Enchanted Arms for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

This game was so close to being great that it almost makes me angry that it was released in its current form. Enchanted Arms is your typical Japanese-style RPG, with random battles and turn-based combat. If you've played a turn-based RPG before, you should know what to expect from the gameplay.

The main focus of the game is on the Golems. It can be looked at as a cross between Summons from the Final Fantasy series and Pokémon. You collect the different Golems and bring them out to fight with you in the battles. They are not huge mega-spells like Final Fantasy, they are actual characters that fight alongside you and your party. The battles play out on a grid, with different sections corresponding to different elements, which do different amounts of damage depending on the enemies' weaknesses. Battles can even be replayed if you lose, which brings me to my only real complaint about this game: it's very, very easy.

Most people don't think of the word "easy" when it comes to describing a RPG, but this game is too easy. Everything is very linear, and even puzzles don't involve any brainpower since they are basically explained to you. There's always a helping hand practically telling you everything you need to do... it's kind of annoying. Also annoying are the voices, which are downright excruciating. There's even a stereotypical gäy guy, and I think his voice is just a little over the top.

Graphically, this game shines. The environments are a little bland, but the character models all look nice, and the spell effects... wow. All the crazy lighting and particle effects are incredible. There are even some pre-rendered cutscenes which are very, very cool.

Overall, this game is pretty good. If you have a 360 and need to get your RPG fix, this game will suffice. There's not much to do outside the main quest, but there's a good 40 to 50 hours of game here. You can also take your Golems online to fight other players, which is nice addition. Check it out if you like RPG's.

I debated even renting this game because I saw low scores on various sites, but it was well worth renting. There is a ton to this game, but the replay value may be on the low side. The game has roughly 40-50 hours of play time if you skip most of the extra stuff...if you tried to max all the golems out, it would probably take you a couple years worth of leveling up. Its crazy how many different golems there are in this game! I really enjoyed the story and characters as well. I was very impressed on how many funny parts there were in this game. It takes a lot to make me laugh, but this game had me cracking up...I hope they make a sequel. The combat system seems very lame at first, but once you get into the game, there is actually quite a lot of strategy involved. I had a blast playing this...give it a try yourself, and you will enjoy it as well.

SPOILER-FREE, AS ARE ALL MY REVIEWS! :D

Let me start out by saying that Enchanted Arms made me laugh so hard that at one point I could barely breathe and my dog started barking frantically. Any game that can achieve this is already a game well worth it in my book, and this game surprised me by doing it just about all the time.

Now, on to other stuff.

RATINGS

CHARACTERS - 10 / 10

I know, you guys. "What?! 10?! You mean these characters are utterly perfect? But they're stereotypes from what I read! Tomboy females, effeminate males, silent types, come on!"
To which I'd reply, so? The stereotypes worked and each character had something that made them almost disturbingly refreshing in comparison. They weren't 2 dimensional, they had a depth that I hadn't seen in a while that made me care. There was also a stereotypical non-straight character that you don't see often, either.

VOICE ACTING - 10 / 10

I'd also like to throw in that the English Voice acting was stellar. If you want to know about Japanese, I'd say 2 / 10. I feel sorry for the guys over there having to listen to that and can almost picture them turning on English instead. I'd have taken one point off for Makoto's early battle cry that disturbed me, but at some point it started to make me laugh.

STORYLINE - 8 / 10
Well, you've got your airhead living a carefree life. You've got stuff that happens that makes it less carefree. You've got things that make it so he's the only one that can make it carefree again. You've got your team that wants to help full of people who actually form bonds with him and you by association. You've got a goal that you desperately want to achieve and a world to save.
That's pretty much it, spoiler-free. I'm not good at descriptions, but it's an amazing story to me. It had me wanting to get to the next area to see what happened next.

All in all, Enchanted Arms was well worth it. If for no other reason, get it if you feel like laughing and a good time

this is a good example of why i rent video games.

i have only played a few days and i have to say its terrible. i will be sending it back due to its extremely dull combat system terrible characters and so far really boring story. the graphics are not all that next Gen and only the Cutscenes are even remotely visually impressive. rather dissappointing..

This isn't FF but isn't bad either. The graphics are very strong, the battle system is well done, and the golem collecting is great. In short this game is fun to play. The problem that drags it down, I think, are the overdramatic, flamboyant, often annoying chars. One of the main chars you start out with is g4y. I could care less about that, however the game makes it so painfully obvious(the voice actor uses a fake and over pronounced lisp, the chars motions are over exaggerated, and the outfit he wears looks overdone even for Jpn rpgs). All of this adds together to make one of the game histories most embarrassing and annoying chars to play. Its bad. After an hour or so the char leaves your party and doesn't come back(at least not at the point I am at right now). If you can play through the first hour or so, your going to find a nice gem of a game. Stick with it. Other little things keep this game from being a perfect 10. The combat movement system is awkward. It uses a grid to move your chars on, some chars take multiple squares, and often get in the way, getting just the right attack from the char you want often requires to have your char in just the right spot. Not always easy to do. Once you do get it right, the enemies move on their grid and you have to readjust all over again. You don't buy equipment like in most games, you buy skills and equip them. Your chars look never changes, typical for a jpn style game like this. The game uses a mix of random and scripted battles. The over all story is passable, but nothing overly memorable. In my opinion, your don't have a PS2 for your RPG needs, then this is a good enough game to play. I am enjoying it, but am very glad I rented it from gamefly and saved 60bucks.

The price of admission for this game is about 4 hours of excruciating introductory storyline. If you can get past that, the game really starts to shine.

The game starts like every other RPG-the hero, your character, is asleep. Your co-protagonists, a well respected student and a flaming dude in love with said student defend and chide, respectively, your decision to sleep through a lesson. The game starts out by doing its best to turn off many people-anything that requires the 'action' (A) button is explained in detail before you can use the action button. Need to open a door, climb a ladder, or do anything else and you'll get a long explaination telling you to 'hit a'. Add to that the over the top dialog of the flaming dude in your party paired with some occasional teasers that your character might have the same...sexual tendencies and you have a recipe for a game that will make many uncomfortable.

But after the first few hours these problems dissapear completely. The story line gets really good and the combat system, while simple, is interesting enough to not completely bore for the 40-60 hours this game will take to defeat. Many of the addons, like golems, aren't required to beat the game and the side quests are few and hard to spot, but the core game mechanics and story make Enchanted Arms worth putting on your gamefly queue. Just push past the first few hours of the game.

Whoever doesn't like this game is not a fan of classic party-based RPGs. The storyline in Enchanted Arms is on par quality-wise with any Squaresoft game. It has a unique battle system that employs lots of strategy, which is essential in any good party based RPG. The dialog was exceptional and the characters were lovable. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly I became hooked.

It does however have a few downfalls. It is extremely linear until toward the end where you can optionally choose to visit a few temples for new golems (these are summoned creatures that you can add to your party). Also the final boss battle was rediculously harder than any of the previous fights, which means you have to cheat or use exploits if you want to see the 'happy' ending instead of the 'sad' one that is easily attainable.

All in all, I rate the game a 9 out of 10 and well worth playing if you are fan of classic party based RPGs with good characters and an intriguing storyline.

This game has very good graphics, and several unique characters. The conversations between the characters tend to be very funny, and interesting. I recommend reading them instead of skipping ahead like many people do in games like this. I myself appreciate that you can choose to hear them speak in English, or the original, Japanese. The effects when you are in combat are extremely impressive. It has a lot in common with many predecessors of this genre. It's a very unique experience, and the battle system is something refreshing and new. There are many skills to learn, and different golems to use in the game which makes battle interesting. In the end, if you like games such as Final Fantasy, or really RPGs in general, you will enjoy this game as I do.

I agree with most of the other reviews with respect to the annoying flamboyant character who seems to constantly be hitting on one of the other early characters and honestly, if he didn't get removed from the party early on, I probably wouldn't have continued playing. BUT! he gets removed after the story begins to unfold early on and Thank God! for that. I removed him from my battle party early on and replaced him with a golem so it is good that you can do that but he has a remark or so in every single text or cutscene in the first couple hours of the game and it makes it difficult to want to hear or read the story which has some cheesy comedy.

Ok, with that said, I haven't completed the game yet and I don't know if the annoying character comes back later on, let's hope not, but the game is getting interesting. The battles aren't extremely difficult but some have been challenging thus far. The battle system is a cross between the tactics grid, sort of, and a standard turn based RPG like Final Fantasy. The visuals are very stunning. Lots of particle effects everywhere and the character/enemy models look real nice. I like the synthesizing element to the game synthesizing new weapons and golems using combinations of gems you gather from battle and searching is a cool feature.

The areas although pretty are very empty and plain for the most part. So far I haven't found any use to talking to anyone in towns, meaning I haven't come across and side quests or anything of that nature. The story kind of drives you along rather linearly. This is sad because side quests are always fun and keeps the player interested in talking to townsfolk and so forth in the hope of getting led to a secret ultimate weapon or nice new accessory or spell or something.

The textures are very nice and the battles are fun, everything else isn't really. English voice overs = cheesy, Japanese = decent. If you want a pretty RPG to play while you wait for a good one rent this but that's it.

First off, this game isn't a ten but it's way better than the 6.5 it has now (it truly is an 8 or 9). Nearly every review I read about Enchanted Arms blasted it for one reason or another. Those reviews are just unfair. To start, let me say that I haven't played an RPG in depth in a very long time, and this includes titles like Kingdom Hearts II which I got in the mail one day and sent back the next. Enchanted Arms, however, stayed in my 360 for weeks. The only downer for this game is the story. The story is a classic fantasy RPG story. My problem was that the story offer a lot of room for character growth, and I feel like only two of the seven or so characters had any meaningful personal change at the end of the story. It is linear, but there was a time when "classic RPG" meant linear. There are a few side quests (okay, one main one) that added 8-10 hours of play for me. What really got me hooked was the battle-system. Seriously, random battles against enemies I clearly out-matched were still fun in the preverbial eleventh hour (because I played WAY more than 11 hours). Graphics are great. The music was unremarkable, but I only really notice music when it's amazing. Bottom line, if you're an RPG fan and own a 360, rent this game and trust that video game reviewers can be wrong from time to time.

Hmm...I have many issues with this game. You may have heard from others that Enchanted Arms is a predictable game. Well you've heard correctly! This game is wayyyy too predictable. I thought people were being overly sensitive about being too predictable...but man was I wrong. Every twist and turn in this game was accuratly predicted. I am usually ok at predicting things that are going to happen, but this was just too easy.

There are many parts in the game where they treat you as a complete moron. Though they are talking to the main character, you must think "What were the developers THINKING when they told those characters to say that!?". One example (Spoiler free) is this. I entered a city and a guy told me to meet him at this one place if I wanted to . After the short cutscene, I got another CS from my companions. The main character says something along the lines of phew, we made it to . What should we do now?" then a companion says, " said to meet us at the castle, let's go to the castle." Those kind of instances happen...ALL THE TIME! There were literally moments, when I was smacking my head into the ground because they made the main character so stupid. Here's an idea Ubisoft...how about use more creative ways to explain certain situations, than to say that your main character is a moron. There WILL be parts where you'll just shout out, "Oh COME on!!!".

The reason this game didn't get lower than a 5 was the combat system. The combat system, I believe, is a very strategic combat system that makes you think before you make your move. It adds difficulty to the game, which is always great. Though one of the end bosses is almost impossible unless your characters have massive HP read the forums and find out about the nearly impossible almost final boss.

I wouldn't get it unless your desperate...DESPERATE to play an RPG game. My game time from start to finish is about 35 hours (I did some side quests too.)

This game is a great game if you can make it past the first 3 hours of gameplay. I love rpgs and mostly final fansty 1-12 and this game is along the same lines as those games. If you like rpgs then you most play this one.

Well well well. Dispute all the negative reviews on this game I still gave it a shot basicly cause....well it did real good in Japan and I couldnt believe such low scores players were giving it. Im about 30 hours in and I must say the graphics are very well done. The story line is awesome. Dispute the fact that in the beginning when ur partners well they were ummmmmmmmm not straight....but dont you worry give the game a chance and ur see them two partners of yours well haha. Anyway. The gamestyle is kind of like chess. Its clever. I like it. You can get a good 50-60 hours out of this if u look around, power up, ect.

Absolutely amazing game. Extremely well made with a very interesting story line that makes you want to keep playing to find out more. Graphics are good, but a little weak for 360, which is why it got a 9 instead of 10. Otherwise, the battle system is great, finding and creating golems is awesome, and also the soundtrack is great. Interesting characters and dialogs (except for that blatantly feminist guy, he gets a little annoying) throughout the whole game. Definitely a great start for RPG's on the 360.

As the first traditional Japanese-style RPG on the Xbox 360, Enchanted Arms filled a void whether it was good or not. However, the great news is: it is a very well made game.

The graphics are a step above even some of the best looking last-gen RPGs (FFX, etc.), and cut scenes occur often to show off this power. Voice acting is plentiful and for the most part decent, if you can put up with a few of the characters. The music is perfect in most parts, and is well done also.

Game play is what one would expect of a traditional RPG, you encounter random fights, earn money and exp. while becoming more powerful. Combat is complex yet easy to pick up on, and as random encounter don't happen very often, combat is normally enjoyable.

There are hundreds of creatures you can create called "Golems", and with them you can construct a party of 4. You can also use characters, and the combinations are endless. The golems are varied and interesting.

A nice addition is the lack of save points, you can save whenever you wish. The game is rather generous, as when you get a gameover you can try a battle over again, and characters get healed after every fight.

Overall, Enchanted Arms is good...but follows a template many are familiar with. It has improvements over many games, but is still within a pretty standard mold. That said, it fills the void of RPGs rather well, and is a must for any RPG-fan.

the over all game and plot setup is great but get rid of the flaming fairy guy in the beginning and the only other real down fall is the battle setup is pretty much a copy of final fantasy husband won't even play it because he prefers the more action oriented games rather than stand still pick how your going to attack for 4 different characters then attack

It's been awhile since I've played a RPG and I've got to say that the different endings were too difficult, the cutscenes were cheaply done, and in the narrating scenes you were never sure if the audio would play right... Still I liked the grid fighting style and the different weapons and skills, the little casino was kinda cool if you got lots of time. I finished the game only getting 750 of the achievement points and didn't care to get the rest.

I played through 25 hours of this game before I stopped. Let me start with the bad parts: the voice acting and dialogue are aw-ful. I was hoping funny bad, but really it's just lousy stuff. And there's a lot of it, so you're going to need patience. The other bad thing about this game is how linear it is. You'll see amazing scenery, vast plains, enormous cities in the distance...but you have to stay on this path. Annoying!

The good: The graphics are nice, the actual battles are fun. I liked collecting the different characters (over a 100!) but stopped playing because I was starting to dread hitting another lengthy dialogue scene.

So it's a game that could turn into something great, but right now it's a meh at best.

This is what an rpg is all about, they defiantly nailed it. The characters are funny, the battles are great, and the story is amazing. This game is for those who love RPGs...If you dont want to play a game for 40+ hrs then dont get this. But if for some reason you are a crazy person like I, GET THIS GAME NOW!!!!!

When I started to play this game I thought of the excellent graphics and sounds. The one thing I didn't like though was that when the characters are talking you can't here them (unless they are talking about one of the main topics). Like I said before the graphics are awesome and so are the sounds, but the other thing that is cool is how you fight the monsters. The grid on the board, how you move, and the effects of the different attacks you are using. This game is just excellent overall.

This game has a unique battling style, as well as an interesting system of "golems", or battling robots, and ways to create them from battle loot. A definite recommendation for anyone who likes RPG's.

The game did meet the expectation I had for a good game. The beginning "tutorial" was a little lengthy, and I almost put it down because of it. But, if you have a little patience, and can get past the beginning stages including the "tutorial"...THE GAME IS AWESOME.

I thought I would not like the "block fighting", but it gets entertaining as to you have a choice as to who you fight with, and it makes you feel like you're creating your own story. I like that feeling.

I really recommend the game, to all and anyone. It is LONG, but that's the fun part. I think it's been since "Halo 2" that I have lost track of time playing the game.

I enjoyed the game.

Enchanted Arms (EA) for the 360 is a pretty good game all around. While there are really no new innovations in the game that other RPG's haven't done before, EA does them extremely well. The story is a little corny, but typical of a Japanese RPG. If you like a Japanese sense of humor, you'll fall in love with the characters of the game. The controls are easy to master, so that many battles can be run with your eyes closed. The game boasts over 40 hours of play time and a person could easily reach that and over trying to collect all the golems in the game. I am disappointed in the re playability factor because once you've gone through the game I doubt someone would want o slog their way back through it to collect golems. So to sum up, great game, but nothing we haven't seen before.

When this game first came out I was a little skeptical about buying it because I've never heard of Ubisoft producing an RPG, but I bought it anyway and boy am I glad I did. This has to be one of my favorite RPGs I've ever played. It ranks along side games such as Final Fantasy 9, FF7, FF10, Chrono Cross, etc. But yes, this game is a definate buy for me. I bought the game and 100% happy that I did so.