Phantom Brave

by NIS America

Product Features

• Marona is a young girl they call The Possessed -- as a child, her spirit was bound to that of Ash, a powerful dying warrior. Her parents were killed by strange demons and a dark swordsman -- all of whom have reappeared after many years. Marona is not much of a fighter, but she has Ash and other phantoms to defend her. She'll use her unique abilities to find these demons and unravel the mystery of this mysterious swordsman.
• Phantoms and items can be made stronger in the mortal world, through Fusion -- combines them into powerful allies and mighty weapons; for example, bind a phantom in a tree and it gets tree-like powers, etc.
• No grid structure -- travel freely across the map, capturing key points along the way
• Experience 20 heart-warming episodes spread over 100 hours of game play
• Create and customize the jobs of your soldiers with over 400 different skills and magical spells

Product Details

• ASIN: B0002IASJ8
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 6.1 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,415 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #13 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Strategy
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

In the year of 921, in a world called Ivoire, lives Marona, a 13 year old orphaned girl with a special ability to communicate with phantoms. Her ability brings resentment from others, but cheerful and optimistic Marona is not bothered. Marona believes in her parents' teachings that people will one day come to like her as long as she stays compassionate and kind. Now Marona travels throughout Ivoire with her guardian, Ash the Phantom, to resolve disputes around the world.

Product Description

Phantom Brave Limited Edition combines an original role-playing system with a great anime-style look and storyline, for a trip into the fantastic that any role-player will enjoy. This special Limited Edition includes a full color booklet and a soundtrack CD set. Visit a blacksmith to strengthen your weapons with mana, or forge completely new ones Step-by-step tutorials will have new players up and running in no time Dual language option - Select either the original Japanese voices or the all-new English dub

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A cute RPG with interesting combo-ability, September 11, 2004

By 

Lisa Shea "medieval swordfighting enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Phantom Brave (Video Game)

Phantom Brave is a story-driven RPG broken into 20 chapters. In it you play Marona, a 13 yr old girl who can talk with phantoms. She goes on quests with her phantom-pal Ash.

I have to say I was disappointed with the graphics in this game when it began, as you sit through the entry cut-scenes involving Marona's parents and Ash. Both parents die, leaving Marona an orphan at age 5. You then jump forward in time to her at 13, living alone on an island with phantom-pal Ash. The island is her home which she hopes to someday buy. In the meantime, she works with her phantom friends to solve problems for people. Unfortunately, while some people need her skills, most resent her for her strange powers.

The graphics are on the cute-anima-short-people side, much like Ragnarok. The backgrounds are a bit blocky. The sound is also on the cute side, with bouncy music humming along.

The RPG aspect of the game is actually quite interesting. In most RPGs you just get one or two friends to travel with you. Here you get a wide selection of phantoms to work with, each with his or her own skills. You can name the phantoms and really build a party that works well with your gaming style.

Not only do you have phantoms to work with, but you can "confine" objects on the battlefield and use them as weapons. Each item has its own special skills - and when you merge an item with a given phantom, the combination can range from so-so to truly incredible based on the match.

Strangely, while much of this game seems very much geared towards kids with its cute look and feel, there are also scenes of blood-dripping monsters, characters yelling out "what the hell is this?" and words like "blasphemous" being tossed arond.

The in-game help is reasonably good and while it can be confusing to get started, once you get the hang of things it's not hard to work with your party and move through the levels. On the other hand, the game starts throwing around characters, groups and political situations without much introduction. It's the type of game that may seem quite confusing the first time through - and only begins to make sense when you play it the second time around and know the players and factions.

The game is pretty heavy-handed with the "everyone picks on the 13 yr old" and "she is blithely happy no matter what happens around her" scenarios. There is also a sappy voice-over that comes from nowhere to fill in the details.

A fun RPG for anime fans and those who love playing with combinations and tweaking to see what works best - but be aware of the cuteness / sappy factor. Some people love that ... and some will be drive crazy.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Unique and Fun, December 24, 2005

By 

Robert Fisher "Video game connoisseur" (Akron, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Phantom Brave (Video Game)

I have seen a lot of divergent reviews for this game, so I feel the need to set the record straight. This game is similar to a tactical simulation, however it uses an active movement and attack system somewhat similar to games like Vagrant Story or Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, however this game is mostly two-dimensional with sprites being used instead of 3d character models, on a 3d background. It plays a lot like its other Nippon Ichi predecessors, it is a turn-based strategy game, however without tile based movement and attacks. Because of that, you can end up spending a good deal of time lining up attacks carefully to ensure maximum coverage.

This game is quite diverse and gives your characters a very wide range of abilities to learn and use, so many that it may prove too much for most people to give every attribute and skill to even one character. This lends itself well to people who can invent and use unconventional tactics and open themselves up to creative thinking when playing the game. The art is cutesy and nice, which is expected of a Nippon Ichi game. The music while not great is easily acceptable. In typically Japanese fashion, most of this game lacks the kind of censorship Americans expect, seeing as there is no such thing as verbal censorship as a part of morality in Japan; Japanese explicatives are only considered rude when used as insults, and are not considered immoral. Therefore, while the art and music seem childlike, and the game genre and some of the dialog seem mature, the truth is that the game itself was originally intended for all video game playing audiences.

One complaint heard a lot is about the confinement system. Instead of having your party with you at all times, battles always start with just Marona (the main character), and you must confine the phantoms who compose your party inside of material objects (such as rocks, trees, flowers, and items) scattered around the battlefield. Party members remain so confined and able to act and do battle until their confinement period ends, usually five turns or less, at which time they will disappear and the objects will revert back into their previous state. The complaint is that not enough turns are given to complete the battle, this is a straw man argument against the game. The purpose of the confinement system is to make you recruit and train enough phantoms to last through a battle instead of making the game easy to defeat with just two or three characters like Disgaea.

Overall, the game is very good and unique. Some parts like the music could use a little polish, however nothing in the game really detracts from the overall experience. The biggest complaint I have really is that the game can be slightly repetative, especially if you've played other strategy games for long stretches of time. As with all things, strategy games require moderation!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Nippon Ichi game, October 5, 2006

By 

Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Phantom Brave (Video Game)

I own them all for Playstation 2: Disgaea 1&2, La Pucelle, Makai Kingdom, even the bad Atlier Iris games distrubted by NIS America but really produced by Gust.

This is my favorite, even if I have to drop a star for no new game+.

I like it because it is hard, like a true stragic role-playing game should be. Your characters evaporate after a set amount of turns, forcing you to form a balanced party. The free movement system is innovative, including levels where you slide on surface ice for truly long range.

You get one weapon; just one. Though your title doubles as armor. Anything can be a weapon (my best weapon is a live floppy fish) including trees, swords, model trains, and boxes. You can combine weapons together, giving you access to any ability on any item. Ultimate customization.

As for the story, I found a bit sappy yet heartwarming. Plus when you consider how the special character attacks are parody, it actually becomes funny. I liked the large amount of bright colors in the backgrounds and stage levels.

Finally I liked the game because by her actions, Marona shows what it means to be Brave.