So, this is a sequel to Champions of Norrath, but I decided to play through this instead of the first. Out of the two, this is definitely the one I have the fondest memories of playing as a kid, so I guess that's why I chose it. I still don't really know anything about the EverQuest world and characters, but this game is so light on plot that I really don't feel that's important. I just see hundreds of fantasy creatures my Barbarian will hack and slash to death.

I quite enjoyed the gameplay here. This game is made in the same engine as the Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance games and...well, it feels practically exactly the same aside from no jumping, so let's just say you can really tell. That's not a knock against it, though; something about this genre of button mashing hack-and-slash with only a few things you need to actually think about (remember to block or dodge big attacks, use range if against a slow melee enemy, hunt down the shamans that revive their buddies so you don't waste your time killing the others, etc.) is always so appealing to me, whether it be a dungeon crawler like this or a Musou game. I did notice, however, that this game is quite a bit more difficult than the others I've played. For one, whereas I really didn't block much in the Dark Alliance games, you will have to actually guard to survive here, and some enemies can hit you through your guard or break your guard to stun you. The blocking is usually pretty reliable, but some attacks will hit you through it, like those lava golems in the Plane of Fire that throw molten rock at you or magic arrows from some very annoying archers. There's a lot of enemies that hit shockingly hard, and, if you're not careful, you will die in three hits sometimes, especially if you go with two handers instead of sword-and-board. I was kinda surprised by this since I was playing a Barbarian, which is usually a tanky class in RPGs, and wearing the best armor I could find or buy, yet I was still dying so absurdly quick. Keeping your elemental and magic resistance at a decent 15% or so (and holding onto gear that boosts your resistances just in case) as well as holding a shield helps a lot with that, so near the end of the game I focused my build more on that and it was a big help. Speaking of builds, power progression in this game is mainly found through either new gear or the skill tree, where you can put points into improving passive or active skills. I can't speak much on how other classes should build in the game, but for my Barbarian the build was really simple, they get a lot of obvious stuff you'd want to grab like a flat damage increase to slashing (or blunt if you want) weapons, a passive chance to stun with every hit, a flat % increase to all your resistances (though that's at the very end of the tree), an absurdly powerful skill called Slam that's basically the only thing I spent my mana on...that sort of thing. They also get an aura that increases your chance to score critical hits, which I combined with Slam to get a very cheesy kill on the final boss (though it took me a considerable number of deaths because luck was not in my favor). Speaking of bosses, they're actually pretty good in this game, which surprised me since I complained quite a bit about Dark Alliance 2's bosses either being way too easy or almost feeling like you need to cheese it to beat it. Return to Arms bosses all feel challenging but fair, they typically have some kind of strategy to beat them that doesn't feel like cheese but instead like something I had to actually think about a bit. There was no running around in circles to confuse the boss this time. The boss in the Plane of Innovation, for instance, was an early boss that I died to a lot because it has a rapidfire crossbow and a mean sawblade up close...until I found out its attack pattern in melee was predictable and all of its melee damage can be completely blocked except for one rather telegraphed attack. They just felt a lot better designed in this game to me. Also, fun fact: this game had online. I can only wonder what that kind of experience must have been like, I think it was more so an arena versus thing rather than a co-op campaign playthrough.

The game really doesn't have much story. I never beat the first Champions of Norrath, but, as far as I can tell, the only thing really tying this game to the original is that you go to the Feydark Forest, which you also do in the first game, and that Kelethin, the elf village made of wood up in the trees, returns from the first game. Return to Arms does have a good and evil path, though, which seems to come with a few entirely different levels and some of the same levels but with different goals in them. I did the good guy route, which has you working with Firiona Vee - who I think is some kind of elf goddess - that you meet when you first start up the game. Your goal is to go around different planes, like the Plane of Water or the Plane of Torment, and a bit of Norrath itself to collect the ten Shards of Innoruuk to prevent the bad guys from being summoned. No idea who Innoruuk is, probably some kind of evil god. I never finished the evil path but I do remember that it has you buddy up with Natasla, an evil witch you meet in the Plane of War (first plane you visit after the Plane of Tranquility, basically the game's hub world where Firiona Vee is) that gives you the option to join her. If I recall correctly, you're still looking for the shards, but this time you're trying to summon Innoruuk. I've always thought it was cool when a game lets you choose whether you want to be good or evil, even when its something relatively simple like this, so I think this is a cool little feature and its nice that it comes with some actual changes. That aside, though, yea I mean it when I say there's little to no story. There's only a couple NPCs you talk to all throughout the game and most of it is just for practical reasons like the elf that helps you get through the orc-infested swamp area or the weird mage in the Plane of Torment that exposits about how evil the Shards of Innoruuk are. The Plane of Valor has this paladin looking guy who puts you through many hoops and hurdles to prove you're worthy to get the Shard of Valor, so you got to backtrack there a few times and its rather annoying, but it is -pretty cool once you finally actually get to explore the Plane of Valor.

Overall, I thought this game was pretty good for what it is. Its definitely quite repetitive and its a Diablo-like game through and through, but I liked it. To tell the truth I'm surprised this game has so few reviews on this site. I give "Champions: Return to Arms" (one can only wonder why they removed the "of Norrath" in the title) a good 4 stars.