Phantom Brave

Phantom Brave
Developer(s)	Nippon Ichi Software
Designer(s)	Yoshitsuna Kobayashi
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Wii
Release	Playstation 2 Wii
Genre(s)	Tactical Role-Playing Game
Mode(s)	Single player

Phantom Brave (ファントム・ブレイブ, Fantomu Bureibu) is a tactical role-playing game for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software. It was released on January 22, 2004 in Japan, on August 31, 2004 in North America and on February 4, 2005 in Europe. It is similar in gameplay to its predecessor, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, with some unique twists although its story is unrelated to Disgaea. The game shipped in two "editions"—Normal and Special—the Special edition coming with a free soundtrack and shortened instruction manual. A port for Nintendo's Wii console, titled Phantom Brave Wii was recently announced, with a release date of March 12, 2009.

Bonus Soundtrack

When the game is bought on the PS2 you get the bonus soundtrack composed by Tenpei Sato. The bonus soundtrack contains: 01. Angel Breath 02. Flower Road -Hannasaki Annainin- 03. Thinking of You -Atuki Omoi- 04. My Little Garden 05. Grand March 06. Sand Shower 07. Friends -Tomodachi- 08. Game Braker 09. R & R Junkiee 10. Strange Wind 11. All at Once 12. 7th Brass 13. Sorrow -Ureiiro no Omoi- 14. Violent Emotion 15. Heavens Garden

Composed by Tenpei Sato

Plot

A typical Cut scene.

The protagonist of Phantom Brave is a 13 year old girl named Marona. Having lost her parents at a young age, Marona lives on Phantom Isle in the land of Ivoire with a phantom named Ash. While he was still alive, Ash worked alongside Jasmine and Haze (Marona's parents) as a Chroma, a sort of bounty hunter. On an assignment at the Isle of Evil, a fragment of a malevolent being known as Sulphur attacked the group, mortally wounding them. Using the last of his life energy, Haze attempted to revive Ash after the battle. However, there was only enough life left in him to bring Ash back as a phantom. Haze and Jasmine's dying wish was for Ash to watch over their then-infant daughter Marona.

Marona is the only one able to see Ash in phantom form. This is primarily because of her unique ability known as Chartreuse Gale. This ability not only allows her to see and interact with phantoms, but temporarily bind their souls to objects and give them a temporary body using a skill called "Confine". Using this, she can summon Ash and other phantoms of her creation to the world of the living to aid her in her own endeavors as a Chroma, similar to the work done by her late parents. This work is very difficult for Marona, though. Because she possesses the Chartreuse, many assume that she is controlled by evil spirits and are afraid to even interact with her, much less employ her for Chroma work. Also, in the early portions of the story, people who offer Marona employment would rescind any rewards upon completion once they discover that she has the Chartreuse ability.

As she continued her Chroma work, Marona's path eventually crossed with a man named Walnut. Walnut prided himself on his status as a Chroma Oxide, one who secretly follows a Chroma on his mission and steals the reward for the work. Walnut regularly tries to meddle in Chroma-related matters involving Marona, but is rarely successful. As they continued their work, Ash and Marona also met a sickly young girl named Castille. Confined to a bed and a wheelchair for most of her life, Castille was unable to go out into the world or make friends. However, after helping Castille's family on an assignment, Marona agrees to be her friend, and leaves behind a Putty, a mischievous spirit found on an earlier assignment, to keep Castille company.

More time passes, and signs of Sulphur returning to Ivoire in full force are more apparent. Earthquakes increased in frequency and monsters plagued the land, with a lesser form of Sulphur known as Wraith appearing to attack Ash and Marona several times. Ash and Marona meet more people who are aware of these signs and are making preparations to battle Sulphur, if necessary. Among these individuals are Raphael, a knight from a legion known as the Nine Swords of Ivoire, and Sprout, a renegade soldier whose family was killed by Sulphur when he attacked many years earlier. Sprout seems to side with Ash in this fight, but Sprout is bent on the destruction of Sulphur at all costs, no matter the means used.

As preparations for the final battle are made and Ash and Marona return to the Isle of Evil, Raphael is found possessed by Sulphur, and so Ash and Raphael engages in a duel. Raphael is injured, and entrusts Ash with Heliotrope, his sacred sword, for use in his battle with Sulphur. At the center of the island lies a portal from which Sulphur is fully entering the world, and upon the heroes' arrival to this point, they expect to engage in combat with Sulphur immediately. However, they are intercepted by Sprout. Having gone mad from his own power, Dark Eboreus and by Sulphur's curse, Sprout attacks Ash and Marona. As he loses he kills himself with his sword Shiva in order to stop Sulphur within him, but Sulphur materializes anyway.

Ash and Marona finally enter battle with Sulphur, and after the fight, Sulphur is weakened, but still making an effort to enter into Ivoire. At that point, Walnut appears, and sacrifices his own life to close the seal between Ivoire and Sulphur's domain.

Gameplay

As in other tactical role-playing games, battles take place on an isometric board. In Phantom Brave, Marona dispatches her phantom allies by confining them to things such as trees, grass, rocks, and flowers. Different objects give different kinds of stat bonuses, making it advantageous to confine certain characters to certain things. A Soldier, for example, often benefits from the type of stat bonuses found on a rock, while a Witch does not. Up to 14 phantoms can be dispatched during a battle, but they only last for a particular number of turns. The number is based on class. A Witch lasts three turns, while a Soldier lasts eight. While a high confine is desirable for continuous use of the character, a low confine is often wanted for stealing purposes, or for 'bomber' units. The phantom known as bottle mail lasts for 3 turns and has a 100% steal rate making him/her an invaluable ally.

A battle sequence.

Unlike most tactical role-playing games, whose game board contains a grid used for movement, Phantom Brave has a gridless system, in which each character can move a certain number of dm (decimeters) in each turn. The terrain also has traction and bounciness characteristics, which affect how long characters continue to slide along after they stop moving and how high they bounce when they jump down from a ledge. On slippery surfaces, it's possible to make the characters "ice skate" by moving very short distances (consuming few dm) and letting them slide to their destination.

Also unlike most TRPGs, the board does not have barriers on the edges. Combined with the hold and throw system inherited from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, characters can be thrown or hit off the field and sent O.B. (out-of-bounds). O.B.'d characters are gone for the rest of the map. When an enemy is O.B'd, the levels of the remaining enemies rise, so the player can trade many small problems for one large one. If the enemies HP is zero when thrown out a level up to other enemies is not granted. Example : Ash uses berserker and kills enemy, in the process the enemy is O.B'd. This situation doesnt not give other enemies a level up. (the last enemy on the map cannot be thrown O.B.).

Another unique feature for character development is the fusion system. All characters and weapons accumulate mana whenever they kill an enemy. This mana can be spent to fuse two characters together, an item to a character, or an item to an item. Fusion increases the level cap of the beneficiary by the level of the consumed item or character. By spending mana, the player can improve equipment percentages (stat bonuses given to characters who equip the item or character) and confine percentages (bonuses to characters confined in the item on the field), and transfer skills to the beneficiary. In Phantom Brave, weapons have a much greater effect on stats than the characters, so mastering the fusion system to create super-powerful weapons is essential to conquering the extra maps. Also unlike most CRPGs the max level is 9999. However, this ceiling level seems to be a common motif in games by Nippon Ichi Software.

The random dungeons from Disgaea's Item World return in Phantom Brave. They are no longer associated with items, and are simply known as Random Dungeons. While on Phantom Isle, a Dungeon Monk can be asked to create a Random Dungeon. Some characteristics of the dungeon can be seen before creation, including the type and general number of enemies present, the floor conditions, and if the use of equipped weapons is restricted or not. Dungeons also have titles, which are applied to every enemy in the dungeon and change (usually improve) as floors are cleared. These titles can later be removed and placed on player characters. Random Dungeons take the form of a linear series of floors. The failure title is a good example. By giving a dungeon this title new beginners can beat hoards of high level enemies pretty easily. Unlike in Disgaea, where to descend to the next floor one may merely move a character to a certain panel, in Phantom Brave one must defeat all the enemies present to continue. Occasionally, a floor may have a special named layout (for example, "Self-Styled God" floors have a stronger enemy in the center of a terraced layout). These floors occur randomly and confer an extra bonus upon completion. To leave a random dungeon, one must either clear every floor, or use a Dungeon Monk's Return skill (which costs money proportional to the current depth).

While not in battle, Marona can return to her home - Phantom Island - where she can summon new phantoms to aid her. Phantoms actually populate the island as non-player characters. Many classes have a utility on the island - Merchants sell things, Healers heal and resurrect, Dungeon Monks allow the player to go to random battle fields, Fusionists fuse characters and items, Witches order spells and Blacksmiths fuse mana with weapons to either level them up or to awaken hidden skills the weapon can use. Also on Phantom Isle one can obtain the changebook which allows you to switch "main" characters.

As Marona and her group of Phantoms advance through the chapters, her ability to create Phantoms grows. The player starts off by being able to make a small amount of Phantoms, but as time goes on, one will be able to create more powerful Phantoms, such as fenrirs and zombies.

Like Disgaea before it, Phantom Brave has a series of extra maps following the main storyline. These maps feature cameos by some members of the Disgaea cast as enemies; after defeating them, they join the player's side as "phantom doubles". While the first couple of extra maps can be completed immediately after the main story, the later extra maps are very difficult and require a large amount of time to be spent leveling characters and fusing weapons for characters before they can be completed.

Characters

• Marona: The main heroine. A girl who has the ability to see phantoms, thus allowing her to be a chroma. Her parents died when she was 5, but Ash, a friend of her parents and a chroma himself came to protect Marona, even though he was stuck between life and death. Her power is Chartreuse Gale. Marona later appears in Makai Kingdom: Chronicles Of The Sacred Tome. She has been confirmed to return in Disgaea 3, with her story being that her pure heart has been stolen.

• Ash: The main hero. A young phantom who protects Marona. He worked as a chroma with Marona's parents and swore to protect Marona when her parents died and keeps his promise throughout the story.

• Raphael? (Bijou): A werewolf met in episode 1 who impersonates Raphael of the White Wolf Army.

• Walnut: A Chroma Oxide, a fighter who steals jobs from Chromas. He is willing to do anything to achieve his goals. It's strongly hinted that he is Castille's older brother. Walnut later appears in Soul Nomad and the World Eaters as the character Endorph.

• Castile: Marona's best friend. She is a young girl who is in a wheelchair. Early in the story she is kidnapped by Wrath, a minion of Sulphur, but is rescued by Ash and Marona. Castile later appears in Makai Kingdom: Chronicles Of The Sacred Tome as an optional boss fight. She and Marona are exploring various dimensions in search of Walnut with Mocha's help, and Castille takes up the challenge after Overlord Zetta injures Marona. Having sent Marona back home with Mocha, Marona realizes that she's stranded in Zetta's realm for the time being, and becomes a playable character. In the game, Castille has regained her ability to walk and has become a Brave alongside Marona, having learned Walnut's "Psycho Burgundy" skill, which the game mentions as being genetic.

• Putty (Putties): Small forest creatures who seem to be capable of shapeshifting and accessing other dimensions. On the first few meetings with Ash and Marona, they caused quite a lot of trouble. Later in the game one becomes Castile's pet and is named Mocha.

• Sienna: Sienna is an elegant, beautiful businesswoman, who happens to own Phantom Isle. She is very generous and polite to a fault, but her calm demeanor seems to hold a few secrets. Even her assistant, Murasaki, seems utterly clueless as to Sienna's true motivations, or what it is about Phantom Isle that is so important to her. Sienna owns a Bottle Mail factory, as well as Marona's island.

• Sprout: A man whose family was killed by Sulphur many years before the game's main storyline. He had sworn to kill Sulphur and avenge his family, and turned to the use of dark power despite once being the wielder of a holy sword. He is the former master of Raphael, and one of the warriors known as 9 Swords of Iviore. His power is Dark Eboreus.

• Count Malt: An old dignified Scrabbit who sends Marona to search for Scarlet the Brave.

• Raphael: The leader of the White Wolf Army, a group of ravens (demon slayers). He is one of the warriors known as 9 Swords of Iviore. He is first seen in the quest to get the rainbow bird, this first battle with Raphael does not result in a game over if lost.

• Scarlet the Brave: A legendary warrior who defeated Sulphur thirty years ago. Has not been seen since. Scarlet is in fact Sienna.

• Wraith: The most powerful minion of Sulphur and the one that killed Marona's parents along with Ash. He is a minor character, but moves the plot along at multiple occasions, appearing at times when Sulphur's power is particularly strong.

• Sulphur: The game's main antagonist. He doesn't appear until the final fight, but plays a huge role throughout the storyline, causing chaos around Iviore. He possesses many people throughout the game.

After the main game is completed, Sulphur somehow returns to Ivoire in a bonus map on the Island of Evil. Though Marona and Ash are successful in defeating him once more, it was still a mystery as to how he returned. The answer to the question wasn't revealed until a Soul Nomad optional map.

Lujei, after having been freed in GrimGrimoire, had been wandering through the space betweens dimensions when she'd come across Sulphur and Walnut. Compared to her initial appearance and her current behavior, it's heavily implied that the travel between dimensions caused her to go insane. She sent Walnut to Prodesto, where her healing magic was a bit stronger, then sent Sulphur back to Ivoire.

References

Maragos, Nich (August 27, 2004). In Character: 01 – The Art of Takehito Harada (Interview). Retrieved January 30, 2005.

External links

• Official US site
• Official Japanese site
• Best for the Family Edition page
• Phantom Brave at MobyGames