Customer Reviews

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No Spoilers.

From a purely objective perspective, Fragile is an average game. But there's nothing wrong with average, we're all mostly average. I can't give it 5 Stars, no matter how much I grew to love the game's heavy atmosphere and touching story. Oh, I could gush about the beauty, but you really want to know about it's flaws that keep it from being a perfect game.

The almost unanimous consensus is that Fragile's combat system is flawed. Seto, the main character, can be equipped with random things he finds on his journey: sticks, pipes, hammers, which he uses to swing away at ghosts and other enemies. But, the weapons randomly break, some lasting a few minutes, others lasting several hours. When a weapons breaks, you have to switch to another one, but if you don't have a spare on hand, you have to go back to a save point to switch your items around. Thankfully, there are many save points, you'll never be too far from one.

Seto has two item screens On Hand and a Briefcase. It's fairly obvious, you can only use items you have On Hand, and everything else is store in your Briefcase, which you can only access in save points. This type of item management is supposed to inspire the "survival-horror" vibe, but despite being very haunting, Fragile isn't very scary. In fact, there aren't that many enemies around, and those that are, you usually can out run them or get around them. But, if you choose to fight, enemies give you experience and you level up.

It was my experience that the combat system was adequate most of the time, only birds and enemies that attacked in small areas like hallways gave me trouble. You can usually outrun the birds.

The game is short, as you might be able to predict. Going at my own pace, slow at the beginning but a bit fast near the end, I beat the game in 16 hours. Looking back, it was an overall rewarding experience. Exploring areas, clearing rooms of ghosts, and finding key items made for nice rewards early on, later, I kept pushing myself further - "One more hallway. One more save point." - as I sensed the elusive Silver Haired Girl might be just around the corner.


So I give Fragile Dreams a 4 out of 5. Yes, its gameplay is average. It doesn't innovate, heck you might even call it behind the times. But the haunting atmosphere and endearing story, I like to think make up for that. Its combat and item system can be annoying, but they managed to curb that problem by, honestly, making a relatively easy game. If you've never played a survival horror game, this is an okay start, and if you're a new gamer (not all of us have been gaming since 1990) this is an entertaining excursion. For us "golden age" gamers, chances are you're only looking at Fragile because you want something that's off the beaten path. I'm so happy I got out of my comfort zone and gave Fragile a shot.

What do you do when you seem to be the last person on earth? This game is a young boys quest to find out what happened to everyone else in his post-apocalyptic world. All seems empty, but there's beauty in the desolation. Im glad XSeed decided to publish this title in North America. It's not uncommon for talented developers to craft a game that focuses on brilliant art direction rather than polygon power, since this isn't the Wii's strong point. I'm glad because the game looks fantastic, like a watercolor painting come to life. As you might have guessed it's also heavily anime-influenced, so if this isn't your thing don't dismiss Fragile because it's otherwise still an engaging experience. Also, you do fight enemies from time to time but the focus is mostly on exploration, with a great Flashlight mechanic a la Silent Hill, and the use of everyday items to round out your inventory. The music is another high point: mellow, yet epic and immersive and it sets the dark, dreary mood of the game very well. Players even have the choice of the English-dubbed track for the voicework or the original Japanese with subtitles for the purists. Overall, Fragile is another Wii winner and another great release in what seems to truly be the best year for Wii owners so far.

Most of us RPG game fans have been left out in the cold with the Wii. I have to say, this was the first Wii game I got excited for. I don't want to spoil the game, so I won't talk about the story or anything like that, but this is a rare gem of a game on the Wii, and I highly recommend it. There are tons of features, like spoken japanese language with english subs, or English dubbing - your choice. Also, I didn't realize at first, but the box art cover of the disc box is reversible with second box art on the other side. You can tell the folks at XSeed took a tremendous amount of time and effort in making sure this was done right, and it shows. If you haven't picked up a copy yet, get it. Highly recommended -> 5 stars all the way.

This is the prettiest game I have ever played. The visuals seem to push the limits of the Wii graphics. The audio adds another dimension to the game. The plot is intriguing. The makers set out to make a game that re-sensitizes gamers, and as the story unfurled I definitely felt various emotions. This is the first Japanese Role Playing Game that I played through completely and I am so glad I bought it. Some of the mechanics of the game were similar to Silent Hill: Homecomings, but it wasn't overwhelmingly frightening. It only took me about 14 hours to play from beginning to end, but I can't speak highly enough of the experience.

Play it.

This is my first video game review, so please bear with me. It is true that the gameplay of Fragile Dreams is nothing special. The graphics, though stunningly beautiful, have been beat as early as 2007. However, it is still a VERY worthwile gaming experience! This game gets poor reviews for difficult controls, but I myself, just a casual gamer who has rarely turned on the Wii, got used to them within a couple of hours. From then on, pointing the flashlight the way I was going, and walking or striking ghosts became simple (especially since the enemies are fairly easy to kill, even bosses). While you cannot "lock on" to enemies and have to instead search for and follow them with your flashlight, that is the way it would be in real life, so it's hard to complain. The background music is exceptional, perfectly fitting the beautiful-but-lonely atmosphere of the world of Fragile Dreams. The music that played when a ghost was nearby immediately fills the player with a sense of dread and a desire to either destroy the threat, or just get the hell out of there. This game's strength definitely lies in its well-told story and the "human drama" felt by the main character, Seto, as he searches for an companionship in a world where humans have become nearly extinct. Personal items you find along the way tell heartfelt stories about people's lives before disaster struck. The events are so well-played that every emotion felt by the characters, you, the player, will empathize with--fitting, since empathy is one of the themes of the game. This is not a happy game--if you don't start tearing up at least once, you will want to; and not, like some games, because it is hard or frustrating. But this just lets you appreciate the small bits of happiness and the satisfying ending even more. Maybe Fragile Dreams would have gotten more praise from critics if it were an animated film, but I believe that the video game media has the ability to provide the truest emotional experience, which the game successfully creates.

I still haven't finished the game but I had to review this for the people who are waiting for other opinions before they buy. For those of you who didn't read the game description you play Seto, a post-apocalyptic orphan who is completely alone. He doesn't know if there are other survivors left in the world so he sets off for a mysterious tower that is briefly mentioned at the start of the game. At the start of his journey he bumps into a lone girl who quickly runs off but he felt a connection with her despite their brief encounter. So now his main goal is to find her. Don't think that you and her are the only people you will see along the way. You will meet friends who will help your quest. You will run into ghosts and other "things" that you will have to fight. You will also pick up random objects that have memories embedded in them. These are one of the things that I love about this game. You can "read" these memories and I was genuinely touched by some of them. There are a lot of thoughts about death and regret that I think everyone can relate to. I know that I've had some of these feelings at one time or another in my own life. Maybe I'm a tad morbid but I digress. I'm not really gonna go into game play, camera movement, or any of that stuff as that's for another gamer to write about. I can say that the graphics are very beautiful at times although not always. The voice acting is superb, especially for the "memories". If you aren't just about killing things and enjoy stories with real human emotions then I highly recommend this game. I really can't say enough about how much I love the story behind it.

First, It is much appreciated that XSeed ports (imports) Japanese titles for the United States consumers and I fully support them. I've three other Xseed titles and this review would be true of most of them.

This is an adventure game. I'd not call it an RPG. Exploration is limited as you are generally confined to a portion of the map to achieve a particular goal. Fetch quests, hide-n-seek "battles" and combat predominate the action of the game. The strategy portions of the game are confined to your inventory control, items useage and weapon care.

The story is interesting but compelling only if you are interested in playing a naive 15 year old boy that meets with even stranger characters than himself. "Stranger in a strange land," is a good example of this type of narrative.

The cutscenes are beautiful but the game is played primarily in dark, underground, cement locales. This is postapocalyptic Tokyo after all.

I enjoyed the early events but grew less interested as the game progressed. I did not finish this game because my interest in the story did not survive the tedium of the actions, combat and inventory management.

Ultimately, this game is a niche title and succeeds very well at what it is; however, I can only recommend it to "finiki" game enthusiasts or individuals looking for a unique story experience with less than perfect "game" conventions.

The controls work well but can sometimes be tricky, as are many Wii titles.

I've never played anything like this before. Most people I tell about this game assume it's a survival horror game or based on some obscure anime.

It's not.

The game starts in a post apocalyptic world where a young boy named Seto has just finished burying the old man who raised him, Seto doesn't even know the mans' name.
Whatever destroyed the planet killed almost all human life; Seto has never met any other human, ever. The ruined Earth is populated by angry and confused ghosts and feral animals. After Seto defeats the ghost that killed his surrogate parent he decides to try and find other survivors.

Soon, Seto finds another survivor, a young girl, who flees upon seeing him. Thereafter, the quest is about finding this girl, or any kind of companion.
This game is subtle but powerful in displaying mood, emotion, regret, being alone,
and quiet fear. The agony of loss is addressed; as is the power of hope.

The combat is clunky, the inventory system isn't great, but that doesn't matter; it's the story and how it unfolds that counts. Fragile reminds me of a beautiful painting in an ugly frame: it has much merit, why criticize it for shallow flaws? Incidentally, the graphics and sound are impressive, especially the use of the Wiimote as a flashlight and the brilliant use of the speaker function.

The only drawback to Fragile is the limited replay value; but I can see myself
pulling it off the shelf once in a while just to appreciate the cold beauty of it, like a favorite novel.

"Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon" is unlike any game I have ever played. Whereas most games focus on action stringed together by an unintelligible plot, this game builds its action around a deep, engaging, heart-rending story.

In the sparsely-populated post-apocalyptic world of "Fragile Dreams", almost every friend that Seto has ever known quickly passes away, and we struggle with Seto to deal with his loneliness, as he attempts to make human connections. Philosophies imparted about life and death are brutally touching. Even the main antagonist offers a deep insight into human nature.

The soundtrack perfectly underscores the haunting, yet sometimes uplifting, stories in the game. The immersive environment features gorgeous graphics and plenty of room to explore the apocalyptic world. (As a side note, some retailers offered soundtrack "Moonlight Tracks" with this game, but you can easily find the MP3s online.)

As many reviewers have noted, however, the unique change in focus in "Fragile Dreams" apparently did take its toll on battling mechanisms, which are standard, but enjoyable in their own right, as main character Seto fights with wooden sticks and other odd items he can forage. However, this trade-off is entirely worth it, and hardly worth mentioning. The world has had plenty of awesome action titles: "Fragile Dreams" offers a rarely seen dive into the "heart" of a video game.

For purists, the publisher apparently did not attempt to Americanize this game at all. As far as I can tell, dialogue is faithful to the original, and all Japanese scripts have been retained in lieu of transformation into the English alphabet. I applaud the publisher for this move, as the game does not end up watered-down like so many others. For die-hard purists, you also have the option of playing the game in the original language.

Perhaps the quickest way to sum up this game is: it's like a good anime that you can play. Get it!

one of the best games I played on Wii. I owned the Wii since its release and so far only few games were interesting enough to play on it. Fragile Dreams has a beautiful world and interesting characters, even though they are only few characters who live in the whole world. The story is inspiring and kinda makes you reflect on life. The gameplay was fun and easy. There is only few types of enemies that you will meet over and over again. It's kind of a relaxing game that you will enjoy the beautiful atmosphere and won't have to be worried about the enemies because usually they are easy to beat.