. He wears a cape to mask his true form.
 * Belzek: An angry war-lord Metal Demon.
 * Boomerang: A quiet and dignified knight who is accompanied by Luceid the Guardian of Desire.
 * Lady Harken: A mysterious female Metal Demon who is a master of the Fast Draw technique.
 * Mother: The Queen and Mother of the Metal Demons who lead the attack on Filgaia. She is sealed away at the start of the game.
 * Zed: A Metal Demon who is not taken seriously by his demon brethren due to his animated and comic personality.
 * Zeikfried: The leader of the Metal Demons in the absence of Mother. His original goal is to revive Mother but escalates as the game progresses.

Trivia
For a few years, it was believed that the was originally an acronym ("Wild ARMs"), standing for 'Advanced Relic Machine' within the context of the game. This was, in fact, an error based on a fan interpretaiton of the all-capitalized version of the title, originating from the RPGamer fan website of the Japanese version of the title.

With the release of Wild Arms 4, and some confusion that the game brought, the entire franchise was officially listed without the acronyms and all capital letters, effectively solidifying the title to merely "Wild Arms".

A remake of this game, entitled Wild Arms Alter Code F, was released for the Playstation 2 console.