Australian Gamer Review :: Enchanted Arms

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Enchanted Arms

Reviewed on: Xbox 360
Available on: Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 has finally been blessed with its first true next generation Japanese RPG which holds up to some fantastic value in parts but lacks terribly in others.

Players: 1 - 2 Players
Genre:
Release: 2020-09-07

Developer: FromSoftware
Distributor: Ubisoft

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The Xbox 360 has finally been blessed with its first true next generation Japanese RPG which holds up to some fantastic value in parts but lacks terribly in others. Enchanted Arms is about a boy named Atsuma who is gifted with an arm that he is unsure �why the arm is gifted�, �how he received the gift� or even �how to control the arm�. He sets out with some friends from his University to find out more information about himself and also the Golem War which happened 1000 years ago. The Enchanted Arm world is full of hundreds of Golems to collect and battle with, much like Pokemon but not so deep. And of course, on his adventure he�ll bump into a lot of trouble with a Devil Golem known as �Ice Queen� who was involved with the Golem War. About 2 hours in the game things will start to pick up and be faster paced.

I didn�t want to mention too much of the story to spoil it but it does hold up to 40 hours of enjoyable gameplay. The gameplay of Enchanted Arms is not innovative or new to the gaming world; in fact it�s a bit behind in some points. It�s the typical RPG where you walk around, help Atsuma find the answers and rescue a few people and towns on the way. Although, the storyline and characters in the game are done pretty well, in fact I soon fell in love with Raigar, a man with a giant sword that owns all in its path. The storyline doesn�t pull you in straight away, at first you feel like the game is a generic RPG but soon it will involve you a hell of a lot more. At times the storyline is very predictable but there are moments where it will surprise you, and surprise well it will do.

The game looks simply beautiful. From the cut scenes to the battlefield you�ll be gasping at some of the visual effects Enchanted Arms can pull off. Yes, it is the first next generation RPG which makes it the first RPG with graphics nothing else can come close to. A lot of detail went into this game especially into the major cities and dungeons. Although I did stop to smell the flowers at a particular field which was absolutely massive and covered in white flowers. It was stunning to gaze at the field and watch the waterfall in the background. The game easily runs on 60 fps without dropping a single frame rate ever. Although I did notice in game (not FMV) the character animation is pretty stiff, but nothing too big to worry about.

Before you start your game people here�s a warning. Do Not Use English Voice! It�s atrocious! If anyone here has watched Love Hina with English voice overs it�s about 4 times as bad as that. It will make your ears bleed. So please, I can�t stress enough. Also thank God Ubisoft added in the option for us to choose between English and Japanese voices, because if they didn�t.. Ubisoft would have killed a lot of innocent people.

The music in the game is decent but can be very repetitive, especially during battles. I find the music highly enjoyable during FMV�s when it changes from midi to orchestrated, very soothing.

While exploring the camera follows Atsuma around in a 3rd person view. I quite liked this for a number of reasons, but the main reason was because it gave the player a much more surreal vibe with the environments you were in. After completing the game I didn�t experience a single camera glitch or any glitch at that.

One of the first things you�ll notice while first playing Enchanted Arms is the constant surprise battles you�ll encounter while walking around in dungeons and fields.. It�s very frustrating. And when I say constant, I mean every 5 or 10 steps.. you don�t get far and it�s just so damn annoying! Although there is light at the end of this tunnel. One of the greatest features added into the game is called �Auto Fight� that you will use about 70% of the game which is very helpful for those battles you don�t give a crap about. Auto Fight automatically chooses your parties moves and defeats the enemies as fast as possible with a high accuracy rate of killing the enemies first go, its great! I love it.

The battle system for the game has been uniquely designed. The style is still turn based but works a bit like chess. You�ll move your characters around on a grid to advantage your attacks or to get out of enemy attack range. Character attack, heal or buff moves can vary from being as tiny as 1 grid to the entire enemy or friendly grid. Each main character has what I like to call it.. a �holy shit move� although the game calls it EX. Every attack you make on an enemy builds up your EX bar. Once the bar is full or you have enough EX points to perform you will be able to select a characters EX move. Once selected the camera angle will change showing the character powering up by casting ether around themselves and then performing the move while visually stunning you. EX moves aren�t just attack moves; others are used to boost self/team parameters or even to completely heal your team, very cool stuff.

Your party can only hold up to 4 members at once and you are able to edit your party. You don�t have to stick with your main characters so feel free to fill your party up with Golems. Although I recommend have at least 2 or 3 main characters in your party at once. The more progression you make in the game the more moves and upgrades your characters are able to learn.

Another great thing I partially enjoyed in the game was the puzzles you�ll face during dungeons or on the exploring field. Most of the puzzles are so simple that a blind monkey could complete them (AKA: Yug) but others will have you thinking for a while. I�ll share with you a blind monkey puzzle example. Your team approaches a ladder, Atsuma asks how to climb it, it then begins a cut scene for about 2 mins on how to climb a freaking ladder. Go up to hit, hit the action button, aim analogue stick up. OMG! And shortly after it Atsuma says �Wow, the puzzle wasn�t so hard�. It was a puzzle!? Argh! Although the good thing is later on you�ll be hit more challenging puzzles which include huge mazes involving floating platforms and collecting ether to power generators, etc.

Back to Golems, the easiest way for me to explain to you what a Golem is, is it to compare it to Pokemon (I know, its lame to compare it to Pokemon but what else is there eh?). Each Golem is very unique for looks and attacks. While some Golems look very amazingly cool others may be a pizza faced mascot (no kidding). Golem moves may vary from attacks, party buffs or self buffs. I found about 40% of these golems are useless while others can be used for the best. Golems are used for battling and capturing. To capture a Golem you must first find the golem physically hidden in dungeons and fields. They are usually tough but once you have defeated them you capture the blueprints of the Golem and then later on you�ll be able to synthesize them at a shop, in other words to build them with necessary items. You�re also able to capture boss Golems once defeated too, pretty nifty.

There is a negative side to Golems; they aren�t able to learn any new moves. While they are still able to level with your party and have their parameters upgraded you are not allowed to teach them a new move which makes the Golem very repetitive and boring later on.

One of my favourite features of Enchanted Arms is Xbox Live. You�re able to take your party online and battle it out with other gamers around the world. I found competing online very enjoyable and intense at most times. Rankings are also involved to help you check your progression online. What I found annoying was once the battle has finished you aren�t able to fight the same person again; instead you are thrown back to the menu screen. Hopefully, these little issues get improved with future RPG�s on Xbox Live, because honestly it takes most of the fun out.

I�ll take this time to mention Enchanted Arms has one of the worst user interface menu�s I�ve seen. It�s disorganised with repetitive menu noises and its just plain ugly to look at. It may not annoy you as much in the main game but it will defiantly get on your nerves for Xbox Live.

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Final Verdict

I admire Ubisoft for bringing Enchanted Arms from Japan to the Western audience and also for succeeding in releasing Xbox 360�s first RPG game. While some features impressed me others let me down completely. The game contains 40 hours of enjoyable gameplay plus an intense online battle for Xbox Live. I recommend this game to any RPG fanatics or gamers who are new to the RPG world. Anyone else who enjoys slightly quicker action may want to steer clear of Enchanted Arms for now.

Pros
A unique and well balanced battle system, hundreds of Golems to collect, great character and storyline build up, up to 40 hours of gameplay, fantastic graphics at 60 frames per second.
Cons
Oh God! Not the English voice actors! Repetitive music, terrible menus, surprise battle encounters happens way too much for anyone�s liking