PixlBit

     I was playing X-Men: The Official Game today and rage quit over the very slow and damage prone Wolverine. The Nightcrawler missions, however, were cool because he can teleport behind enemies as he fights making him a lot more fun to play around with, but the thing is, I just couldn't put up with Wolverine in this game. Raven Software's X-Men Origins: Wolverine had a much better fight system for Wolverine.

    Then I put in Enchanted Arms (pic above), a From Software (creators of Demon Souls and Dark Souls) game that reminds me strongly of Wild Arms 4 that I played recently (funny they both have Arms in the title). Enchanted Arms is a RPG with a turn based battle system on a grid. You wander around the world in third person talking to people until an fight happens and then you are put on a square grid opposite your opponent's grid in some special fighting room. Each side stays seperate from each other unlike Wild Arms 4 which has a hexagonal grid that you and the enemy move around freely in. You have various skills you can use as well as combo attacks with allies when a certain meter is full. The battle system is easy to learn but I can already see how complex it is going to become once I start learning new skills and factor in elemental damage. 

     You begin the game with three characters: Atsuma the firey rebel, Toya the brainiac, and Makoto the stereotypically gay admirer of Toya. They function much like Fighter, Mage and Healer in terms of their skills in battle. There's lots of dialog. They are all students at a school and you can talk to other students and see what's going on. There's lots of youthful anxiety over who likes who and all that which is pretty funny.

     Eventually you move out of the school and into the town for a festival and find yourself answering some quizes to get tokens to allow you to buy a Golem to fight in the arena. Golems are basically robots but, I think, are built from some metal and non metal stuff. The whole world is half magic and half technology. Then, predictably enough, disaster strikes and an earthquake destroys the festival. I was helping various people in the ruins when I had to stop to go to work.

    I'm really enjoying the game so far and will be playing more of it later on this weekend.

    I should mention I played some Pandora's Tower earlier in the week. It's a strange game. You have to save your girlfriend Elena from slowly becoming a monster by feeding her beast meat which you rend from enemies with your chain weapon. Thing is, she's a vegetarian and can barely stomach eating the meat you bring her. Ultimately you have to bring her Master Beast Meat to permanently get rid of the tattoo on her back that's causing her to become a monster. There are a bunch of Towers you explore and fight in and each one has a Master that you have to kill and then harvest its meat for the real cure.

     The battle system is pretty simple when you are using just your sword. You just mash A or hold it down and then release it at the right time to activate a flurry of attacks. Where it gets more interesting is when you use your chain to bind an enemy or link two enemies together and attack them both when they are vulnerable. You can also yank the chain and do damage that way or drag them around. Mainly though, I've been just fighting with my sword until the monsters glow red. Then I wrap them up with my chain and yank it to shred them which releases various items or fleshy parts to be used in crafting items or feeding to Elena to stave off her becoming a monster.

    As you go into the Towers there is a meter that tells you how bad Elena is getting. It basically puts a time limit on your travels as you have to get back in time or she'll become a monster permanently.

     So far I'm enjoying Pandora's Tower although I'm never quite happy with the Wii's Remote and Nunchuck. It still just feels awkward to me.