Thousand Arms

"Dating girls is fun!"

Thousand Arms is an RPG/Dating Sim developed by Red, and published by Atlus. When I heard RPG and Dating Sim, I did a double-take, wondering how they were gonna pull that off. Well, Red did a good job, but it's not nearly as good as I'd hoped.

''More stylish then stylish itself!''

Ignore the confusingly bad remark above. Anyways, the graphics in TA are very stylish. The characters are super-deformed in nature, and the game sports just a really odd look to it. The 2-D characters look a little bit odd on the 3-D backrounds, but it looks good, and that's what matters. The battles look great, as the characters are well-animated, and are drawn very well, Almost makes me wish this was a beat em'up for some reason.

The anime date-scenes look very good too, and it shows that Red put alot of effort into them. TA doesn't disappoint in this area.

''Ummmm... it's music?''

I really can't say anything about the music... it's good, but there's nothing remarkable by any means. The sound effects are also just non-descript regular stuff you'd find in just about every other videogame on this mortal plane. I know it seems like I'm just being lazy, but I really can't describe them.

The voice acting, on the other hand, kicks ass. None of the voices sound bad, and they all fit their characters. Meis sounds like how you'd expect, as does Sodina, or Wyna. It's quite a good job performed in this category.

''It's all about making sweet love down by the fire place>''

I really can't describe the story. It starts off with Meis abandoning his town, and then he eventually just passes out in some random patch of dirt. Ok, that may have been the biggest crap description of a story in any review ever, but there's honestly not much to say about it.

The characters on the other hand rock. Everyone from the leacherous Meis, to the tough-girl Wyna are designed very well, and everyone is likable. Red did a great job with TA in this category.

''The worst battling system of all time.''

The combat system just totally mauls TA though. Besides the staggering amount of battles, the battles themselves suck. The thing is, you can only have one person attack at a time. The guys in the back can cast some some spells and use items. ONE person can fight at a time, That's maybe the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and battles usually degenerate into you repeatedly attacking whoever the enemy/boss maybe with your strongest character. Ugh.

''IT'S SAVED!''

Yes, TA is saved because of the inclusion of a dating sim with it. Sure, the questions are very tame, but it's just fun as hell seing what kind of responses you can get these girls to elicit. Repeat questions pop-up far to often though.

You can also forge weapons, thanks to the dating. For a little elemental power (think of it as money) and a little love, you can forge that Superior Bastard Sword of Vileness you always wanted!

''Could've been a great game.''

If it wasn't for the battles and... uh... battles, TA would be a terrific game. As is, it's just a neat little title, that offers something a little different to gamers. Check it out.

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Pat wishes real-life dating was this easy...

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/13/01, Updated 01/13/01