Xbox 360 - Enchanted Arms, Phantasy Star: JRPG or bust?

My long awaited Enchanted Arms appears to be raking in the "average" reviews.

Disappointing. The good points range from the battle system to the graphics, while the bad points range from overdone voice acting to a non-gripping storyline. However, I am keeping in mind that this is a "From Software" game; they aren't exactly known for their RPGs.

I can still hope the game will be a good departure from the Final Fantasy and Xenosaga games I am accustomed to.

On the other hand, the upcoming Phantasy Star Universe still sounds promising per teamxbox.com's hands on experience. From the sounds of it, this game won't be as monotonous as it's Dreamcast/Xbox/Gamecube/PS2 outing.

While I liked Phantasy Star Online initially, the game felt contrived after a while, as though it was made for multiplayer and that the single player was just tacked on. It wasn't able to keep my attention very long, and I wasn't about to buy the Gamecube broadband adapter and pay additional money to play the game.

Phantasy Star Universe sounds as though it may be either better balanced or the complete opposite of its predecessor. From teamxbox's description, I'm thinking that the multiplayer is now the "addition" as opposed to the single player. There's really not enough information.

What I do know is that I've been dying for a quality Phantasy Star title since the days of the Genesis. The Super Nintendo Final Fantasy offerings always bugged me because the characters all looked like brightly colored squashed people. Phantasy Star 2-4 didn't have that problem at all. In addition to the non-troll-looking characters, I've always dug the "futuristic" approach, which Phantasy Star is more known for than its competition. Futuristic stories are how Final Fantasy 7 and 8 finally reeled me into RPGs after the Genesis.

At this point, I will probably buy Enchanted Arms anyway. Phantasy Star will be a must. Since Final Fantasy X-2 was the last RPG I played all the way through, it's time for a change and these offerings will hopefully fill the void.

Edit 08/30/2006: A commenter corrected me. Enchanted Arms is published by Ubisoft, but developed by From Software. I knew that from before; a slip of the brain I guess. Thanks!