only accessories can be equipped, and can only be chosen at the start of battle. Accessories boost statistics in various ways, and can be dropped by defeated enemies, received from opening chests in battle, received from NPCs, or found in the few explorable areas the game presents. The weapons and armor a character uses cannot be changed. Despite some accessories bearing the names of weapons or armor, such as the Phantom Set of items (gauntlet, ring, shield, and sword), there are no weapon or armor systems. Arc the Lad II boosts the gameplay by including a revamped weapon system. Weapons, armor, items, and accessories can now be equipped on characters. Items, armor, and weapons can be bought in stores, found in battle, found in explorable areas or created in the combination shop. The combination shop requires that ingredients be brought and assembled. Each character has several types of equipable weapons. For example, Shu can equip battle shoes or fire arms such as assault rifles and shotguns. Weapons can also be improved, and can gain a +1 beside their name to indicate their increased parameters. This new equipment system also improves the battle system, as some weapons, such as guns and spears, have further range than swords and other short-range melee weapons. Lieza, one of the principal characters in Arc the Lad II, can also tame monsters, which can sometimes use human equipment. These monsters can be used in battle as well, as party selection is variable in Arc the Lad II, based on the number of characters the player has recruited and whether certain characters are usable at certain times in the game. A similar system is found in Arc the Lad III, however the synthesis guild replaces the combination shop, and, to many fans, the synthesis guild is far more in-depth than the combination shop. Recipes must be found by the players, unlike in Arc the Lad II where the shop would tell them exactly what to use. The monster system is limited to a card system, where monsters can be trapped in cards and later used for attacks. Exploration In Arc the Lad, the world is only explored in a limited capacity. The player selects an area on a world map and then proceeds through the events and battles present in that area. Sometimes after a battle is fought, the player can explore the area in a limited