Phantom Brave for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

For starters if you liked disgaea then youll love this it has the same SRPG feel to it and also has the option to make the vioce acting in original japanese! (english voices are annoying. The game still has funny dialogue though :D. which is deffinently a plus (like disgaea). But one thing is the confine option is really annoying but this is my rating based on my opinions so rent the game yourself to find out!!!!!

First let me say that I'm a big fan of Nipon Ichi and it's sister company, Atlus(US), so maybe I'm a bit biased when it comes to this game.

The story is about Marona, a fair-minded young girl, and her best friend Ash the phantom. Growing up on an island alone, she's had to come to terms with her ability to see phantoms, in a world where no one understands her. Even so, she's managed to keep a positive outlook, and wants nothing more than to help people in need. To do this, and to help pay the rent, she's taken a job as a Chroma, the hired mercenaries of the realm.

It's in the course of this job that the story takes place, as our young heroine faces great challenges and some mean people...mean people can be really mean, as you'll see if you read the letters she gets, and the newspaper articles about her. Throughout her trials, Ash is there to give her good advice, and protect her from harm.

Now, lets have a look at gameplay:

The combat controls are a bit more complicated than what they've used for La Pucelle and Disgaea, and takes some getting used to. Where as before there was a base panel you'd bring your party out of, now you use you're main character, Marona, to bind, or "capture", phantoms into objects that are strewn throughout the levels. These phantoms have turn limits that shorten their time in battle to a few turns, making strategy a major factor when choosing who to summon and when.

There's a wide range of summonable phantoms, and a large party is possible and preferable until you get the hang of the system. The battles are similar to Disgaea in that a characters speed determines how quickly they have their next turn. Building up this skill can have some humorous results, and as with the other games, there are short 'example battles' that play if you wait at the start screen, that show you just how much you can do with this game.

If you liked the other games by Nipon Ichi, I'd say give this one a try, I really enjoyed it!