The story here is nothing special. I've heard it several times and the idea of a kid with special powers trying to save something isn't so spectacular. There are some plot twists, I guess you could say, but there really isn't anything that a normal gamer should not see coming. Everything is just so ... cliché that you really have to kind of just sit and bear with it.
The story is certainly less amusing and fun than the previous La Pucelle and Disgaea, but it features a cute naive happy girl. What can I say? I have a weakness for that kind of thing.
The idea of phantoms and such is kind of interesting, especially since they can only be seen when they want to be. It's too bad that the concept is not explained in detail. All we know is that you're not really dead, but then again, you're not really alive either. There's lack of physical body unless you confine a phantom to something, as well. I think. Again, the story doesn't go too much into it.
A plus for Phantom Brave would be cameos ... namely the one after you've beaten the last boss. This part of the
game is certainly fun because of the person that has shown up. Of course, this would have to mean that you lasted until
this part of the game, and while the gameplay might be great, some might not be able to bear the storyline in order to
get there.
Rating:
The game is simple, yet beautiful, just as Disgaea and La Pucelle were. In La Pucelle, you had a sidescrolling town to go through, in Disgaea, it was a normal RPG castle with some rooms, and in Phantom Brave, you get your very own island. That's about it. It's nothing too great to look at as it appears as a block of mass with stuff on top. Everything else in the game is just the same.
Monsters are not always original as you'll come face to face with different colored clones many times. Stages, on the other hand, provide some nice eye candy and there will be times that you'll spend as much time viewing the landscape as you will playing the stage.
"Cutscenes" weren't so bad either, but then again, I'm a sucker for Marona's smiling face.
Rating:
4 words. Best. Voice. Acting. Ever.
That's it. Hands down, this game has the best voice acting that I have ever heard ... IN ENGLISH. Imagine that, I like the English audio track way better than the Japanese. The English voices just did a way better job at capturing the characters emotions and personality into their words and sounds.
Music was a nice addition, too, as it tended to be a catchy guitar tune most of the time. There were plenty other songs
as well, adding to the variety, which ultimately leads to me not getting bored and putting the game on mute while I turn
up my own music.
Rating:
The game play is a step above Disgaea's, which is primarily because of the grid less battles. Everything becomes much more complicated, but more fun. First of all, battles don't take forever because of the fact that phantoms disappear after a certain number of turns. This is a definite plus. Second, it doesn't follow the "my army's turn then your army's turn" convention of other strategy RPGs. Speed plays a role and this helps implement the removal of phantoms feature. Moving around is incredibly fun, though a bit of a nuisance at some times. There is a lot more depth now that the terrain has a certain friction and bounciness, for lack of better word. Characters can now move bit by bit as long as they have enough energy in them (each character has a set walking distance that decreases when you move). Throwing isn't as crazy as it was in Disgaea with the crazy human totem poles, but to make up for that Phantom Brave lets you use more abilities when holding something. Another fun thing about the game is the way it handles items. You can power them up and make anything into a god-like item. With that, you can equip it or have Marona throw it out to confine it and have 200% of your stats. There's so much to play with in this game that it's unbelievable. I haven't even gotten to titles, fusing, and Dungeon Masters, either. Titles are adjectives before your character's name. They don't give you special abilities (save for one), but they do give you different stats. You can give titles special abilities by assigning it to a Dungeon and conquering the place. Fusing gives you more abilities, stats, and mana.
Whew, that was just a taste of the game play. With all of that, the game is much more fun than others of similar genre. While story may not be original, game play strives to be and it certainly meets it's goal.
Rating:
8.0000 (good)
Reviewed by MadTeaParty, Feb 22, 2005
I perfered Disgaea's battle system over this one. I agree about the story being nothing that spectacular....whatever happened to wacky story/characters we all seen in Disgaea :\
i do like how they did the cutscene ;) ...But the graphics couldve been better since its on PS2 (both this and disgaea)
I hope they make a Disgaea II *_*
You know, they (Nippon Ichi Studios) are making La Pucelle II, so maybe they will (hopefully) improve on some aspects.
La Pucelle 2? That would make a nice Disgaea / La Pucelle crossover game. Hopefully the game will be grid based, but with some of the Disgaea aspects (classes, combos, etc).
Personally, I'm glad that Noppon Ichi makes the game look simple because it's their style and I've just gotten used to it. I don't mind simple cutscenes.
My OPinion Phantombrave is a great game. I puts up one hell of challenge. More of challenge than disgaea. Phantom Brave has no cutscenes when it comes to attacks. The game play is very fast through my eyes. This is a good game....But Thats my opinion lol...Of course this game can still be tweaked...i hope for another version of Phantom Brave
i say phantom brave was a very great game i spent a lot of hours playing it ^^
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