Have you heard of the role-playing game Enchanted Arms? You might have heard of it if you were into the Xbox 360 scene back at its launch time. It was one of those games that helped keep the system separated from its competition. Of course, a year or so later, it was released on the PlayStation 3. Let’s ignore that fact and look at the game itself. Overall, Enchanted Arms is a solid game that does a great job of inspiring a next generation of gamers.
Enchanted Arms begins with Atsuma and his two friends enjoying their days at enchanting college. Atsuma is sort of a ditz, and the professors don’t really trust him with much of anything because his right hand disenchants objects, making everyone’s hard work null. Anyway, Atsuma and friends go to a festival celebrating the end of the Golem War, which took place 1,000 years ago. Shortly after they enjoy their time in town, snow falls from the sky, and the people collapse out of exhaustion. And the golems the people use in their everyday lives revolt against the people. Concerned about the other students’ and his dog’s well-beings, they rush back to rescue them. It’s then Atsuma accidently releases the devil golem known as The Queen of Ice, and his best friend Toya is “held” hostage by her. Now it is up to him and his ragtag group of friends to stop her and rescue his friend.
In all honesty, it is a great plot. It starts slow and is a bit uninteresting at first. However, it steadily builds steam. It’s a shame the game does not consistently show the plot. You’ll watch some well-animated body gestures take place in front of you, but you’ll never completely see the field it occurs. We’ve seen these archetypes before and can probably predict their personalities with ease: the bratty princess, the stoic guardian, the stereotypical effeminate gay guy and the loud-mouthed girl with big guns (no, really, she uses twin pistols that pack a punch). Thankfully, the characters play their roles well and evolve in expected and unexpected ways. Plus all of the major dialogue is voiced.
While we’re on the topic of characters, we need to talk about the elephant in the room. The character of Mokoto just drives me up a wall since he is such a gay stereotype. Do we as gamers need this stereotype in our games? Do people need to see a gay man behaving in a manner that has been played to death on television shows? There has always been to some degree of flamboyant characters in any RPG, but Mokoto takes the cake for being the most flamboyant of them all. So I grit my teeth and bore through it. Then it dawned on me: No one really cared about his sexual orientation. Heck, there are even a few gay characters that are of minor importance, and no one bothered them or cared as well. They are allowed to live out their lives in peace and be perceived as completely human. This is refreshing as few games actually take the chance to do this, and I greatly commend Enchanted Arms for doing so!
Gameplay is a mixture of traditional exploration and tactical RPG elements. You run around town, stop at the store node, talk to the townsfolk and advance the plot. Dungeons are exceedingly linear, and you can just keep the control stick tilted upwards. Yes, it is a bit of an exaggeration but accurate as well.
Combat, thankfully, is a bit more interesting. It takes place on a 9x3 grid, and each party can move on their half (which is a 3x3 grid). Characters do not attack in a traditional manner; they have to use skills to attack or heal allies (there are items that can heal, but they are expensive). Each skill covers so much of the grid and has varying amounts of strength and takes up so much endurance points. Effective use of them is necessary because when you run out of endurance, your party members can no longer perform any actions. The majority of enemies are golems, and the coolest part is that you can recruit each and every single one of them into your party. Yes, even the bosses are fair game. Some of them can be found in the dungeons, and you have to destroy their core first before you can use them. The majority of them are purchased. It takes on a life of its own as I really wanted to find as many as I could.
After each battle, your party gains experience, money and SP. SP has two purposes: to have a character learn new skills that have been purchased from the shop and to augment their stats. Although this does not mean you can turn a direct attacker into a support character, it does mean you can make this character fill that role a bit more efficiently. Heck, it is almost mandatory to help boost health in order to help keep the party alive during combat.
Graphically, Enchanted Arms is easy on the eyes. It does not look as shiny as more modern games in the Xbox 360’s library, and it doesn’t need to it. Its original purpose was to help show off the graphical potential of the system with its well-done and realistic graphic engine. Yes, it shares part of the anime-inspired currents of older RPGs, and it does this rather well. The environments themselves are a bit bland, though varied, as the game has a “corridor” type system. And the nonplayable characters all look the same — the same sex sharing the same tattoo in the exact same position. The real joy comes from looking at all the various golems. A vampire, a cat-girl, a man made out of pizza and a modern take on Cerberus are all present and show a lot of charm. One of my favorites is the werewolf simply because it takes the old perspective of it and shakes it up with long white hair.
Sound wise, it could be considered a bit of a letdown. The music is solid, though it tends to fall to the wayside while exploring. This is especially true as Atsuma’s footsteps are heard well above anything else. The music isn’t bad, but it isn’t pure gold either. Voice acting is also a bit mixed. Although the actors fit their respective characters, sometimes they ham it up a bit too much. I personally do not care for salt or ham. And did I mention how much Makoto grates my nerves? Thankfully, the sound effects are downright solid and do not disappoint. The fiery fire attacks of Atsuma’s fists, the watery bubbles of a poison dance done by Karin, shaking stalactites rising from the earth and gunfire are all awesome and worth hearing.
Enchanted Arms is a bit hard to place on the rating scale. On the one hand, it does everything a solid RPG should do: light customization, skills to purchase, golems to collect (yellow rodents have nothing on this game!), enemies to outsmart and a plot that keeps getting better with time. However, the presentation could be stronger and the voices a bit less over-the-top. Nonetheless, Enchanted Arms is a solid game purchase, and it baffles me that Microsoft hasn’t added this to its Games on Demand section. This was one of the games that helped sell 360s and inspire owners they had made the “right” choice in consoles all those years ago. I found this game for $5, and it is a steal. Microsoft could add this to its online market and sell it for $15, and it would still be worth the admission fee in my book. If you’re looking for a game with an awesome plot, then look no further. Now arm yourself for hours of enjoyment, and go slay some golems.
