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[Wario64]

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg...=6156915&part=rss&tag=gs_reviews&subj=6156915

Spoiler

7

.1


The Good: surprisingly natural, funny dialogue for a role-playing game; unique battle system is fun and challenging; the collectible golems are all unique and useful.

The Bad: awful English voice acting; too much tedious backtracking through large, vacant, and uninteresting areas; aside from some flashy battle animations, the visuals are unimpressive; it's frequently difficult to get a good view of the battlefield.


While you can finish Enchanted Arms in about 40 hours, it will take you considerably longer if you spend the time to find all of the golems in the game. The game is paced reasonably well, and although it's very linear, you'll never be stuck wondering where to go or what to do next. This keeps the game moving along most of the time, but it still tends to drag in spots. There's too much backtracking required, and it often takes an inordinate amount of time to get where you want to go. If you have the patience for it, though, you'll find that Enchanted Arms is a good first effort for role-playing games on the Xbox 360, even if it isn't a very original one.

 

[Mejilan]

I want the game, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to blow $60.

 

[Jonnyram]

The Bad: awful English voice acting;

JP version had awful voice acting too, so at least the localization is consistent

 

[Az987]

I want the game, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to blow $60.

Same, im sure it will sell like shit though so, Price Drop FTW

 

[Mejilan]

That, and I'm starting to learn that Ubi accepts RPGs that no one else will take.

Possibly for a good reason. :/

 

[demi]

If GamezNFlix doesnt stock this game (still not ready to ship..) then I will just go buy it and sell it when I finish it

 

[Teleporter]

I`ll get this on ebay down the road! Now i have more pressing bussiness like Dead Rising, Oblivion and Saint`s Row! But it seems a decent jpn rpg for the x360!

 

[abc223_86]

I just started playing it...
The battle system... Its kinda meh. Its nothing to crap your pants over, but its like tactics meets turnbased rpg.

The characters look like they should be in Star Ocean 3

The voice acting *is* horrid, but its so bad its funny.

Makota

Spoiler

(the gay one)

is pretty funny, but I'll probably kick over to the jp voiceovers because he's getting on my nerves after a half hour.


I don't know if it's worth $60. I'll probably sell it when I'm done (I've NEVER sold an RPG before. Ever.)
But its an interesting jrpg for xbox 360, and the best one yet. By default.

 

[u_neek]

Ill be getting it right after finishing Yakuza...

 

[IJoel]

I'm close to 20 hours into it, and really enjoying it. I guess it's all a matter of expectations.

For comparison's sake, and thus far, I consider this JRPG superior to many I've played in the past that I didn't bother to finish, because I either found them to be boring, or the combat either subpar or annoying. Some in that list include Star Ocean 3, Xenosaga II, Wild Arms 4, .Hack (the first one, as I never bothered with the sequels after it,) and Suikoden III, among others. My experience with Enchanted Arms at the moment, surpasses those by quite a bit (the fact that I really want to keep playing it, when I have Saint's Row to finish, and which I find to be a really good game is definitely a good sign for me.) Perhaps this has to do with my bad experiences with past JRPGs and how this one is turning out to be quite pleasant.

One thing I have to mention is that if you listened to Garnett, and Shane (from the 1UP podcast,) they equated this game's graphics to those of the PS2. This is far from reality. While the game's graphics are generally nothing really special for a next gen system, it bears mentioning that they are smooth all the time, and definitely look much better than PS2 graphics. I guess a the negative of having a grid based combat system is that the camera has to pull back quite far for the player to have a good view of all the grid. This in turn makes the characters look pretty small, and thus can make one think the game looks worse than it really does. The camera gets close to each character as they perform their combat moves.

I'll paste below my initial (updated) impressions after 4 hours of gameplay, which have held up so far:

The Good:
+ Graphics: The graphics are pretty nice for the most part. Some of the real-time cutscenes look incredible. That said, the environments sort of look too static and lifeless, even when there are npcs around.

+ Gameplay: I really like the combat in this game mainly because, while it's grounded on typical JRPG combat, they added some elements that make for interesting possibilities. Essentially there's a combat grid (4x4 grid for enemies and the same for allies,) that you use to move and direct attacks/commands from there. A good thing about it, is that no longer you have to waste a turn by moving characters to a certain location, but you can also command an action within the same turn. You can have up to 4 characters in the party, and you can make offensive/defensive combinations amongst them. Commands for the characters seem to be the typical for JRPGs (nothing worth noting thus far.)

Some Gameplay/Combat Characteristics:
1. You ALWAYS start a battle with full life, and full EP (think of this as points that are required for your moves,) for each battle you encounter. This means you don't have to worry about potions, or saving any EP for other battles. The same is not the case with EX and Combo points, which are used for uber moves, and combos with multiple characters respectively.

2. Another good thing about the combat is that you always decide the turn your allies will take. Since the game takes place in a 'strategy' grid, you can use it to set defensive formations, being able to both attack and heal/resurrect in an effective matter, and others.

3. Besides, HP, EP, Combo, and EX points, there are also Vitality Points (VP,) which count down from their maximum value (different per character,) and drop per each round spent in combat. This essentially encourages you to use the grid system to finish battles as fast as possible (if you finish them in your first round, the VP won't be affected.) Once VP reaches 0, the character essentially dies and can't be used anymore. This can be replenished when you find a green-orb-station-dealio that shows up every 2-3 maps.

4. You can save ANYWHERE, and ANYTIME, and there are 8 save slots available.

5. You can upgrade and add new types of attacks, as well as weapons for the different characters. You can also add tons of golems to be used as characters (can carry up to 8 golems with you.)

+ Makoto: haha... Well, the english voice acting is pretty bad in the game, but for Makoto it sort of serves to accentuate his mannerisms and comments. I've laughed quite a bit because of his comments.


+/- Random encounters: Close to 20 hours into the game, they are starting to become bothersome. Not a big deal as most are easy fights, but every now and then they'll make you really think (remember the VP comment above,) as you'll want to finish them as fast as possible.


The Bad:
- Graphics: As I mentioned above, they can seem somewhat lifeless. They almost look too clean. The other thing is that the npcs sort of just stand there and do nothing, which adds to the lack of activity in towns.

- Music: Completely unremarkable so far. So far (and I hope I'm wrong on this one) the combat music has been the same for each encounter.


Overall, the game seems pretty good, but unremarkable. While i may change my mind later, for better or worse, initial impressions make me want to keep playing the game (rather than feeling obligated to, like with many games,) which is what I'd consider a very good sign.

 

[BioFan]

I really like this game.
I tend to not finish any RPG (even the FF ones) I play because I find them boring after a while. But I really like the story so far and want to continue playing. This is the next best rpg for me...after skies of arcadia.
I really hope there's a sequel to this game. Cos it just feel rushed, and I want

Spoiler

makoto to be revived

:lol

 

[Andy787]

That, and I'm starting to learn that Ubi accepts RPGs that no one else will take.

Possibly for a good reason. :/

I'm glad that they at least diversify their lineup with localizations. I just wish they would bring over some more interesting titles, especially for the portables (like Brave Story, Goemon DS, Suikoden I & II etc. I'd even be interested in Egg Monster Heroes.).

Anyway, I would actually be somewhat interested in this, if it weren't the full $60. I originally thought it was going to be released at $40. For that, I would've considered it, but if I even pick it up now I'll probably wait until it's $30 or less.

 

[OniShiro]

I love the game, altought it's not a masterpiece is really amusing, and I like the combat system much more than the FFs one.

 

[goldenpp72]

Review sounds about right in the written sense, not sure the score though. The battle system, funny dialogue and graphics/music make this game awesome, but it does have a lot of faults.

 

[Suikoguy]

About 10 hours in.. game certainly needs more bumpmapping :lol

Overal though, it's just a very average RPG,

If it were not for all the Stats Skills and Golems, I would probably never finish it.

 

[$h@d0w]

I'm about 2 hours into the game, finding it pretty boring so far - it just seems to hold your hand way too much in the first areas (telling you to press A to climb up ladders, press A to use your grapple, press A to use this lift, etc etc.)

You ALWAYS start a battle with full life, and full EP (think of this as points that are required for your moves,) for each battle you encounter. This means you don't have to worry about potions, or saving any EP for other battles. The same is not the case with EX and Combo points, which are used for uber moves, and combos with multiple characters respectively.

Can I ask, what's the point of the healing stops in the field?

 

[IJoel]

Can I ask, what's the point of the healing stops in the field?

Restoring VP.

 

[goldenpp72]

The first 2 hours are pretty slow, dont worry the game gets balls to walls hard at spots I find.

Also the VP stat is the thing you must worry about on the feild, building a golem collection is very important for that very reason.

 

[improvise5]

i got 5 hours on this game so far and the only thing i'm really enjoing is the golems. the rest of the game is very generic. especially the dungeons, they are soooooooooo boring.