Brave Story: New Traveler begins with the following scenario:

Miki (sitting on a bench, enjoying the sun): “Wow! What a beautiful day. I love this kind of weather. See how nice it is to be outdoors for a change?”

Tatsuya, glued to his PSP, fails to respond.

Miki, getting frustrated: “Hello, Earth to Tatsuya!? Unbelievable! Don’t you do anything besides play video games!? You promised you’d help me take Kratos [her dog] for a walk.”

The player then has the choice to make Tatsuya respond by saying one of two things: “I did?” or “Just one more level…” I of course chose the latter.

Miki, now really frustrated: “That’s what you ALWAYS say! Look, maybe you play some knight in shining armor in your little game, but not in real life, that’s for sure. Ugh!”

Any game that begins like that has my attention. This one isn’t as much a brave story as it is an ambitious move to advance the gaming experience of a handheld RPG. The sights, sounds, and even details as minute as game menus are brighter and more like a console game than the usual crop of PSP titles. That’s not to say that the system hasn’t had great RPGs – it has and more are on the way. But unlike the ports, side stories or semi-sequels, Brave Story the kind of game that was once only found on PlayStation 2.

Courageous Fantasies

The common theme of today’s RPGs is to make battles quick, add voice-overs to major dialogue sequences, and to utilize older technology that keeps costs down and gives the game a “retro” appearance. The developers of Brave Story were smart to heed the first theme, were even smarter to avoid the last one, but did not take complete advantage of the PSP’s vocal capabilities. Conversations are conducted with text and with text only.

That might be hard to absorb. I remember a time when I hated voice-overs (I still do when they suck), but I’ve become so acclimated to them now that it’s almost annoying when a game doesn’t have them. But don’t let that deter you from the story, which is well thought out for a light-hearted tale of sorcery and discovery. It is also features some hilarious scenes, as evidenced by the intro between our video game-addicted hero and a girl who just doesn’t get it.

Brave Story’s battles are not merely a quick repeat of every other game on the planet. Rather, they pay homage to the 3D Final Fantasy games, and though series loyalists may say it’s a clone, everyone else will be immersed in the wide-scale battles displayed on the PSP’s widescreen. Just two characters and six battle options are available at the start, triggering those craving-more feelings very quickly. That, and the illness that strikes Miki, are two of the driving forces behind the game. When Tatsuya meets Yuno, a cat-like half-breed whose bow and arrow skills are supreme, the process of caring for a character starts all over again and quickly makes you wonder if Miki will survive and whether she will reappear during the game or be saved for the end.

Like Final Fantasy, battles occur on a field that’s separate from towns, forests, dungeons, etc., and are also separate from the world map. The character models have been sculpted with the utmost care, taking details of a wide range (big or small) into account. Yuno’s hair and pointed ears sway with every movement, even when sitting at the dinner table with her parents (as Nick at Nite will tell you, the family table is all the rage these days!). The enemies are born from the same quality materials and include giant insects, oversized sea creatures, ferocious knights, and a cornucopia of creatures that’ll impress your senses every time a new one appears – just as the Final Fantasy series did upon its PSone and PS2 debuts.

Camera angles change frequently, moving seamlessly to increase the thrill of every battle. The angles appear to be effected by the environment as well as the type of creature you’re battling, but the changes are so frequent that they’re hard to predict. Each town sticks to its own view, some closer to the action than others, providing the player with multiple perspectives. The world map is pretty big, but the design is a slight throwback to the retro look that the rest of the game avoids. Tatsuya is seen as a larger-than-life character that towers over buildings and trees. It looks cool, and is pulled off more realistically than it sounds.

Though a lot can be said for Brave Story’s high-polygon visuals, the game is only made better by the game – but it does not survive on them alone. What you have underneath the pretty picture is a very satisfying RPG. It’s not innovative or daring or anything you haven’t experienced in a Final Fantasy. But you’ve never seen or played anything like it on PSP. And though it may not age as well as Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy X, that won’t stop you from loving every minute of the game when you play it in 2007.

Gameplay: 8.0
Turn-based battles, multiple camera angles, item forging, magic / special attacks (called “Bravura”), an intriguing story that revolves around saving a young woman… It’s standard RPG content. The execution, however, far surpasses the industry average.

Graphics: 8.8
Gorgeous role-playing in the palm of your hand. The spells, characters, monsters, camera angles, environments, etc., are all beautiful.

Sound: 8.2
Great music, but where are the voice-overs? I might not want to hear the characters speaking while sitting at a bus stop. But unlike most RPGs, which are butchered by their voice-overs, Brave Story could’ve been improved by having them throughout the adventure.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
New enemies might catch you off guard, but the game still leans more toward easy.

Concept: 7.6
The bird system (where you capture birds for items or to use in a competition of feathery cuteness) is about the only thing Brave Story can claim as its own.

Overall: 8.2
A must for players who have longed for a 3D Final Fantasy to be made for Sony’s handheld.