Phantom Brave

"A fresh spin on SRPGs, I guaruntee you haven't played a game like this before"

Nippon Ichi has made a name for itself: the hardcore SRPG creating company of the 21st century. With a newly created North American branch only goods things came come from this company. Incidentally the first project at NIS America was Phantom Brave and I can say it is a great game.

Story – I have to been honest I didn't take much to the story at all. About one fourth of the way through the game I started skipping every event. It gives you the option to do so, so I took advantage of it. From what I gathered you have Marona and the phantom (basically a ghost) Ash, and the two go around and do missions for other people. And then they start chasing some greater evil, blah blah blah, I completed the game. Sorry you'll have to look elsewhere for story details, I became uninterested quickly.

Gameplay – First and foremost if you have played any other Nippon Ichi games, you will notice the grid system is gone. In its place is a movement arc where character move in any direction. If you have played Arc the Lad: ToS, it is like that. Also, the game is turn based, a character moves based on speed, like FFT. From then on this game has a very unique feeling to it. I've never quite played a SRPG like this before. When starting a battle you only have your main character Marona and you must confine (summon) your other phantoms from objects lying on the field. When confining, the character gains the innate properties of the object, such as attack up, defense up, speed down and so on.

Abilities stick with weapons and some come with the character, for example the abilities of a sword stay with it no matter who is using the sword. And most of the classes have specific skills that come with them, such as healing for sages and profit punch for merchants. Other than Ash and Marona, characters are created by Marona. In order to get some of the characters they must be beaten in the story or in random dungeons.

To tell the truth I really don't have the 17 hours required to explain all of the fine details of the gameplay mechanics. But let me say this, the came truly has a unique feel to it. Some of the ideas in this game I have never seen in other games, such as titles that affect the stats of your characters, unlocking new skills in weapons through the use of mana; also, and fusing items and phantoms together to create higher level ceilings. Along with that you can actually interact with the phantoms you have created such as buying items from your merchant, upgrading weapons with your blacksmith, healing characters with the mages and more.

I do have a few gripes with the gameplay, though they are few, but one is significant. Some would include some issues with skill area targeting, characters not taking the best possible routes to a certain area, and I hate the fact that characters and objects can be thrown off the map, rendering them unusable for the rest of the map. I'm also not a fan of only being able to use a character for 3-5 turns before they disappear. Other than that, battles are fast paced, fun and challenging.

Graphics – If you have ever played any other NIS titles, the graphics are mostly like the others; a 2d isometric view. Cut scenes are told through some sprites talking to each other on the screen, however, in this game the sprites move, oooooohhh. The color palette of this game is bright; lots of bright colors everywhere. This would come from the exotic locale that the game takes place in. It is some sort of Caribbean island setting. I will say this though, and I know some other people feel the same way, the resolution especially in battles, needs to be cranked up a notch. The characters look blurry on screen, other NIS titles suffer the same fate though, so I'm used to it by now. The abilities and spell effects in the game are decent, but not as cool as other stuff I have seen, like the affects used in Disgaea.

Sound – The sound is a mixed bag. I liked the voice overs in the game better than other titles such as Disgaea and La Pucelle. I did not like the soundtrack as much though. I have the special edition version of the game, so it is nice to actually have the soundtrack with the game for once. But alas, the songs are too gimmicky, and just sound, well, strange. The theme on the home island is kind of catchy though.

Replayability – Lets see, the level cap is 9,999 so yeah, I can only imagine how long that could take. It is shorter than most people would think though, because there are some ways to level up quickly in this game. After you complete all 20 episodes of the game there are some extra stages to complete as well as going back and leveling up more. I was hoping for a new game plus, like Disgaea, but that is nowhere to be found. So basically I completed the game, with most characters around level 65 in about 30 hours. I found the length to be about right but I didn't see a reason to play through the game again.

Overall – This game brings a lot of fresh ideas and concepts to the table gameplay wise, many things that work, some that don't. In general the graphics were good, and the sound was decent. I couldn't tell you much about the story line other than the fact that I was uninterested in it. I would say that this game deserves a solid 8/10, simply for all of the new elements in the gameplay. It is not as good as Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and I would recommend playing that game first, especially if you are new to the SRPG genre. But if you are looking for a fresh SPRG than certainly buy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/05