Phantom Brave

THE GOOD:
Music and Graphics rock! Storyline is just deep enough that you don't have to think about it if you don't want to.

THE BAD:
Catch phrases leave something to be desired, and I wish the magic graphics hit what they cover.

SUMMARY:
This game rules! The music is great, though it does get repetitive in the 99 floor dungeon that it takes to unlock Baal (the last extra charachter) but is easily suplimented with any movie soundtrack. The graphics are Great! Of course with Takehito Harada doing graphics I don't think it could be bad.

On the other hand, phrases like "...For her sake I will not fail!" get old very quickly. my only other complaint is that if a Special Attack's graphic hits half of the stage it should damage more than a small circle of enemies.

Also, I've noticed nobody recognizes the Time line and the fact we got the games in reverse order. If you have all three check...

THE GOOD:
THE MUSIC, the graphics, Laharl, Etna, Flonne, Mid-Boss, and prinnies as cameos, you can use almost anything as a weapon.

THE BAD:
Difficult at some parts, the storyline and characters aren't nearly as spectacular as Disgaea.

SUMMARY:
Since the story is on the game info page, I'll get right to the point.

Phantom Brave by Nippon Ichi is a very good strategy RPG that allows you to move in a circular style instead of being restricted to tiles. You can also equip almost anything as a weapon. From a generic sword to a tree to a record player. Of course, each weapon has it's own special abilities. The graphics are beautiful. The music is entertaining and sets the mood, especially at boss fights.

As for the characters.......
They're pretty much just there.

THE GOOD:
The Characters for one, are very indepth and well designed. Playing around with the title system is lot's of fun.
The gameplay. It's TURN BASED! You guys have no idea how much I missed turn based combat. Plust the combat is taken to another notch what with the phantoms and strategizing involved. It makes me so happy.
Creating your own phantom army was a genius idea. I have so much customization, and I love that.
The music. The music is so catchy, and rarely midi-ish. There some particular levels where I just really get into the little tune they play. Very nice.

THE BAD:
Okay the sprites. This isn't really a bad thing per se, but it's one of the lesser aspects of the game. I understand this was done on purpose, to give he game warmth, but I think they should have used better character models, like in Dark Cloud 2. That would be fine, they could still be essentially 2d and still cell-shade an everything.
Also,...

This review based on the US Limited Edition version.)

Initial thoughts:

This game was a no-brainer reservation: I rank Disgaea in my top ten reasons to own a PS2, and while I was somewhat disappointed in La Pucelle: Tactics I recalled my friends attempting to tell me that Final Fantasy III was a primitive and uninspired game --- friends that had played Final Fantasy VII first.

The first hour was somewhat frustrating: unlike Disgaea, where the experience system was very forgiving due to the overwhelming power of Laharl, Phantom Brave doesn't pull as many punches. You'll still find Ash to be your strongest fighter for most of the game. Sticking to the storyline progression for experience will get you killed.

Graphics: (10/10)

I like the Nippon Ichi art style: well drawn, nicely animated characters in simple, flat format. The same mastery of the style shown in La Pucelle and in Disgaea is in full effect, though the particle and lighting effects used...