Preview

Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software Inc.
Publisher: NIS America, Inc.
Previewed by Elias Gonzalez on 2004-07-16

If you want to spot the latest trend in gaming, look no further than the strange, but cute, turn-based RPGs coming out of the Eastern Hemisphere in the past 18 months. La Pucelle and Disgaea were released in the US and quickly racked up solid reviews and a solid fan base to go with them. Reaching for the coattails they themselves helped create, Nippon Ichi Software is gearing up to release its latest turn-based RPG on America, Phantom Brave.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a preview copy of Phantom Brave and play through the first couple of missions. The game starts out with a very dark feel to it, introducing us to three characters roaming through a wooded area on a stormy night. They are being attacked by wave after wave of purple slimes, which they either dispatch of or run away from. Suddenly, a huge skeleton-looking monster comes along and takes them out as the screen goes white. Just before they die however, one of the men says a chant, presumably a spell to try and save their lives. Unfortunately, it only succeeds in trapping one of the men, the knight Ash, between life and death, as a phantom.

Shortly after that we are introduced to the other main character in the game, Marona, the child of the two others that perished in the woods. Marona is able to see phantoms, and is, therefore, able to interact with Ash, who has returned to act as her Guardian Angel. Despite not yet reaching adulthood, Marona is also Chroma, which is basically a bounty hunter. Using her ability to interact with phantoms, Marona and Ash recruit other phantoms to fight alongside them, making her extremely adept at her job. However, this comes at the price of being known as the "possessed girl" that talks to ghosts, creating fear in those that are requesting her services and making for some very awkward moments. Marona is also known for being a pushover, consistently accepting less than market value for her services, mainly because she wants to be nice to everyone, despite their obvious distaste for her. She dreams that one day, they will like her for all the good deeds she has done.

These slightly adult themes are in stark contrast to the visual style of the game, which, opening sequence aside, consists of cutesy characters, vibrant colors, and some happy-go-lucky music.

In fact, Phantom Brave's cute characters will probably fool most people into thinking they'll just roll right through the game, but I am happy to report that the gameplay is shaping up to be much deeper than its looks imply. While there isn't the insane amount of preparation necessary for each fight that you come across in some titles, it is so much more than just placing characters on a map and pounding away on the enemy. Seeing as phantoms are, in essence, ghosts, they cannot really assume a solid form on their own. You start out the battle with just Marona on the map, and use her abilities to "confine" phantoms to various objects on the battlefield, thereby making them into solid objects that can fight on her behalf.

This confinement aspect of gameplay both intrigued and frustrated me. While it added a level of depth to the battles, causing you to have to examine each object, be it a tree or a rock, and figure out what effect confinement will have on a given phantom, it also proved very tricky. There is a set limit to how many turns a phantom can survive confined in an object, making the timing of a confinement a huge issue. For instance, a healing character may not be useful in the first round or two, when most other characters in your party are either at or near full health, so you may want to hold off summoning that healer until he/she is actually needed. There are also elemental attributes assigned to each object allowing you to build up your immunity to certain elements, but always at the expense of making yourself more susceptible to another.

Another major change in the way you are probably used to doing battle comes in the form of a battle order and movement system. The battle order is set based on participantsí agility. The order is then shown via stacked icons in the right hand corner containing each characterís face. Quicker characters can sometimes get two turns in before a slower character goes even once, making your choices that much more important if you happen to be the slow one.

Also gone is the traditional grid set up. Anyone that has played Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter will be familiar with this style of gameplay whereby movement is handled via a distance meter of sorts. Every time your turn comes up you can move a certain number of feet. The boundary shows up in the form of a red circle around your character.

While the battle order and movement systems were easy to get used to, it was a little more difficult to really take advantage of the confinement process. Some menus were simply not as clear as others, but I am sure this will be corrected in the final and fully localized version of the game.

One thing that won't be corrected though is the sub-par graphics engine. While one can argue that NIS is perhaps going for that nostalgic look, others may write it off as them not trying hard enough to please our eyes, as well as our minds. It is hard to argue against that logic when, in some ways, Phantom Brave doesnít even measure up in the visuals department to the titles it is trying to be like. In the end, I will always personally choose gameplay over graphics, but we all know that a great-looking game can do more to suck you into its story than one that is not so great-looking. If you can look beyond the graphics though, you are sure to be rewarded by another solid and fun title from our friends at NIS.

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