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THOUSAND ARMS
SLUS-00845/00858
Copyright © ATLUS 1998,1999, RED 1998
Trademarked by RED
Sony PlayStation, 1 Player
RPG
2 discs
Available now in North America
$49.95
Where to buy
FAQ
—by Mark L. Johnson
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With FINAL FANTASY
VIII, SUIKODEN 2, and the
FINAL FANTASY ANTHOLOGY (5 & 6)
recently released, and GRANDIA
on the very near horizon, THOUSAND ARMS has some definite RPG competition on the PlayStation. And
looking at these recent contenders, each has a "feature" they
concentrate on (in addition to the mainstay stats, items, and
combat of the genre). FF8 goes deep
into story and uses high quality CG
cinemas, SUIKODEN continues with
finding the 108 stars and has large scale wars in addition to
character combat, GRANDIA specializes
in character interaction in a rich RPG
world, and THOUSAND ARMS brings the
dating genre to a new level in North America.
The star of the story (and the player's alter ego)
is a young man named Meis, who while will eventually become
a fighter (and spirit blacksmith) of hero stature, also has
a strong longing for girls. Perhaps the best comparisons
would be like Ataru (from URUSEI YATSURA)
or Carrot (from BAKURETSU
HUNTER).
As fate would have it, throughout the adventure many
women will join the party. The main female role falls to
Sodina, a cute, kind and honest girl who eventually falls for
Meis (and easily gets jealous when Meis returns to his old
ways). Wyna is a pirate's daughter, and as such is a tomboyish
character. Kyleen comes from a merchant background and is spunky
and curious, while Nelsha is apparently a young girl who is
introverted personality changes radically when she changes her
costume. Two men come along for the journey as well (no, you
cannot date them): Muza, a strong and fearless warrior with no
ability to talk to women, and Soushi, a cool samurai feigning
death in order to swoon the opposite sex.
Perhaps the first game to introducing the "dating"
concept in recent times on the PlayStation in North America
was AZURE DREAMS, which was mainly a
dungeon tromp through a randomly created dungeon. It also added
a town which you helped build up and women to help and woo by
performing quests or just talking to them.
THOUSAND ARMS takes this further
by allowing the ability to date your members of your party; in
fact, it's a necessity. The excuse is that in order to forge
and upgrade weapons, a woman's feelings towards you will infuse
the weapon with spirit. The stronger the feelings, the better
the sword. As such, a date occurs when you visit shrine statues
(located in most towns), then you lead the chosen girl to a
dating spot. There she will ask an assortment of questions
(randomly picked depending on her mood) and you will have two
possible responses. Sometimes it is pretty obvious what is the
better choice, while other times neither choice will be great,
like for that "Do you think I've gained weight?" Her mood will
improve or worsen, and effect your sword forging capabilities.
This is extent of the dating system, as this is, after
all, an RPG at its core. Do not expect a
system as complex as TOKIMEKI
MEMORIAL, for example, which is a truly dedicated
"dating" game and a game in which I would not expect to see
anytime soon in North America due to its root in Japanese culture.
As THOUSAND ARMS comes from
Red Company, it seems worthy to compare this title to their
best selling SAKURA TAISEN
(SAKURA WARS)
series on the Saturn (or soon to be released and continued on
the Dreamcast). SAKURA TAISEN was 2/3rds
dating which rewarded success by helping the battle in the 1/3rd
mech strategy section (much like SHINING
FORCE). In THOUSAND ARMS however,
the emphasis on actual dating is much less. It does act as a
major plot device, but most of your time will be spent on
exploring towns and dungeons or random combat.
Which bring us to look on how THOUSAND
ARMS fares as a true RPG:
unfortunately there is little exciting innovation in this
department. The combat system works on a one-on-one system,
as the head of the party fights the head of the enemy. Standard
choices of Attack, Defend, Spell, Summon and Switch adorn the
leader, while the other characters act as support with Spell,
Standby, or Item. This results in combat that mainly involves
the head character attacking the other one while the backup
helps occasionally. The loading times can get slightly annoying
as well.
The world itself seems small, but as a PlayStation game
the true 3D rendering of towns and
dungeons are of a good quality. Dungeons consist of finding the
occasional treasure box and attempting to find the right path
(while pressing buttons here and there). And the towns contain
few secrets except for additional MP deposits.
The animated cut scenes are nicely done, with the
majority being 2D anime style frame
animation. While I found the translation occasionally misleading,
the English dubbing was of surprisingly good quality, especially
in comparison to most other titles out there. I also applaud
Atlus's choice of keeping the original opening and ending themes
by Hamasaki Ayumi.
Overall, I found THOUSAND ARMS
to be an above average RPG. The dating
is a nice touch, and should provide enough novelty to deserve a
look from any RPG aficionado. The problem
stems that there is not much more of original interest to warrant
a higher rating. For example, games like TALES
OF DESTINY and STAR OCEAN (SECOND
STORY) make the actual RPG part
more fun by including so many extra options and strategy to the
core combat, while THOUSAND ARMS relies
almost entirely on its dating system. I also commend Atlus's
localization of the game, with the multitudes of little bonuses
(from stickers to a multimedia CD mail
offer) and great English dubbing. Now if only they would hurry
up and bring PERSONA 2 to the
English-speaking world. 
Rating: 7/10 |
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