Enchanted Arms- Finished.
Hoookay. Kinda of two minds of this game. It's true that it's aggressively average, but only because it averages out to it. There are some good points, there are bad points.
The plot is basically ripped off the Naruto/Sasuke plot and molds itself around it. It's kinda sad in a way, but actually does it better in some respects. The cast really hounds the main character about his decision to save the Sasuke-equivilent, and to his character's credit he suffers massive swings of legitimate self-doubt about his decision. His convictions, of course, win out in a believable (if cliche) way, whereas Naruto... kinda skims the surface of both of those and never really focuses on anything. Some of the character arcs are boring and predictable though. You actually sort of feel bad for Infinity at the end, and the game actually acknowledges that! It was a surprising touch.
Also has an enjoyable epilogue! You go, Raigar.
The whole cast has an odd common sense about them, which is endearing. They work well together as a group... Mostly well on their own, except for Yuki, who can die in a fire.
Atsuma has the above plot stuff going for him. It's nice to see a main get called out on how stupid he is on a consistant basis, and it doesn't always work out for him! (Only most of the time). Otherwise though... meh. He works for what he is, but not really good otherwise.
Karin's characterization, again, is so inconsistant she's almost human. While generally sticking to her spunky, tsundere princess type, she runs a gamut of emotions and responses in the right situations that really could be mistaken for actual character if looked at it the wrong way, but she really does grow on you.
Raigar: Bro. Total bro. Probably the best of the lot. Has the usual duty/personal life issues of his ilk, but it's done well in his case. Certain aspects aren't exactly explained (like how exactly he got engaged to Sayaka), but thats okay. Enough is generally stated that you can draw your own conclusions. Also the luckiest guy in the world in that he's apparantly been surrounded by beautiful women his whole life. Serves a cute princess, learned under a hot master, engaged to a hot swordgirl. Enough to make you want him dead, but he's such a bro you're okay with it.
Yuki: So bad. So bad. Her intro was pretty cool, but she turns out to be so one-note and boring that you just wish any of the logical NPC candidates (looking at you, Sayaka) could have joined the party to replace her. At least good at random slaying.
Gameplay was good. Gets a bit rote after a while, but it's never frustrating or cumbersome (battles have a handy fastforward button). There's maybe one good boss battle in the game (Sayaka) and the side-bosses I fought (the God Orbs, the Elemental Beasts) didn't put up much of a fight when I got to them. It does good things but doesn't quite use what it does to it's fullest potential, which is sad, but it's still enjoyable.
But... it's... somehow a game that could have benefitted from more partysplit. You get a Pokemon game's worth of golems to play around with, but after the party jumps to 4 human members about a third into the game, there's really only two or three points where you need to fill out your party with them since humans are LIGHTYEARS ahead of golems. I used maybe 3 of the... 3-4 dozen I had in my inventory at the end of the game.
All in all, yeah, it averages out to meh, but there's enough there to get actual opinions and feelings about. Which is all I can ask for, really. Better than, say, AI2 where it's just a blur of meh and grey and whogivesashit. Not sure how to classify it. 5/10 for now, maybe 6/10 later on, or I'll kick other shit out of 5/10. We'll see.
Probably Growlanser 2 next after I finish Heavy Rain.
