Enchanted Arms

"Enchanted Arms, my thoughts."

My only review rule:
I will never give a game a perfect ten score. No game is perfect, if there was one I would be playing that not writing this.

PREFACE: Well, I am fresh from defeating the last master in this game. This is the only time I would consider writing a review. I have also come to find that Enchanted Arms has found itself in a category that is less than it deserves as far as general public opinion...

~ STORYLINE: I have read many reviews where you can find the entire story of the game packed into this section and honestly, that bugs me! I won't do that or even give you a quick overview of the story, I will tell you that it is not anything over the top new and improved. Enchanted Arms does have a solid storyline and believable characters. Even if those characters are over the top and perhaps viewed through a biased looking glass (too many angry females). As the game progresses you get a look into the deeper side of the characters and come to feel that "kinship" with them that most good RPGs can evoke. The storyline is not shoved down your throat or given in such small doses that you feel like a man in the desert without water. In fact, after reflecting on it, I think the story was well laid out for you! When you need more you get more and it does keep you plowing through to find out what happens next. One thing that I will say though is that the storyline did take a bit to get going. Even with a slight slow start I still feel like the story was well done.

~ SOUND: Enchanted Arms has fairly well done voice over work in English and good voice overs in Japanese. I prefer the Japanese but that is just me. Not all scenes are voiced but most are and the important ones are always voiced. The voices are fitting and acceptable. You won't find yourself asking why a large warrior type talks like a pansy.

Sound goes a long way toward creating atmosphere and depth to any game. To an RPG it is critical! There are two ways sound can help an RPG.

One: It can be fitting to the point of you not really noticing it. Which to my mind means it did it's job serving as background noise and still allowed you to play the game.

Two: It can blend with what you are doing and viewing on the screen so well that you can be made to feel you were a part of the game, actually experiencing it.

Now, before you call me a fan boy, hear me out...This game does not sit in number two. It does however make it in that category occasionally and it spends the rest of it's time in number one. Truth be told, you will be bored with the battle song as it is the one you will hear the most. That is not to say it isn't good but just like anything else, too much is too much. Other than that I was pleased to find no annoying sounds that I had to contend with throughout the game as many RPGs I have played have at least one thing that just irritates you to tears...

The only really bad thing I can say about the game sound-wise is that the characters have sayings that they tend to repeat many times, that gets old but also brings you back into the game as time progresses and those sayings tend to take on different meanings.

~ GRAPHICS: Let me say that this game looks incredible. The scenes you are placed in are wonderfully rendered and eye pleasing to look at. Graphically this game gets what it is aiming at both in terms of environment and actual characters. The golems and humans look awesome! They are well styled and individualistic.

There are also many small things that seem like nothing but make a prolonged RPG experience that much better. I am speaking, of course, about the way your characters show off various characteristics like Raigar's flourish before battle or Sasquatch's little tail wiggle during battle. It is these little things that sometimes entertain us the most and bring us closer to characters we are with for so many hours of game play.

Worth a mention here is that this game manages the seemingly impossible task of making a serious anime style and a more super-deformed anime style of character models for enemies and allies work! All the characters, be they goofy cute girls holding over-sized flowers (Prill Cotton) or massive monsters from Greek mythology (Cerberus) or brutish mechanized warriors (Palace Gunner). All the characters have a "breathing" animation and convey the feeling of readiness even in the status screen.

Many folks have told me they feel the graphics are not "Next-Gen" enough for them but as far as I can see...those folks are spoiled. Enchanted Arms is not the pinnacle of game graphics but it is a high quality visual experience. It is also beyond the capability of the original Xbox in my opinion. The only graphical complaint I have with the game is that the lettering can strain your eyes if you don't have an HDTV. This can be fixed by dimming the game a bit in the system menu.

~ GAMEPLAY: Ah, here is the big one. First let me say that I have been a gamer for a long time and that many of the things this game does, wash away many years of irritation!

Enchanted Arms gets most of its points here. The battle system is turn-based and layed out on a grid. Both your characters and your opponents are laid out on their own side of a 6x4 squared grid. They are allowed to move only on their side and attacks are designated to affect certain squares or patterns of squares in the grid. This produces elements of strategy and serves to break up the turn based grind I have encountered in many RPGs.

Enchanted Arms takes a page from many RPGs past and brings the element system into play as well. Earth, Water, Fire and Wind as well as Light and Dark elements are all present with the normal weaknesses and strengths. This helps deepen the strategy as well. Especially when combined with Enchanted Arms play style. In this game there is no attribute that constitutes defense! This seems like a horrible thing at first glance but actually simplifies the game so anyone can understand the mechanics. Making Enchanted Arms a game that is easy to understand and less troublesome to learn.

Add to the mix a combo system and a "EX" bar and you have a game play mechanic that manages to be easy to use and understand while still maintaining depth and strategy as well as the all important...fun.

If you are anything like me you have thought countless times about what it would be like to play as some of the enemy characters and this game lets you do just that! Most of the characters in Enchanted Arms are called "Golems". They do not stay in the expectation that the name "golem" provides and are actually quite random in appearance. There is something for everyone in the game as far as the kinds of golems you can field and certainly there are more than enough of them to suit even the most hardcore collector among you.

Golems vary not only in appearance but in attack style and abilities as well which can make for an interesting change in the game if you get tired of your characters and want to break things up a bit.

The features this game sports also help it a great deal in the gameplay department. Enchanted Arms has an "auto battle" option that will see the CPU play a turn for you. This helps pass those random encounter battles without you feeling that "these guys again" annoyance drowning you. Doing one better you can also hold the "Y" button down and the game will speed up so you don't have to watch any animation you deem too long or uninteresting. These are things folks like me have been praying for and they are welcome additions to any RPG.

The characters level up via an experience point system which is standard RPG fair but it is boosted with a "SP" or skill point system which allows you a bit of control over how your golems and human characters progress.

Spicing up the pot is a "VP" or vitality point system which keeps you from fielding the same four characters all the time. You shouldn't worry about VP too much though as you are able to keep up to eight characters in reserve. Oh yeah, and those eight guys still get all experience your main four are getting!!!

As you can see, many of the most annoying parts of any RPG were paid attention to and corrected in Enchanted Arms. Don't get me wrong though, this game still retains it's old-school, JRPG flavor! Huge bosses multiple boss fights in a row and little patience for rookie mistakes. This game, while not super challenging, can manage to get it's licks in. However Enchanted Arms even has you covered there. It allows you to replay battles, even boss battles that you lost. Made a bonehead move, fell asleep with your finger on the "Y" button...You can get another chance...Enchanted Arms forgives you.

~ REPLAY VALUE: This game is very linear and feels very much like it is "on-rails" so many folks won't be back for a second play through. Honestly, I am going to replay the game again. I can see where many folks would ride the Enchanted Arms ride once and never return but I dig the battle system and the golems enough that I'll be playing for a while. For those of you more feature minded (read: more concerned with multi-player) yes, there is an online battle mode where you can take your golems or some pre-set ones and battle it out with friends or total strangers online. For me though, I just enjoy the actual game enough to play through a couple more times.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Enchanted Arms is a fun game. It is a slow starter and before you will be into it you will be wondering why your playing. In the middle of playing you'll be cursing the random battles but beyond those two points the game is great. There is enough content for any RPG fan to play this game to completion once and the easy system can be a boon for the uninitiated RPG fan to come on in and join the fun. To my mind the linear game experience cannot kill the overall game appeal and thus this game earns its mark of above average and almost good. This is a solid title to play through and I am in no way sorry I bought it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/04/06