Arc Rise Fantasia

Arc Rise Fantasia is set in the world of Fulheim, a fictional large region of Earth. Creatures called "Feldragons" are causing a lot of trouble as they pass the Meridian Empire in flocks. If one is killed, the resulting explosion poisons the local area. When the empire receives word that a massive horde has its sights on the capital of Diamant, it immediately sends out an army to fight them, including L'Arc, a cool and collected novice mercenary, and his friend Alf, the beloved prince and second in line for the throne.

The game is centered around political tensions between the Meridian Empire and the Turmelian Republic; a third faction is Olquina, a devoutly-followed coalition at war with the Republic and the Empire. Another central plot point is the game's 2 Laws; Real's Law and Imaginal's Law. A Child of Eesa must choose to present one of two laws that will form the building blocks of the world to the god Eesa. Also, both Real and Imaginal have Divas, who are the priestesses of their religions.[1]

The game opens with the protagonist, Meridian Empire Legionnaire and mercenary L'Arc Bright Lagoon, protecting the army by facing off against a dragon aboard a lightship. The energy of the fight sends him crashing to the Earth, only for him to be saved (and the catalytic explosion of the dragon prevented) by a girl named Ryfia, whose mother was recently assassinated. They proceed to Topazion and later Jada (as it was Ryfia's mother's dying wish for her to go there), during which they meet up with L'Arc's friend, Prince Alfonse ("Alf") of the Empire. They also come across and recruit Niko Bennex, a grunt member of the army, and assistance is provided to them by a mysterious blue-cloaked man calling himself "Rastan". The town comes under attack by a monster force of undead skeletons led by a man called the "Deathchanter", whom Ryfia stated was the one who attacked her hometown and killed her mother. The party of L'Arc, Ryfia, Niko, Alf and Rastan are able to drive away the attacker, who seeks to kill L'Arc (the "Child of Eesa") and Ryfia (the "Imaginal Diva"). The standoff results in L'Arc being led to Dragon Prison, where he is able to bond with Simmah, the first Rogress. Rogress are extremely powerful creatures only a Child of Eesa can bond with. Rastan leaves the party afterwards.

Unfortunately, as Jada's army general Clyde tells the party, Simmah was a key energy supplier to the Meridian Empire. In the Meridian Capital of Diamant, the emperor Sir Weiss, Alf's brother, pardons them of punishment under the condition they sabotage an Olquinian ray stream that siphons the empire's energy (Olquina is a fanatical country that preaches Real's Law). While in Diamant, L'Arc sees his mother Elena and his mentor Zamuel; the party also meets Adele, L'Arc and Alf's childhood friend, as well as Zamuel's granddaughter.

Since the Deathchanter is spotted on the Olquinian ship the party looked to infiltrate, they will need to find an alternate method of transport. As Zamuel's martial arts school is attacked, an energetic young girl named Cecille delivers a message to Elena that Zamuel's friend "Leon" has tracked an old enemy on a coastline. Zamuel and Adele chase the thieves. The party finds Zamuel wounded; Rastan and Cecille appear and escort him back to Diamant. In the coastline cave, the group finds the corpses of many bandits killed by Paula and Luna, assassins working under "Ignacy" (the "old enemy" mentioned in the message). The duo, upon their attempt to execute Adele, are countered by L'Arc's party. However, thanks to the efforts of Serge (the last surviving bandit and a rather kind-hearted man), they are all able to escape the cave safely.

On the boat, the creature that relayed the message to Zamuel is revealed to be a Kopin, whom Serge's bandit group had been stealing. Via the boat, the party goes to Kopin Village and then escapes a dangerous nearby jungle. Fortunately, this chain of events has led L'Arc to being closer to Olquina than before, so he continues with his mission as planned. On his way there, the group encounters a provocative young woman named Leslie, who hints to a future alliance. Apparently, the Olquinian Diva Ms Rafil had recently been killed by an unknown assassin, leaving her unknown daughter as the current Diva, and spiking anti-Meridian sentiment in the Olquina capital of Antrax. Upon their arrival in the capital of Olquina, Antrax, the party infiltrates its Skywalk and disables it. The Deathchanter appears and unsuccessfully attempts to counterattack the group, surprised to see Adele with them. Shortly afterwards, the party allies with Leslie after Adele is kidnapped by Olquinian forces. The group fights through to catch up with her.

Once they do so, they discover that in reality, Adele has now become the Real Diva, as Ms Rafil was her mother. Zamuel's mercenary force were asked by Rafil to take care of her daughter, until such time that she was ready to learn her true fate. The Deatchanter is also there, overlooking her as she sings a song of Real. As tensions begin to climb, Weiss brutally attacks Olquina, announcing the success of L'Arc's sabotage of the energy siphoning device in the Skywalk. In the rage following this, it is revealed that Alf is also a Child of Eesa capable of controlling Rogress. Girtab, the Rogress protective of Olquina, begins to obey Alf and Adele. Weiss attempts to kill Adele, but is countered by Alf. L'Arc breaks up the fight as the brothers cross swords. Alf, infuriated at Weiss's attack on Olquina, commits to staying with Adele, abandoning L'Arc, Weiss and the Empire. Serge and Leslie also migrate, revealed to be mercenaries hired to protect the Real Diva. Alf, Adele, the Deathchanter, Serge and Leslie all flee with Girtab, leaving L'Arc with Ryfia and Niko.

Weiss reveals he declared the attack on Antrax to attempt to turn it into a military base in an act of aggression. He then explains the story of how Eesa created both Real and Imaginal, with a "Child of Eesa" (either L'Arc or Alf) having to choose which of two laws to present. L'Arc and Ryfia chose Imaginal, and Adele and Alf chose Real. He orders L'Arc to deliver a message to General Freya in Turmelia, the Senate for the Republic. Unfortunately, Zamuel, due to Ignacy's assault on him earlier, has died. Before embarking, Cecille offers to join the trio on their mission. Falsely believed to be responsible for the attack on Antrax, Niko, L'Arc, Ryfia and Cecille are arrested in the Republic, but due to Rastan rejoining them on the way, they escape the prison.

Later, L'Arc consults Patriarch Hosea who explains that Real's Law is a school of thought that proposes the death of all living things, whilst Imaginal's Law proposes prosperity and continuation. L'Arc must collect all of the Rogress before Alf does, as they are necessary to present a Law to Eesa. They then receive a map indicating the Rogress locations; the closest one is up north in the region of Ebur. During their trip there, the party encounters and faces a monster summoned by the Deathchanter, who reveals his name to be Dynos. He is the brother of Cecille, and the two are members of the Divine Race, a subset of humans who slept in a time-stopping chamber for around a millennium. Cecille is older than Dynos, but Dynos woke up before Cecille. Rastan has a vested interest in encountering Serge that he keeps secretive about. The party spots Alf giving a rally raising his popularity in Batrachites as Alf obtains Absin, the next Rogress. There, it is revealed that along with Serge, Dynos and Leslie, General Clyde has joined his cause.

In Ebur Ruins, where Gula reportedly is, the group encounters Alf's group face-to-face, but they all agree to work cooperatively temporarily so that they can locate Maria, a resident of Ebur village missing in the ruins. Upon saving her, Serge breaks away from Alf's group and permits L'Arc (without Alf's approval) to bond with Gula. After Maria is saved, Serge peacefully leaves the village; he tips the party off about a Lightship in Jada. After bypassing a border between Meridia and the Republic, the party then battles Alf, Adele and Leslie over control of the Rogress Rufunga (this battle can be won or lost by the player, winning rewards the player much EXP and grants the player Rufunga). Upon returning to Jada to get the Lightship, Weiss, previously unaware that the group survived their imprisonment at Turmelia attacks the group. He escapes as the party obtains the Lightship.

Upon its crash, the party hires a man in Ebur to repair it. On their way to a nearby abandoned church that has the necessary parts in it, the party encounters Serge alone, who is investigating atrocities committed by Ignacy's task force, the Aion Unit. He joins the party after Ignacy attacks and defeats the party. They barely escape with the now-repaired Lightship after being narrowly saved by Leslie. It is now revealed that in reality, Serge (the real "Leon"), Rastan, Zamuel and L'Arc's father Rex were the 4 members of the Lord Knights, and that Ignacy killed Rastan's wife and child after forcing Rastan to betray Rex to Ignacy. Rastan offers to kill himself to give Rex's son satisfaction, but L'Arc permits him to live, Rex's last words to Leon (Serge) urging an abstinence from revenge.

Both teams having 2 Rogress (L'Arc's with Simmah/Gula and Alf's with Girtab/Absin), the party races against Alf's to collect all 9 Rogress; the 4 remaining are Squill, in the Soliton Caves; Urgula, in the Ellgode Volcano; Papirusagu, in the Zeifellt Holy Tower; and Banchu, in the Ruins of Hillbert. The locations correspond respectively to the Water, Fire, Wind and Earth elements. The order the player pursues the Rogress can be changed. The player will have three opportunities to hunt a Rogress down if they didn't get Rufunga, 2 if they did. Due to Alf's competition with L'Arc, each location will have a condition the player must use to obtain the Rogress in addition to defeating the Rogress; for instance, Papirusagu requires the player beat Alf to the top of the tower in a race. None of the Rogress need to be defeated to complete their dungeon (they will simply go to L'Arc).

After their first attempt at a Rogress, the northern ice city of Opalus is attacked. This chain of events leads to the city being saved, with Leslie revealed to be one of its former commanders. After another pursuit of a Rogress (two if the player didn't get Rufunga), Leslie's sister Angie is falsely imprisoned. The party saves her before she is executed, once again defeating Ignacy's assassins Paula and Luna in the process. Finally, Leslie joins L'Arc's party as thanks for their assistance, but returning to the Lightship after this, Niko leaves the group, unable to deal with the situation. − During this time, Weiss agrees to a peace treaty between the Empire and the Republic. At this time, Weiss reveals that he is the half-brother of L'Arc (he shares L'Arc's mother and Alf's father). Meridian soldiers attack the meeting and sabotage it, and the party identifies that these are soldiers who were killed and controlled by Dynos, and that he and Adele are doing this behind Alf and Clyde's backs. A furious Alf, unaware of the true culprit, confronts Weiss aboard the Flagship Percival. Fearing that one of the brothers may end up dead, L'Arc's party intervenes to find Weiss and Alf dueling. In a moment of distraction upon Weiss knocking Adele aside, Alf pierces his sword through Weiss's heart. Adele reveals that she used Dynos to manipulate Alf into getting revenge on Weiss for his attack on Antrax, and in order to give Alf the throne so that he can use it to preach Real's Law. Due to the Flagship's destruction, the parties exit the ship. Before his death, Weiss leaves L'Arc's party with a clue; they must neutralize and keep the Hozone (the poison affecting the Divine and Common Race) to make it suitable for all life forms, and they should use a "Doctor Carlisle" for assistance.

Shortly afterwards, the party goes to Hosea, but catches Ignacy speaking with him, revealing that Hosea is complicit in the Aion Unit's atrocities. Ignacy attempts to brainwash L'Arc and nullify him as the Child of Eesa. Ryfia uses her power to intervene, but she is knocked unconscious and kidnapped in the process. Simmah tells L'Arc that if they look to save her, they need go to the Ancient Tower Zeifellt. There, they learn that Rogress are created from humans, and upon investigating Ryfia's consciousness in person, it is revealed that Simmah is the father of Ryfia, and he became a Rogress to protect the Republic. Recovering Ryfia, the party discovers that there is now an anti-Alf resistance movement, and the party defeats General Clyde, who reveals his hesitation in the plan motivated out of loyalty. He confides that Alf plans to use Adele to activate Ellgode Volcano, which would kill countless people. The resistance movement stems from how Alf has become extremely dictatorial. They confront Alf at Ellgode and stop him from triggering the volcano. During this time, Alf reveals that he has made a pact with Real; if he can manage people for a year, Real will stop the destruction of the land, and he is trying to reduce the number of people on the Earth making their management efficient. Exiting the volcano, they encounter Niko, who directs them to the Soliton Caves where they can find Doctor Carlisle).

Carlisle advises them that there might be a way to save both races independent of the laws by defeating Eesa and neutralizing all the Hozone. In the midst of a battle between Alf's party and L'Arc's, Ignacy arrives and warns them to get to the Lascarde Skywalk before Niko is killed. There the party defeats both Ignacy and Hosea. Adele sacrifices herself to save Alf from being killed by Ignacy, and Niko sacrifices himself to prevent the Skywalk from launching a deadly blast on the surface world. Alf loses all hope following Adele's death, and becomes rash.

The party goes to the Verct Skywalk and defeats Dynos, with Cecille choosing to fight him - discontent with his motives vs L'Arc's, who then attempts to transform into a dragon to counter the party. Cecille kills Dynos to prevent this. After defeating Clyde and Alf, who agree to unify to defeat Real again and the latter returning to L'Arc all the Rogress, L'Arc goes to the Holy Land of Noire to confront the god Eesa. Before he does, L'Arc revisits Doctor Carlisle—she acknowledges that saving the world is possible, but advises L'Arc that he would need to be put to a 500-year time-stopping sleep in order to do so. The party defeats Eesa, and after her defeat, the story ends with L'Arc going to sleep for centuries and waking 500 years later. Receiving messages from all of his (now-deceased) friends, he finds that Ryfia went to sleep with him to be able to meet him again. The game ends as L'Arc and Ryfia exit into the world.

After the epilogue, the game reverts the player back to the point immediately before the final boss, with new side content available.