Though it's a small part of the game compared to the whole, it's a great way to introduce plot, back story, and develop the characters a little more fully than the standard, overused "roll up your characters and start adventuring" mentality that permeates a lot of RPGs.

Wild Arms 3 handles this in a similar way, though it doesn't rely on chapter divisions. In an interesting twist, you get a nice introductory story, which results in four strangers meeting together on a train. You get to select which character to control, and play through a small adventure (30 minutes to an hour and a half or so) that introduces you to the character, the character's motivations, and the series of events that led him or her to the fateful meeting on the train. Once you complete each character's introductory section, the actual adventure of Wild Arms 3 begins.

I'd love to take all of the artifacts from every RPG ever made, mysterious and/or ancient, rip them from their respective games, and pound them into tiny bits of scrap metal while screaming "NO.. More... ARTIFACTS!" at the top of my lungs. Of course, this would probably bring about the wrath of a swarm of lightning-breathing ocelots or release the unholy demon spawn from the bowels of an insane, evil underwater Priest-King, but it would be worth it. *sigh* Well, now that I have that out of my system, I think that I can say that despite the rather cliched introduction to our character's mission, it's an interesting tale that will have you smiling more than once. One of the most refreshing parts of the game is the interaction between the characters - I love it when there is a bit of dissention within the ranks, and the clever quips and bon mots serve to lighten the mood, and make your characters seem more than just jumbles of numbers and statistics.

Personal Skills: Your characters have individually assignable skills that you can plunk points into - things that let you counter attack, avoid certain types of status ailments, or raise your chances for critical hits. You can sometimes learn these skills from items, and they can (with the exception of a few character specific traits) be shuffled around to any character you choose.

Mediums: i.e., spells. However, the spells in Wild Arms 3 serve not only as an interesting plot device, but also as a creative way to handle spell systems. You can reassign the primary mediums to any character - think of them as water, air, fire, and earth elemental groupings that have a sub-grouping of spells. If you don't like one character as a "water mage", you can reassign his or her medium and change the block of spells that character may use.

Weapon Development: or ARMs, as the game refers to them. Each character has a weapon, and it may be upgraded numerous times. This is a great way to siphon cash from the player, as well as provide a goal to strive toward - if a boss is too tough, perhaps raising the level of the weapon will provide that extra bit of power needed to send an unruly beast to a well-deserved grave. Even better, each weapon has several categories that can be independently raised; the ammunition capacity, accuracy, damage, critical hit probability, etc. It's a well designed system that's fun and intuitive.