Yet another rare super-long-yet-not-lecturing-like-you-know-who post from your moderator
Peter sent me the japanese version of Brave Soul as well as the english modules…but I can’t run the english modules for some reason (tried it on 2 different computers) and the staff’s checking on it (may be just me, may be Peter giving me the wrong instructions, or may be I am just dumb), so I can’t say anything about the english version yet except the fact that a lot of text needs polishing. But then, since I do have a fully functional japanese version of the game…might as well go through the japanese game anyways and tell you guys more about this title.
The game is about the hero Rudy (name changable) starting out his journey to become a real man by becoming a “Hunter”. In the world of BS, a “Hunter” is pretty much no different than your typical mercenary (a freelance fighter so to speak), or, a Bounty Hunter. For the past 10 years (ie since he was a kid) he kept seeing a lady who says nothing but “thank you” whenever there is a full moon. He doesn’t know who she is so he just refers her as the “moon goddess.” Rudy begins his journey with his “sidekick” Shell, a little dragon Rudy adopted when he found Shell wounded when he was a kid. Although Shell can’t really speak, Rudy is sort of able to understand what Shell is trying to say. After they travel a bit, they came across a girl being attacked by a group of goblins. The girl is Alicia and she has a striking resemblence to Rudy’s “moon goddess” for some reason. Rudy saved her life, and Alicia in return joins the part as magical support. And off they go to become Hunters.
At the hunter’s guild, you are asked to complete a couple of tests/tasks in order to officially become a hunter. During these tests you will begin to meet the other heroines in the game. Once you pass all the test you will become a Hunter and from that time on you can take jobs as you wish, which is how the game works.
The job-taking is the most important part of the game because it determines which girl(s) stay in your party. There are some jobs that some girls won’t feel good participating (for example, Alicia’s clumsiness makes her feel wary about treasure hunting jobs that require going through traps) and if you take that job she will leave your party. So you will have to seriously consider which job to take according the girl(s)’ preference(s). Actualy if the girl leaves your party her impression won’t go down, but getting her back to the party is actually harder (you can only get her back to the party if you do one of her preferred jobs and if there is a free slot in your party; 4 charas max including the hero and his sidekick), and also the fact that completion of each task raises their impression towards you (as well as decisions made throughout)…so you might be better off by keeping your preferred girls in your party instead.
Also another interesting and important factor to consider when taking jobs is that these jobs come and go, and other Hunters will take them if you don’t, so availability of these jobs is limited. This means that there is a time factor in the game. If you decide to take a job there may be other jobs available the next day but you are stuck at your current job (although you can give up) so you may miss various opportunities. So the lesson here is: you don’t have to take the job as soon as it’s available. You may wish to see if there are other interesting (ie more appealing to the girls in your party) jobs available at a later time. Anyhow, time management is an important part of the game. Entering and exiting a dungeon cost you time too so don’t enter unnecessary places unless you want to let time pass (which is something you may wish to do actually)
About the battles…it’s an action RPG with all your other party members controlled via AI similar to SeikenDensetsu or Secret of Mana. The game is totally controlled via the mouse (although I wish I can use the keyboard, or better yet gamepad). The AI isn’t bad actually (at least they don’t do stupid things). Not much to say about it since it’s pretty much a smash-and-kill thing. Since this is a action RPG, a weapon’s attack speed versus its attack power is something you have to consider and weigh in terms of importance.
What else to talk about…techs?
The game’s music runs on MIDI, so if you have a cheapo on-board SB16-quality sound card…more power to ya. I have no problems with the quality with my SBlive! card. The game can run on 16-bit but if you want smoother and quicker battle animations you may wish to turn off all high-quality/anti-alias/alpha-channel related options.
All female character has voices, as well as Rudy (yes. male voice), Shell (even though the dragon only says “Ku-Ku”), and Rudy’s rival Codben (yes, male voice).
Overall, the game is nice since action RPGs are a rarety in bishoujo gaming even in Japan. The game is mostly driven from a comedic standpoint (Rudy’s rival Codben is there mainly for comic relief).
Finally, before you people ask me about playtime, I can’t answer that since I set the game at easy level, I turn off all graphic enhancements and I run the game at 10x the speed, and yes I used a Japanese walkthrough to save some time…so literally I was playing the game at lightning speed. But so far I did went through the ending with Alicia, Marine and a secret character.