Arc the Lad III is a 1999 tactical role-playing video game developed by Arc Entertainment and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation. It is the third main installment in the Arc the Lad series and the first to not be developed by G-Craft, as the company was absorbed into Square after the release of Front Mission 2. It was released internationally for the first time in 2002 through Arc the Lad Collection.
Gameplay The gameplay moves away from the more tactical aspects present in its predecessors, more like that of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. The battles have been scaled down as well as making the party size 4 rather than 5 and the battles get a new card-based summoning system.
Plot
This story starts years after the Great Disaster from Arc the Lad II, on the island of Eteru. Alec, a young man from a small farm town, Sasha Village, aspires to become a Hunter, just like the man who saved him during the Disaster. When his village is attacked by bandits, he and his friend Lutz must run to the nearest town, Itio, and hire a Hunter to save the village. On the way to, they encounter monsters and realize they get a rush when fighting, feeling a power within themselves. After the village is saved, Alec decides to leave and become a Hunter; Lutz tags along.
To become a Hunter, Alec must collect the Ghost Dream Crystal in a nearby cave. With Lutz's help, Alec finds the crystal and officially becomes a Hunter. After taking enough jobs, Alec and Lutz eventually take on a job that lets them leave Eteru Island. A boat takes them to the next continent, Forestamore. There they meet Theo, a young Cardist who can turn monsters into cards like his mother. He joins them and together they meet Lieza (from Arc the Lad II), who is now running a monster ranch with Paundit. They also encounter Sharon, a woman from the Academy, who can control monsters with a machine. With Lieza's help, the trio rides a Flying Fire to their next destination, North Sularto.
Upon landing in North Sularto, they meet a gunslinger named Cheryl. They make their way to Society Village, a town dedicated to restoring the world, and then to Gislem, a notoriously poor and dangerous city. It seems the Academy has been kidnapping people. After a failed attempt of the kidnapping of Cheryl, Cheryl joins the party.
After taking some jobs in Testa, the group meets Tosh, the protector of the city and its precious Water Orb. The Academy steals the Orb from the village and Tosh, shocked from seeing his friend Shu with the enemies, decides to join Alec and crew and get back the Orb. Because of the lack of water in the desert town of Testa, the villagers travel to Gislem, where they temporarily live.
Learning that a secret Academy base is hidden in an old airship, the group makes their way inside, only to find it crawling with enemy robots. Halfway through, the group finds Shu, who reveals that he was really trying to infiltrate the Academy. Having taken the Orb, Tosh returns to Testa and Shu joins Alec to get to the bottom of this. After defeating an Academy employee in a giant robot, Shu leaves the group.
Alec and his friends take a boat to Jiharta. They quickly learn of an uproar in the Hunter's Guild and investigate: someone has stolen a water controlling scroll from the nearby Amaidar Temple. After speaking to Iga (Arc the Lad character), the party and Marsia, a young spellcaster from the Spell Institute who knows the thief personally, discover the thief, Tikva, is working for the Academy.
Alec and his party find the Academy and Tikva at the Romastor, conducting a water controlling experiment with the scroll and some machinery. After the experiment, the Academy members dismiss Tikva, who becomes angry at not being recognized as helpful. Galdo, a spear wielding Academy member previously seen in the secret base, was watching the experiment and now intervenes. Alec and crew attack, surprising Galdo that they can even scratch him. He teleports away and Tikva is taken back to Amaidar Temple. As punishment, Iga forces him to join the temple and become a monk, much to the surprise of everyone. Marsia then decides to join Alec on his adventure.
After settling a few jobs in Jiharta, Iga then wish to deliver a letter to his friend named Leshalt in Parute. In Parute, they enter the main city, Paltos, and learn that an annual tournament's opening ceremony is commencing. The first prize of the tournament is a goddess statue with an Aura stone attached. It appears that the Academy had set a base there too, with Sharon in charge. After the opening ceremony, Alec found Leshalt and consult him about the Academy. After making a promise that he'll help in any way he can, Leshalt send the team back, only to bump into his grumpy brother, Velhart, who was the best swordsman in Parute and the second best warrior, only behind Gruga of Brakia.
After some time pass, a job order came from the committee of the tournament. It is to safeguard the prize kept inside a nobleman's house in Parute city. As predicted, the Academy did come and wish to snatch the prize. A battle ensues and Alec emerges victorious. The chairman of the committee is than Gruga himself, after taking advice from Leshalkt to keep the statue in the Rochefort's manor and had Alec's party to guard it. Not long after the incident, a job came from Leshalt in order to ask Alec to safeguard the Aura stone on the statue and keep it in the safe beneath the item society building. Then Leshalt told Alec that he might know who's the mastermind behind the academy. It appears that it was his old colleague from the time of the disaster. After Alec and his party leave the house, the Professor (leader of the academy), whose name later revealed to be Ludwig, and Sharon enter Leshalt's retreat. The professor's trying to ask Leshalt to join his cause, which he decline. He then go as far as to detain Leshalt as he would be an obstacle for his goal.
Back in the city, Alec is trying to convince Gruga to hand him the prize. But Gruga told Alec that he should win the tournament to get the prize and enlist him in the battle. Much to their surprise, Velhart - who previously said he wouldn't participate without Gruga - enters the tournament. Seeing how Velhart used to say that he won't participate without Gruga in the line makes Alec and his friend curious about the sudden change of heart. In the tournament, Alec battles a series of opponent, concluding with Velhart, eventually winning all the matches.
When the prize was about to be awarded, Velhart suddenly snatches the statue and runs away. Alec and crew pursue him, learning that Velhart has aligned himself with the academy. They follow Velhart to the academy's headquarters in Parute desert. Upon arriving, they learn that Velhart is actually trying to steal the goddess statue to save his brother Leshalt from the academy's captivity. They set to double the aura stone Velhart brought, and the process was halted by Leshalt, which causes him to be killed by Seville of the Academy. Enraged by his brother's murder, Velhart join forces with Alec to chase off the Professor only to find out he had escaped.
The aura stone is then secured and brought to the item society's safe as Leshalt wished. Moments after, the Guildmaster send a word through his manager that he wishes to meet Alec. He order Alec and his crews to find the Academy's headquarters in a place called Ragnark, which is known as Romalia till the disaster. Using the hovercraft found in the Cariote cave sealed by the guild itself, they travel to Ragnark.
As was told, Ragnark used to be the source of the Great Disaster when it was still called Romalia. Alec and his crews arrive at Ragnark and infiltrate the city of Felator in order to find clues about the headquarters. Alec sneaks into the branch building of Academy and finds out that the chief was Sharon. He overheard Sharon and Seville talking about a mysterious energy reading from what they had been researching and she require an escort to headquarter. Alec and his crew follows her through the White Bone Forest and Midoro Swamp to the main building of the Academy located north of Felator. There, they see a melting alloy gate and Marsia presumes that someone is using an unbelievably powerful ignition technology, since she herself is unable to melt an alloy that thick. They are then confronted by the guards and accidentally learned that they are not the only intruders in the facility.
As they battle their way to the top of the building where the Professor, Sharon and Seville is, they are halted by the Fear Crimson, a fusion of a dragon and machine. Seville refers that it was their crown creation and was perfected due to the help by a cardist they captured in Forestamore, which is none other than Theo's mother herself. When asked where is she, Seville implied that on the day Fear Crimson was perfected, she just died. He then lock the team in for a battle with the abominable machine. Though Alec's team emerges victorious, the Fear Crimson then set itself to self-destruct and is about to catch the team in the explosion, when Elc's timely arrival and his Flame Shield prevented that. The Professor, Lugwig and Sharon argued over whatever or not to continue with harassing the power source locked away within the lake. Elc takes Alec up to the roof where they confront the Professor and Sharon. Ludwig used Sharon as a shield against Elc so he couldn't unleash his Fire Power at him. From the roof, they witness the revival of the Sky Castle as the lake's was being vaporized.
Upon seeing the desecrated town beneath the vaporizing lake, Alec's memory recall the past where the moment he was saved by a hunter in the fire. It was in Romalia. When thinking a way to get to the Sky Castle, he spots saw the Hien by the bottom of the lake. Elc decided to stay by the Hien to start repairing the airship so it can be used to fly to the Sky Castle. Meanwhile, Elc ask Alec to report to the Guildmaster and suggest that Alec go find Gogen the magic master to find a way to re-seal the Dark One as he predicted that the Academy will at least managed to release the Dark One.
At the guild, The Guildmaster promotes Alec to a hunter of a status like Elc and Shu, which act directly under the essentials of the guild. After being promoted, Alec directs the guild to find Gogen. He is then discovered to be residing in an ancient ruin in a cape in Jiharta. After passing several riddles and tricks made by Gogen, they meet the old man himself and by their surprise, hearing him said that the Dark One can't be re-sealed, as the ark was destroyed by Andel and the lineage of Bravery and Goddess (respectively Arc and Kukuru) has expire. An idea cross by Lutz mind to create a new ark, and is heavily rejected by Gogen since it is an impossible task for men. But the team made their commitment to save the world therefore made Gogen tell them how to craft a new ark. It was told to be made of Eternal Steel, Eternal Tree, Eternal Ice and Eternal Flame. After that, one must be blessed by the guardians before the ark could be created. So the team set off to the guild master to learn the whereabouts of those four sacred relic.