Enchanted Arms:: The good, The bad & the downright annoying.
Recently I bought Enchanted Arms on a preowned deal at gamestation getting two games for £20 [$40]. I’ve never heard of the game before but I decided to give it a go because it reminded me of final fantasy. I certainly wasn’t let down when I switched it on that night.
Firstly the protagonist in the game – Atsuma – looks a lot like the main character in final fantasy 10 – Tidus. This is not the only similarity you can find in this game of the epic FF series. Here is a rundown of a few::
- The first one which struck me right away was the battle sequence You get whisked away into a battle arena to kill monsters, much the same as Final Fantasy but with one difference – Enchanted Arms battle sequence made up of squares which form a grid, you have to move your characters and plan your attack to maximise the damage and minimise the risk.
- Even though the battles are fun, they do annoy me as the “random” battles seem to happen every two-three minutes or so. This was a problem in Final Fantasy 7 as far as I can remember and Square Enix finally listened to their consumers and removed the random battles when developing Final Fantasy X. This was a great move for them in my opinion because it stops me [and possibly other players] from enjoying and exploring the game fully as they want to avoid any unnecessary battles.
- Also the victory theme music does seem familiar, I sometimes think the soundtrack has been written by Nobou Uematsu himself.
- The Achievements are pretty easy even though they are secret, all you need to do is complete the game. Sadly they’re are no challenging ones.
- After playing for a couple of hours last night, I’ve developed a habit I had while playing final fantasy 7 – running away from random battles. They really annoy the crap out of me when I’m trying to get somewhere. I understand battles are necessary in a RPG game to level up your character but I think a battle every couple of minutes is a bit much.
Despite having a few gripes about this game I do really enjoy it and I’d recommend it to any Final Fantasy fan.
campkillgemma’s score:: 8/10
Hmm, you’ll have to tell me more about this. I’ve never really been a fan of turn-based fighting, but I liked Disgaea (PS2) and that was turn based. It helped that it had really really awesome super powers.
How were the supporting characters?
I seriously couldn’t finish this game due to the turn based system. On top of that, I made the mistake of getting Lost Odyssey and after 15mins, put it in the case so i could sell it.
Doll – I love the game however as I said in my post, the random battles do really get on my nerves. I was thinking about getting Lost Odyssey, but not before I buy CoD4 and possibly GoW. My BF and his best friend are bugging me to play it on the PC but I hate using keyboard and mouse. Can’t play against them.
Wish there was a way to link up PC and Xbox games for multiplayer. Would be a lot easier. Off topic a bit. Whatever…
Ace – Supporting characters are alright, Depends which tactics you are wanting to use. There are a few with healing abilities but i’ve never had to use them as of yet… The battles are simple and you rarly die [except when you have to to progress onto to story]. You also get characters called “golems” which are pokemon/[ff]summon type creatures which are very handy to have as well.
“I made the mistake of getting Lost Odyssey and after 15mins, put it in the case so i could sell it.” LOL!!
Thanks for the good review.. I haven’t played this game but I may look into renting it.. How difficult or easy would you say leveling a character is?
Smiles – The character level up is quite easy, its basically after every battle or two. Let me know how you like the game.
I already have Oblivion (well, my boyfriend does) and I really enjoy it. However, he’s playing it at the moment and so I want to try a different game. If I can find Enchanted Arms cheap, I think I’ll give it a try.
I just recently finished Enchanted Arms and I loved it. I am a RPG gamer at heart and this game definately made me smile. I thought the plot was a tad weak, but other than that I had no complaints.
It’s hard to play any RPG and not be reminded of some Final Fantasy, because the franchise has covered so much ground in the genre. I was a little disapointed because of the one dungeon that you can access near the end of the cave did not entail any other achiements, and it was a rather difficult dungeon. Yet, worth it if you have OCD like myself and want to have every Golem.
Ayame, you’re completely right. The FF franchise is such a part of gaming life that it’s hard to look at most RPGs and not be reminded in some way of a FF game. But that’s what makes those games so great. They’re memorable.
You seem to be completely forgetting the wonderful Makoto!
If you ladies are looking for a good RPG like game you should deffinetely give Mass Effect a run. I personally loved the game and played through it twice using different types of characters. I only dipped my toes into enchanted arms and sent it back after about 15 min or so. Oh you can also try Two Worlds which I highly recommend as well expecially if you like Oblivian. Its a bit difficult at first but once you get into it–its a pretty kick ass game. I am a RPG finatic *LOL*
I’m still playing through Mass Effect. I don’t play it very often, not because I don’t like it, but because I get sucked into it. The first time I put it into the xbox I played for like 5 hours straight! So I can only play it when I know I don’t have anything to do.
Yeah its an awesome game, though I know what you mean about getting sucked into the game. Its sooo addicting, I would play it non stop.
When I first got Mass Effect I started playing at like 7 am. When my boyfriend got to my house he was like, uhm are we going to lunch? It’s 12:30! I couldn’t believe I’d played so long!
LOL yeah I have done that before. When the beta of FF XI came out I was playing one night and was JUST going to complete a really easy quest before I went to bed. This was like 10pm, well 6 hours later I finished it(and it was one of those quests that if you don’t finish you have to start all over again to complete) so 4am rolls around and I had to wake up at 6am–not a pretty day
Funny how RPG’s have a way of making quests take 4-EVER so you play the game much much longer than you want. It seems like for me that time passes in an RPG game when I accomplish things/quests so that’s why it is easy for me to lose track of time in an RPG.. especially World of Warcraft.
you know I have never played WOW, I have always been curious about it though. I kinda want to play the new Age of Conan game but I don’t feel like paying $15. a month to play a game I already spent $60 on*LOL*
I know what you mean about paying to play a game you already PAID for! That is annoying… I was also thinking of Age of Conan but nahh.. just for that reason…
If you want to try out a WoW demo (10day trial) you can go here to download….
https://signup.worldofwarcraft.com/trial/index.htm
But I warn you people have lost their lives in this game.. so I know I have to practice restraint.. if you decide to demo it you’ll have to let me know what you think
Yeah I sooo wanted to play Conan, I played the beta for FF on xbox for like 3 months free. And I was like totally addicted to it. There is a free online game though called Guild Wars which was pretty awesome. You played free online once you bought the game and pretty much had to party up with people to go out. There were no PK areas and your party were the only ones you would see out campaigning. It was pretty fun to tell the truth. Yeah I have heard rumors of WOW players going to extreme…not going to go into details cause there are ladies present*LOL* hmmm I just remembered I am the minority here
LOL yah well do believe what you hear about WoW especially the RPers its insane…. There is a guild (a guild is where a bunch of people ‘party-up’ together) on there call Female Warriors or something like that and turns out NONE of them are females.. they are all men looking for “serious female RPers”
So of course once a girls joins they use the guild chat and private chat like a 900 number
So for any ladies (or guys) that take up the game.. I would stay out of RP realms.. that is where crazy people are…
dang I could imagine that to tell the truth, there are some really strange cookies out there. But some really cools ones as well. I never really got into the whole guild thing on RPG’s, I played with a few groups. UO was great before they started making alot of changes with the alignments. The battles that good guys and bad guys would have out in the open world were classic. Bodies laying all over the place and tons of ghosts begging for rez’s. One of the only times I think I ever turned bad was when I got jumped by 3 pk’ers and managed to take out 1 and seriously hurt the other two before I was taken out. They took my stuff but asked if I wanted to join their group…hey what can ya do*LOL*
I personally didn’t even try Enchanted Arms, and I am a huge RPG fan. On the other hand, I picked up Lost Odyssey within a week of it coming out. I might give it a go now that I have Gamefly for the next couple months, but otherwise I’ve been told that it’s pretty disappointing. And the price dropped really quickly after it came out. Not too much interest in it, I don’t think.
If you do end up trying it let me know what you think Advent.. I myself haven’t played it either…
Are you into RPG’s much, Smiles? What are your top five games on current gen consoles?
I WoW (World of Warcraft).. which is fun but addiciting at time too but I really do limit RPG’s I’d rather not play them but I am WoWing b/c my man does and he talked me into it pffft.. men
Top 5 hmm…
1. Halo 3 – xbox360
2. Mario Kart- Wii (tons of fun!)
3. GoW- xbox 360
4. Guitar Hero3- Wii (soo much fun)
5. GTA 4- xbox 360 (fun game but somewhat repetitive)
Yeah I am a huge RPG fan myelf Right now I would say my top 5 are slim–1 not even consol
1. COD4 — 360
2. GOW — 360
3. UT3 — 360
4. Medieval Total War 2 — PC
5. Star Wars Battlefield 2 –xbx
Okay, so mine in no particular order. . .
1. Halo 3 360
2. Gears of War 360
3. Condemned: Criminal Origins 360
4. Bioshock 360
5. Rock Band 360
Hm, console theme much? I have a Wii as well, but the game quality just pales in comparison to the quality of games on the 360.
now those were what I actually play now,,,,wait did I see rockband advent*LOL* I can see you air guitaring it to “that old time rock n roll” *ROFL*
I wouldn’t be air guitaring to that song, Rav. I’d be singing. Man. I would rock Bob Seger so hard, you have no idea! I wish that song was on Rock Band. I have a lot of fun on that game. Drums are cool, too. Difficult but definitely enjoyable. I play drums on med/hard but I play guitar and vocals on expert.
damn you go, I like some Bob Segar as well. i have never tried rock band or guitar hero to tell the truth*LOL* I have seen it a few times but thats about it
If you love music at all, you should give it a go. There’s nothing like belting out Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” on expert, let me tell you.
see thats where i run into a problem, I generally only listen to music in the car or when I am really bored. I can’t see me air guitaring anything*LOL*
DOUBLE POSTERS!!!!!! LOL ya’ll answered the videogame question in another post!! hehe
I think you all have excellent game choices as for me the Wii is the “stress free” gaming console.. when I am relaxed and all its a lil less intense the xbox for me
There is a difference between current-gen top five and all time top five, smiles! That is not double posting.
PP You are silly.
yeah smiles*LOL* sticks tongue and ththththththththththth you know i have only played the Wii a couple of times*LOL* it was fun but damn my arms were sore. My Ex banned me from it when she had been trying to beat a race for like 2 hours and I did it on the first try*LOL*
I don’t know if I would have ever bought a Wii myself, but it was given to me as my one year anniversary present. A gaming present for my anniversary? Definitely appreciated. : )
I have been meaning to buy one errrr for my son*LOL* he loves playing some of the games on it. His sister has one and he has to share between the whole family…and he doesn’t care for sharing that much*LOL*
Haha. Who does, really? I’d rather not share with anyone in terms of games, unless I wanted someone to play a game with me. I even get protective of my controllers. I have a pink skin over one of the controllers in hopes that it would help people stray away from that one. . . eh. Not entirely.
LOL smart move, cause I sure as hell wouldn’t be playing with a pink controller if I was playing a system link co-op*LOL*
Exactly! Although real men wear pink, or don’t give a shit. . . so props to the people that actually challenged to try my controller. : )
LOL I will stick with the standard white thank you very much*LOL* it suites me and matches that straight jacket*LOL*
I like the second standard. . . black. Wish I could have originally gotten my xbox in black. Now I just have to wait until I can afford that elite!
This game i thought looked very gd fun to play at first, first when i looked at it i thought back to the pokemon games on the Gameboy color then when i started to play it, the story was ok could have been a little bit better. but as i progressed threw the game i found that it got harder and even more annoying than the times you got stuck on a retro game. My brother has been stuck at the same point for about 3 months because he cant get his characters to a high enough level. this just proves that this game is damn right annoying