PS3 Enchanted Arms gets some 'enchancements'
Eager to cash in on an empty market, From Software is busy applying the finishing touches to its Enchanted Arms port for PlayStation 3. Lack of RPG presence in PS3's unripened catalogue certainly gives From the option to 'copy-paste' its year-old Xbox 360 title onto Sony's platform, but there appears reason for improvements; be it the off chance that there are owners of the original who would be interested in a buffed reprise.Along with expected graphical tweaks (including new character animations), new chapters will be added to the Enchanted Arms story, new golems will appear, and the battle system will be improved. Even the themes for the opening and ending will be re-composed -- by "mink" no less (never heard of her/him/them either). The magic returns to Japan on January 25 (no word yet of a new translation).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wicked Laharl @ Dec 6th 2006 6:13PM
These enhancements are not enough to raise this game from the bowels of suckage.
J.Goodwin @ Dec 6th 2006 6:16PM
They pretty much admitted that they 1. Rushed it out the door, and 2. cut a lot of CGI cutscenes from the version that shipped.
It's no surprise that Sony's Watchstation 3 will be home to the NOW WITH MORE PRERENDERED CUTSCENES!!!! version.
PaleGringo @ Dec 6th 2006 6:35PM
Truthfully, I just finished this one up as a rental from GameFly last week. Apart from certain thematic elements near the very beginning and very end of the story, which have made more than a few people uncomfortable apparently, I found it to be OK. Nothing really exciting or that would warrant a purchase. Virtually no replay value in the while thing, even taking your golems online in XBox Live.
Is it worth a rental though? Possibly. If you can look at a picture of Makoto and not get the dry heaves at least...
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1281/1147279502.jpg
Of course, I've never been a good judge of JRPGs. I make a poor barometer for this kind of stuff.
natas @ Dec 6th 2006 6:39PM
What a shock. Content cut because they couldn't fit the game on 1 DVD. Good luck getting Square and Level 5 MS. I'm sure they will be happy to make 5 disk games for you. Blue Dragon already takes 3 LOL LOL LOL
Space Butler @ Dec 6th 2006 7:10PM
Natas, were you screaming back when Sony was releasing the Final Fantasy games on multiple CD's? Its a linear game. If it takes an extraordinary amount of effort to switch out disks every 20-30 hours of gameplay, then you must be as out of shape as a worthless internet troll like yourself is stereotyped as. ELL OH ELL ELL OH ELL I STILL TYPE USING INTERNET ACRONYMS YET AM INTELLECTUALLY SUPERIOR ELL OH ELL
JohnQAnonymous @ Dec 6th 2006 7:11PM
J. Goodwin: I don't think it's an admission of those two things as much as it an admission that everyone thinks their game sucked.
The combat system is AWFUL. All it does is add even more waiting to the standard turn-based RPG system.
Mr. Khan @ Dec 6th 2006 7:11PM
PS3 is sure to lose if all their titles are copy-paste jobs from the 360
If the PS3 just becomes a 360 with a different coat of paint, there's no point in buying it
J.Goodwin @ Dec 6th 2006 7:19PM
I didn't have any problems with the combat system.
It wasn't a spectacular game, but it's well representative of 75% of Japanese RPG releases, if not more. It's a genre that's been developed to a fine point, and not everyone likes it.
3d shooters and fighting games have also reached that point. Anyone who isn't already interested isn't going to become interested, because they are catering to a super hardcore audience.
SuicideNinja @ Dec 6th 2006 7:23PM
The terrible voice-acting and comic-book style dialog scenes really killed this game. It could have been decent if they would have just used the game engine and changed up the camera angle a few times during these scenes to prevent you from falling asleep at such dry dialog.
I couldn't even play it for more than an hour it was so awful.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Dec 6th 2006 7:55PM
I'm playing through this right now on the 360. It takes a little while to get going, but it's an OK game. I'd say it's worth $20 or $25, though, not the $55 I paid for it. For one thing, the level design is really linear, and the puzzles are very easy/obvious.
My only complaint about Makoto was that they didn't really shatter any stereotypes about transvestites, particularly with the voice acting. But the Japanese voice acting is feminine enough to be realistic rather than sound like a straight person's parody of what a transvestite should sound like. So I've switched to the Japanese actors. (Atsuma's voice was also kind of grating in English, as well.)
I'm surprised they're saying cutscenes were taken out. There are already a zillion long cutscenes where I feel like I'm sitting there watching a movie while a controller occasionally vibrates in my hands, though. I can't imagine that more of them would make the game better.
However, it's obvious that there are areas that were closed off and not finished due to time constraints as they were developing the game. (Opening up some of these areas would fix the problem of the game being too linear, as well.) That's certainly something that could use some improvement.
I like the battle system.
otakucode @ Dec 6th 2006 8:28PM
SkyCroc: Since when does one single character in a game equate to trying to establish or perpetuate a stereotype? Makoto is flamboyant and all that. They don't have a cast of thousands all pulling the same attitude.
I just recently started playing through Enchanted Arms and it's decent thus far. I like the inclusion of the Japanese audio. I like the turn based battles. Makoto hasn't made me think every gay guy is flaming, any more than a subtle gay guy would make me think all homosexuals are entirely non-flamboyant. He doesn't bother me, I'm not some insecure 12 year old (or idiot adult) who feels the need to be offended by everyone with a lifestyle different from mine.
The most enjoyable things about the game to me are turn-based battles and absolutely gorgeous graphics. Can't wait to see some side by side comparisons with the PS3 'tweaked' version.
Seifer @ Dec 6th 2006 8:31PM
....."enchancements"?
Snap @ Dec 6th 2006 10:19PM
@natas
Yeah, cause like more pre-rendered cutscenes in the PS3 version on a 25GB Blu-Ray is going to make the game suck sooooo much less.
You're a tool.
Ahms @ Dec 7th 2006 12:12AM
otakucode-
Some elements of the game don't appeal to everyone (especially given the market it's trying to hit via the console). No need to hate them for it and call them idiots since can't really relate to it/like it.
I watched someone play the first hour of it, and not only did I not find any of the characters interesting or appealing, the game just seemed like a generic RPG.
If the 360 wants in on the RPG action it needs to drum up some better titles. Hopefully Blue Dragon will do it for them.
Anon @ Dec 17th 2006 4:05PM
Well, I don't know what everyone's complaining about, I think the game is quite good, and I enjoy the cut scenes, the characters are funny, I'm not expecting RPG's like this to be 101% perfect, also the battle system is new, I like it, the only annoying thing can be constant random battles whilst travelling, it's about the same as Final Fantasy X basically, not too much of a big deal.