There was an era during the days of the Xbox 360 and PS3, where the majority of JRPGs released were weird, overly ambitious to a fault, and typically mediocre. This era saw the likes of Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey, Resonance of Fate, Last Remnant, Blue Dragon, and more come and go, some destined for cult classic status, others doomed to be left at the bottom of bargain bins for years before ultimately being tossed aside. As much as I am glad we’ve moved on to bigger and better experiences within the genre, there was something rather endearing about this particular moment in time.
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It felt as if practically everyone was chomping at the bit to get a JRPG made, especially with Xbox determined, admittedly rather temporarily, to worm its way into the Japanese market and oust PlayStation. Its attempts failed, but not before it saw the release of a curious oddity, a JRPG unlike any other by a studio not known for making them. Of course, this was Enchanted Arms, the 2006 JRPG by FromSoftware (yes, the very same), a beautifully weird footnote in the studio’s storied legacy, and a frankly endlessly charming game that unfortunately very few people have heard of.
Enchanted Arms Is FromSoftware’s Lesser-Known JRPG
FromSoftware’s history of forgotten games is surprisingly long and fascinating, a reminder of just how recent the studio’s rise to fame actually was. It’s hard to believe that FromSoftware started with a handful of failed IPs and a focus on some of the best mech games available, considering just how integrated it is in the gaming zeitgeist, and how influential its more recent works have become. Yet, before Demon Souls, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and Sekiro, there was Enchanted Arms, a Ubisoft-published JRPG set in a truly bizarre world centred around a protagonist with, you guessed it, an enchanted arm.
Enchanted Arms very much sits among the so-called mid-tier JRPGs of the early 2000s, a somewhat straight-laced experience with plenty of twists for the discerning JRPG aficionado. It was perfectly suited for the gunmetal grey era of the PS3 and Xbox 360, its washed-out visuals proving FromSoftware had the chops to pull off admittedly very linear but stunning environments and well-executed cutscenes. Sure, it is a far cry from the colorful Final Fantasy X, but it has plenty of its own charm, from its quirky and exceptionally Japanese character designs to the bizarre wonders of its post-apocalyptic world.
Then there’s the surreal soundtrack, one that ebbs and flows in quality and is all over the place in terms of tone. It scores the endless random encounters you’ll face as you explore the many linear environments, embarking on a well-told, poorly voice-acted, beautifully expressed quest of fairly epic proportions. There’s still plenty of humor to be found among all the sombre reflections of inner demons and bursts of action-packed spectacle, including the entire party belittling the main character for his aloofness and lack of intellect.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Enchanted Arms is one of the most underrated games of all time, that people have misunderstood its greatness, as that wouldn’t be entirely fair. Like its contemporaries, Enchanted Arms is a game that, had you played at the time like me, offered an incredible experience that’s easy to be nostalgic for now. However, I’m certain it will have aged somewhat poorly and is likely unapproachable for the majority of players used to the better JRPG fare releasing today. Still, Enchanted Arms is indicative of something far greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a symbol of FromSoftware’s versatility, something the studio has seemingly lost.
FromSoftware Should Make More JRPGs
If you take a peek at what FromSoftware was developing before it discovered a winning formula with Dark Souls, you’d find a rather eclectic library of experiences. While many of them failed, their experimental nature and the studio’s willingness to try something new were exciting and proof of a developer not afraid to explore uncharted territory. Whether it was JRPGs or action-adventure titles, FromSoftware’s output never felt stale, tired, or shallow.
To be clear, I’m not trying to insinuate that its current crop of Souls-focused experiences are in any way stale, tired, or shallow, as even the likes of the less-popular Elden Ring Nightreign proved that FromSoftware still has a few tricks up its sleeve to keep things feeling fresh. However, FromSoftware’s reticence to leave the Souls formula behind is a little frustrating, especially when its past efforts like Enchanted Arms show it has so much more to offer the world.
Of course, FromSoft did release Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon recently, a game that is very much removed from its typical Dark Souls offerings. However, even then, Fires of Rubicon was a return to another well-trodden franchise that FromSoftware is intimately familiar with. Something new, something experimental, something so beyond what we’d expect from the studio seems infinitely more appealing to me. Naturally, it is always going to be whatever projects inspire the creatives at FromSoftware that get greenlit, but I also worry that the success these Souls-likes bring is obfuscating the potential creativity something new offers.
Enchanted Arms will never be considered one of the greatest JRPGs of all time, but at least it aimed for something FromSoftware had never really done before. It was an attempt to experiment within unfamiliar territory, so it is only natural that it didn’t come out perfectly. Now FromSoftware is significantly more skilled at game development, has bigger budgets to allocate to projects, funding from outside sources and prolific investors, and a bigger fanbase willing to buy into whatever they’re offering, it feels like the perfect time to revisit the JRPG genre, or really any genre beyond the Soulsbourne. At the very least, it would be great to get some more beautifully weird games like Enchanted Arms.
Do you think FromSoftware should experiment with more genres? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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