One of the better JRPGs on the 360.
In Enchanted Arms, you play as Atsuma who attends a magic school for enchanting. Your friends are Makato, who is in love with your other friend Toya but unfortunately for Makato, Toya doesn't feel the same. Now, as offensive as it is, the game uses the fact that Makato is gay to help proved comic relief. Everything from offering Toya some shrimp covered in a creamy white sauce to Makato telling an ancient evil to find her own man provides a good amount of humor and keeps you entertained. Now in this game, there was an ancient war over 1,000 years before the game takes place called the Golem War. These golems are basically human servants, summoned by a long lost ancient magic, until the golems turned against them and were led by the devil golems, the strongest of all golems. The devil golems were locked up and sealed but at a town festival, something goes wrong leading the boys to find a place where one of these devil golems is sealed leading them to unleash an ancient evil ending with the city's destruction. So as Atsuma, you go on a quest to save Toya from the evil clutches of the Ice Queen. As you go through the game, you discover a unique power inside of you, you come across unique characters, interesting enemies, and some awkward dialouge.
Besides the random encounters that JRPG players are used to, this game also features a fighting system that is very unique. Basically, you have a map that's divided into a bunch of squares. Now you are on one half of it and your enemy is on the other. Each golem has a certain distance it can move but it must stay on your side. Each golem has unique attacks that cover a certain area of the map wheter it be the four squares in front of them or the entire row in front of them. At first, this combat system can seem strange and somewhat confusing but once you get used to it, you see it as what it is.
So what's so good about this game? This game will take you around 30 hours if you do nothing but the main quest but there are some side quests that can burn a good 20 minutes each including one that will last you a couple of hours if you choose to do it. So this isn't a game you will burn through right away. This game has a wide selection of golems that you can use in combat that all have their strengths and weaknesses that you must use to complete the game. This game will keep you entertained with the dialogue wheter is was supposed to be funny or not. The combat system is unique and well done. Then on top of everything else, this game has a great story that can suck you in along with an enjoyable ending.
But just like everything in life, there are some bad things in the game. The game starts off very slow. Sometimes, the random encounters can become annoying because in some places they are very frequent. There are two endings and one is enjoyable and the other makes you wonder why you played this game for all this time because it is unsatisfying and will make you angry. There is one boss that once you get to, if you save right before him then you will not be able to level up anymore and this is the first hard boss you fight. Thus, if you are not prepared enough then you will face him for hours waiting to get lucky enough to defeat him.
So back to the question I asked at the beginning, did it do it? Yes it did, I know there are quite a few people that feel the same as me that this game brought them into the genre. I highly suggest this game for anyone who enjoys JRPGs and even for those who are thinking about trying one. Even if you don't enjoy this game, you will get a surprise two hours in that will make it all worth it, trust me.
Enchanted Arms gets an 8.1 for being great but having a few problems that can ruin the game experience for you.