Random Posts of a Guy (RPG): Game Review: Brave Story

Went over to my Da Yi's (mom's eldest sister) house and stayed overnight... because of.. DUMPLINGS!! Muahaha... Yup. It's dumpling festival soon and it's like a yearly thing we do. Go over to Da Yi's house and wrap dumplings.. Okay la.. Not really WE wrap, more like my mum and my Da Yi wrap while the rest of us eat. Haha.. This year I tried to offer help (and hopefully steal some skills) but got scolded by my Da Yi like don't know how many times.. Every step I do is wrong -.-

Here's a brief summary:
"You fold too far"
"You fold too narrow"
"Your base not firm enough"
"Your dumpling ingredients never fit in tightly"
"Your wrapping is too loose"
"Your dumpling is going to become loose and cause the rest of the dumplings to spoil if we put yours together and cook it"

The result? My dumpling was taken apart and I was sent out of the kitchen so I won't disturb them anymore >.<
Bah, no fun.. Anyway, here's are some pictures I snapped before I got kicked out of the kitchen.

String galore..

All the ingredients spread out..
Clockwise from the metal pot:
Glutinous rice, Li Zhi (some kind of nut? I don't know how to describe. But I hate eating it anyway haha), my failed dumpling remains (aww..), the meat

How to make a dumpling?
Step #1: Take 2 leafs, fold it into a triangular base
Step #2: Put rice into it, make sure its tight and firm below, so got the triangular shape

Step #3: Add the meat and whatever you want

Step #4: Cover it off with more rice but not too much till it overflows!
Step #5: Wrap your dumpling and tie firmly with a string
Step #6: Put all your dumplings in a huge pot and "cook" it above strong fire (not sure what kind of cooking method is this.. Bake? Nope. Boil? I'm not sure.)

Bah, enough of dumplings. Now about the game I've been playing these few days hehe.
PSP Game: Brave Story - New Traveler

Overview
Firstly, I DO NOT own a PSP, so if you love to give me one, I'll be glad to take it haha.. I've been playing it on my sister's PINK PSP. Yeah, imagine Davin walking on the streets holding a pink PSP in a PINK cover. Whoo... Secondly, the pictures are a bit blur, but no choice huh. My handphone only 2 Megapixels, and its taken directly from the PSP screen while I was playing..

Anyway, it's somewhat like Final Fantasy. There's a plot, there's parties, there's bosses... etc. According to websites, this game is inspired/based on the manga "Brave Story". If you search for it and read it, you'll find a few characters in the manga in the game as well! Like Wataru, Meena and Mitsuru.

Plot
You played too much PSP, ignoring your girlfriend. Something happened to her. You regret. Some mysterious voice offer you a 2nd chance. Gate opens in front of you. You run in. Boom, you're in the world called "Vision". In Vision, all humans are called "Travelers", they come to Vision aiming to reach the Goddess' Tower and ask for a wish to be granted. But before they can do so, they need to gather 5 gemstones. After doing so, a path to the Goddess will be opened. However, not everything is smooth sailing for you. There'll be bosses and stuff and there's a nasty twist in the plot later in the game, quite interesting actually =)

Party
[in order of acquiring them]
Note: Bravesoul is the "hidden talent" everyone has. They become known only somewhere along in the game. They're quite imba

1) Tatsuya [Main Character. Name can be chosen at start of game]
Race: Human (duh!)
Weapon: Traveler's Sword (transforms into the Demon's Bane when you acquire all 5 gems)
Bravesoul: Indomitable Spirit (chance to auto-resurrect when being KO-ed)

2) Yuno
Race: Kitkin (looks like a girl with kitten ears and a tail)
Weapon: Bows
Bravesoul: Double Strike (allows 2 targets during normal attacks)

3) Sogreth
Race: Waterkin (looks like lizards)
Weapon: Axes
Bravesoul: Thick Skin (DEF increases when HP is critical/red)

4) Meladee
Race: Ankhakin (A beautiful girl. Can't say lady, she's a rough fighter haha)
Weapon: Twin Blades
Bravesoul: Just Rewards (auto attacks back whoever whacks her)

5) Ropple
Race: Pankin (a midget professor-to-be. As you would expect, the mage..)
Weapon: Staff
Bravesoul: Varia (reduces magical damage taken for whole party if he's fighting)

6) Leynart
Race: Beastkin (looks like a human with horns like a goat. Heh)
Weapon: Lance
Bravesoul: Mind's Eye (increases Crit. rate)

Throughout the game, you will have "Guest Characters" joining your party. They will be doing so temporarily only, as part of the story plot. Do try them out when they join, if not you won't be able to use them again later (unless you complete the game, then you gain access to ALL of them). They are quite interesting to play instead of the usual 5 other characters. They also usually wield strong spells. Like Kutz, a whip user. She has a spell which reduces enemy HP by HALF. Make sure you use her when she joins. Extremely useful against the boss Nero. 400dmg in ONE hit. Instead of 30~70 per hit (depending on which character you use to whack) lol..

Gameplay
There's 4 kinds of modes you will be in.
1) Global world map
2) Dungeon/Town map
3) Combat
4) Conversation/Videos (YES they do have videos, most of them quite nice as well)

You'll be running around till later in game where you get this cart and then later you get to be able to fly on a FireWyrm after you get your 4th gemstone. Press O while running to run faster in dungeons and towns. I only realised like 2hrs into the game -.-

In combat, you only get to use 3 characters. You can choose using the "Formation" option when you're not in combat. No matter what you choose, you MUST have Tatsuya in your fights (well duh, YOU"RE the main character). That means 5C2 varieties in combat. Not bad.

Stats and spells apply like any other RPGs. But in this one, you don't get to choose how to add and stuff, they auto increase when you level up. There's this fun thing in this game, called "Unity" skills. When different characters fight with each other often enough, they will learn "Unity" skills whereby both (or even all 3) characters combo together to do something super super strong (most of the time.. Some "Unity" skills are crap) like Cosmic Rainbow (Revives/Full Heals/Removes all negative status of all 3 characters in combat) and stuff.. But usually they drain a lot of Brave Power (BP).

BP? Yeah. That's the Mana Points system in this game. You don't actually have mana. You have BP. You gain them by attacking or dealing damage. By doing something as brave as attacking your opponent you gain BP. Quite lame actually haha.. As for spells, they call it Bravura (I'm not surprised). The rest are actually rather similar to any other RPGs.. Dungeons which act like mazes where you figure you way in to the boss (or out).

Personal Tips to Combat
For Combat, I would definitely recommend you to have either Meladee and/or Ropple in. They have this heal called "Zed Heal" which heals ALL 3 of your party members during combat. A definite MUST since later on, many enemies and bosses deal damage to all 3 party members in 1 spell. But if you have to choose from either one of them, I would recommend Meladee since she has "Resurrect" which either revives an ally with full HP or restores full HP to an ally which is not dead yet.

That leaves 1 last slot, since Tatsuya has to be fighting.. Yuno, Sogreth, Ropple or Leynart? Some guides/walkthroughs recommend Sogreth or Leynart, but I personally prefer Ropple. Yuno in my opinion is just plain weak and Meladee's healing abilities way overpower Yuno's (not to mention Meladee's pretty hot =P).

Why Ropple? I guess I'm too used to "Healer + Wizard + Tanker/Whacker" combination. Nevertheless, Ropple has elemental spells which can hinge on each monsters/boss's elemental weakness and deal more damage. Furthermore, some mobs have high defense but Ropple's spells take care of them easily. Also, Ropple's "Zed Heal" add as a preventive measure in case. Ah yes, not to leave out, Ropple has "Zed Protection" and "Zed Strength" which raises the DEF and ATK of all 3 party members. Usually it takes a "Unity" or single target "Bravura" to slowly raise DEF/ATK of any party member, but with Ropple, 2 turns is all you need ^^

Alright alright, why not Leynart or Sogreth? Leynart has some pretty good spells and his Bravesoul which increases Crit rate sure is good, but why have 2 fighters? I mean his damage output is either on par or lesser than Tatsuya (unless your Tatsuya is way under-leveled). As for Sogreth, I'm not saying he's bad or anything. He has a way overpowered Bravura called "Nutcracker", for that attack, he ignore ALL DEF and just whack. Given his raw power (which is stronger than Tatsuya) and ability to ignore DEF (like Ropple's spells), he's quite a force to reckon with. Not to mention he has tons of HP (like Leynart). So, if you want to, go ahead, take Sogreth instead of Ropple. If you can bear to lose out on cool spell animations and stuff, I couldn't so I took Ropple haha..

SozoS's Ratings:
Graphics: 10/10 [DAMN NICE!]
Sound Effects: 7/10 [Some nice background tracks and combat tracks do pump adrenaline sometimes]
Gameplay: 6/10 [Combat may be fun at first. But when it stops you when you're running around the maze, you get pissed sometimes]
Replayability: 2/10 [I don't intend to replay it. Lol.. There are many side quests which you do go back after you complete the game and complete if you want to. Oh btw, you get to use all the Guest characters after you finish the game.. So I guess it has SOME replay value right..]
Overall Rating: 8/10

Related Websites:
Download Link:
Google it, I forgot. There's a BitTorrent link, I tried downloading and play on my laptop with PSP Emulator. Too bad all the PSP Emulators not advanced enough yet, can't work with ISO files.. So no choice lor, play on my sister's PINK PSP >.<

A very useful and thorough Walkthrough/Guide:
http://faqs.ign.com/articles/817/817394p1.html

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Alright, as promised. (I hear "finally" lol..) Here are the band pics. But I reduced quite a lot.. Loads of repeats and redundant shots. Enjoy!

BAND PICTURES OF WON24 [23 May 2007]

Performance Shots

Our one and only full band picture taken during the performance, but the drummer is not in the picture -.-

Our lead singer - Ryan (he beat-box like a god as well)

Guitarist #1 - Fawwaz (he loves calling me "you embarrassment of mother nature")

Guitarist #2 + Support Singer - Davin (That's me! =D)

Our drummer/bassist - Gorden (he plays bass only for songs he doesn't play drums for)

Our bassist/drummer - Wei Ming (he plays drums only for songs he doesn't play bass for)

Lol ok, Gorden's and Wei Ming's comments very lame.. But what to do? They're both drummers by nature, they just got "invited" to play bass for some songs =P

Random shots in holding room, after our performance XD

The result of 3 retards and stolen props

Alright alright, stop dancing, we'll give you stuff.
Here you go, 50cents, 1 scrap paper and strepsils for your hard work.

Haiya!! Watch me poke you with my pink drum sticks.

Our drummer/bassist and bassist/drummer. Confusing isn't it? Not really. Haha

Full Band Shots =)

Our bedroom is over there! Okay, that sounded wrong.

...And our toilet is over there!

Lol. Stole this pose from Peepshow's CD cover. Hehe..

Spot the differences in the 2 following pictures:

1) Gorden's not wearing specs in 2nd one!
2) Wei Ming's hands and his facial expression
3) WTH? Are Fawwaz, Davin and Ryan human? No changes at all!?

Jump Shots!! ^^