Overview
The world changed after the Golems, human creations whose sole purpose was to serve and obey them, went out of control and started a relentless war. Time has passed since then, and life has somehow resumed its course. Atsuma is a student at the University of Yokohama City. The least that can be said is that he is not at all the academic and attentive student profile since he spends his time sleeping in class. Atsuma has another peculiarity: possessing a right arm endowed with a strange power whose usefulness and origin he does not seem to know. Because of this point, Makota, another university student, shows a particular hostility towards our hero. But the unfailing love that Makota bears to the seductive and strong Toya, Atsuma's best friend and most famous student, makes the trio inseparable. Thus, in the middle of a festive day in the city of Yokohama, when Atsuma had just convinced his two friends to skip school, a mysterious earthquake brings our protagonists to the buried ruins of what seems to be a sacred temple. Inside this temple, Atsuma's arm will bring out his powers but for the benefit of the rebirth of the Queen of Ice, a Golem with terrifying force. A dangerous quest will follow to avoid a new and terrible war generated by the Golems and finally know the truth about the great powers of Atsuma's arm.
Although not original, Enchanted Arms' scenario is still captivating and enticing, as the references to existing RPGs are here rather well mastered. Fans will notice many clichés of the genre, if only by the carefree and humorous side of Atsuma or by the different universes that make up the game, not without reminders of Final Fantasy, Shadow Hearts and so on. One can, however, reproach all the protagonists for being only good copies of other Japanese RPGs and manga and thus not bringing real novelties or surprises to the genre, both by their character and their realization. In the course of the adventure, other characters will join you as well as many Golems, no less than a hundred of them are hidden in the different levels, offering a relatively large diversity in the composition of your fighting group. The progression is therefore familiar and not very surprising, but don't deny it, the protagonists still manage to create a feeling of attachment. The levels are quite linear and concentrate mainly on the main plot, with a good batch of dialogues, fights and other rather lovely cinematic, which is not a bad thing since they spare the gamer a too superficial playing time. On this last point, Enchanted Arms doesn't betray in any way its compatriots with a rather consequent number of hours of gameplay that won't disappoint the fans of the genre.
Gameplay
More like a tactic-RPG during the combat phases, these phases are played turn by turn. The first step is to move your player through a grid of twelve squares, knowing that movement is limited according to the player's abilities, then to make your choice for the action to be performed, and this also with the three companions accompanying you. Once you make your moves, the AI does the same and so on, until one sees his character's HPs reduced to nothing. Let's talk about the HP and EP. While the first indicates your character's health level, the second is a gauge showing the number of points the character has to act. And where fights become exciting and the fact that you have to place yourself on the grid according to the range of the chosen action, you have to make a subtle choice between defence and attack spells while keeping an eye on your EP number. Thus the gamer surprises himself very often simulating his actions to make the best possible management and not find himself too quickly with a lack of EP or worse.
Once again, the game hits the nail on the head and forces the gamer to use many characters, thus having to review his tactical organization and manage his combat groups. The whole thing makes it possible not to get bored. Some of the crystals mentioned are used to create a Golem: in other words, after facing the creature, you will be able to retrieve its crystal and synthesize it to have it at your side. Afterwards, all you have to do is select three of your favourite characters or Golems to fight alongside you, knowing that you can change this selection between battles by merely going back and forth in the menu. Up to eight Golems will be able to join your inventory, imposing a tough assignment on you.
But the gameplay is not limited to these combat phases, which may or may not appear randomly as the level progresses. It is interesting to note that the rest of the game has classic yet compelling gameplay, so much, so that very little attention is paid to it. Probably because outside of the battles, our actions are limited to moving from one zone to another, destroying barrels and crates to retrieve various items, talking with other characters and accessing a few mini-games. The only downside is that our hero's movements seem a little too rigid, but nothing too awkward in themselves. And finally, to mention only these last details, there is a sort of store in several places in the levels, where you can synthesize your Golems and learn new moves and a source of vital points where you can give all the health points back to your characters. Enchanted Arms confirms it will not frustrate gamers by offering the possibility to save at any time and the possibility to restart a lost fight whether or not you have previously saved your game.
Graphics & Sound
While the game shows that RPGs are taking RPGs to the next level of aesthetics, the developers' bar is not as high as one might have hoped. The vast majority of environments are quite rich and compelling enough, even if a minority of them offer only bland and empty backgrounds. As for the cinematics, its good as well. However, the protagonists' design, human characters like the Golems creatures, does not follow the same trend, proof of the game's absolute lack of personality.
As for the music, what can I say except that it melts peacefully into the atmosphere. One will only regret having to fight with the same musical theme throughout the game. But finally, the interest developed by the fights, fortunately, makes us quickly forget this point.
Conclusion
One could qualify Enchanted Arms due to an association between several Japanese manga and RPGs, offering an unstoppable feeling of déjà vu. But fortunately, with convincing graphics, a not very original but enticing scenario and a sound fighting system subtly integrating a tactical aspect, Enchanted Arms offers a good game experience that fans will appreciate at its real value. Enchanted Arms is an excellent game that fans will be pleased.
