Enchanted Arms: An Xbox Launch Title, played on the PS3 in 2021 - how does it hold up?

There hasn't been a lot of time for me to pursue my passion of gaming lately. I'll admit, its been very busy - but I constantly find things to keep me that way. It's safer. Don't ask.

I have a massive backlog of games. If I spent the time playing them instead of writing and thinking about them, I'd probably be done by now. The oldest pile of shame is probably the Nintendo DS, but I'm not here to talk about that today, it is PlayStation 3 time.
 

 
Except... it really isn't, because Enchanted Arms was an original Xbox launch title, which eventually made its way onto the PlayStation 3. A game that is 15 years old. It was released over half a life time ago as far as some people are concerned.

It was developed by From Software, who would go onto things such as Dark Souls, and many accolades.

Enchanted Arms is the story of an off-beat JRPG where "golems" (massive mechanised beings) go a little crazy, resulting in an entire city being encased by ice.
 

 
As the surviving protagonist, Atsuma, you then commence the typical JRPG story arc of "how did this happen, why did it happen, how can I stop it from impacting people, and why me?"

Along the way you get the opportunity to control many of the golem creatures (think of them like Pokemon that you can have fight beside your party on a grid system) - and unwrap some shallow intrigue as you grind through what would be considered too many battle encounters by anyone's standards today.

The game is competent, and has a story that is paced well, but the pacing falls apart when it is time to go from A to B - as the combat grows easy, and remains unvaried as you progress through the title. It has a novelty that wears off very quickly.

Couple this with the fact that early in the game you can completely cheese an in-game casino (by reloading your save if you lose a bet) to access infinite currency and items, there's not a great deal of replay value, challenge, or entertainment, beyond the generic story.
 

 
The combat system isn't generic, but it lacks depth - you've got set moves with set characters (and while you can change their moves, and fiddle with formations) - the grid system ensures there's limited room to experiment with new strategies.

Overall, it is a competent game, but now that it is no longer 2006, and in fact, it is 2021, there's much better stuff to sink your teeth into.