Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: NIS America
Platforms: Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (Reviewed)
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $59.99 USD – Available Here $89.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
When it comes to Nippon Ichi Software the first game series that many will think of is Disgaea, and rightly so since not only is that their first major game to make a mark in the West, but it is also one that they have tapped into consistently throughout the years, be it sequels, spin-offs, enhanced editions, and more. This has left quite a few of their other RPGs lost to the past or rarely touched to the point that not too long ago the company brought some of these RPGs out again through classics collections. One such game that was included in those collections happened to be Phantom Brave, an oft revisited title by Nippon Ichi that saw various enhancements through the years but never was given a chance at a sequel. Until now that is. Arriving over twenty years after the first game, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero gives fans a chance to see how Marona and Ash’s story will continue, but will it be for the best?
Story
Six months have passed since Marona and Ash were able to save the world from the herald of destruction, Sulphur, and many have come to treat Marona as a hero now rather than as a cursed child who can see and interact with ghosts. This was always thanks to her unique magical ability that not only allowed her to speak with the spirits and ghosts of those around her, but also “confine” them into objects to fight by her side. S a Chroma, Marona has spent these last few months helping people with Ash as her primary defender and closest spirit but disaster strikes when a massive fleet of monstrous ships called the Shipwreck Fleet appears and not only manage to overpower Marona, but the masked captain of the fleet saps nearly all of Marona’s unique powers out of her. In a desperate attempt to save Marona, Ash sends her overboard all while fighting the minions of the fleet to try and keep her safe.
When Marona awakens, she finds she has washed ashore a small island where an odd group of pirates called the Argento Pirate Crew are acting like big-shots despite their small size and an incredibly flustered spirit of a pirate ghost by the name of Apricot is watching anxiously. After speaking with Apricot and learning that her father, Argento, founded the crew and once assembled a fleet large enough to fend off the even the nastiest of terrors on the waves but has now gone missing after setting out with nearly everyone long ago to put an end to the Shipwreck Fleet, the two make a promise to work together to track down Apricot’s father and reunite with Ash, even if it means taking over a pirate crew, sailing the seas, and battling on countless islands to do it.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is as charming as the bright colors and cute designs of the characters make it out to be and the storyline, while straightforward for the most part outside of some expected twists, is entertaining enough thanks to its core cast, it also happens to be one that isn’t afraid to tackle some darker subjects at times. Obviously, since most of Marona’s companions are ghosts, they are literally dead and having to deal with the reality of their situation and those that have been left behind, with only Marona capable of actually doing anything for many of them. Of course, this darkness doesn’t diminish the humor in any way, though don’t quite expect some of the major fourth-wall breaking stuff from the Disgaea franchise, Phantom Brave takes things a bit on the lighter side when it comes to comedy most of the time.
Something that helps make Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero feel like an interesting journey is that unlike the original entry that saw Marona and Ash as the primary characters, this time around Marona is joined not only by Apricot but a number of other characters eventually join her adventure as well and are just as entertaining as she is. In fact, Mayfair and Henna happen to be absolute delights alongside Marona and seeing these characters interact throughout the story is highly entertaining, even if it does mean that Ash does end up being side-lined for quite a bit thanks to the aforementioned separation at the start of the game. This is also helped by the fact that Apricot is perhaps one of the best characters that Nippon Ichi Software has created in some time, perhaps due to her shy and anxious nature where her determination still shines through or something else, but she’s easily the standout in this sequel.
Gameplay
When it comes to combat in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero there have been a few modifications but many of the core elements remain the same. A few of the more basic changes revolve around the fact that player movement and skill targeting are no longer limited to a grid but instead to a free-movement system, with each character and enemy having a certain move distance and attack radius, with some skills having highly specific attack grids that can be slightly adjusted to deal as much as damage as possible, especially AoE type attacks. Marona and her allies will all have a set speed stat that determines the turn order with enemies but for almost every encounter Marona will be entering the fight alone. Players will use Marona’s special powers to “confine” her ghost allies to various physical objects in the stage, be it a clump of weeds or a rock to a starfish or even a pre-set cannon in later stages. Depending on what item Marona has confined an allied ghost to they may receive status boosts and even additional buffs depending on whether or not the object was linked in some way to others.
Something interesting about this system is that all spirits that Marona “confines” into an object only have a set number of turns they can remain in battle and this amount depends on the character’s class and power. For example, Apricot will initially be the best as she can stay on the field for multiple turns while a cleric can only last for three turns. When a ghost’s turn counter runs out, they will immediately despawn no matter how much health they might have and cannot be summoned again for that stage. Combine this with the fact that Marona can only confine so many ghosts during battle, with allies holding items costing two points and allies without anything costing one, and players need to strategize how to properly summon and distribute their allies in battle. It is entirely possible, especially in some more elaborate stages, to try and summon most of Marona’s allies only to then waste a lto of their turns simply getting in range of the opponent rather than waiting for them to get closer on their own.
It is worth noting that Marona herself is fairly useless in a fight initially as she can only use the most basic attacks but should she fall in combat, it is impossible to confine more allies, meaning players will need to always make sure Marona is protected or properly healed. What Marona an do is use her skills to immediately move a confined spirit’s turn to the next in the order or even allow them to attack twice in a row initially. As players progress she will gain additional abilities such as the ability to confine allies into obtained machinery and weaponry that gives character’s incredibly strong buffs and “Confriend.” Confriend is an ability that fuses Marona with her selected ally and provides a significant boost in stats and gives the fused Marona multiple attacks that increase in amount depending on her bond level with the fused spirit. Players can raise Marona’s bond level with specific spirits by fighting alongside them and talking to them on the island between fights, though it is worth noting that there is no actual dialogue variation even at max bond. That being said, a max bonded Confriened Marona can chew her way through nearly any opponents, something that we will touch upon momentarily.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero’s weapons and items are just as important as the characters that are holding them as every weapon, be it a simple staff or bow to smacking someone with a tuna or tree, has its own set of skills and power levels. This can create some rather strange looking combinations of character loadouts and tons of variety for those really looking to see just how far they can take things. In fact, this game offers just as many, if not more, ways to completely break the game’s difficulty level just like the Disgaea series. There are far too many to go into detail here, but things such as the “Juice Bar” that allows players to bank XP that can then be dumped to quickly level or over-level characters, Dungeon Creation to make use of randomized dungeons to boost the power of items and the strength of characters, and even reincarnating max level units to increase their power even further beyond the maximum. Of course, these things aren’t required to complete the main storyline, but those looking to take on some of the harder post-game challenges will want to try and bust the game’s power-scaling as quickly as possible to do so and it is just as fun here as it is in Nippon Ichi’s mainstream franchise.
Audio & Visuals
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero makes the same transition that the Disgaea series has undergone through the last couple of releases by shifting from sprites to chibi 3D models to a… less than satisfactory degree. Similar to issues that arose in Disgaea, while these chibi models look good enough during exploration and during basic combat actions, they often appear stiff and lacking in emotion during the few cutscenes and the more elaborate special attacks that players can unleash. The models themselves are nicely detailed at least and thankfully almost all of the characters are given properly drawn character portraits showing off their true appearances with plenty of variety in expressions. Unfortunately, despite the game being very bright and colorful with a decent amount of variety for character modes, the game quickly starts reusing assets and nowhere does this become more apparent in the second half of the title. It is nice to note that Marona’s “confriend” ability gives her plenty of new looks as well, encouraging players to see just how many they can find while also tapping into its powerful potential.
Surprisingly enough, NIS America has managed to bring back both English voice actors for Marona (Sandy Fox) and Ash (Lex Lang) but unfortunately it seems that both actors didn’t quite manage to provide their best work with the English dub here. This is especially noticeable when compared to Risa Mei’s portrayal as Apricot and other characters as well, especially since the storyline here is fully voiced. Of course, the Japanese voice track is also included as an option to swap to at any time should the player wish. As for the soundtrack, the game’s background music is fairly generic and doesn’t stand out too much besides having some solid battle themes for some locations.
Overall
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a successful return for a long slumbering storyline that sees a familiar face that has only appeared in re-releases and guest-appearances and finally continues her own journey in successful fashion. Sure, the storyline may not be the most unique thing around but the real heart of this JRPG is its characters. Combine this with some very solid gameplay that is familiar feeling for longtime Disgaea fans but just fresh enough to keep things feeling different even if it does sacrifice the previously loved sprites for the new art direction the company has chosen to move forward with. Either way, this is hopefully a great start to reviving the many slumbering IPs in Nipppon Ichi Software’s repertoire.
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