I'll admit, I personally hated just about everything about Phantom Brave. The only reason I stayed with it was because I felt bad for Marona and wanted to see what happened (even though I predicted most of the storyline) to Ash and Castile.

I will give them something though; The confine action in the battle system was a pretty neat function, though very annoying and probably the worst way to send units on to a field. It was unique, though.

It's basically unfortunate that this game went the way of the bad battle system (gridless isn't something ATLUS seems to be very good with) and you found yourself often either walking away from enemies, sliding way past them, losing your strongest members to being on the field too long, or an enemy a few levels under you stealing your weapon and O.B. ing it. That's the most annoying thing in this game, when you are so hilariously strong you can one shot the enemies you face, but they walk up to you, snag your weapon and throw it away. It's like a slap in the face.

That's enough on the bad gameplay...

About the graphics... What can I say that hasn't already been figured out? The character design is once again amazing. Marona and Castile are very cute characters (I saw some Pleinair hiding in the background of some cutscenes) and decent but could-be-better sprite work. Though, I have to say to the sprite artist, wonderful job on Maronas expressions.

Zip, zero, nadda replay value for me. You don't get a New Game + Account in this game, but playing on after the story is kinda cool. You get to face Prince Laharl, Beauty Queen Etna and Fallen Angel Flonne from the Netherworld. You also get to trash a few Prinnies. The best part of this game next to the storyline however; Getting to use Etna and Flonne copies. C: That's enough to make any Disgaea fan smile.

Just to knock off the last little category, it's not fun, really. It is a slow paced game (not as slow as other ATLUS games I've played, but pretty slow) with a great storyline and memorable characters. If you happen to find a copy for a few bucks, pick it up and try it, but don't spend more than a fistful of quarters on this game. It's just not worth it.

~jamu

Learning Curve: Takes a second

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