R E V I E W S
RPGamer escribió:The pace of RPGs coming out for Sony's PlayStation Portable is picking up, and with it comes a lot of experimentation on what gamers want now days. A lot of this experimentation has resulted in low review scoring, however, and sometimes it's best to get back to the basics. Brave Story: New Traveler does just that, offering a traditional, story-based linear RPG through and through.
Our hero is a young boy who loves his video games. So much so, that he spends more time playing them and less time paying attention to his friend, Miki. Miki storms off, after telling him thus, and our man thinks little of it. When he does go after her, he finds her lying on the ground, unconscious. They're rushed to the hospital where the doctors find they can do nothing for her, and they simply must wait and see. Feeling utmost despair, the boy runs to the roof of the building, where he hears a voice--a voice of hope. A door appears and he's given a choice. If he can survive a most arduous task, in another world, he will be granted a single wish. Wasting little time, the boy decides he must go, for Miki's sake. He enters the door and travels to the world of Vision. Here he is labeled a Traveler and tasked with seeking out the five gemstones in order for his wish to be fulfilled.
The populace of Vision is equally varied, with many different races. There are the humans, of course, but there are also many others, such as the Waterkin, a reptilian race; or Kitkin, a feline race. Each race is distinct in appearance and gives the world a fantasy feeling. Our hero will be joined by many different people during his quest for the gemstones. Some will stay, some will go. Since the story is indeed as linear as possible, the party is predetermined at each point. However, since there can be six in the party and only three active in battle, there's still room for some customization.
The hero must always remain in the active party, one of the most disappointing aspects of the game. The longer other members stay in the active party, the more Unity skills they learn. These skills are teamwork attacks, but unlike other games, using them does not use up the other character's turns as well, though it does use up an equal amount of Brave Points (BP) from all participating characters. BP is consistently recovered by doing damage, but only the character initiating the Unity will recover BP from the attack. Since Unity attacks are powerful, this prevents using them all the time.
Deciding who goes into battle should not be entirely random. The game is designed so that one person has a distinct advantage over the monsters of a particular area. While it's not always clear at the beginning, as soon as one attack is labeled as "Tribal," that person and weapon's attack will essentially give critical damage every time. It's still possible to score a critical hit with such an attack, but the common enemies won't survive a Tribal hit, regardless. This is not essential, but it does give another reason not to stick with two main alternates, despite learning Unity skills.
The world of Vision is vast, with many kinds of terrain and obstacles. Worst of all, no one knows where the gemstones lie. If the story wasn't linear, it would likely take quite some time to track down each one. Instead, they seem to fall in our hero's hands quite easily. Each mysterious sign of power or disturbance is typically caused by a gemstone. The party gains respect from the people in Vision and procures the gemstones at the same time. With this respect, they are able to join a group of peacekeepers known as Highlanders. Highlanders are able to roam freely between Vision's different countries, helping people in need. Best of all, Highlanders get paid for slaying monsters. Since monsters don't carry any money, and their loot isn't highly profitable, this removes a need to mindlessly grind to make enough money for the next set of equipment.
The only equipment that can be purchased is a weapon, for everyone except the hero, and one defensive item. Each character has a specific set of armor, though some are as miniscule as gloves or a skirt. The other three pieces of equipment are crafted. Using the loot from the monsters, and diagrams found around Vision. There are sets of diagrams, such as Sorcery, Immunity, Bravery, and more. Each craft in a set does the same thing, but the higher numbered diagrams do it better. Best of all, when a crafted item is dismantled, all the materials are returned. This allows for complete experimentation without the worry of using up that one-of-a-kind item.
These items help enhance the character's role in battle. Each character has a specific class in mind, based on stats and weapon, and while the crafts are powerful, they do not do enough to alter this class. The best choice is to enhance their natural abilities. Magic users can use more BP, fighting classes need more strength and HP. There are also items to increase drops or lower surprise attacks. How effective these are is hard to say.
Battles are typically encounters with multiple monsters, encouraging the use of Bravura and Unity skills. The decision to fight them one at a time, taking time and damage, or use a skill to clean them out is one that will have to be made repeatedly. Since the BP gain is slow, and healing skills much cheaper than attack spells, it's usually better to fight it out, for endurance sake. Once in a battle, the three characters are all that can fight. Should one fall, they cannot be swapped out until the battle is over. If they all fall, the game is over.
Battles are where the graphics truly shine. The characters and monsters charge quickly when it's their turn to attack, providing a color-filled word to describe the sound of attack when it connects. There are many of these, but they stay consistent with a specific weapon on a specific monster. Spells and other Skills are also very vibrant and appealing to the eye. The best part is that when characters have their typical battle cry for a skill, there's a variety of phrases used. This is an improvement many other games could, and should, easily embrace.
No traditional RPG would be complete without a mini-game, and Brave Story is no slouch. The party quickly learns about the Social Network of Bird-Lovers, or SNOBs as they call themselves. In various remote locations in Vision, goalfinches can be found and captured. To do so, the hero is placed in a small cage with a net and some birdseed. The goal is to catch as many birds as you can in the time allowed. Each caught bird gives a stat increase to the final goalfinch. Feeding them birdseed will make them grow larger, increasing that stat. Once time expires, all the bird stats are added up and a single bird is fused. Sometimes, the bird can undergo mutation, giving it a while or black color, as well as enhanced stats. So what's the whole point? To battle the birds against other SNOBs. Each dungeon has a SNOB who is just itching for a battle. If you win, you gain their goalfinch feather, which is used for special crafts. As a proper mini-game, it adds nothing to the story, and is mostly for fun and enhanced items.
Our hero's journey through Vision can be as fast or as slow as he makes it. There are ample quests for those who want to dally. There's a quest book built-in to keep track, as well as a monster book to keep tally on which monsters drop which items. This becomes very important when trying to make the latest craft. This also adds to the longevity of the game once it's been completed, so there's no need to delay the story unless you want to. The optional quests do help in level grinding, as there's something more to do than kill mindlessly.
Brave Story: New Traveler is just what the doctor ordered--a well-developed, story-driven RPG. With lovable characters, and a story that just won't quit, the game is an enjoyable experience. The abundance of quests, the bird mini-game, and the vastness of the world never leaves the hero having to mindlessly level up to progress. The graphics and music keep the game entertaining. It's not a game that will make people rush out and pick up a PSP, but for those who already have one, it will be a welcome addition to their library.
BATTLE SYSTEM --> 4/5
INTERACTION --> 5/5
ORIGINALITY --> 3/5
STORY --> 4/5
MUSIC & SOUND --> 4/5
VISUALS --> 5/5
NOTA FINAL --- 4.5 / 5 (9.0)
RPGamer escribió:The main character and his best friend sit around talking, mostly with the friend being ignored. When her dog suddenly takes off, she gives chase, only to come down with a case of being passed out. After getting her to the hospital, all hope looks lost for her waking back up. An ominous voice speaks from seemingly out of nowhere, telling the player that they have but one choice. Follow a frog through a giant door appearing on the roof of the hospital to save his friend or let his friend slowly die. Not wanting to start the game off with the friend dying, the main character sets forth on a journey into the world of Brave Story: New Traveler.
The world of Vision was created by the Goddess of Destiny to test all of those who are lucky enough to find their way into it. The appearance of the world of Vision is purely determined by the thoughts and experiences of the Traveler. The goal of these Travelers is to find all of the gems to be able to meet the Goddess of Destiny and get a wish granted. The only restrictions to being a Traveler is to first find the door into the world of Vision, and then they just need to solve the riddle in the cave of trials. Though their goal is to meet the Goddess of Destiny, they must first find where the Tower of Destiny is, where the Goddess is located.
Starting the game off, players will notice that the feel of the game isn't much different than most other turn-based roleplaying experiences. There are many unique ideas the game eventually shows off to players, but they're eased into them, rather than immediately being exposed. For example, players will notice words come up on screen explaining different types of weaknesses that enemies have against certain weapons and attacks. From Critical, which grants stronger physical attacks, to Tribal, which shows enemy type weaknesses, players will have more reason to pay attention to the screen.
As players travel across the world, they will pick up new characters, both permanent and as guests. Also, while talking to certain people generally just starts conversations, occasionally they might net players some sidequests. These quests might be something as simple as fetching an item from an upcoming dungeon or as tough as visiting a past dungeon to defeat a tougher boss monster. Adding even more depth to the game is the item creation system, which requires players to find diagrams and then locate the correct items required to create those items. Some sidequests require players to create items and show them to other characters to complete.
The game uses three main systems to determine how the game plays--Friendship, Courage, and Growth. Friendship is all about the Unity system, which includes both offensive and defensive skills. Sometimes, characters will block for other characters when enemies attack, if their friendship is high enough. Bravura Skills and Brave Points are part of courage, adding a strategic element to the game's use of skills. Growth is multifaceted in that players are searching the world for gemstones that, when found, will transform the main character's sword into a more powerful form. The last part of growth has to do with Bravesouls, which are learned by characters when they reach a certain moment in their development, strengthening both them and the party.
As mentioned before, the game utilizes a turn-based battle system, a system familiar to many other fans of RPG titles. Players will notice that they get the usual choices such as attack and item, but the game has plenty more to offer when it comes to deciding what to do in battles. Magic in Brave Story utilizes what are known as Brave Points, similar to MP, to use these attacks. On top of this, there are Unity Attacks that are used by two or three characters to either attack enemies or strengthen the party. These also use Brave Points, and trying to use these without the required number of points will cause the Unity Attack or skill to fail and will just cause those players to use regular attacks in their place.
Running out of BP and don't have any of the rare Brave Point healing items? Not to worry, regular attacks do have benefits to the player, as they do not require BP, but instead refill the gauge based on how powerful the attack was. On top of this, defeating enemies with regular attacks can sometimes leave players with extra attacks, attacking surviving enemies with another regular attack. This only takes place after regular attacks, as Bravura Skills and Unity Attacks will just refill a certain amount of BP back.
Players will find that a group of mercenaries takes care of each town and inevitably, the entire world of Vision. This group of people is known as Highlanders, and they may disappoint some in that they are not immortal and there is not only one. Eventually, the main character and his group join the Highlanders and they are thrust out into the world. Each town has a branch, and players can go here to receive a bounty for the number of enemies that they defeat, each enemy being worth an amount depending on how powerful they are.
During their travels, players will meet a group of bird lovers, known as S.N.O.B.--Social Network of Bird-Lovers. This organization is all about the capturing of birds known as Goalfinches, used in the art of Birdbrawling. Goalfinches are birds that come in all shapes and sizes with all kinds of skills at their disposal. Players can find Goalfinch groves located all over the world of Vision where they can collect their own army of multi-colored birds to battle against other members of S.N.O.B. that they meet along with way.
Catching birds in a grove is similar to random battles in that players run around in the Goalfinch groves and go to another screen where players need to try and catch birds. Each different color bird adds to different stats, with rare birds such as white, which add to all stats, and black, which take away from all stats. After either time runs out or the player catches all of the birds, the birds are all combined and transform into a single bird, sometimes mutating into one of the two rare colors. These birds can then either be used to battle other birdbrawlers or can be traded in to S.N.O.B. members that are located in towns.
Traveling the vast world of Vision may seem like a daunting task at first, but players will soon find various means of travel, including wagons pulled by giant beasts known as Darbabas. Very late in the game, players will find a very quick way to travel and will use it quite often. This final way of travel will also allow players to travel to areas normally not accessible by other means. This is how they will find the game's bonus dungeon, which will give players quite a bit more game to play after completing it. After the credits finish, players should be sure to save, as they can then return to the world of Vision to complete all of their unfinished sidequests as well as try and complete the bonus dungeon.
Players will notice that the game is one of the prettiest titles available for the PSP and that the art style of the game fits the fantasy story well. Once players enter the world of Vision, they will meet a cat race called Kitkins, a lizard race known as Waterkins, and multiple others including an ancient race of demons cleverly known as Demonkin. All of Brave Story's cutscenes are rendered with the in-game engine, which is still a delight to see, so players won't have to worry about the quality.
In Japan, the game had no voice acting at all, so with the addition of voice acting in the few cutscenes that have them are quite the bonus. The cast is quite fitting and while there are a few that could start to be grating, the voices being infrequent really quashes this problem. Also in the audio department, players will notice that one of the high notes in the game is that the music is quite enthralling. The music always seemed to fit the moment, giving players something to travel by and moving players to tears in others.
So, even though players can defeat the game faster than they could most roleplaying games, they would not get the full experience of finding out all of the secrets that the game holds. The game continues on even after players defeat the final boss, but it's up to them if they want to see what else is out there. Though the game doesn't try to differentiate itself from most titles, the game's music and story will keep players interested the entire way through. To sum things up, players who are fans of turn-based RPGs will thoroughly enjoy this title.
BATTLE SYSTEM --> 4/5
INTERACTION --> 5/5
ORIGINALITY --> 3/5
STORY --> 4/5
MUSIC & SOUND --> 4/5
VISUALS --> 5/5
NOTA FINAL --- 4 / 5 (8.0)
RPGLand escribió:Along with help from a few good titles recently released, and others forthcoming, Brave Story: New Traveler is bringing the PSP into a good light as an appealing platform for RPG lovers.
Brave Story: New Traveler is part of a group whose other games (one one PS2, another on DS), based on an anime and graphic novel, have not received English translation. This is somewhat unfortunate for the new audience, because they won't recognize the cameo appearances of characters from previous titles, including the Traveler Wataru. This however, does not interefere with the enjoyment of the game for North American players.
It's a tale that is quite laden with cliché and predictability, but has such an enjoyable cast of characters and a wonderfully written script that it doesn't matter. Everything seems to say, as a reviewer, one should mark this part of Brave Story: New Traveler somewhat low...but it just doesn't deserve it. It uses old tricks, but uses them in the way that made them so popular to begin with; it simply gets the formula right. This is no doubt helped along by XSeed's excellent localization. The team really went above and beyond what would have been considered passable and pushed to make a quality product here. Mission accomplished. As well, the story itself does get progressively more entertaining, like everything else, and ultimately satisfies.
Battles start with a very traditional turn-based RPG system with a few twists including character-unique specials, "Bravesoul" skills (an innate ability, varying depending on the character), team moves, and a few other things. Characters can do the usual RPG stuff, though if using a special move, it will consume Brave Points, which function like traditional MP, but are regained by dealing damage. The combat starts out incredibly basic, but as the player gains more abilities--particularly Unity skills--and encounters more difficult bosses, things become much deeper and need for a bit more strategy manifests. Overall, the game is easy, but gradually gets more difficult, and there are some memorable, challenging bosses (including some optional bosses and a difficult optional dungeon), which is good.
Dungeons in New Traveler suffer from a bit of over-simplicity. They tend to be very expansive, with some occasional wide-open areas, but the general pattern is that it's all for show; there is just one entrance and one exit to most rooms of a given dungeon, so it's not much of a challenge to navigate. With the battles being fairly easy most of the time, perhaps a presence of some puzzles would have been a nice addition of challenge to the game. As it stands, there are no puzzles to be found within the dungeons here, with the exception of the final one. There are a lot of long, winding paths, but they don't serve to make the dungeons any more mazelike, they just mean there's some walking to be done before fighting the boss players know is coming.
Load times and lag that have plagued other PSP releases are absent from Brave Story. Transitions into battle are almost instant; the longest load time in the game is a town-overworld transition, which can take around four seconds--clearly nothing to be alarmed about. It's about time PSP games got over this loading crap, so Brave Story earns props there.
On top of that, Brave Story is set up near perfectly for a portable RPG. The main quest can be completed in about 20 hours, which is short for console standards, but there are also a great many players who don't want a handheld RPG to require Dragon Quest VIII-type timeframes to complete. There are also some optional things to do in Brave Story, including an extra dungeon, some optional bosses, and other various side quests, which can be done before or after the official endgame. It might be called short by some, but really, that's great for a handheld game.
This game also accomodates the portable gamer in its interface. Everything is laid out very well, menus are simple, and at any time, the player can simply press a button to have a party member remind him/her where to go and what's next on the agenda--perfect for those who might go a long while in between short play sessions. Their game also automatically keeps track of every monster the player defeats, what spoils they drop in all situations, and where they can be found. Other proceedures that might have been complicated, such as accessory crafting and battle bird management, are kept very simple, so the player won't forget how they work if they aren't used in a while. Again, great.
Its music and sound are okay. Like most handheld games these days, the music seems alright in the game, and there might be an occasional catchy tune, but it's ultimately forgettable. Voice acting appears only in battle and a scant few cutscenes; what's there is decent, but not remarkable and not very frequent outside of battle. The graphics look good overall, and the world of Vision is very colorful. Characters' faces can get blurry when too close up, though.
Brave Story: New Traveler is getting a great rating, despite the various flaws. There are a few of them, but they are trampled by what is simply a fun, enjoyable game. It's got a solid battle system, entertaining story, good characters, and other RPG ingredients done very well--thoroughly enjoyable.
Gameplay --> 8
Story --> 8.5
Graphics --> 6.5
Sound/Music --> 4.5
Replay Value --> 5.5
Nota final --- 8
GameVortex escribió:[size=80] Graphics & Sound:
It's tempting to say that Brave Story: New Traveler is the best RPG I've played in a long time, on any console. It certainly ranks highly against my favorites of all time, going back to the original Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII. There are some gaps between these classics and Brave Story: New Traveler that relate mostly to story and pacing. If it weren't for those shortcomings, Brave Story: New Traveler can easily stand with the best for its book-judged-by-cover elements.
The visuals are lush, from the overworld map to towns to battles. Effects in battle are especially nice, with camera angles that shift constantly to give attacks a cinematic effect. Corresponding sound effects for both the characters' voices and their attacks makes the battles engrossing. We've all had the experience of dreading the random battle through certain areas where weak monsters, repetitive battle music, and the same animations over and over made leveling up feel like the Bataan Death March. Brave Story: New Traveler does a nice job of mixing up monsters in most areas and building in variation for battles. Early into the game, your hero earns a magical ability to stave off weaker monsters that also helps to streamline the experience. The monsters are a wild bunch, showing great creativity and graphical design prowess. Something I love and haven't seen before is a size variation among identical monsters to signify difficulty. Bigger monsters of the same type are tougher to beat, which gives you a great sense of how to balance your attack strategy.
Only in a few places are there cut-scenes that break from the quick pace kept up in 90% of the game. Things move quickly in towns, while you interact with key story elements or just NPCs. The game's engine powers everything and there are virtually no load times from one area to another or before a sequence with dialogue begins. Various chapters show where a particular story arc ends, but otherwise you'll roam freely from one area to another.
Gameplay:
Brave Story: New Traveler drives a lot of gameplay through a fairly banal story. Weakened girls in need of rescue, heroes transported to magical dimensions and paired up with other heroic team members... There is very little from a story perspective or from the game's setting that will surprise or delight. A few little things in the banter between characters are delightful, and the writing overall is very strong. The problem that few RPGs have solved is how to create a truly memorable setting and characters that stand on their own. The main hero of Brave Story: New Traveler is Tatsuya, a boy that goes from a typical closed-off teen in a recognizable world like ours to a Traveler in another dimension. This dimension, named Vision, has the usual mix of non-human races, knights and dragons, minerals and gems, and elemental interaction... You are tasked with helping Tatsuya find his way through Vision to find the source of the strange voice that promised to heal his real-world girlfriend's mysterious illness.
The best and most unique aspects of Brave Story: New Traveler are the themes of teamwork and bravery. Attacking monsters earns brave-points that contribute to each character's store of "bravura." Magical attacks and other special attacks are powered by bravura points (BP); for seasoned RPG games, simply substitute MP (magical points) for BP to understand how this all works. There are individual magic attacks plus an interesting twist called Unity. These attacks are learned gradually as team members battle together. Spend enough time on the field with one of the other characters and you will pick up a unity skill that can be used by cashing in BP on each side. These unity attacks can often be a turning point in certain dungeons against specific types of monsters. The rationale behind this system is that it encourages smart players to trade heroes in off the bench frequently but not spastically. There is a connection to the deeper story that relates to how each person's motivation can come into conflict with the greater good if not kept in check.
Brave Story: New Traveler incorporates a fairly deep quest system outside the main story, and there are plenty of opportunities to return to some dungeons and lose yourself in a sidebar task. The main story is very task-driven and revolves around collecting gems from different parts of Vision. These gems in turn help Tatsuya upgrade his weapon and unlock the path to his heart's desire. Other characters are hanging around Tatsuya for their own reasons but mainly because the appearance of a Traveler in Vision is a big deal. The range of experiences that Tatsuya and his team will have before the credits roll is exciting for core RPG fans that haven't seen a game of this depth or production quality yet on the PSP.
Difficulty:
Any RPG that lets you wander around and face monsters that can wipe out your team in one battle at any time is above the midline for difficulty. There is a flawless help system that will remind you of your current objective at any time... more of a hint system than a help system. You can find characters willing to engage in a discussion to help you bone up on specific elements of the game so you don't spend a lot of time reading the manual. The battle system is very intuitive, but you'll find that each type of monster requires a specific strategy. In a nice analog to the teamwork element promoted for you, monsters can utilize different attacks when they strike with a team of three or more. You will learn to quickly split up or avoid certain combinations of monsters. Three or four of a kind will fight in a completely different way than one or two, and at least two enemies pair up during battle with other enemies to throw supercharged attacks your way. Learning to master your bravura and unity attacks is key to defeating monsters and coming out of dungeons alive. Learning elemental weaknesses and using items effectively is also key to winning.
Game Mechanics:
One neat piece of Brave Story: New Traveler not mentioned yet is the crafting system. Similar in a sense to the Monster Hunter premise of using spoils of battle to fashion objects, Brave Story: New Traveler lets you use recipes found throughout the world of Vision to craft items from items dropped by monsters you defeat. In any case, you'll have to defeat specific types of monsters to find these dropped items since stores aren't selling them. In some instances, you'll find that a particular monster won't drop the item unless the monster is "crazed." In a crazed state, monsters suddenly enlarge, use special attacks, and increase their hit-points. Defeating a crazed monster is no picnic, but if you want the really good crafted items, you'll have to battle a few. Some monsters go into the state over certain items you may be carrying or attacking them with, and other monsters go crazed when they're down to their last few HP. Crafted items tend to reduce or shield a team member from status effects, increase drop rates, or raise HP/BP.
The sole contribution in Brave Story: New Traveler to wireless or multiplayer is a system introduced through the regular game for capturing and battling birds. Goalfinches are obviously a nod to the chocobo but come in a wider variety of colors and have more of a squat, pigeony quality about them. At certain points in the game, you'll be able to capture goalfinches and in other areas you'll find people that like to battle or trade birds. Battling brings its own award and trading can net you some rare items. There isn't a real breeding sim here, since the qualities of the birds aren't increased by anything other than the combination of birds you capture before you have a "fusion" that creates the final fighting goalfinch. If you aren't playing the main game, you can connect with a friend and battle your collection of birds. Smart gamers will download saved games that include maxed-out birds, but the sentiment behind this is nice. More mini-games or more variations on the goalfinch fighting action would have made things more interesting. Kudos anyway for including a neat little feature like this in a traditional RPG.
Kudos overall to the designers and to XSEED for putting this out on US shores. RPG fans may come to see this a major installment on PSP, especially as an original property. Other titles that purport to be worthy of your RPG dollar have not come close to the sheer entertainment value contained in Brave Story: New Traveler. Here's hoping that we'll see another game in the series with a deeper story, and also more RPG titles on PSP from XSEED.
NOTA FINAL --- 90% (9.0)
IGN escribió:There are hundreds of RPGs out there for you to pump your free time into, so it's important that developers establish a connection with gamers to keep the masses playing one title. The folks behind Brave Story: New Traveler must know how important this connection is because they did their best to cast someone you'd be familiar with as the main character -- i.e. you.
Now, I'm not talking about how they let you name the main character -- that's nothing new -- I mean that this kid is you. He plays handheld videogames, he ignores his friends when they try to talk to him while he's gaming, and he's a big enough God of War fan to name his dog Kratos.
It's like they put a camera in your shower, man.
Set to be released next week, Brave Story: New Traveler is the newest PSP release from XSEED Games and puts players into the shoes of a nameable main character -- I'll call him Lord Laffy Taffy for this review -- as he sets out on a world-spanning quest to save his friend, Miki.
The game takes place in the same universe at the Brave Story manga and features some familiar faces (Wataru, Meena, etc.), but you'll start the game playing videogames in a modern day park with your best friend Miki by your side. In typical chick fashion, Miki's yakking on and on about something or someone, and in typical gamer fashion, you're ignoring the hell out of her until your trusty pup Kratos comes back from a walk to bark his head off.
What is it, girl? Trouble at the old well?
Yes, Miki has fallen ill. She's taken to the hospital where the doctors can't figure out what's wrong with her but are nice enough to tell her parents she might never wake up. Lord Laffy Taffy runs to the rooftop to cry, a mysterious door appears and a disembodied voice tells him "Beyond the door, you can change your destiny."
And the adventure begins!
On the other side of the door, the story comes into focus. You're a traveler. You have the ability to go between our world and that of Vision -- a crazy world of lizard people, magic-like abilities and swordplay. If you find the Goddess of Fortune in Vision, she'll grant you one wish -- psst, you want to save Miki.
You won't have to go it alone in Brave Story. The battles you'll run into -- and there will be a lot as you crisscross forests and beaches -- are set up for the traditional turn-based, party battle. You'll have three slots to fill on your team, and as you get used to the game you'll get used to having Yuno (a half-kitten/half-girl hottie) and Sogreth (a beefy lizard) as your backup.
Although your sword, Yuno's bow and Sogreth's battleaxe will be the primary way you crack the skulls of the gimblewolves and seductresses you come across, Brave Story features three concepts -- friendship, courage and growth -- that will greatly affect the way you beat baddies.
The longer you toil away with the same set of combatants, the better friends your group gets to be. That sounds nice in the lovey-dovey way, but what it means is that the longer you're together the more ways you get to kick ass together. Unity moves open up as you go and involve everything from Lord Laffy Taffy and Yuno pulling a pick-pocket/stab routine to Meena and Lord Laffy Taffy running to one side of the screen and bombarding the enemies with craziness. These team-up moves will be critical to beating dungeon bosses, but need to be implemented with some forethought because they drain your BP meter.
What is a BP meter? Well, I'm glad you asked, friend. Brave Power is the light pink meter onscreen that governs what kind of special moves you can pull off -- it's also that courage thing I was talking about a few 'graphs ago. As you battle, the pink meter fills. When it's your turn to attack you can select one of those cool unity moves, or Bravura moves, which are similarly devastating attacks that you can do without another party member. Lord Laffy Taffy can shoot a ball of energy from his sword, Mitsuru -- one of the many guest party members you'll run into -- can engulf the bad guys in a fire pit, and Yuno can heal people via song … kind of like Avril Lavigne.
The final element of the battle system is growth. Sure, your characters are going to get bigger and better through experience points and new equipment, but for Lord Laffy Taffy to get an audience with the goddess, he's got to find these magical gemstones that fit into the faceplate of his sword. Each time he finds one, the sword changes forms and gets stronger.
With that, you've got the basics for what Brave Story is all about. Reflect. Nameable characters, world-spanning quests and upgrades -- doesn't sound that much different from most RPGs, eh? That's because it isn't. As much as I like Brave Story, it really is a vanilla RPG -- random battles, repeating music, silent characters, etc. It's still fun to play, but chances are you're not going to sit down and play this thing like a maniac. You're going to take a few daylong breaks.
The problem with Brave Story's pastel color scheme and blah menu system is that it makes me feel like I could be playing any RPG. Enter a dungeon, beat the randoms, beat the boss, upgrade your weapons and repeat. Where's the uniqueness? What puts this game above any of the other PSP RPGs out there?
Although the journey to save Miki is a unique seed for this story to sprout from, it never does. You're sent to this world by a vague voice and then just wail on enemies until it's over. So much more could have been done to make me care about these characters. As it stands, the kitten freak with a voracious appetite is the only character I come away knowing that much about.
Reflective of the game's general flow, the environments are extremely linear. The same shops are in each town, which is forgivable, but the few folks in the streets will say things that only pertain to your next story-driven mission. Basically, it feels like you could run around at random and get where you need to be. There are some side quests later on, but as you move through the story, you're path is pretty much predetermined -- as are the save points.
Closing Comments
There's nothing wrong with Brave Story. It's a solid RPG that's sure to appeal to fans who want a fun yet simple romp through the genre they love. However, Brave Story lacks the ingenuity to make it something I'd play for hours on end. After a set of the exact same events -- random battles, dungeon, random battles, boss -- I was rolling my eyes and ready to power down the PSP. Even the inclusion of being able to capture birds and make them fight didn't best the urge to take a break.
PRESENTATION --> 7.0
The in-game menus for equipment and party management are easy to use, but there is no visual appeal.
GRAPHICS --> 7.0
The characters look good, but I could use some visual differences when I change their equipment. Plus, the environments are pretty empty.
SOUND --> 7.0
There must be only one battle song because I can't get the frickin' thing out of my head. Beyond that, the grunts and groans you'd expect are there.
GAMEPLAY --> 7.5
There lots of different bad guys to fight, Brave Powers such as Zed Flame look cool, and it's a synch to get the hang of.
LAST APPEAL --> 7.0
Brave Story's story isn't short and there are a handful of side quests and bird battles to bring you back. Still, it's generic and could lose steam.
NOTA FINAL --- 7.3
Otras notas escribió:* FAMITSU --- 8/8/8/9 = 33/40 (8.2)
* PORTABLE REVIEW --- 32/40 (8.1)[/size]
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Y bueno, otro hilo de información que se acaba. Como veis, Brave Story ha recibido MUY buenas notas de todas las reviews que se han hecho hasta ahora, siempre oscilando entre el 8 y el 9, algo muy raro para un RPG de PSP (y RPGamer & Co. son páginas especializadas en RPG).
Como veis en las imágenes y vídeos, combates a la vieja usanza por turnos, ataques conjuntos, "límites", exploración del mapa mundi y los edificios de la ciudad, historia más que interesante... en definitiva, todos los ingredientes que pueden hacer a este Brave Story el primer gran RPG puro de PSP.
Aún queda una semana para su lanzamiento, mientras tanto, podremos ir comentado impresiones y nueva info de este RPG que promete muchísimo 
Salu2!
![[buaaj]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/vomitivo.gif "mas potas")
![[poraki]](/images/smilies/nuevos/dedos.gif "por aquí!")
Bueno, hoy debería salir y estar disponible en tiendas ya. Solo queda esperar.
![[tomaaa]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/tomaa.gif "toma")
![[chulito]](/images/smilies/nuevos/sonrisa_ani2.gif "risa con gafas")
, aunque conseguí el final de Cierra ).
![[burla3]](/images/smilies/nuevos/burla_ani2.gif "burla3")
![[sati]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/demonio.gif "demoniaco")
xD) ![[tadoramo]](/images/smilies/adora.gif "Adorando")
Qué maravilla, por dios. Me tiré ayer por la noche y toda la mañana de hoy jugando, y cada vez engancha más y más. Llevo ya cerca de 6 horas y cada vez mola más.
![[sonrisa]](/images/smilies/nuevos/risa_ani1.gif "sonrisa")
![[toctoc]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/rompiendo.gif "machacando")
