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Gaming Trend Review

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again

1. Official Site
2. Platform: Wii
3. Publisher: NIS America
4. Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
5. Release Date: 08/16/09
6. Genre: RPG

by Mike Repella

When it comes to Strategy Role Playing games there isn’t a whole lot of gray area with me. I either really like the game and I play the hell out of it or the game can completely miss the mark and it quickly gets sold to Gamestop. Unfortunately Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is one of those games that completely missed the mark with me. After my play through of the game I was left scratching my head at the poor design decisions, slow storyline, and plodding pace of the game.

What's New?

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is a remake of the original Phantom Brave, which was released on the PS2 way back in 2004. We Meet Again retains the original game’s storyline, characters and fighting system. However, NIS did upgrade the graphics for the Wii version to run in progressive scan widescreen mode. The text has also been made larger so that it is easier to read and the water in the game has received a slight animated upgrade. Also new to the Wii version is an alternate story mode called “Another Marona”. This mode is available from the start of the game and it features an alternate dimension take on the original storyline. Another Marona does add some original content to the Wii version, but it’s not really enough to justify a second purchase if you already own the PS2 version.

The controls also received an overhaul from the PS2 version, but overall the controls still feel lackluster. The improvement comes with the game’s menu system. By and large there is a lot more information displayed on each menu screen. For instance, during item crafting all of the critical stats and bonuses of a craftable item are now displayed on one screen instead of being hidden on two or three different screens. The end result is that you will have to page through a lot less stat screens in the Wii version than you did in the PS2 version. 

Seeing as how this is a Wii version of an older PS2 game one would think that the developers would have tried to incorporate the Wii remote’s capabilities in some way. In this case they have not, which is a real shame. It seems to me that a SRPG would really benefit by having the option to select enemies by pointing the remote at them and clicking on them. This feature is entirely absent and instead the player must use the nunchuck’s thumb stick to scroll around the screen. While this isn’t a game breaker, I think it certainly would have helped with the otherwise clunky controls.

Gameplay

On the gameplay front, Phantom Brave: We Meet Again plays a lot like a traditional SRPG. The story is told through cut scenes, with each scene setting up the next battle stage. Your team is made up of several different classes that you get to choose from at will. Most SRPGs use a grid based fighting system where the battlefield is made up of several squares, with the movement and attacks being confined to those squares. Phantom Brave tosses the grid based system, allowing characters to move and attack on the map in any direction they see fit. However, their movement and attack range is still limited. In theory this is a good idea, but in reality it comes off a bit sloppy. The biggest problem with this system is that almost every fight comes down to mass gang piling of enemy and friendly characters. Since there are no limits to attack and movement direction it is all too common to see a single character surrounded by several enemies at once. With all the characters piling up it makes it really hard to clearly see what is going on and targeting specific enemies becomes hard because you can’t see them.

Another frustrating aspect of the combat system is the fact that your characters can only be present on the battlefield for a limited amount of time. How long a character can stay is dependent on the character and their level, once their time limit is up they vanish from the playing field. This happens regardless of how much health they have left. I suppose this was included to add to the strategic element, but it’s really just a frustrating design decision that shouldn’t have been included.  All of the problems mentioned above, coupled with the fact that the battles are usually slow and uninteresting ultimately creates a less than stellar fighting system.

I Think There is a Story

There is a storyline in Phantom Brave, but it’s not that good. The main character is a girl named Marona whose parents were killed when she was young. She has the special ability to summon phantoms to her side. Her main protector is a phantom named Ash whose background is also tragic. At the start of the story Marona and Ash set off together as quasi bounty hunters. The early part of the story doesn’t really feature much story at all and instead focuses on the world’s prejudice toward Marona on account of her ability to see and summon phantoms. Eventually the main protagonist shows up and a clear goal is given. The biggest problem with the story is that it is really slow and for the most part it is hard to care about it.

Phantom Brave features a very robust weapon and character fusing system. Whenever a character or weapon defeats an enemy they gain mana. The mana can then be used to fuse together items, weapons and even characters. The only real way to gain truly powerful weapons is through the fusion system, so gamers who enjoy a strategic crafting element in their game may find something to like here. It should also be noted that the level cap in the game is 9999, so hardcore gamers may find some challenge in getting their characters as powerful as possible.

Graphically Phantom Brave: We Meet Again has its moments. Most of the story is told through 2D scenes that feature detailed sprite based characters. The most impressive part about these sequences is that the backgrounds are all beautifully hand drawn and very vibrant. It is evident that the background artists took their time and poured some love into their work. While on the battlefield the game looks very much like other traditional SRPGs. The characters are smaller and more compact than they are during the story sequences and the environmental graphics are decent, but not stellar. It is nice that NIS took the time to add progressive scan and increase the font size.

NIS states on their website that the audio has been cleaned up and enhanced for the Wii version. I really couldn’t hear a difference, but I was only using my TV’s twin speakers, so audio techies may be able to hear a difference. The game does feature a pretty good sound track and decent voice acting.

Bottom Line

Phantom Brave is on the long side, especially if you play through both the regular storyline and the alternate “Another Marona” storyline. Each quest can take upwards of 40 hours to complete. On top of that, there are random dungeons that can be played at any time and even bonus maps that you can play at the end of the main storyline. Disgaea fans will really like the bonus maps since they feature characters from the Disgaea franchise.

Phantom Brave wasn’t a great strategy role playing game on the PS2 and the remake on the Wii doesn’t improve the game enough to make it better. Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is essentially a five year old SRPG that should have been left in 2004. Yes, the game did receive a slight graphical and control overhaul and yes there is added content with the “Another Marona” storyline, but it’s not enough to make up for all the game’s short comings. If it weren’t for the fact that the Wii has so few SRPGs then I would say skip this one entirely, but if all you own is a Wii and you want a SRPG then you may want to give Phantom Brave a shot. Just don’t expect the game to live up to other games in the genre.

Gaming Trend Score

75

1. Graphics: 77
2. Audio: 80
3. Controls: 75
4. Gameplay: 70
5. Value/Replay: 80
6. OVERALL:75