by AnimeGamer183 » Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:25 pm
I started up Fairy Fencer F today, and I was pleasantly surprised, I mean its not anything mind blowing or does anything new and spectacular, it mainly is just a refreshing mix up from what im normally used to. There arent towns to explore as they present them as icons on a map which you can choose and have selection of people/things to interact with once inside, the only time you control your character are in dungeons, and while that may seem dull, it works well to get straight to the point of upgrading items, talking to folks at the pub, so it makes it a little bit less time consuming and tideous in the running around to every little thing, also its setup to use more time in the menu and upgrading your characters and specing them, which is cool and there are a bit of options which is also good.
One of the best parts is the anime inspired presentation, I love the designs of the characters and their fashion, you really have to be used to some anime inspired story and characters to fully appreciate it though. The characters are so unusual from what im used to, its just charming to me, but there is plenty of silly dialogue and anime humor and perversions to keep my chuckling and some times even shaking my head along the way.
The Art direction is fine, but the visuals are choppy, well the models anyway, the slightly moving anime art during the cut scenes and events are gorgeous. Its totally obvious this is a japanese game from the way its done and presented, it reminds me a bit of old school japanese PC games from about 10+ years ago, when you enter a city for example you choose your destination, and once inside its back ground with your characters art doing what ever event or option you chose. Also, this things music was co-produced by Uematsu, and it shows, there was a particular tune I recognized instantly as his work, but its not exactly your usual Final Fantasy score, the music has a very japanese feel.
The whole game is almost a throw back for me, it really riles up my inner anime fan, and its unusual characters and scenario really make it a fresh experience and something different from the norm from my usual JRPG ventures, and I like the mixture it brings. I would reccomend this game to anime fans, it would also work well as a beginners game wanting to get into JRPGs because its very simply setup, atleast in terms of its world anyway, yet it still has great art direction the world and areas are great to look it, if only they just werent so choppy, thats my biggest complaint so far, the free roaming areas and models are choppy.