Hey, at least it’s better than those Neptunia games.
I’ve had a bit of love/hate relationship with the developers at Compile Heart.
Ok, it’s more of a hate relationship if I’m being honest, since I’ve never really liked any of their games very much.
Still, in a time where they weren’t localizing too many JRPGs, their titles constantly found their way to the states and on that front, I felt glad.
However, titles like Hyperdimension Neptunia and Mugen Souls left much to be desired to say the least, and while their more recent titles have jumped in overall quality, I still felt they had a long way to go before I could consider them in the same breath with the likes of Gust, Namco Tales Studio and NIS (they published, not developed).
MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: PS3
Multiplayer: N/A
Demo Availability: N/A
Voice Acting Selection: Both JPN and ENG voices.
Length: About 20 hours for the first play through and a lot more for new game + stuff.
So when the involvement of the likes of Yoshitaka Amano and Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame were announced for their latest title, I was excited to see if this would be the title to propel them beyond anything they’ve created before.
Unfortunately, while this proves to be the best effort I’ve seen Compile Heart make, it stills lacks that extra bit of polish and ambition that makes a game truly great.
Oh, it’s on now!
The story of Fairy Fencer F is rather straightforward- almost to a fault. Everything is basically what it seems and it all ends exactly the way you think it will.
Still, it’s not a particularly terrible story thanks to a cast of amusing characters which includes the likes of a plush doll with a sword stuck in its head, a masochistic woman with a superiority complex and a Canadian.
Well, he may not actually be from Canada, but the way he pronounces “about” and adds “eh?” inexplicably seemed like damning enough evidence.
Putting that aside, while the story remains rather uninteresting, the various mechanics surrounding the game play fare much better.
Outside of leveling from gaining experience, each battle awards WP, which can be used to increase the basic stats of the character or unlock new active and passive skills.
Based on the use of WP, a character’s role can change drastically by acquiring certain skills suited for a particular role.
With a roster of over seven characters, I spent a great deal of time looking through the abilities screen trying to figure out how best to utilize each character’s unique talents, and had a blast doing so.
Even with the cookie cutter nature of the turn-based combat, it added much needed diversity to be able to customize the build of each character and switch them in and out on the fly as I felt necessary.
There was also the mechanic of sticking swords in the ground near an explore area to gain the effects associated with the weapon.
Each sword could be imbued with an effect like 50% EXP bonus and 2X Damage, and given I was able to utilize multiple sword effects for an area, I often found myself modifying the conditions of an area to suit my needs.
I don’t think there’s an amount of training that would make me start judging you differently, though.
While the mechanics surrounding the game ares quite solid, the presentation does not fare quite as well.
The vast majority of events that occur in game are presented via character portraits talking to each other, and only a handful of moments are actually animated to show the action.
I’m not saying that each event should be accompanied by a beautiful FMV, but the plot points fell flat due to how they were portrayed.
A comrade taking a sword slash in your stead ought to be a dramatic moment- one static character portrait moving in front of another just doesn’t cut it.
Also, the typical Compile Heart issue of the terrible frame rates while on the field was back once more in full force. It’s been evident in every 3D game I’ve seen them release, and it is starting to get worrisome that they still can’t figure this out.
Perhaps when they transition into making titles for the PS4 they hardware will be able to just brute force its way through the poor optimization, but as it stands now, the dungeons are as uninspired in design as they are painful to look at in motion.
As Fang says, much of life is about finding delicious things to fill your belly with!
Fairy Fencer F is the title I had the most fun playing through from the developers at Compile Heart and yet, I feel they have the talent to do better.
With the upcoming release of the Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark for the PS4, perhaps they will reach that mark but until then, it remains to be seen.
Fun Tidbit – I think Cristina Vee voices like six different characters in this game alone! Save some work for the other voice actresses, Cristina!
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
