Thousand Arms

"Without any doubt, the funniest RPG I've played"

This RPG doesn't really offer anything new, except for a dating system, which in turn effects the weapon system, which in turn effects battles. Wow, maybe its more innovative then I thought. But innovation doesn’t always mean fun, but in this case, it sure as hell does.

The cast of characters is great, Meis (the lead character) hits on almost every girl he meets, and man, he gets in the best situations, if you know what I mean. You start off only being able to date one girl, but eventually, you can date a whole bunch. I think 8 or 9, including the hidden girls in each town. The dating system is simple; girl asks you question, you reply with an answer. Get all them right and her intimacy goes up. Some of the questions are obvious, such as ''Why are you staring at me? A. You're eyes are pretty B. You've got rice on your face'' while others require actually knowing the type of girl she is. For example, there’s this pirate girl who isn't exactly the stereotype nice girl. When she asks how you would punish her, the 'correct' answer is ''I'd spank you.'' Anyways, the higher the characters intimacy, the stronger weapons you can make. Meis is a blacksmith, and he requires the spirit of a girl to make the weapons. Also, each girl has a different element, so when you make your weapons, depending on their intimacy, magic attacks such as fire or earthquake are given to that weapon.

The plot is cliché, but is purposely cliché so they can make fun of the whole genre itself. This game should be classified as ''Comedy RPG.'' Even some of the stuff the NPC's say are funny, such as ''Why don't I have a voice over? Is it because I'm an extra? This sucks.'' Speaking of voice overs, the dubbing is ok, for some girls its great, for other is ok.

The battle system is interesting, and its not all that deep but it is fairly innovative. You'll either like it or hate it, personally, I didn't find it as addicting as other RPGS, but was tolerable. The enemies are fairly well done, and the graphics range from great anime to crappy pixels. The character designs in battle are really great, they are hand drawn, so this game has kind of an anime-ish feel to it.

Sound is ok and music is great.

My only complaint is that some of the girls I did not want to date. Also some may find it too cliché to be fun. That’s about it.

Still, this game is extremely funny. With such memorable moments as the argument between the blonde and the crazy girl (they swear a lot, but don't worry, its bleeped) and the beginning part with the old lady with the pig, its a great addition to almost any RPG fans collection.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/02, Updated 01/02/02