Persona 5 Thoughts from the Day Breakers Anime Special

Persona 5 has been getting plenty of hype lately. Leading up to it's Japanese release yesterday, there were plenty of preview videos appearing online and it couldn't look more stylish and fun. What hasn't been touched upon much is the story of Persona 5, most likely to avoid spoilers since story is typically one of the best parts of a Persona game. But for those like me who don't mind a little extra context before playing a game, a special episode of Persona 5 the Animation was released last week which gives the first extended insight into Persona 5’s story. It's a fun episode that shows off Persona 5’s characters and story premise all while maintaining enough mystery to carry the hype train forward and to satisfy those who wanted a little taste of what's to come in Persona 5.

Warning: Mild spoilers for the episode follow in this article. I've included as little as possible, but I'd still advise proceeding with caution! Also, despite Persona 5 being out in Japan, this article was written before I played it so it has no influence from it. Enjoy!

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts

Before the anime, it had been revealed that Persona 5’s group of main characters would be part of a group called the Phantom Thieves of Hearts - criminals seemingly fighting for good, but with questionable intentions. With a description like that, I wondered if we could expect to be playing as the good guy or the bad guy in Persona 5, which would be a big jump from the other Persona games. But the Persona 5 the Day Breakers special shows the Phantom Thieves of Hearts targeting a person who is clearly a bad person. The target is abusive to his brother and slyly uses his lock-picking job to break into places for his own personal gain, something a good person wouldn't do. This really paints a much clearer picture of which side the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are on and I think they're definitely fighting for good after watching the special.

And since they’re most likely fighting for good, the practically trademarked stylish action scenes that Persona does so well between the Phantom Thieves of Hearts and their target is complete with heroic speeches about justice, made in a way that each character was able to shine. Complete with cool costumes, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts come off as an incredibly likable mix of teenagers complete with strong personalities and the right amount of attitude. It was particularly nice to see more of Yusuke, considering the protagonist, Anne and Ryuji have been around since the first trailer, but Yusuke has only been revealed in small doses. He comes across as smart and reliable and fits in well with the rest of the team. So far The Phantom Thieves of Hearts are an interesting group and I definitely feel good about being on their team in Persona 5.

The Antagonists

While it was great to see the likely heroes of Persona 5 in the Daybreakers, the episode’s following of a thief gang is potentially a good insight into the type of enemies and stories that will appear in Persona 5. The gang followed in the Daybreakers were a greedy, self-righteous group trying to get as much money and loot as possible through all the wrong methods and with no remorse for their actions. This makes me wonder if this is the kind of morally questionable foe we can expect to face in Persona 5. Interestingly, I noticed the group seemed to have no tie to the supernatural world, making me also wonder if the enemies will be everyday criminals or if it will be revealed later that the criminals are tied to shadows and the supernatural beings usually featured in Persona games. But ultimately, it was very easy to see who was good and bad in the Day Breakers special, so I wonder if this transparency about the enemy will be evident in Persona 5.

The Detective

Note the Persona 4 colour scheme in the background

The most recent character announcement for Persona 5 was Goro Akechi, a high school detective connected to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. The character was notably announced separately from the main cast of characters and not featured in the official trailer of the game. The anime continues this theme, making him feel even more separate to the group, yet he is said to join the Phantom Thieves of Hearts eventually but last. He appears in the Day Breakers special to be working alone and be rather against the changing of hearts done by the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, which makes me wonder if he is truly friend or foe initially. I’m sure I wasn't the only person who immediately thought of Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 who was also a high school detective and took some time to join the Investigation Team, so wonder if he will mirror this in Persona 5.

The Velvet Room

The end of the Day Breakers special confirmed the situation and context regarding the Velvet Room. Igor is evidently tougher sounding and the protagonist is a prisoner instead of being a guest like in the other Persona games. Igor’s words “The rest of the story is up to you” to the protagonist carries some interesting potential subtext; is he referring to the in game choices that will be made by the player in Persona 5 or was the protagonist doing this mission as prisoner on Igor's orders? This will probably become clearer in Persona 5, but the special confirmed that this is a different Velvet Room to what Persona fans may be used to.

Persona 5 the Daybreakers may not be enough to tired most fans over until the localisation, but it is certainly a nice look into the world of Persona 5. After seeing the Phantom Thieves of Hearts in action, I’m finally completely excited to play as them in Persona 5 and knowing they’re probably fighting for good makes me like them even more as someone who enjoys taking down JRPG bad guys. The special left plenty to speculate about until the release and localisation of Persona 5, but one thing that’s for sure is the Persona 5 the Day Breakers had all the action, style and heart expected from a Persona game. All we need now is the game.

Photos from Persona 5 the Animation were taken from the Standard Definition version on Crunchyroll, where you can watch the SD version for free (to watch it in HD requires a subscription).

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What do you think of the Persona 5 the Animation special? How much about Persona 5 do you want to know before its release?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

The Pros and Cons of Mobius Final Fantasy (First Impressions)

I've been feeling really positively about most smartphone games I've been playing recently. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius has become a new staple in my smartphone game roster and I'm also having fun playing Kingdom Hearts Unchained X and X-Tactics at my own pace. I was so ready to add Mobius Final Fantasy to my smartphone game roster and love it like I had all other Final Fantasy mobile games I've played so far. I had all my pre-registration rewards ready, I tweeted about it and I was genuinely keen. Unfortunately, being keen for something leaves you open to being let down. After downloading Mobius, I played it for one night, tried to jump back in the next day and found I didn't have the immediate hook I’d gotten from my other recent smartphone JRPG discoveries. This was (and is still) strange to me, since I thought Mobius had some very cool ideas in its trailers and I liked the idea of having a version of Final Fantasy similar to the modern ones on consoles on my smartphone. There are things that make Mobius both good and bad which set it apart from other mobile Final Fantasy games, sometimes to its benefit and other times not.

Pro: Modern graphics

Con: Not as good as console Final Fantasy games

Final Fantasy’s more recent mobile games like Final Fantasy Record Keeper and Brave Exvius both boast a more retro, sprite visual style reminiscent of older Final Fantasy games. In contrast, Mobius Final Fantasy uses a more modern Final Fantasy art and production style in the vein of Final Fantasy XIII or XIV with 3D character models and enemies, along with the text box being replaced by voice acted 3D story scenes. The production style gives a nice variety to the Final Fantasy games already available on smartphone, being the only modern Final Fantasy game like this available in the west.

The only downside to this is that if you're like me and you've played the modern Final Fantasy games, while the graphics are great in Mobius they don't reach the smoothness that console Final Fantasy graphics do. This is a problem that other Final Fantasy games like Brave Exvius don't suffer from because they use simpler graphics for the most part and save stunning 3D animations for the opening movie and summons. The art style isn't terrible for Mobius, but I wish they incorporated the stunning Square Enix animation that's usually on display to make the visuals feel better in quality.

Pro: Voice acted legitimate cutscenes…

Con: ...on my smartphone

I love and hate the fact Mobius uses voiced cutscenes. I actually vastly prefer games that are voiced because it adds another layer of immersion to the narrative and I think Mobius is no exception. What I do have a problem with is this on my phone. It sounds a little silly, but I feel like every game I've played on my smartphone prior to Mobius has trained me to rarely play with headphones (despite Final Fantasy's wonderful music) because it's all in text or I'm playing in situations where it would be rude to play the music or shove my headphones in my ears such as the small moments I find to play at work. Meanwhile, voiced acted console games have trained me to listen to them and enjoy all the cutscenes available to me. I treat Mobius more like a console game, but this means I require a quiet spot and some time to play just in case I stumble upon a cutscene by chance. I love the idea of this style of Final Fantasy in my pocket, but that's also time I could be playing a game on Vita with a bigger world and more story to find.

Pro: Complex gameplay

Con: Tough to manage on smartphones

Mobius features some very interesting classes that are chosen through making a card deck. This is quite different to any Final Fantasy equipment and ability system I've ever played and on the surface it seems complex enough to be overwhelming. In saying that, I don't ever think having a deep system in a game is bad, but on smartphones it is a little tougher to manage. The battle system is also complicated, but a little more successful than the equipment system. Capturing Elemental Orbs to help get better defense against an enemy or to encourage the right elements to come to cast the perfect Elemental attack is an interesting system that’s intuitive enough on smartphones after some practice and those who find it difficult can just hit the Auto button and play out a near perfect set of attacks anyway. I can get into the battle system but learning all of the cards, what classes they make and the ins and outs of which works best against which enemy feels cumbersome on my smartphone. Not only that, but the multiple small somewhat non-responsive (at least on my phone) buttons just look too overwhelming the get the hang in five minute intervals during my day. This is probably a more personal gripe, but it puts me off nonetheless for what seems like a decent system I can't get motivated to try.

Pro: An interesting story premise
Con: Not being driven enough to experience it because of other elements

Mobius may not be a perfect game, but I can't knock it has a cool story premise. The protagonist awakens with amnesia as one of the many ‘blanks’ brought to Palamecia. One of these blanks is said to be a hero and they all must train to prove their worth, especially since the city is being attacked by Chaos. The story seemingly will follow the protagonist through his journey to either become or find this hero, all the while training to become strong enough to be worthy either way. I like this idea and it does tempt me to one day just hit ‘Auto’ to play the story. I honestly just wish I was more motivated to play it, but my frustrations with the equipment system, the art and setting aside time in case cutscenes show up are currently keeping me away from it.

This is the first Final Fantasy mobile game that I haven't been jazzed about and despite my frustrations, I’m genuinely bummed about it because I wanted to like it. The trailers for Mobius looked great and there are plenty of good ideas in Mobius, such as the story and the battle system, but in its current form on smartphones it feels too cumbersome and with other high quality Final Fantasy smartphone games and with so many games available on smartphones, I feel the need to stick with what I know is good and worth my time. I say this now with great hope that some of the things I mentioned such as the interface with small buttons and even the animation will be upgraded or edited in a way in future that attracts enough good attention to it to make me come back. But for now, I can’t see myself playing much of Mobius in the near future in favour of spending that time with my Vita and other smartphone games, unless I hear amazing things about the story.

Mobius Final Fantasy is free and  available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

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What do you think of Mobius Final Fantasy? Want to sell me on it? (I genuinely want to like it, so feel free!)

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Review: Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS)

When I began my tactical JRPG kick, Fire Emblem was one of the first series I wanted to try. As a fan of the Persona series and after enjoying the fun tactical smartphone JRPG X-Tactics, Fire Emblem’s combination relationship and tactical mechanics sounded right up my alley. Fire Emblem Awakening may not be the most recent Fire Emblem game, but it doesn't take away from being a tactical JRPG triumph. With a well thought out and unique tactical battle system and twist-filled plot full of interesting characters, I was captivated with Fire Emblem Awakening from start to finish.

Fire Emblem Awakening’s story begins in the midst of a war between nations as the amnesiac Avatar (the customisable playable character) awakens in a field and is found by the royal family of the Ylisse nation, consisting of the strong-willed prince Chrom, his loyal knight Frederick and the light-hearted princess Lissa. The tactically-skilled Avatar quickly joins the nation's army and becomes a key member thanks to their ability in battle, which begins the epic and emotional story of Awakening. Fire Emblem Awakening goes beyond being a typical war story though, with an undertone of exploring the idea of fate and who can change the future adding uniqueness that style of story. Enhancing the story's biggest moments are the beautiful 2.5D style cutscenes and animation that really raise the biggest moments in Awakening to new heights and Awakening's cast of characters that strike a good balance between being likable and strong.

Complimenting Fire Emblem Awakening’s war story is its interesting and deep tactical battle system. Using Awakening’s large and diverse range of customisable characters and classes, each battle has your army and an opponent's fighting one another to either take out the army leader or the entire enemy army. Fire Emblem is known for its ‘rock, paper, scissor’ system where certain weapons and classes are better against each other, much like elemental spells in other JRPGs. It's an interesting way to decide which weapons to equip as I'm too used to in a lot of JRPGs picking the strongest weapon and dominating for a portion of the game. The new way of thinking when buying and equipping weapons was appreciated and saves some challenge for all parts of the game, whether you've been grinding your characters or not. I also liked that characters can equip up to 5 different spells and weapons, with each of them losing durability after each use making me plan carefully whether using a spell that may break completely was really worth using.

Apart from the fighting part of the battle system, my favourite aspect of the tactical system was pairing characters together to assist each other. This adds another layer to the battle system, with the relationship between the characters deciding how much of a benefit would be received from pairing certain characters. These benefits include how often attacks are stopped by a partner or having a potential extra hit or two on the enemy. It sounds like a lot to think about, but these mechanics work so seamlessly together that even new Fire Emblem players like myself should be able to pick them up easily enough.

Relationships were a big part of my Fire Emblem Awakening experience, especially since I enjoyed the Support System so much. The Support System gives a unique opportunity to get to know the characters and world of Fire Emblem Awakening through bonus dialogues while leveling up your relationship with the character to help in battle. There are many pleasant surprises to this system that I won't spoil, but the characters unlocked were great motivation to continue through the conversations and some of my favourite characters such as amusingly evil Tharja and the sweet-loving thief Gaius wouldn't have left such an impression on me without this exploration into Awakening's well-rounded characters creating different romantic and platonic relationships.

On top of the pleasant surprises found in battle and in its support system, Awakening provides plenty of replayability through gameplay difficulty, modes, a New Game Plus-like system and its various support pairing options so you can enjoy these for as long as possible. There are Normal, Hard and Lunatic difficulties to challenge yourself with, with Normal giving a significant amount more lucky evasion moments and Lunatic requiring a lot more tactical skill and strategy for each level to avoid constant character death. There's also the Classic and Casual game modes, with Casual allowing players to keep their knocked out units, while Classic implements ‘permadeath’, which doesn't affect the story but means the ‘dead’ units can be killed in battle and not used for the rest of the game. I played a combination of Normal difficulty with the Casual setting as it was my first Fire Emblem and still found enough challenge to not feel like I was being babied through the game, but I'm considering going back and trying Classic with the Lunatic difficulty for a true challenge to what most long-time Fire Emblem fans are more used to.

If the gameplay and story weren’t good enough, the cherry on top of the experience would be Fire Emblem Awakening’s beautiful music, voice acting and cool 2.5-D anime style cutscenes. Because the game takes advantage of the 3DS’s 3D functionality, Awakening’s biggest moments are both visually and sonically dynamic. Throughout battles is the great music composed for the game, with epic orchestral pieces in battle making things even more exciting and I literally got tingles hearing the final boss music for the first time. Awakening also offers both the English and Japanese voiceover tracks and both use really great voice actors that portray their characters really well.

If you’re looking for a fun, complex yet intuitive tactical JRPG, look no further than Fire Emblem Awakening. The tactical battles were as fun as they were unique, especially thanks to the support system where I could make good use of my time and characters on and off the battlefield. I played Fire Emblem Awakening for 60 hours, but I leave its world greatly looking forward to the next Fire Emblem challenge I play. It's tactically great, has a great plot and is well worth pulling out of the backlog.

Score: 9.5/10

For those with a 3DS and tactical JRPG tendencies, the high quality of Fire Emblem Awakening's battle system and support systems is very satisfying.

You can pick up Fire Emblem Awakening for 3DS at Play-Asia.com!

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What did you think of Fire Emblem Awakening? Which other Fire Emblem games would you recommend?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

JRPGs I Played in Summer 2016

This Summer was the season of a surprising amount of mobile games for me. I did play a bunch of games on consoles and portable devices, but with the release of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and Mobius Final Fantasy I had my work as a JRPG fan cut out for me. Aside from mobile games, I also finally completed the wonderful Fire Emblem Awakening and I just started Lost Dimension on Vita which I’m happy with so far. Speaking of handhelds, I’d like to give a shout out to portable gaming devices in general this month as they were a total gaming lifesaver while I was moving apartments this month. Without portable consoles, my gaming life would’ve been on hold and that simply wouldn't do! So here’s what I played this season and I hope everyone enjoyed their Summer gaming time! Let me know your favourite JRPGs of this Summer in the comments.

Lost Dimension (PS Vita)

Status: Now playing. Suspicious of everyone.

I've definitely still got a lot of Lost Dimension to get through but I picked it up recently to fill time in between now and Final Fantasy XV (which you know, is delayed now) after it was recommended to me on Twitter (thanks @Sypherica!). I’m already enjoying its tactical battle system a lot and I really like how the Vision system helps you take notes on who the traitor may be. Since I’ve been enjoying the Danganronpa 3 anime recently, Lost Dimension satisfies my JRPG needs and my mystery 'find-the-traitor' visual novel needs all in one game.

You can pick up Lost Dimension at Play-Asia.com

Digimon World DS (DS, Japanese)

Status: Played for about 15 minutes, back on the shelf.

I missed Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth enough to pick up Digimon World DS when I randomly saw it for under $10 secondhand. I didn’t do any research on it, I was just hoping it would bring me fun Digimon collection and the Digimon World experience I remembered from my childhood. I switched it on, found the different animation style and Japanese a little jarring, but I’m not saying it’s bad as it’s way too early to tell. I’ll have to sit down and really give this game a proper try sometime but I still think it was a cool find.

Long Gone Days (Steam demo, full game coming in 2018)

Status: Now playing, played a small amount between packing boxes to move. Hoping to play in full in the next few weekends

Another game suggested by a friend (thanks @DefurInTokyo!), Long Gone Days is probably my second or third indie JRPG. I only played it briefly while taking a break from moving preparations, but already I like its quick character development and simplistic, yet smart battle system that required a little more thought than just hitting attack. Since I really enjoy the JRPG cross Visual Novel genre, I'm looking forward to getting back to this one soon.

You can play the demo of Long Gone Days on Steam now for free!

Mobius Final Fantasy (iOS)

Status: Played for about an hour, not actively playing

I played Mobius for an evening after being super excited for it in the weeks leading up to its launch. After playing it, I found myself a little underwhelmed. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad game, but it didn’t hook me in. I don’t mind games with cards (I play Hearthstone regularly) but when combined with the lack of familiar Final Fantasy mechanics, while the system was interesting, it's not what I overly want from a portable Final Fantasy game. I really wanted to like Mobius so I may check in with it on occasion, but for now it's not nearly as compelling as Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is for me.

Mobius Final Fantasy is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (PS4)

Read the full review here!

Status: Slowly platinuming

With my trusty Agumon pillow, I remembered I wanted to platinum Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth eventually and remembered how much fun I had with it. Coming back to a game after such a long time though, I saw how much I needed to do, felt a little overwhelmed and kinda bounced out. I do want to try platinum games I love in Japanese like I’m trying to do (with limited success) with Final Fantasy X so I know if I really want to collect all of those Digimon, I’ll do it.

You can pick up Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth at Play-Asia.com

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (iOS)

Read the full review here!

Status: Playing a few times a week on the go

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius was another Final Fantasy mobile game I was extremely excited for and to my delight, ended up totally loving. Since I was a long time fan of Record Keeper, I initially wondered if Exvius would be as good as it was and it turned out to be better. It's character collection is like an upgraded version of Record Keeper, its battle system is much smarter for the platform it's on and there are finally some maps to explore making it feel much more like a legitimate RPG. In my opinion, it's the best Final Fantasy game on smartphones so definitely try it if you're a fan of Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ (iOS)

Read the full review here!

Status: Playing a few times a week on the go

Another one of the great mobile games released by Square Enix recently is Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ. I think Unchained χ is a particularly amazing smartphone game because it manages to somehow turn the active battle mechanics of Kingdom Hearts into a turn-based system while feeling like a really similar system to the Kingdom Hearts games on Playstation consoles. Unchained χ is literally giving away Stamina/AP right now with the current 0 AP Summer promo so if you're looking to try the game without limitations, now is the time.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained X is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

X-Tactics (iOS)

Read the full review here!

Status: Playing occasionally on the go.

With so many new mobile games out, my X-Tactics playing did fall a little by the wayside. The times I did play though I was reminded how well the gameplay mechanics work together and would like to catch up on quests for it during Fall. I also really want to continue collecting X-Coin to get the adorable Kuku into my party and finish the quests to get the third special attack for my characters.

X-Tactics is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper (iOS)

Read my first impressions or about my recent experiences with the game!

Status: Hiatus

It’s with many sighs that I consciously jumped off the Final Fantasy Record Keeper train this month because I just couldn't enjoy it the same way after Brave Exvius came out. Record Keeper was a great game when it came out but I got stale with the repetitive mechanics without any story or other incentive to keep playing, especially after I got behind on its content. I really liked Record Keeper for a long time so I’m a little sad it’s out of my mobile game roster but I’m also excited to keep finding more games that will keep me committed for over a year like Record Keeper did.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS)

Status: Finished the main story. May play again one day in other difficulty modes

I really wish I hadn’t put off playing this for so long because it was fantastic. Fire Emblem Awakening is hands down one of the best tactical JRPGs I’ve ever played. The way its Support system affected the battles had me really motivated and excited to pair off characters and just the way the game was so personable with its characters was nice too. I already miss Tharja as well, my new favourite experimenting mage that’s high on my best girl list and many of the other fun characters that enriched the experience. As a new Fire Emblem fan, I’ll definitely be picking up Fire Emblem Fates soon as I’m sure it will be even better than Awakening. Feel free to comment with any other Fire Emblem suggestions!

You can pick up Fire Emblem Awakening at Play-Asia.com

Honourable Mention (Non-JRPG): Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

Technically not a JRPG, but it’s one of the funnest third-person shooter adventure games I’ve ever played and hooked me in the usual Danganronpa way of interrupting any after work activities I needed to do all week because I needed to finish that story. Not a good idea while I was preparing to move, but goddamn it was a fun 30 hours. I wanted to add it in this list because Danganronpa always manages to give me that hook I'm always looking for in games and its mechanics are a little similar to JRPGs, so I think some people will enjoy it and its messed up story about kids killing adults.

You can pick up Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls at Play-Asia.com

Fall Game Plan

Once this heat has subsided and fall has arrived, it brings with it a really big JRPG title - Persona 5. However this will only be out in Japanese and I definitely won't understand it on a native level. I was completely ready to give Final Fantasy XV the rest of my year, but since it’s been delayed I have no excuse not to try and understand Persona 5 in Japanese now. I’ll give it a shot, but it won’t be my top priority gaming wise. I’ll probably finish Lost Dimension and after that I’m not really sure. Like I said, Final Fantasy XV really had the rest of the foreseeable year for me and I have such a surprising amount of free gaming time now that I'm not sure what to do with it.

To fill this free time, since I’ve finished moving apartments it would be nice to get back in touch with my home consoles. I may finally try the Atelier series or give Final Fantasy VII - one of my biggest unplayed JRPG sins - a try on PS4. I'm also pretty excited for World of Final Fantasy after the E3 footage shown and the new trailers, so at least I can get my Final Fantasy fix somehow!

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What did you play in Summer? Do you have any gaming plans for fall or did Final Fantasy XV's delay also leave a hole in your life?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

A Brave New Record: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Review (Reviewed on iOS, also on Android)

The Final Fantasy series has really made its way into the mobile gaming market. With a majority of the core Final Fantasy games available as paid apps on smartphones alongside free Final Fantasy apps such as Final Fantasy Record Keeper, there’s an experience for Final Fantasy fans of all budgets and tastes, ranging from the old school JRPG Final Fantasy style to the more modern 3D style seen in recent Final Fantasy games. The Brave Frontier inspired Final Fantasy Brave Exvius take inspiration from the classic Final Fantasy games with its turn-based battle system, pixel art sprites and town exploration that will be familiar to fans of the series. But it isn't all classic Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius balances bringing a new Final Fantasy experience to the smartphone space featuring an interesting story with witty dialogue reminiscent of the classic games and also brings in the fun collection and turn-based systems featured in other mobile and core Final Fantasy series games of old and new.

As someone who was a longtime fan of Final Fantasy Record Keeper but needed something to hook me in to continue playing, the story in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is a solid answer to this problem. Brave Exvius is set in the world of Grandshelt and explores the protagonists Rain and Lasswell’s journey in balancing Grandshelt's powers of Lapis and Visions. This is the main premise anyway, as the pair seem to get sidetracked frequently, whether it be to save helpless citizens or, in true Final Fantasy style, to meet mysterious girls inside crystals. This kind of more lighthearted storytelling is great for the small story chapters in Brave Exvius as a game that'll live in most people's pockets, so the witty banter between Rain and Lasswell males each chapter feel enjoyable in its under 5 minute length and is a nice way to progress through its 'saving the kingdom' story.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius gets part of its name from Brave Frontier, another popular RPG game by developer A-Lim. But Final Fantasy Brave Exvius also places plenty of importance of the Final Fantasy part of its name, using plenty of mechanics, characters and aspects from Final Fantasy. As someone who hasn’t played Brave Frontier, I still felt right at home with the familiar gameplay elements featured in Brave Exvius. The spells, Espers, limit breaks and explorable towns and dungeons are all very Final Fantasy-like and are a much needed upgrade to the basic character battle used in other Final Fantasy mobile games. Brave Exvius features a touch-based interface that utilises swipes to give a variety of different commands during battle. A swipe to the left will allow you to use skills, a swipe to the right will allow you to defend. This kind of smart use of the smartphone’s touch screen take advantage of the available screen space and allow for a battle system pretty close to the one seen in older Final Fantasy games. Add in Espers and Limit Breaks and battles are pretty exciting. While it does have an Auto function that’s featured in most Final Fantasy mobile games, this kind of complexity encourages players to actually think out their moves and play like they would on a console Final Fantasy game or at least use the Repeat function to automatically use the same command you used before.

A really noteworthy thing in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is its inclusion of towns and exploration maps, something that I really enjoyed in Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and was glad to see in Brave Exvius as well. Towns allow players to buy a variety of items at stores, including weapons, armour and healing items, along with recipes to craft all these things for those wanting to save gil and use materials in the neat crafting mechanic instead. Also in the towns are NPCs that give quests, an RPG feature that makes the world of Brave Exvius feel much more real and RPG-like than most smartphone RPGs I’ve played. The quests given in towns usually lead to visiting an Exploration area, which features a maze-like map littered with monsters and treasure chests for players to hunt out items for quests, crafting and character upgrades. The exploration is generally simpler than what’s found in console Final Fantasy games, but it’s still one of my favourite aspects of Brave Exvius because it makes it feel like a genuine JRPG world.

Along with finding items for quests and upgrades, there’s plenty to unlock, collect and upgrade in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius whether you’re into character collection or stat building. For those like myself who came from Final Fantasy Record Keeper, the character collection continues with Brave Exvius' gacha system that uses Friend Points accumulated by making friends or having other players assist you in battle to summon extra units to battle with. These units include characters exclusive to Brave Exvius and also characters from old Final Fantasy games, which I was delighted by when I got a Vivi. For those looking to strengthen their battle units, characters can be Awakened (upgraded) up to a 5 star ranking, providing plenty of opportunity for more powerful characters and grinding. Grinding is made easy with Brave Exvius' Vortex quests, which provide either materials, gil or experience depending on the type of dungeon the player chooses for each day. Whenever I was under-leveled for a quest, I really enjoyed how easy it is to find a way to get better units and upgrade my existing characters and found it really easy to understand as a JRPG player.

To accelerate unit collecting and upgrade material collection is Lapis, a material Grandshelt and also Brave Exvius’ in-game currency that can be bought with real world money. For those wanting to keep their experience free, there are plenty of opportunities to win Lapis in the game through quests and login bonuses and I never found myself to be out of them. A cool thing that Lapis can purchase are the weekly shopping packs released in Brave Exvius that offer materials that are more difficult to get. They also offer some of these packs for purchase with real money as well, but they’re never materials that are impossible to get just by playing the game.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is almost as dense as most Final Fantasy games, yet it fits perfectly on a smartphone due to smart mechanics and plenty of ways to collect and upgrade characters. With story, Espers and exploration, the experience features much of what Final Fantasy players enjoy on the console games in an easily accessible way for players on the go. As someone who was very into other Final Fantasy mobile games such as Final Fantasy Record Keeper, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius feels like a clear upgrade to the mobile Final Fantasy experience and I’m glad I can finally enjoy the Final Fantasy battle system I love with enjoyable banter on days I leave my Vita at home.

Score: 9.5/10
Final Fantasy's best mobile game yet manages to balance great story content, an explorable world and mechanics that fit smartphones perfectly in this on-the-go adventure.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

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Are you playing Final Fantasy Brave Exvius? Who's in your party?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

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My Goodbye to Final Fantasy Record Keeper

I’ve spoken about smartphone games a lot recently, mostly because of the release of new Final Fantasy mobile games like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Mobius Final Fantasy. My previous smartphone gaming habits involved only one game - Final Fantasy Record Keeper, one of Final Fantasy’s first quality original smartphone games that incorporated familiar RPG and Final Fantasy mechanics into a light experience on the go. I downloaded Record Keeper on the first week of its release so I was able to keep up with its main quests, events and limited edition characters for a good period of time (especially before I dropped my phone two months later). But all good things must come to an end, because recently I’ve stopped playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper completely to the point where I may delete it.

For most smartphone games, deleting one is sadly a mere a necessity most of the time, whether it be for clearing memory or just getting an icon off your home screen. But to be deleting Final Fantasy Record Keeper is a little more to me. Record Keeper happened to be released at a time when I’d just moved overseas and was struggling pretty hard for money and had some time before my new day job started. The TV in my apartment had no HDMI ports, so for gaming I had my PS Vita and my phone. When Record Keeper was released, I needed something to entertain me and had the rare opportunity of having time to get really into it.

All good things must come to an end though When I fatally dropped my phone two months later, since I’d just moved my life over to another city in another country, it took me two months to get the money together to get a new phone. Not having a working smartphone was completely unexpected so I didn't have a chance to backup my save and my multiple Level 50+ characters and all of my event rewards were completely gone. Once I realised what a tragedy this was, I was pretty upset but since I’d started my job at this point, Record Keeper had served its purpose of keeping me entertained and sane when I could’ve just been at home stressing about my budget situation.

Once I got my new phone, I tried really hard to get back into Record Keeper. I wanted to get back up to date with the story and to follow events just like I had before because I still had extremely fond memories of my time with Record Keeper. Now that I was playing with a very different schedule, the commendable constant stream of content that Record Keeper has was too much for me to keep up with. That began my cycle of jumping in and out to collect cool characters and weapons, but never truly catching up with Record Keeper’s content. It’s a great plus that Record Keeper has so much content consistently but for players who weren’t there from the start, the amount of content could also be considered overwhelming. I could never shake the feeling that I’d be doing better if I’d just had those few months without my phone back and it made it hard for me to fully appreciate Record Keeper like I had before.

The last time I touched Final Fantasy Record Keeper was a little over a month ago, just before I downloaded Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. I was in the midst of giving up doing events in Record Keeper so I could catch up on the dauntingly large amount of main quests I'd missed. Events used to be one of my absolute favourite parts of Record Keeper because of the fun collectible characters and more recently the addition of costumes from my favourite Final Fantasy games. However as I mentioned in my impressions for Record Keeper, its story premise is extremely vague and mostly serves as context rather than an actual story. I love JRPG gameplay but by even with the wealth of mechanics and things to do in Record Keeper, the repetitive mechanics weren’t pushing me forward without any story. That's where Final Fantasy Brave Exvius comes in.

If Final Fantasy Brave Exvius was just Final Fantasy Record Keeper with story, I’m pretty sure I'd be into it. The fun banter between Rain and Lasswell would be amusing enough to keep the fun going for a long time (although I can't see either of them having the time to stray from their mission to collect old Final Fantasy characters). But whether intentional or not, Brave Exvius takes the best parts of Record Keeper such as the console Final Fantasy-like turn-based system and the character collection and combines them with a little console Final Fantasy magic of included a larger variety of attacks available and a proper fleshed out story and makes a mobile JRPG that I want to push forward in to level up my characters as much as possible and to learn more about the world of Grandshelt.

I'm not saying anyone has to pick between the two games, but it's what I've done. I get the satisfaction of collecting things from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius along with a story that motivates to keep playing and since I have the advantage of being there from the start of its release, I'll hopefully get to the end of its story soon and will be able to keep up with any updates. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to keep up with a smartphone game as well as I did in my magical first two months with Final Fantasy Record Keeper, but with Brave Exvius I feel like I’m going at a pace I’m happy with and not falling behind.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper meant a great deal to me in a stressful time and I’ll always appreciate it for providing me good free fun when I needed it. It was a simple smartphone game that was my own personal simple slice of fun in a difficult time, but it’s not the only smartphone game in the world and I have to respect what I'm having more fun with at the moment. So for now at least, goodbye to my Mythril and my character collection in Record Keeper and hello to new mobile experiences in interesting worlds in games such as Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius are available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

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Are you still playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper? What's your favourite Final Fantasy smartphone game?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

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First Impressions: Kingsglaive Final Fantasy

Kingsglaive Final Fantasy is set to release in cinemas later this month in the US, along with being streamable online shortly after. It's also currently showing in cinemas in Japan, so since I’m in Japan I knew I had to see it as soon as I could, even if it’s well above my Japanese level. I was initially a little worried about completely spoiling the story of Kingsglaive for myself before I saw it in English (which I definitely did), but I was far too excited to get some backstory for the world Final Fantasy XV.

Kingsglaive Final Fantasy focuses on the events relating to Noctis’ father Regis that occur at the same time as Final Fantasy XV’s story, a rather interesting story dynamic considering Final Fantasy XV isn’t out until late September. The film is much more than an extended trailer for Final Fantasy XV, with it’s own story moments that will no doubt leave their footprint on Final Fantasy XV. While I can’t comment on the script of Kingsglaive because I saw the film in Japanese, the story and beautiful visuals of Kingsglaive Final Fantasy still were satisfying enough to increase my already high excitement for Final Fantasy XV.

Even just from watching the trailer for Kingsglaive, it's easy to see that it's visually stunning and this holds true throughout the film. Kingsglaive uses a lot of motion captured movements and it shows in the precise facial and body movements seen throughout the film. The way the character's faces move, change and crease with each facial expression was really immersing and there were honestly a few times in the film I forgot everything was just really good 3D rendering. One thing that kept me from being fully immersed in the film on occasion were the mouth movements, which were made to match the English script. While the Japanese script was supposedly made based around these mouth movements, some movements were a little slow or off. In saying that, it’s something I rarely noticed and for those planning to see the English version, this probably means everything will even smoother.

I could only understand a limited amount of Kingsglaive Final Fantasy’s story due to the language barrier, but in spite of that the significant events of Kingsglaive were represented enough to allow me to follow along with the story's prominent moments.  Going into Kingsglaive, I was a little worried the story wouldn't be significant and the film would serve mostly as an introduction to Final Fantasy XV, but I was wrong. Kingsglaive's story has its own significant plot and story moments, driven by it's strong cast of original characters. As the characters defend Lucis from invasion, there are plenty of moments where characters such as Nyx and Libertus have their moment to shine as strong, passionate characters and other moments in the story provide an insight into characters that will be featured in Final Fantasy XV like Lunafreya, Ardyn and Regis. While my understanding of the intricacies of the plot may not be very good, the events in the film told an interesting story with a few twists that had me surprised, so I'm looking forward to exploring the story more when the English version is available, hopefully with a script that matches the good feelings I have about the story without it.

While the film was in Japanese and I couldn't understand the finer points of Kingsglaive Final Fantasy, what was universal was the excitement and hype I had for Final Fantasy XV when I left the cinema. Thanks to the stunning visuals, intriguing characters and the surprising plot twists that will no doubt affect Noctis’ journey in Final Fantasy XV, I really enjoyed Kingsglaive Final Fantasy and will be sure to see it again in English when it’s release. The script is naturally a vital part of making sure the beautiful graphics and visual story are done justice, but from what I saw, Kingsglaive Final Fantasy will at the very least satisfy fans of the beautiful visuals of Final Fantasy and give a few surprises to those waiting for Final Fantasy XV.

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Are you excited for Kingsglaive Final Fantasy? Will you see it at all?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

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Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3