No thread yet? Brave Story is awesome.
 

Man, searched but found no thread relevant to Brave Story: New Traveler.

This game started out very, very easy and there seemingly wasn't much to interest a seasoned RPG veteren to keep playing. If you'd have asked me to predict my final remarks after the first 2 or 3 hours, I'd have listed the immediately visible (though not back-breaking) flaws mentioned in the review there, to a greater degree, not said much else, and given it a 5.

As the game went on, though, almost every single aspect got better. There were better things to craft (and in effect, reason to go out looking for certain materials), tougher enemies, deeper battles, and interesting story. It kept getting better all game long, and in the end, I feel very satisfied having played through Brave Story.

I don't think any one game is worth a system's price (possible exception: Skies of Arcadia), but this in addition to other RPGs like Jeanne d'Arc and Gurumin; and other non-RPGs like MGS, Katamari, Ace Combat, WTF, and so on are really making the thing an attractive piece of hardware.

I wrote a review linked below. I searched around, but it seems there aren't (m)any reviews of the English version right now.

Anyway:
http://rpgland.com/games/bravestoryn...er/review.html

I'll gladly field questions to the best of my ability, if anyone has any.

I recommend this game to PSP owners who like RPGs--comes out July 31.

I've only seen one advertisement for this in an EGM issue I bought, and it reminds me of Radiata Stories, in more ways than one. I think I'd only be primarily concerned about length. Especially, since this is the first PSP RPG I'm seriously considering due to looking a lot like a traditional styled rpg that's not going to be like Generation of Chaos or something similar, hopefully.

It is a traditional, standard-style RPG. If that's what you're looking for on PSP, this is your game.

Generation of Chaos was more of a TRPG-Monopoly hybrid, and therefore, Brave Story isn't anything like it.

Comes out on a very special day indeed! But WTF sux.

You're in the wrong thread.
This thread is not about WTF:
http://z.about.com/d/psp/1/0/_/3/-/-/wtfbox.jpg

It's about Brave Story: New Traveler:
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images...5832_front.jpg

You mentiioned it first.
So, I'm unfamiliar with the... anime? Will that affect my understanding of the game?

You're an idiot. Nowhere did I mention WTF until you brought it up.

No.

How repetitive are the dungeons? Is it like Valhalla Knights, with the same damn corridor over and over? This game sounds like it might be my bag. It's worth a rental, at least, it seems.

The dungeons all *look* very good, aesthetically, though the thing is, aside from the very first and very last dungeons (and a bonus one in the middle, full of treasures and stuff--more of this dungeon opens gradually, so you keep coming back to it), there aren't many branching paths, so it's a very linear affair. Like 95% of rooms within the dungeon have one way in, one way out, with most treasure placed in pretty obvious places.

As well, there are not any puzzles in the dungeons until the very last one.

But they don't really look the SAME, as your questions asks, so I'd say no, they aren't repetitive in that way.

This is not to day the dungeons are "bad," just don't expect a whole lot of challenge from them, as they more or less serve as a linear walk up to the boss. They feel fun to play (because of the battle system, story, and their good looks), there also feels like there's just a liiiiittle something missing.

Great game overall though. I'd say almost any fan of traditional RPGs would enjoy it.

The US version is getting an additional 50+ hours of content along with other stuff, so it should be at least good for one playthrough.

50+ hrs breaks down to 3-5hrs =d

Having just gone through the US version, I can say that claim by the publishers is very exaggerated. There's extra content, but...50 hours' worth? You've gotta take a looong ass time in that extra dungeon and reaaallly dawdle on your fetch quests for that to add up to 50 hours. Seriously and realistically, it's probably 10 more hours, at most.

Maybe someone who fails at gaming will be able to get 50 hours out of it.

Although I guess the more experienced player is going to have no problem with it, especially after having already going through the game.

The JP version didn't really catch my fancy but maybe the extra dungeon will be enough to change my mind.

"I don't think any one game is worth a system's price (possible exception: Skies of Arcadia), but this in addition to other RPGs like Jeanne d'Arc and Gurumin; and other non-RPGs like MGS, Katamari, Ace Combat, WTF, and so on are really making the thing an attractive piece of hardware."

But I don't see the point of talking about how "WTF sux" neither....

Anyway... I'm not familiar with Brave Story anime, but the game got me interested before I knew the relation with an anime. I'll finally dig up my psp from the dust it was liying in.

Hey!
I said pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
http://lonestartimes.com/images/Benzion/Oz_Curtain.JPG

;)

Just started playing this. Graphics are really impressive so far, but gameplay seems to be too traditional for my taste. If it weren't for the optimistic opening post of this thread, I'd have stopped playing by now.

I borrowed it out from work, and my initial impression of it was mediocre. However, the more I play it, the more I come to appreciate it. The load times are non-existent. Seriously, it makes me wonder what the hell other developers are doing with the system.

Graphically, the game looks almost as good as Tales of the Abyss, which is really, really impressive. In fact, in a lot of a ways the game reminds me of Tales of the Abyss, save for the battle system.

And yeah, the battle system is pretty easy, but not without it's fun and charm. Killing an opponent will sometimes yield you an "Extra Attack" and you'll get to strike the next opponent. There are Unity attacks with are self-explanatory; the only one I've unlocked is "Partners in Crime" where two characters charge the enemy, one steals from it and the other does a standard attack.

On the whole, it feels like...an inventory/selling system like Maple Story, graphically similar to Tales of the Abyss, and a battle system only slightly more involved that Dragon Quest VIII, and none of those are bad things. I'll be playing it a bit more to determine whether or not I should buy it.

At least there seems to be a good sense of humor in the game:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../screen6-1.png

I really hope the story and character development gets more interesting, because so far, it's all very bland and cliché. At least I've come to appreciate the simplistic fighting system.

I'm a bit disturbed at the length of the game, considering the size of the game itself on the UMD is only less than 180MB.

But because of that, there are virtually no load times, very impressive for a game like this.

It looks like a cartoony game with a Saturday morning cartoony dub to match. Then again, considering that was pretty much the premise of the Japanese version as well there's no complaints here!

I'll wait a little while and see. Still teetering between Riviera and Brave Story =/

Just how much do the game and the anime have in common? I haven't seen any of the show, but there haven't been any fluffy, pink things with wings in the game screenshots that I've seen. Does it just take place in the same world with different characters?

Anyway, it's good to hear that the game isn't bad aside from being a bit too generic. Along with several other games (Castlevania, Tales of the World, etc.), Brave Story is looking like another reason why I should pick up a PSP fairly soon.

I'm thinking of trading in my copy of Brave Story in favor of Dragoneer's Aria, but I haven't completely decided yet. Hindman, have you gotten any playtime with Aria yet? I checked it out from work for a couple days and I enjoy it, but I'm tryin to get a second opinion. Both games are good, but neither is particularly stellar, save for Brave Story's amazingly non-existent load times.