First off, if you loved the early Final Fantasy games then you are going to feel right at home here. Often billed as the spiritual successor to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, the game uses a job and battle system similar to what you would find in Final Fantasy V. Although the characters and towns are different, it's going to feel very similar to what you would have experienced in either of the former titles.
The game revolves around four heroes from Luxendarc. It's a bit of a tired story: something has gone wrong with the elemental crystals in the world and now there is trouble at sea and the wind has stopped. It's up to your party to save the world.
The name of the game comes from the concept that each party member can be 'Brave' or 'Default' on each of their turns. Doing so at the right time is the key to success, and believe me you will need to learn how to do this as the game does get quite challenging as you progress. Fortunately, the checkpoints are relatively generous which goes a long way in reducing your frustration when things aren't working out.
The 'Brave' mode lets you stack your moves together for multiple attacks which can lead to a great amount of damage. Doing so at the right time will lead to an enemy being defeated perhaps earlier than anticipated. The downside is that your character is left vulnerable until the next round.
There are some big twists in the plot that require you to do a pretty healthy amount of backtracking. It's something that is to be expected with this sort of game (especially one on a cartridge) but at times it makes you feel like the designers were perhaps a bit lazy. Where this type of design was commonplace during the time when the earlier Final Fantasies were designed (and perhaps more accepted due to technical limitations and constraints), it's one part of the legacy element you would hope wouldn't carry forward. It's not all bad news. The game does have many contemporary changes in the overall gameplay while retaining some of the "feel" of classic RPG's. In many ways it is the best of both worlds.
There are cut scenes and some voice acting, obviously limited by the space that is available in the cartridge format. For me, the graphics were absolutely captivating. A combination of the art style and excellent use of the 3D capability of the 3DS pulled together something I wasn't expecting in a portable format. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what works here but it does - in spades.
Overall, this is a really great game marred only by a few shortcomings. If you are one of those people who loves true original Japanese-style RPG's, you are going to absolutely love this game. If you are just looking for yet another reason to pull out your 3DS and get lost in a world for a good long time, you'll be hard pressed to do better - and you won't even have to be brave to do so.
- Syd Bolton
Follow @sydbolton
The Good:
- Brings back the style of Final Fantasy RPG games back to modern day
- Very detailed graphics with high artistic style
- The game is long, providing excellent value for the money
The Bad:
- The story is rather derivative
- There is an awful lot of backtracking
- Social components feel tacked on rather than truly integrated
Score: 8.5 / 10
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Syd Bolton surrounds himself in thousands of classic video games as Canada’s top video game collector at the Personal Computer Museum (http://www.pcmuseum.ca) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
