$50? Damn. I haven't looked at the price of the game recently. But I've always seen the game being sold cheaply (except when it released eary on at $60 obviously).

In spring/summer 2009 here in Canada I saw a Enchanted Arms Superman Returns bundle going for $10 brand new. I didn't care for Superman Returns (shovelware) but $10 for just Enchanted Arms alone would have been a fucking steal anyway. So I bought it ASAP. It came with the graphic novel booklet too. Enchanted Arms is one of those underrated RPGs that go largely unappreciated, even by avid fans of RPGs. But it was definitely enjoyable for me at least. And on top of that it was an easy (though certaintly not quick) 1000/1000. You just have to beat the game and make the right decision near the end of the game to get the good ending.

Around the same time last year I saw Earth Defense Force 2017 (my immediate impression was that it was likely shovelware. I was in the know about Enchanted Arms because I read the reviews but I had no clue about EDF 2017 until I came across the word of mouth on the forums) bundled with NBA Street or some piece of shovelware going for a low price too (I didn't pick this one up though. It wasn't until after it sold out at that store that I heard about how awesome that game was. I've been meaning to play it for some time now. Have it on my rental queue.) Now new copies of Earth Defense Force 2017 are pretty expensive (for an old release). That's what happens when gamers discover an obscure gem in the bargain bin and hype the shit out of the game on the internet. Demand goes up and this is what happens. lol.

@loves2splooge, u are right about the games like enchanted arms. i told alot of my friends and my wife has told some of hers about enchanted arms,infinite undiscovery and more who thought those games werent that good. i really liked enchanted arms/infinite undiscovery and play them often. i think enchanted arms problem was it was released too early into the 360's life, the very good to great rpg's werent released yet ( lost odyssey,final fantasy 13 ). i believe if enchanted arms was released last year or early this year with slightly better graphics it would have sold around 500k at least between the 2 systems.

i always buy my rpg's at launch and sometimes later if i am too backlogged in my gaming. for example tales of vesperia for the 360 is selling at $21 on amazon.com but the damn guide is selling at $75 brand new on that site,  because damn bradygames wont make anymore copies of the guide. 

@Robo, how many enchanted arms copies do you have?

@mjk45, i currently have 2 copies. 1 brand new sealed copy and 1 copy i played that got scratched by a friend, so i bought a new copy to play in its place. my wife has a copy as well. so we actually have 3 copies, with a forth on its way.

any new games u get lately ?

Any hype here for the new GOLDEN SUN coming out soon?

@Robo , no rpg's but i picked up Black ops two days ago and before that Enslaved, Lords of Shadow,Dead Rising 2, F1 2010 and Medal of Honor.

It seems muted i would have thought we would see more ,it might have something to do with Japanese sales seemingly flat, the only score i saw was good but not great and also so much other stuff going on ,having said all that most of the blame really lies at your door you simply need to HYPE it better.

@robo just Dl'd Grandia about time we got it.

@darth, yes from me. i really like that series alot, own all the previous games in the series and cant wait too play the new one. :)

I've been continuing on with Persona 3 Portable (I had rented Halo: Reach recently just to try it out but I found that, like most shooters, it's not my thing. Just like Halo 3 wasn't my thing. So I sent it back in the mail and then quickly returned to Persona 3). I'm currently in July 2009 in the game so I take it I'm about 1/3 the way in seeing as how the game ends in January. I've explored Tartarus (the game's dungeon) up to level 55 thus far.

My assessment of the game is even more positive than my first impressions. The social interaction part to the game is fun. My only complaint is that you can't explore social links with Mitsuru and Yukati right away in the game if you are playing as a male character. Those are my favorites, especially Mitsuru. I've been building up my Academics and Charm stats in the mean time so that I can get my MC to tap those chicks later on in the story. The Kenji social link scenario is quite hilarious. That guy is annoying but his story arc is quite entertaining to watch enfold. I'm also going on dates with that team manager chick (Yuko?) but she's just something to occupy my time until I can go do S-Links with Mitsuru and Yukati.

I kinda regret not following the 100% S-Link guide on GameFAQs because I know I haven't been the most efficient with my time in the game. Having the strongest S-Links possible would make the fights in Tartarus easier. When Tartarus is unstable, the enemies can really put a hurting on you. What's worst is that I'm kinda of a cheap skate by nature so I didn't bother to stock up much on Revival beads and those items that allow you to flee dungeons (I think they sell them at the pharmacy).

When Tartarus is unstable, that dungeon can be really annoying if you don't have plenty of those items on hand. I just lost about 15 minutes progress in Tartarus (I leveled up a full two levels during that time due to getting lucky with experience bonuses and fighting high xp enemies so that 15 mins lost is worse than it sounds). I thought this wouldn't happen because I thought "oh there are entrance portals at every level" but then when one of your characters gets knocked out and you have the choice between going through enemies (who will fuck you up since you aren't at full strength) to try to find the entrance portal or taking the stairs that you just found, you're going to take the stairs and just pray that you have a easier time of finding the entrance portal on the next level up.

Overall the dungeon crawling segment is as I said it was, challenging without being too punishing. No "press X/A for attack" bore fests. And the encounters are not excessive. Low-level monsters that aren't worth your time will avoid you like the plague (which will save you the trouble of sitting through more loading times and battles than necessary). Too often I find that dungeon exploration in jrpgs is tedious as hell with the excessive battes. P3P is also a good example of how you can take supposedly outdated turn-based combat and basic dungeon crawling and make it an enjoyable, challenging experience. Too often I see jrpgs this gen (and even previous gens) experimenting with real-time or action-oriented combat or needlessly inventing all of these crazy battle systems and overcomplicating the hell out of things to try to make things interesting.

I also like the Persona collecting aspect to the game (just like how I like collecting Pokemon in Pokemon and Golems in Enchanted Arms).