"Can you NOT like this game??"

I received Thousand Arms as a Christmas present. I saw it at Amazon.com and it looked good. I played this game for an hour or so and was laughing my rear off, it's the funniest game I have ever played. You watch as Meis (the main character) tries to ''woo'' every girl he comes across. The thing that I found most interesting would have to e the dating simulator, it wasn't like a pointless mini-game, it actually had a purpose. You raise your intimacy levels with a girl to forge new weapons, which is cool because it takes a break from regular RPG's.

Story: 9/10
The story plays out well, your home destroyed, you go to another town, learn the ways of a Spirit Blacksmith...Its really unique, I've never seen an RPG built around you being a blacksmith. Don't get me wrong, it might sound kinda stupid, but it really is a cool idea, wanna know how cool it is? Get the game!

Graphics: 10/10
The Anime is really good, and there is tons of it! About 1/4 of the conversations ''zoom'' in in an Anime cut scene kinda thing. The summons also are very excellent looking. Beautiful eye candy.

Sound: 10/10
The Opening and Ending songs are done by a Japanese pop artist, they are really cool sounding too. In the Anime cut scenes there are Voice-Overs for the characters, and almost every significant conversation there are voice-overs too, quite a turn from ''normal'' RPGs

Gameplay: 8/10
The controls are better than a lot of RPGs. The battle system is unique and will take some getting used too, but its definitely a very good battle system. There is a map for almost every (even towns, so ya don't get lost) which helps too.

Thousand Arms isn't a very popular RPG. Mainly because people hear about Final Fantasy games from their friends and when a new Final Fantasy comes out, its like the world is reading every preview available, now, I DO like the Final Fantasy games, but they are kinda killing the ''smaller'' companies RPGs. I would definitely get Thousand Arms, c'mon, be different, be the only kid on the block with a GOOD rpg..Buy it NOW! No, I said BUY IT, NO RENTING! If you go out and get FF9 and don't get Thousand Arms you will be contributing to all that is evil in the world (Ok, so its not THAT bad, but you gotta admit FF games do crush the more ''unheard'' of RPGs).

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/00, Updated 03/17/03