Customer Reviews

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again

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

 

 

I've played several tactical (or strategy) RPG's in the past: Final Fantasy Tactics, FFT Advance, FFT A2: Grimoire of the Rift, an Onimusha strategy game (briefly), and two different Tactics Ogre games. All of those games I just listed are grid-based, but Phantom Brave: We Meet Again (Wii) goes against convention in that and several other ways.

First of all, moving your characters around on a battlefield isn't done in an exact way like in grid-based strategy games; you can move your characters anywhere within a projected circle, and you can often move them several times in the same turn. You can even hop on top of other characters (including enemies), items on the field, etc. Under slippery terrain conditions your characters could go sliding across the field - and off of ledges - if you aren't especially careful. Fortunately in most you cases you can press the cancel button and try placing your character any number of times, and placement is KEY since attacks are performed within a three dimensional area whose effectiveness is determined by width as well as height.

Secondly, characters aren't simply placed where you want (with some limitations) before the start of a battle; all of the "warriors" at your disposal are "phantoms," and - as such - have to be "confined" to objects on the battlefield. It's this particular quirk that REALLY sets Phantom Brave apart. Let's say that there's a rock and a weed nearby; confining a phantom to the rock would replace it with the selected character (ready for battle) and change their stats according to the benefits and drawbacks of said object. One benefit of confining a phantom to a rock (and stat-changes vary from rock to rock) would usually be a decent increase in total defense, and a drawback would usually be a notable decrease in speed. If you, instead, confine that SAME character to the nearby weed, that character would normally see an increase in the intelligence and resistance stats, while suffering a decrease in attack; so you have to choose your phantoms AND the objects you confine them to with care.

And here's where the game gets a little crazy: you can pick up - and then throw - pretty much anything and anybody. Not like the look of that particular enemy? Well, you can just pick them up (under most circumstances) and throw them off the side of the field map. Like the weapon that one enemy's holding? Well, assuming you have a phantom with a decent "steal" stat, you might be able to walk right up to that enemy and snatch the weapon from them. Admittedly, I get my weapon's taken from me more often than I steal them from enemies, and sometimes the thief simply tosses my cherished item out of bounds so that no one can use it. That's the sort of game this is; it's often difficult to predict exactly what an enemy will do or even what strategy will be most effective. I've defeated higher level enemies with much lower level phantoms thanks to a quick grab and a toss. However, you can't always be certain where thrown items (and enemies) will land - especially on fields with a slippery surface.

There's plenty more to tell about the gameplay of Phantom Brave: different phantom classes and abilities, leveling up weapons and objects, combining characters and items, generating random dungeons... But instead of writing a game manual, I'm going to describe what it's like to play the game with the Wii's unique controls. I (briefly) attempted to play the game with just the Wii-mote, but it was somewhat difficult to use the directional pad to select points and targets on the map. The Wii-mote/Nunchuk scheme works much better for me, and I have little trouble commanding my troops with the precise analog stick. I believe that the classic controller can also be used to play the game, but I haven't tried using it. There's no use of the pointer and motion controls, but I think that was to be expected since this release of Phantom Brave is essentially a Playstation 2 port with some added content. Overall, the game is fairly easy to control if you look for on-screen icons that indicate which buttons should be pressed and just spend a little time messing around, and if I remember correctly, the initial stages of the game serve as a sort of tutorial to help you learn the basic ins-and-outs of gameplay (an opportune time for the aforementioned messing around).

In conclusion, I'll say that Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is one of the most (if not THE most) unique, creative, endearingly quirky, and FUN tactical/strategy RPG's I've ever played. It's sure to provide me with oh-so-many hours of continued gameplay, and I can certainly see myself going back for more and more.

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is a strategic role-playing game whose gently melancholic storyline hides a staggering depth of play. The story itself isn't groundbreaking. 13-year-old Marona has been left orphaned by the death of her parents who worked as Chromas (essentially, mercenaries who fight monsters). At their death at the hands of a demon named Sulfur, their final spell left Ash, their apprentice, stuck between life and death as a phantom. Ash now serves as Marona's guardian, which is a mixed blessing - the locals for whom Marona works fear her spectral connections and revile her as "The Possessed Chroma", frequently insulting her or cheating her of her pay. Still, Marona's innocent faith and affection seem to be seeing her through the hard times with Ash. But now, Sulfur's minions are reappearing, and things are getting dangerous....

The gameplay, of course, involves Ash, Marona and her phantom friends fighting said minions on the way to a showdown with Sulfur. But the real fun comes in more than just leveling up. Each character not only levels, but has a level for each move they learn. Then, their weapons level up as well, as well as each of *their* skills and moves. And to top it off, you can "fuse" weapons to other weapons to form even stronger ones, fuse characters together to, for example, give a fighter healing abilities as well, or even fuse weapons to characters (handy if they get disarmed during a fight and lose the skills from their main weapon). There's great fun in trying to figure out if combining your character's sword with, say, a fish will be a step forward or back. (Yes, some of the weapons are, shall we say, unusual.)

If there's any complaint about the Wii version of Phantom Brave, it's certainly not that you don't get your money's worth. In the port from the PS2, there's an entirely new scenario added, as well as additonal maps where you can fight other NIS characters such as Laharl.

Those who enjoy strategic RPGs should find Phantom Brave: We Meet Again an addictive game, and a great addition to a Wii collection.

Synopsis: You are trying to scratch out a living as a Chroma, doing odd jobs for money and aided by your phantom friends. Phatom Brave: We Meet Again is a tactical game where you fight enemies by confining phantoms to objects.

Pros:
+ Unique idea for a game
+ Strategic fighting (requires tact and planning ahead to win)
+ Hundreds of possible weapon choices (each weapon has their own set of abilities to learn / master / level up)
+ Hundreds of possible confining choices (each with individual bonuses they will grant the confined phantom, weed= +int&spd, -hp&def)
+ Combining items! (if the weapons weren't complex enough, you can combine items to give them new stats, new abilities, new bonuses)
+ Combining characters! (Like a characters stats, want better stats, or maybe take an ability or make him easier to level, combine!)
+ Difficult (not something you can blow through, you will have to train up each character and maximize weapons to get through parts)
+ Hundreds of unique characters (defeat enemies, recruit them later as phantoms! With unique skills, abilities, etc)
+ Depth (the sheer complexity and depth of each item equipped, confined to, titles and the characters, is astounding)
+ Different Areas (a huge variety of neat islands on which to fight, some with 3 places others with +6)
+ Random Dungeons (you can create a randomly generated dungeon in which to battle your way through, in case you get tired of the islands)

Cons:
- Only Fighting (you advance the story line with a little talking cutscene and start fighting at the next place)
- No exploring (technically you've got an island that you are free to move about, and large levels in which do battle, but it's not free-range. It's run around your small island, go to the map and click the new area where you want to fight)
- Difficult (you cannot advance, unless you level your characters up, or recruiting new characters which results in redoing the lower levels so you can train the new recruits. Time consuming, and tedious)
- Mediocre story line

Overall thoughts:
Worth it. The complexity of assigning titles, combining, recruiting, and training coupled with the tactics of fighting, confining and equipping produce an enjoyable game that changes with each battle.

***
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This game is incredibly deep as far as level and battle mechanics go. The story is kind of unusual in the sense that it is kind of sad throughout the story even though the game has a kind of cute look. This game will certainly not appeal to people without the patience to level grind. This game is for those who love the rewarding feeling of watching your party evolve and become stronger over a period of time. This game is developed by the same creators who made the wonderful Disgaea series. NIS has has brought a great port to the Wii with some added content not available on the original PS2 version. If your looking for a satisfying JRPG on the Wii console look no further than Phantom Brave: We meet again. This game has been widely overlooked by gamers for the most part but not with out some critical acclaim which is well deserved. If you've never played this one on the PS2 or PSP or you only have a Nintendo Wii then check this one out.

If you like tactical strategy games this is a must have for your collection. Like all NIS games it is very deep if you want to put the time and effort into it. Or you can just go through the main story if you don't want to delve to deeply into it. Highly recommended!!

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is a great addition to any SRPG fan's collection. It implements one the best battle systems I've seen in a game all while telling heart-warming (though maybe overly cutesy) tale. Beating your enemies to death with a sunflower while sliding your allies across an ice-themed map like a curling puck proves that the battle dynamics of this game put it in a league above most of SRPGs in terms of fun and strategy.


Pros:

Music (buy the soundtrack if you don't want to play the game--music is phenomenal)
Gameplay (Non-grid maps with so many possibilities)
Story (extra chapters for the Wii are great)


Cons:

Graphics
Story (maybe TOO cutesy at times)


Extra Note: Not a HUGE step up from the PS2 version.

let me start off by saying that the moment i turned it on and saw the 8 bit blocky characters i was pissed. I though, "come on, I know the wii graphics are bad but this is crazy.." I'm glad I kept playing, this is a fun game for anyone who likes free flowing RPGs. While there are goals and a story line, there are countless ways to build your characters, equipment and fight battles. I've always liked the Turn Based Strat games, so this game is perfect for me.. just remember to save often, especially on dungeons.