An RPG for the Xbox 360? Yep and it's a darn good one.
an rpg hero, a true gamer, into giving new games a chance, an Xbox 360 supporter, a video game addict
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JUL
19
2007
Plot: Atsuma, an enchanter in training, is going to school at the University in Yokohama City. He's learning about the many types of man made golems that populate the world and also the 1,000 year war, that happened centuries ago, named The Golem Wars. During the Golem Wars, extremely powerful golems called Devil Golems fought each other, laying waste to everything that they touched. One day, Atsuma decided to skip school with his two best friends, Toya and Makoto. Heading over to the local festival, an earthquake shakes the ground, causing the once pacified golems in the area to go berserk and attack people. The three friends rush back to the University only to find it in utter chaos. Searching the golem infested grounds that once was their school, they stumble upon a sealed chamber that is supposed to be off limits to students. As curiosity overtakes them, they begin exploring the sealed chamber only to find that one of the Devil Golems, Ice Queen, has risen from her slumber. This begins a chain of events that would shake the kingdom to it's very core.
I was apprehensive about buying Enchanted Arms so, I decided renting was the best choice. I rented it for five days and ended having to keep it for another five just so I could beat it. I really, really enjoyed this game. It had that old school RPG feeling but was completely new school in terms of graphics and gameplay. The plot moves along slowly at first but, after the first major event (described in the plot), it takes off and things start to heat up.
The graphics in this game were great. For an old school RPG fan like me (loving games such as Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy 7, and Suikoden), I was lost in how amazing the graphics were. Fantastically animated characters and some insane battle animations really helped this game stand out. [eM] did a great job of taking advantage of the Xbox 360's incredible power. There are over 100 fully animated characters, each with their own unique personalities in the game. Not to mention the hundreds of monsters and golems you can fight. The Devil Golems can do some spectacular looking and devastating moves which leave you saying "Wow, I totally forgot to save."
Enchanted Arms has your typical RPG sound effects with some unique in-battle sounds. The characters were voice acted pretty well and the cut scenes were really well written. The Devil Golem bosses have pretty cool voices that fit them perfectly.
The battle system takes from older games but adds it own unique touch to it. It's a turn based system with two grids of 12 squares each, one for the enemy and one for the players. You move all your characters first, then the enemy goes (unless your speed is less than the enemies). This allows you to set up combo attacks that increase the damage exponentially. Some of the battles really require a lot of thought into the movement of your characters. It's somewhat like playing chess. There were many times when I had only one character left and had to think for a few minutes on the perfect move to stop me from dying (since I always forget to save before big battles).
Besides the main plot, there are some nifty side adventures that you can go on as well. One of them is finding the golems that will give you the orb you need to create God weapons for your characters. They are usually located in an off beat spot but, before they give you the orb you need, you have to fight a pretty tough battle with the golem. Though, the God weapons are definitely worth it. I was lucky enough to stumble upon the golems early in the game so when the time came that I could actually make the weapons, I knew exactly where to go. There are also, if I remember right, four special dungeons where you can find some great equipment and items. They are only accessible late in the game though and you need to be a pretty good level to raid them.
Enchanted Arms took me about 45 hours to beat and thats with completing three of the four special dungeons and all of the God weapons. I was a little sad at that fact. I prefer my RPGs to be at least 60 hours, if not longer. I want to really immerse myself in the story. When I say immerse myself, I literally mean that I quit life for 2-3 weeks and really play the game. It's how RPGs are meant to be played. You should want to keep progressing in the game, getting closer and closer to that final event that ties everything together. I'm going off topic here but I recommend this game to anyone who's looking for an old school RPG with new age graphics and gameplay.
There is one last thing that I absolutely have to talk about. In the beginning of the game, one of the characters (Makoto) is flamboyantly gay. In the many reviews I read prior to renting the game, every one of them bashed the game simply because of this character. I will admit that at first I was very confused. I didn't know if it was a guy or a girl because he's wearing a lot of pink and has long blonde hair. I quickly learned that he was a guy...in love with Toya, another of the main characters. Now, I have no problem at all with gay people, in games or real life. I think that the whole idea behind the character was just a quirky thing that Ubisoft (the creator) threw in to be different. It doesn't hurt the game at all and actually adds quite a bit of comedy to it. I thought I'd let you know about it just so you weren't dumbfounded or put off by it if you actually buy the game.
ESRB Rating: T for Teen. (Alcohol Reference, Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Suggestive Themes)
% Completed: 100%
Story: 9
Graphics: 8
Sound: 7
Replay Value: 7
Overall Rating: 7.8
Last edited on Jul 19, 2007
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