"Enchanted Arms" Q&A

Enchanted Arms Qs

I always like to get a good idea who we're talking to, so tell us who you are and what you do.

I'm Michiko F., Localization Specialist on Ubisoft's Production Team for Enchanted Arms. I'm responsible for preparing the Japanese version of the game for release in North America.

Tell me about the golems. What's their role in the world and in gameplay? Is "golem management" (for lack of a better expression) going to play a big role in the game?

Golems are automaton servants created by ancient humans a very long time ago. About 1,000 years ago, people used them as weapons and started a fierce conflict referred to as the Golem War. This war nearly destroyed the entire world's population, until the Golems were sealed away. Since then, all golems were designed only as harmless servants.

All of this changes at the start of the game, as the supposedly benign Golems suddenly go on a rampage. Golems essentially become enemy monsters whom you must fight as you progress through the story.

From a gameplay point of view, Golems go beyond simple battles. You can actually collect Golem's Core Material, either from shops or after defeating ones you encounter during exploration.

Then you can add your creations to your party during a battle. Every Golem offers unique characteristics and combat abilities to bolster your party's arsenal.

Golems will gain SP just like your human characters and you can even raise Golems' ability parameters. But unlike human characters, Golems will learn skills automatically as they level up.

Tell me about the battle system, especially the "speed tactics and dynamic grid battle system." Are you going for a blend of Tactics-style gameplay with Final Fantasy battles or something else entirely?

That's a good way of putting it. We're blending the strategy of tactics-styled battle systems, with the smaller scale and faster pace of "FF style" turn-based battle systems. You control the characters in turns over a set grid space, similar to an SRPG. However, you have the accessibility, customization, and quickly-paced action of a four-person party RPG such as Final Fantasy.

Each attack has a different grid range and enemies move around after each turn. So you really need to consider what skills and which characters you should have in your party depending on who you're fighting.

On top of this, you also need to consider enemy attributes, which are classified by natural elements such as Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, etc. So if you fight against fire attribute Golems, your party must have characters who offset fire with water. If you attack Fire attribute golems with a fire skill, you won't do any damage.

Why the 360? It hasn't been known for its JRPG selection before now. Or is that precisely why (a market opportunity)?

That's definitely part of the reason. I believe Microsoft is seeking to start with a clean slate in Japan, and really take special care to win this audience over. If this strategy works, we could have a bumper crop of great imports ahead of us. At Ubisoft, we're simply looking for great Japanese games that have potential in the States, no matter what the platform. In the case of Enchanted Arms, we saw a real opportunity to bring over the first classic JRPG for next-gen consoles.

According to a post on Joystiq, Ubisoft has decided to include both English and Japanese language tracks. Is this correct? Why did you make this decision? And on behalf of JRPG fans who cringe at terrible English voice acting, thank you.

I'm glad to report that Enchanted Arms will include the original Japanese dialogue. Nothing against our English dub, which I believe stands on its own, but we understand the value of authentic Japanese voice tracks - not only in games, but in anime and film as well. Like many other RPG gamers, I've experienced first-hand the pain of bad English dubs. I didn't want our game suffering the same fate. So between both the Japanese and English language tracks, gamers have two solid options for enjoying the story. Including both tracks was easier said than done however, as disc space is always an issue - especially with next-gen games.

The only obvious competition you have right now in the "Serious competition for RPGs on the 360" department is Oblivion. How do you look at Oblivion? Will you be doing anything similar with unlockable content via Live, etc.?

Actually, we don't see Oblivion in the same competitive field as Enchanted Arms. In fact, it's at the other end of the spectrum. Oblivion requires the player to be completely focused on the game's action similar to an FPS. Enchanted Arms allows you focus and think about your next movements and actions similar to chess. Oblivion is more of an action-based RPG whereas Enchanted Arms gameplay is more turn-based and calls for the player to plot out his next moves.

As for Enchanted Arms Xbox Live features, the big thing is Golem Battles, which pit you and your best Golem against online opponents. If you choose Ranked Match, the result will be sent to the ranking board for all to compete against.

I saw mention of minigames in some of the materials I've read. What sort of minigames are there to look forward to?

At the Casino, you can play Rolette, Bingo, Slot Machines, and participate in Golem Battles. You'll also have "mini-missions" to accomplish as you help citizens repair key parts of their cities. After you complete each mini mission, you will receive rewards - one of them being Atsuma's powerful EX skill.

Tell me about the customization options for character development. The one thing I worry about when I hear about tweaking my character to an insane degree is screwing them up somehow and having to start over. How likely is that?

That's a legitimate concern, but not likely to happen in Enchanted Arms. You gain SP (Skill Points) every time you defeat enemies. You then use SP you've gained to raise your parameters such as HP, EP, attack power, etc. The SP needed to raise parameters will increase every time you apply SP to a given parameter. For instance, it might cost 100 SP to raise +15 HP in the beginning, but eventually it may cost as much as 13,500 points to raise another +15 HP. As you can see, it gets increasingly difficult to "over-tweak" the more you progress. So you can't really make your characters too extreme, but you can definitely specialize characters to be highly defensive or highly offensive.

And now, a softball: I'm one of those guys waiting for something compelling to convince me to buy a 360. Will Enchanted Arms be that game?

If anyone's afraid the 360 won't have a great library of games, Enchanted Arms should help put those fears to rest. For example, if you check around on the Japanese gamer forums, you'll see a lot of players were amazed simply at the quality of Enchanted Arms' in-game cut-scenes versus the pre-rendered ones: there is virtually little difference between the two. This graphical feat could not be performed on any other available hardware.

Beyond graphics, the level of customization is a huge draw that brings up a lot possibilities: How should you level your human characters: defense oriented, attack oriented? Or support oriented? Which of the 100+ golems you should use in a battle? It's great story, tons of collection and customization options, and a variety of strategic options made Enchanted Arms a really fun game for me to work on, and ultimately I believe gamers will have fun with it too.