Phantom Brave

"By far, the best N1 S-RPG I've played yet."

Phantom Brave is a Strategy RPG developed by Nippon Ichi for the Playstation 2 console. Nippon Ichi, if you did not know, is famous mainly for the Disgaea series. Shortly after La Pucelle Tactics was brought over-shores and so was Phantom Brave. Ever since I played the first Disgaea, I began pursuing S-RPG's from Nippon Ichi. I proceed to buy Makai Kingdom, Phantom Brave and La Pucelle Tactics. I'm not sure too sure about La Pucelle or Makai Kingdom, but Phantom Brave is a purchase that I can say that I did not regret. It's a incredible S-RPG with only a few flaws that hold it back from being nearly perfect.

Graphics:9/10:Phantom Brave despite using 2D Graphics, does them well. While the Graphics are not a technological masterpiece, they are extremely vibrant and colorful. The character designs in the game are great, and you'll love several of the characters to be found in Phantom Brave. Monster designs aren't exactly the best in the game, but they do have their appeal. As for the infamous attack animations N1 S-RPG's have, Phantom Brave will not disappoint. Like in Disgaea, some of the attacks you acquire have absolutely insane attack animations. Overall, the Graphics score a 9.0/10. Up next is the Gameplay, the most important aspect of a game.

Gameplay:9.4/10:Like the Graphics, Phantom Brave's Gameplay does not disappoint. To start off, it's a strategy RPG. The game's progression is extremely linear, and exploration is just about non existent. The progression in Phantom Brave is done this way: You begin in the hub world. Which is where you can do a variety of normal things. By "normal things" I mean as in typical RPG town things. Such as purchasing items from stores, resting at a Inn etc. From the hub world, you can go to your Mailbox and you'll be shown the World Map. On the World Map, you simply select a destination and go there. Almost all destinations on the World Map are battles, and if not, then simply a storyline event you must watch. Now, once you begin a battle in Phantom Brave, you'll notice where the game's brilliance in it's Gameplay comes from. The confinement battle system.

Ahh, yes the confinement battle system. Either a love it or hate it feature in Phantom Brave. Fortunately, I am one of the people who loved the feature, and I think it's a brilliant battle system. How it works is like this. When a battle begins, only Marona will be on the field. In order to bring allies into battle, you must confine them to objects. Such as trees, rocks etc. Different objects give the confined phantom certain stat boosts, and certain decreases to stats. Making object choosing a decision to be wisely thought out before conducting. Due to this, a layer of strategy is added to the game. Since you must think of where you want to confine your phantoms. Now, not only does this factor determine where you want to put your phantoms, but so does another one. Limited turns.

That is the bread and butter of the confinement battle system. Phantoms are beings that are neither dead or alive, but can only remain in a physical form for a short amount of time. Each phantom you confine has a limited amount of turns in battle before they permanently disappear for the remainder of the battle. Different characters, can last a different amount of turns then others. For example, a physical attack oriented class can last five turns before they run out of turns. Meanwhile, a Mage can only last three turns before running out of turns. Due to having limited turns, it's absolutely crucial players know when to confine certain phantoms, where to position them etc. You can no longer easily summon all units and absolutely dominate a battle by pure brute force. Despite me overleveling a lot, there were a few battles I actually lost a few times in the main storyline. Simply due to the fact, that there are some extremely hard battles that require a smart strategy, and are impossible to win with brute force alone. Aside from confinement, there's little to say about Phantom Brave's battle system. The only two remaining features of the battle system left to talk about, is lifting/throwing and how movement doesn't take place on square grid.

Lifting/throwing is from Disgaea. Basically, if your unarmed you can lift a item or player. Lifting a item will make you equip it, while lifting a character simply makes your character hold onto that person. From there, you can throw the person or object, your carrying within a certain distance. This is just yet another great feature to be found in Phantom Brave's battle system. It allows for a lot more strategic maneuvers to overcome certain obstacles. I only have one major problem with it. A character must be unarmed to lift another character. The same applies to the character you want to be lifted. They must be unequipped of a weapon as well. I did not understand the idea for this odd design choice, and ultimately it was a bad idea. With lifting/throwing explained, it's onto the unique way moving is done in this S-RPG.

As for the other feature I briefly mentioned before, Phantom Brave no longer takes place on the typical/generic square grid of S-RPG's. Instead, you now have a free movement system of sorts. When moving, a circle appears that expands out to a certain distance. Your character can move anywhere within that circle's boundaries. Attack ranges don't work too differently, but are represented by a shape usually. All-together the battle system in Phantom Brave is brilliant. That is not the only good thing of Phantom Brave's Gameplay though, there are a lot of other great aspects.

Customization in Phantom Brave is absolutely fantastic to say the least. Any character can basically learn any skill. However, don't get too confident. There are a few catches. Such as the fact, that certain classes and characters are more/less proficient with certain weapon types then others. Meaning that skills for a weapon type that the character is not too proficient with, will not be too effective. As for how the skill system works, basically each weapon has it's own skills. Sure, there are general skill types for a type of weapon, but a few weapons have their own exclusive skills, that make them stand out from the normal generic weapons. Equipping a weapon, will obviously not only give you it's benefits, but allow you to use any Skills the weapon comes with. In order to permanently possess a skill, you'll need to fuse a weapon to your character.

Fusion is another customization feature found in Phantom Brave. Once you acquire a Fusionist, you can fuse items or characters together. Fusing items together, can significantly increase a item's stats and make it a lot more powerful if done under the correct circumstances. As for a character, they can gain abilities by combining with another character. However, to transfer a skill from one character/item to another you'll need Mana. Which is acquired by killing enemies or fusing things with Mana together. Fusion and skill learning freedom are unique to Phantom Brave's customization, but the job classes or insane stats aren't.

As with every other S-RPG out there, Phantom Brave has a job system too. For the most part, it's pretty well balanced. Special characters are always superior to generics due to better stats as with every N1 S-RPG though. As in every N1 S-RPG too, you can gain insane stats and level to 9999. If your looking for optional content, then Phantom Brave should not disappoint. Defeating the hardest optional boss in the game, should at least add another 15 hours into Phantom Brave, and the main storyline takes at least 20 hours. Considering that the game goes for around 15-25$ on Ebay, the amount of time you gain from it is quite great. On the negative side though, there is no New Game + in Phantom Brave oddly. Plus, as mentioned before with the insane stats/level maximum, each N1 RPG is notorious for taking some level grinding. Phantom Brave is no exception to this either. It takes some grinding, but not as much as other N1 RPG's. The last new feature to Phantom Brave I would like to mention, are the random dungeons.

Random dungeons are randomly generated dungeons created by a character known as a Dungeonmonk. For the most part this was a great addition. The random dungeons are great for leveling due to it not being tedious to see the same map repeatedly. However, the fact of having to sometimes wait a extremely long time to get a random dungeon with desired factors can get to be annoying. All-together, I would give the Gameplay of Phantom Brave a 9.4/10. Really fun and strategic, but a fair amount of level grinding is needed. Plus, level grinding is obligatory for the optional content. Random dungeons while being a great addition, can become extremely annoying when you need to find a random dungeon with specific desired conditions. With the Gameplay covered, it's onto the Storyline of Phantom Brave.

Storyline:7.8/10::Phantom Brave's Storyline does not try to be funny for the most part like Disgaea's. It's a lot more serious, and focuses around the main character Marona. A child born with a odd ability to confine phantoms. Due to her odd gift she was born with, many people neglect her and she has gained a reputation to be known as the "possessed girl".

A few years prior to when the Storyline takes place, a man named Ash along with Marona's parents Jazmine and Haze traveled to the Island of Evil. While wandering around there, they were ambushed by monsters repeatedly. At one point, when Jazmine had been killed in battle leaving only Ash and his comrade Haze, both were mortally wounded. Figuring that there was no chance of survival for himself or Ash, Haze used the last of his strength before dieing to save Ash. In the process, thanks to the spell, Ash did not die, but instead he became a phantom. Ever since that day, Ash vowed to himself that he would protect Marona and overlook her as she grew up in order to repay what Jazmine and Haze had done for him. Zoom a few years from then, and the game begins.

As mentioned before, you play the role of Marona. She works as a Chroma, which is a person who accepts dangerous jobs in exchange for rewards of money or valuable items. However, Marona is not quite your ordinary Chroma. Money is not exactly what she is searching for, but rather to help people and gain the trust of them. So, that her poor reputation of being a horrible possessed child is changed to a more positive one. It's a rather nice start for the main plot isn't it? Not a generic save the world from danger main plot, but how's the storyline overall?

Over the course of the Storyline, you'll run into a lot of sub-plots. There's not too much of a main plot, and the dialogue could be better written at times. Occasionally, I was able to even predict the next line a character was going to say, and I would be exactly correct on what was going to be said next. Despite this, I found Phantom Brave's Storyline oddly enjoyable. I can't quite place my finger on what drew me to it, but the Storyline does have some odd charismatic value that draws you to it. With the Storyline reviewed, I'd give it about a 7.8/10. Dialogue needs to be improved, along with the characters attitudes. Marona seemed so extremely optimistic at times, that I could not take her seriously. At the funny sections of the storyline, I didn't laugh too much, but there were a few good laughs towards the end of Phantom Brave. On the positive side though, character development is to be found, and the storyline has a odd charisma that draws you to it. With Storyline covered, it's onto the Music. The final and second most important aspect of a game in my opinion.

Music:9.5/10:Phantom Brave has a wonderful soundtrack that accompanies the game. I really loved the songs in the game, especially the final boss song "Violent Emotion". Sound effects are nothing amazing, but they won't negatively effect the game whatsoever. My only problem with the Music is, that the voice acting could be better. It's decent for the most part, but not extremely good. Music receives a 9.5/10 overall. So, is Phantom Brave overall a good game?

Overall:9/10:Phantom Brave is indeed worth a purchase. It's a great addition to the already strong PS2 S-RPG library. The Gameplay is fantastic, and strategic. A lot of fun, and can offer several hours of entertainment if one wishes to pursue the optional aspects of the game. Graphics aren't the absolute best, but extremely colorful and vibrant. Attack animations are awesome too. Storyline is decent, but nothing too amazing. Oddly, it does have some aspect that keeps you paying attention to it. Last is the Music, which does certainly not disappoint. Phantom Brave boasts a wonderful soundtrack. Unfortunately, the voice acting isn't amazing, but manages to be decent. Overall, I would highly suggest Phantom Brave and I give it a 9/10. It's probably the best S-RPG I've played yet, and the battle system in it is absolutely genius.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/09, Updated 05/18/09

Game Release: Phantom Brave (US, 08/31/04)