Have you ever been scared to open and play a game, because you built up so much anticipation for it that you are afraid it will disappoint you? This is how I felt when I picked up my copy of Brave Story: New Traveler. I felt like I built this game up to be the best RPG to hit the PSP, before it even hit the store shelves. I mean you know how it is, you see all the screenshots, previews and trailers, and you think "...man this game is going to be all that!" So what exactly did I find when I booted up and pressed play? Did it disappoint? Let’s find out…
Story:
Brave Story follows Tatsuya (you can change the name): a young boy whose good friend Miki gets sick for some unknown reason. Tatsuya is then given the opportunity to travel to the world to find five gems to summon the goddess of destiny and hopefully save his sick friend.
I read in previews that this game is based on a popular Japanese novel that I admit I have never even heard of. Immediately, I thought this might be a problem because it may hurt my understanding of the main storyline and the characters. Fortunately though, I never once felt like I was missing anything being new to the Brave Story series. I have to admit that if you have played a lot of RPG’s though, then the story may seem a little cliché and somewhat predictable at times. The story is so well written and presented though, that you won’t care how predictable it is; it simply entertains the whole way through.
The story dialogue transitions smoothly, the characters are enjoyable, and the plot is very easy to understand. If you have any pulse at all you will enjoy this very charming story.
Graphics:
In one word: WOW! I truly do not know what maximum the PSP is capable of graphically, but I think this game gets very close to topping it off. I cannot think of any PSP game to date that looks better than this. All of the character models are sharp, detailed, and full of vibrant colors. I found my mouth gapped open several times during battle sequences thinking "Man this looks like a PS2 title." Attack animations and cut scenes are extremely stunning, but it is the special attacks (Unity and Bravura attacks) that will leave you breathless; they are absolutely gorgeous.
Most of the environments like towns, world map and dungeons are kept simple, and are not as impressive, but they don’t disappoint either. And what is even more amazing is that the load times and lag that have made other PSP titles almost unbearable are non-existent in Brave Story. Transitions into battle are almost instant and I can’t remember once hearing the buzzing and grinding of the PSP trying to read the UMD.
These features alone can set Brave Story above most PSP games to date. No doubt in my mind the graphics will impress anyone who plays Brave Story and make you glad you own a PSP.
Sound:
The music and sound are just okay and definitely not one of the games strongest assets. Voice acting appears in battle and in a very few cut scenes, which is okay I guess. The background music is also enjoyable enough, and never annoying, but you truly won’t be missing anything if you forget to bring your headphones along on a trip and you need to keep the sound off.
Gameplay:
I may be the first to say this, but this title really reminded me a little of Final Fantasy VII; definitely not for amount of content or depth of story, but for the way the game is presented. There is a large world map with nicely-sized dungeons to explore, extravagant battle sequences, and an enjoyable story. Some cons to consider could be that the random battles in the beginning are a little too easy, and a map in some of the dungeons would have been nice especially with the random surprise battles. You could probably complete the main quest in about 20+ hours, which is kind of short by RPG standards.
But there are so many optional things to do in Brave Story, that to enjoy it all you will probably spend about 30-40 hours completing the game. These optional features include crafting your own accessories, an extra dungeon to explore, some optional bosses, and other various side quests, which can be done before or after the official endgame kind of like in, Final Fantasy VII, again. There is also a bird (Goldfinch) catching mini-game that will require you to use a net to catch different colored birds, then battle them in PG-rated cockfights against other people you meet throughout your journey. The mini-game is entertaining enough, but I never spent that much time with the birds. None of these added features were ever too difficult to understand from the accessory crafting to the bird fighting mini-game.
It is truly amazing to me how simple the developers keep things like controls, menus, but were still able to give us this incredible gameplay. Brave Story’s battles are random (walking around then surprise you are fighting) and are very RPG traditional. So basically Brave Story uses a turn-based system that is beefed up with the addition of character specific special attacks and temporary attribute boosters. The battle sequences used in Brave Story are beautiful and I never get tired of watching it in action. You will have the use of Normal, Unity and Bravesoul attacks. Normal attacks are basically the character running up to the enemy and slashing them or standing back with bow and arrow in hand. There is a bonus though: when a normal attack kills the targeted enemy, there seems to be a 75% chance the attacking character will strike again at whatever enemy is left on the screen (very nice feature). Next there are the Unity attacks that are simply gorgeous to watch. These are attacks that are done by two or all three of the characters linking up for a special move. I say special move because they are not always an attack. Sometimes the Unity specials can temporarily boost your attributes i.e. strength, agility, defense, etc. Lastly are the Bravesoul attacks, and this can end up being anything from a devastating weapon attack to a single, or a magical move used for destroying multiples enemies or healing your entire party.
Unity and Bravesoul attacks will require the use of your BP (Brave Points). Brave Points are used sort of like the MP (magic points) in other RPG’s. I say sort of used like MP because BP is unique since you can replenish BP during battle by just using a normal attack. This system works well as you almost never run out of BP during a battle. For example if you have members in your party that can heal, all you need to do is normal attack with them a couple times and their BP is replenished. This also allows you to save your healing items for when you really need them, and trust me, you will because the opportunity to have a healer in your party isn\'t always there.
Overall, the game starts out fairly easy and gradually gets more difficult, but it will never stress you out. You will run across some pretty memorable and difficult bosses in the game, especially the optional ones, but they are no where near as difficult as the optional ones from the Final Fantasy series. The gameplay in Brave Story is easily its strongest attribute with a combination of being gorgeous to look at and very easy to pick up and play.
As far as replay value goes, I am now on my second trip through, mainly because the story asks you to make some decisions through out the game and I want to see if it changes the ending at all if I make different decisions this time around. So I would say there is a considerable amount of replay here.
Bottom Line:
What will be said about Brave Story is that it is a visually stunning, well presented, extremely charming RPG. I will personally go on record right now to say this is the best RPG experience I have had on the PSP to date. I have always felt that with playing games it is the little things that make a good game turn into a great one. Such is the case here, like when you use a healing spell in battle, the person with the lowest HP is automatically targeted for it or like being able to press the right shoulder button to have the game point you in the right direction in case you missed something.
Brave Story: New Traveler is the role playing game PSP owners like me have been waiting for. I will admit that Brave Story doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, but it brings a great sense of style and presentation that just hasn’t been seen on the PSP. I just hope that this game sets the standard for others to follow because after playing Brave Story, you won’t want to revert back to the mediocrity of previous PSP role playing games.
"Brave Story: New Traveler (PSP)" is on sale July 31, 2007 and is rated E. Strategy.
