Thousand Arms PicturesThousand Arms is without a doubt Atlus's most ambitious project to date in the US and they are probably counting on this game a lot this coming September and quite frankly, they deserve this game to be a total success.We've got 96 screenshots of the game so head over there to check them out because the game has some really good graphics with insane textures (for a Playstation game). Click here for the pics. We also scanned the art from the inside sleeve of the demo for you and you can check it out by clicking here. What follows are my first impressions on the game and why I think this is the game to get this September if you're a hardcore RPG fan (yes, above Final Fantasy VIII and Suikoden 2). Kind in mind that these impressions are based on only the first 8 hours of play so they are subject to change. Okay, first of all, I'd like to mention that apart from Lunar SSSC, I haven't really been that excited about 32-bit RPGs. Sure, there are some good ones but I don't seem to enjoy playing the games as much as I used to in the old 16-bit days. Thousand Arms however has me really excited because for once, I feel like I'm playing something totally new and different instead of the usual RPG rehashes that have plagued the Playstation lately. Here's what's so special about Thousand Arms in my opinion. First of all, Thousand Arms is the first RPG/Dating Sim hybrid game to make its way to America and in this editor's opinion, it's about time!!! One of my favourite aspect of the game is without a doubt the humor and the constant sexual innuendos found within the game. It seems like every character in this game is obssessed with sex and girls and it's quite a refreshing change from the "serious" RPGs like Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Star Ocean 2, etc. I find myself laughing and smiling through this game because quite frankly, it's a blast to play and the constant obssession with girls that Meis has (your main character) makes for some really hilarious situations. For example, while your entire village is being attacked and destroyed, upon seeing a girl, Meis can only think about charming the girl instead of fleeing the village. The game also gives you the opportunity to date girls in the villages you visit. On those dates, you chose the location of the date and you try to answer your date's questions as best as possible in order to win her heart and improve your intimacy level with her (which results in your character forging better swords). On top of the date, you can also chose to give her a gift or play a game with her. The dating aspect of the game is actually important though because it is needed in order for you to create better swords and as such, it is not just an aside thing but a necessity for you to actually enhance your statistics. Another very impressive part of Thousand Arms is the voice acting. I'll go on the record to say that this game has without a doubt the best voice acting I've heard in a videogame. I never thought something could top the all mighty Snatcher on Sega CD but there comes this game from Atlus and all of a sudden, we've got a new winner in this category :P. I also prefer the voice acting in this game over the one in Lunar SSSC (which happens to be my favorite RPG of all time along with Eternal Blue). Not only is the quality of the voice acting great but there is also TONS of it. 12 hours in all of voice acting. For those of you not really realizing the incredible aspect of this statistic, just think about the fact that this game has more voice acting than all of the other 32-bit RPGs put together or more voice acting than can be found in the entire Police Academy movie series (not to mention much better acting too :P). My favorites so far have to be Meis and The Emperor (which has to be the best "evil" voice I've ever heard). I was also very surprised by the graphics in the game. When I heard that the game was polygonal, I cringed and said: "Oh no! Not another Legend of Legaia" but thank god, it's not even close to that. The polygons in this game have insane textures which actually makes the polygons look like CG when you're not moving. If you start walking around though, you clearly see that it is polygons because of the Playstation limitations which are incredibly obvious (especially after having played Dreamcast). However, these polygonal graphics are in my opinion, the best I've seen in a Playstation RPG and despite the VERY super-deformed characters in the game (big head), I think the game still has a very polished look which should attract all those graphic whores who only care about graphics :P. I could write a lot more about the game but I think I'll stop here and if you want more impressions of the game, look at the pics and movies on our site and look for our full review which will be available upon the launch of this game. |
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