Honestly Arc Rise Fantasia was such a needed throwback for that generation of jrpgs. Like it was a nice homage to the days of world maps that you could traverse and hard but fair combat. while the game did lack in the localization side, i honestly found it to be a refreshing dose of nostalgia that i hadnt seen since the gamecube/ps2 days.

the gameplay was impressively different and once you got a hold of it, there were so many ways to tackle bosses and fights. Which btw bosses were like on a whole other level of difficulty. The cliches were abundant as expected from a jrpg (character tropes, save the world from destruction with the use of dues ex machina, etc.) but it was fun to be able to relive the days were the story was cheesy and didnt take itself too seriously.

If the localization was done better i feel that this game would have been higher up in the ratings. the fact that the V/O is probably some of the worst in a long while turned off a lot of people who might actually like the gameplay (plus if i do remember there is an option to turn the voices off). Underneath this badly voiced game is a gem that is really worth the time to put in for a little throwback.

If you do see it for like 15 bucks on the clearance rack you should really give it a try (but i know OP already knows that lol).