Traveler's Tales
Hands-on with Brave Story: New Traveler as we discover what might be the first true console-level RPG on the PSP.
Published: June 30, 2007
Nearly every preview, review and news story on the site these days harps on the fact that even after two years, the PSP hasn't really received a proper role-playing game on the level of anything seen on the PS one or PS2. Granted, it took about this long to get some really solid RPGs on those systems too, and the PSP has seen more than a few Beyond the Beyond-level efforts thus far, but it seems like the tide is finally turning. NIS America has Dragoneer's Aria[/i], developer Hit Maker's much-improved second PSP effort, Namco is readying [game=1453]Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, a PSP mash-up of previous Tales games, and XSEED is bringing over the Game Republic-developed Brave Story: New Traveler, which has gotten us more than a little excited about the PSP's RPG prospects.
Loosely based off the Japanese novel by Miyuki Miyabe, New Traveler is about as ready-made for Japanese RPG audiences as you can get; wee tyke Wataru and friend Miki are doing their thang in the park, which basically boils down to Wataru having his face buried in a PSP (oooooh, meta!) while Miki tries to get him to pay attention to her. She finally gets her wish when she mysteriously falls in and Wataru is called to enter a door to another realm. Given that Game Republic isn't without some imagination (just look at how crazy the monsters are in Folklore), it's a concept that's rife with opportunity to get creative.
So far, though, things have been fairly standard; Brave Story's combat system is straight out of a late 90s PlayStation JRPG, which is to say the turn-based battles offer your standard physical attacks and special moves that eat up MP (oh alright, Brave Points), but there are combo attacks that are added as party members become more comfortable with you. The battle system is also filled with a few nuances here and there: finish off an enemy with a strong blow and you'll get a free attack on a random other one; off an enemy right next to his friend and that friend will get pissed growing and turning red to become a much tougher enemy that can cough up plenty of experience and even rare items. Things like this give the game an updated 32-bit appeal, but without question, the game's biggest draw is in just how well it flexes the PSP's power.
For starters, the game is absolutely gorgeous, and sports some of the best visuals ever seen on the PSP in any genre. The characters sport a clean, slightly cartoony look that mirrors the style of something like Kingdom Hearts -- in fact, much of the game has that clean, almost dream-like feel to the visuals and sounds of a Square Enix game, which is to say it looks absolutely fantastic. The battle animations are jaw-droppingly smooth and well-done, and the monster designs so far have ranged from adorable to downright bizarre.
Best of all, the game is almost brash about the fact that it never appears to load -- so much so that perhaps Game Republic got a little carried away with the encounter rate. Yes, we love that there's no loading as New Traveler transitions from the overhead view of exploring dungeons to battles, but we wouldn't mind if it didn't interfere with the actual exploration so much. Even still, the game sports a strong localization (with some light but certainly acceptable voice acting during the wow-inducing in-game cutscenes) and the characters, though they may ride the cliché train to Cookie Cuttersville, are all peppered with detail.
We slogged through the first few hours of the game, and though it took upwards of 90 minutes to get past the point where the game was highlighting the obvious (you mean the building with the "INN" sign is an inn? Noooo!), once we started learning some of the ins and out of Wataru's role in this world (surprise, surprise, he's a "Traveler" and if he completes his quest can have a single wish granted, but first he has to travel the lands and find jewels that transform his enchanted sword) things started to pick up a bit. The inclusion of what seems to be an evil Traveler might just give the game more oomph, but even a couple hours in, he's only served to stir things up and then jet with a menacing line.
Though time will tell how the story -- one of the most important parts of any RPG -- turns out, the core of the game is absolutely there. The visuals really are beyond almost everything seen on the PSP so far, the tech in place means the usual stumbling blocks of low polygonal detail or long load times are nowhere to be seen and if the presentation as a whole can wrap back around and make for a satisfying adventure, we could finally be looking at the first original honest-to-goodness great RPG for the PlayStation Portable.
Full review next month!
Loosely based off the Japanese novel by Miyuki Miyabe, New Traveler is about as ready-made for Japanese RPG audiences as you can get; wee tyke Wataru and friend Miki are doing their thang in the park, which basically boils down to Wataru having his face buried in a PSP (oooooh, meta!) while Miki tries to get him to pay attention to her. She finally gets her wish when she mysteriously falls in and Wataru is called to enter a door to another realm. Given that Game Republic isn't without some imagination (just look at how crazy the monsters are in Folklore), it's a concept that's rife with opportunity to get creative.
So far, though, things have been fairly standard; Brave Story's combat system is straight out of a late 90s PlayStation JRPG, which is to say the turn-based battles offer your standard physical attacks and special moves that eat up MP (oh alright, Brave Points), but there are combo attacks that are added as party members become more comfortable with you. The battle system is also filled with a few nuances here and there: finish off an enemy with a strong blow and you'll get a free attack on a random other one; off an enemy right next to his friend and that friend will get pissed growing and turning red to become a much tougher enemy that can cough up plenty of experience and even rare items. Things like this give the game an updated 32-bit appeal, but without question, the game's biggest draw is in just how well it flexes the PSP's power.
For starters, the game is absolutely gorgeous, and sports some of the best visuals ever seen on the PSP in any genre. The characters sport a clean, slightly cartoony look that mirrors the style of something like Kingdom Hearts -- in fact, much of the game has that clean, almost dream-like feel to the visuals and sounds of a Square Enix game, which is to say it looks absolutely fantastic. The battle animations are jaw-droppingly smooth and well-done, and the monster designs so far have ranged from adorable to downright bizarre.
Best of all, the game is almost brash about the fact that it never appears to load -- so much so that perhaps Game Republic got a little carried away with the encounter rate. Yes, we love that there's no loading as New Traveler transitions from the overhead view of exploring dungeons to battles, but we wouldn't mind if it didn't interfere with the actual exploration so much. Even still, the game sports a strong localization (with some light but certainly acceptable voice acting during the wow-inducing in-game cutscenes) and the characters, though they may ride the cliché train to Cookie Cuttersville, are all peppered with detail.
We slogged through the first few hours of the game, and though it took upwards of 90 minutes to get past the point where the game was highlighting the obvious (you mean the building with the "INN" sign is an inn? Noooo!), once we started learning some of the ins and out of Wataru's role in this world (surprise, surprise, he's a "Traveler" and if he completes his quest can have a single wish granted, but first he has to travel the lands and find jewels that transform his enchanted sword) things started to pick up a bit. The inclusion of what seems to be an evil Traveler might just give the game more oomph, but even a couple hours in, he's only served to stir things up and then jet with a menacing line.
Though time will tell how the story -- one of the most important parts of any RPG -- turns out, the core of the game is absolutely there. The visuals really are beyond almost everything seen on the PSP so far, the tech in place means the usual stumbling blocks of low polygonal detail or long load times are nowhere to be seen and if the presentation as a whole can wrap back around and make for a satisfying adventure, we could finally be looking at the first original honest-to-goodness great RPG for the PlayStation Portable.
Full review next month!
