I think Square has created a worthy action-RPG to applease all zelda fans,
especially to those who don't own N64. Top-selling quality RPG games like
Xenogears, Final Fantasy VII, Saga Frontier, Final Fantasy Tactics, Square has
created a new awesome action-RPG game, Brave Fencer Musashi.
In fact, Square is the king of RPG developer and has dominated all the RPGs industry.
It's has proven that they can do RPGs very well and now their recent Non-RPG,
Tobal no 2 and Bushido Blade 2 are really impressive. Squaresoft games are
different from other games and developers go for one word-innovation. I am glad
to see new things coming from Square. Bushido Blade's one-hit kill, Xenogears's
giant gear combat, Final Fantasy VII's limit break and materia combination and
now Brave Fencer Musashiden's fusion ability and soon to be coming Final Fantasy
VIII's draw command has proven that Square can create new and exciting games all
the time. Back to the main topic.
160 years ago, a giant monster
suddenly appeared in Thirstquencher Empire, Allucaneet Kingdom's neighbouring
country. After easily destroying Thirstquencher Empire, it headed toward
Allucaneet, which had a plentiful supply of Binchotite buried beneath the
ground. Everything in the monster's path was destroyed, and it is said that many
monsters were created by the strange effects the Wizard of Darkness had on the
land. Brave Fencer Musashi was called upon by King Allucaneet to stop the evil
Wizard of Darkness, a huge creature composed of pure Binchotite, a mystical
mineral with mysterious properties from doing destruction to the world and is
the only raw material for making Bincholon.
Handed down from generation
to generation to the princess of Allucaneet, the Hero Summon spell is a special
power used only as a last resort when the kingdom is faced with great danger. It
grants the user the ability to summon a hero through incantations made over a
specially prepared chunk of Binchotite. The battle between Musashi and the
Wizard of Darkness raged on and on. The Wizard of Darkness was a formidable foe,
even for a hero like Musashi.
With the sword of Luminescence and the
help of five legendary armour Musashi collected, Brave Fencer Musashi could only
seal the Dark lumina, the wizard of darkness inside the sword and divided its
power into five legendary scrolls, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Sky and then
sealed them within the crest.In order to stop the wizard of darkness from doing
any harm to the world, Brave Fencer called upon the five crest guardians to
protect the five scrolls.
The storyline is beautifully written,
revolving a young hero, Musashi and the Allucaneet Kingdom, call upon to collect
the five scrolls and save the princess from the evil Thirstquencher Empire.
The graphics are really awesome, smooth with an ever-changing polygonal
enviroment even though they are not as glorious as Zelda. Everything is rendered
in textured polygons and the character is well shaded. The enviroment changes
from morning, afternoon, evening and to night as time passes. Due to the 24-hour
clock, the lightning effects can be a visual. However, there is one problem with
the polygonal graphics. There are some polygonal pop-up and tearing, which could
sometimes be annoying but still doesn't affect the gameplay.
The voice
actors has done very done. Brave Fencer Musashi packs quite an enormous amount
of voice-overs and the result is humour, that's the best. All i could say is
that the voice is really good.
Brave Fencer Musashi supports analog
controller, as well as vibrational function. Control is precise and naviagtion
is easy. The level design is simply well done, from anywhere of the point with
many hidden paths. That includes dungeons, forests etc.
There are lots
of hidden paths to explore but most disappointingly is the fact that there is
only one village here. Perhaps Square should take note of that. The game is
viewed from a three-fourth perspective view. You can only zoom in/out and the
camera is fixed during exploring while the camera can be rotated in the village.
Even though the village can be rotatable,it makes getting from one place to
another place difficult. It would really be appreciated if Squaresoft could make
an overhead angle from the village. Another good point is that Brave Fencer
Musashi has little or no loading times.
The musics are really good, even
though there wasn't as many, compared to Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII,
furthur establishing Square capablities of having quality music. Brave Fencer
Musashi also features fully orchestra musics. The ending theme, village theme,
raft theme etc are definitely some of my favourites.
Sound effect are
quite up to Squaresoft's quality. You can hear the clanking of sword fighting
and running water. After all, the Playstation has a very advanced sound chip.
The difference between A Link to the Past and Brave Fencer Musashi is
that Link can make use of tools like arrows, hammer he has found to help him in
his quest but in Brave Fencer Musashi, Musashi has to assimilate abilities from
enemies to help him in his quest such as hop, stun etc. To assimilate ability,
hold R1 until the gauge bar is fulled, and then press Square. A green arrow will
shoot out and if it hits the enemy, tap Square repeatedly until the gauge bar is
fulled and you will learn a new ability.
Instead of finding hearts to
increase max HP like Zelda, you need to find Minkus and Bincho Fields that are
scattered throughout the game in Brave Fencer Musashiden to increase your HP and
BP.
In link to the past, you temper your sword to increase sword level
and gains new abilities but in Musashi, you can attach scolls to your Lumina
sword to learn 5 different elemental attacks and even learn 6 sword techniques
to help you in your quest.
The action figure collection is also one of
the best feature too. By defeating a new enemy, you will get to buy the enemy
action figure with over 40 figures to collect. Even though it's a new feature, i
only wish there were more on this.
There are a total of six techniques
to learn, each with special unique skill. For example, the dashing pierce allows
you to dash towards your enemy and charge at them.
After you have
completed the game, you can save again to do all those unfinished business such
as collecting action figures and rescue people which you have not saved. You
will first begin with the fusion sword and later on you will obtain the Lumina
sword in the spiralling tower.
As far as RPG elements are
concerned,there are plenty of interactions in the village, whether it is talking
to a villager, buying things, appraise items, buying action figure etc. Unlike
Final Fantasy VII or Xenogears, it doesn't have any FMVs or anime for you to
watch. With the Final Fantasy VIII demo packed with the Brave Fencer Musashi, it
makes the game even a MUST.
Despite not having the best graphics for an
action-RPG, RPG elements like having a 24-hour clock, assimilation, collecting
action figure make up far more than anyone has expected. Once again, Square has
created another worthy beautiful gem. With gameplay that last between 14 to 28
hours, Brave Fencer Musashi will be able to keep you busy until Final Fantasy
VIII arrives next year in September. And don't forget about Parasite eve and
Xenogears.
My Personal Thought The story may look very simple
to you. Yeah, a hero saving the world. But, from what i think, the greatest
achievement that Brave Fencer Musashi has, is the amount of humor, something
which most games have failed to do so. One of the factors that owns to this
success is perhaps the voice-overs. And, if you truly enjoy the humourous
dialogues, then you will definitely enjoy Brave Fencer Musashi.
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