Fairy Fencer F

Editor's Notes

Digital version of the game reviewed.

Introduction

In recent years, many niche Japanese RPGs have made it to our shores, thanks to the efforts of smaller publishers looking to please the tastes of their Eastward looking audiences. From cult hits to games that really should have just stayed in Japan, there are plenty of games available for those left unsatisfied with triple-A offerings.

Publisher Nippon Ichi in particular has been bringing a lot of Japanese games Westward this year. Their latest offering is 'Fairy Fencer F', an RPG from developer Compile Heart. Compile Heart is best known for their work on the humorous and surprisingly deep 'Hyperdimension Neptunia' games, and looks to take a few aspects of that series into its new IP, 'Fairy Fencer F'.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

'Fairy Fencer F' begins as a lazy adventurer named Fang pulls a sword out of a stone in hopes of the Fairy trapped inside granting his wish of an abundance of food. However, instead of instant gratification, the Fairy Eryn proclaims that Fang must collect all one hundred Furies (which are weapons with fairies within them) in order to revive the Goddess and have his wish granted. Fang is rather miffed at this turn of events, but eventually, upon learning that Eryn has lost her memories and finding the furies might help her regain them, Fang agrees to help Eryn search for the Furies.

The setting and story of 'Fairy Fencer F' creates a somewhat unique story, as the player learns more about the bonds between Fencers and Fairies and of evil undercurrents working to use the Furies for nefarious purposes. While the tale begins humorously enough, as typical of a Compile Heart title, the game eventually starts introducing more serious aspects to the plot, while still trying to keep its overall light-hearted nature. For the most part 'Fairy Fencer F' succeeds at this, although in the end it's not the most compelling tale. I enjoyed the story enough to give me motivation to keep playing through the game, but overall it ends up being an average storyline with predictable plot twists and an event at the midpoint that, without spoiling it, requires some retreading of old ground.

When not watching the story unfold, there are dungeons to explore in 'Fairy Fencer F', dungeons which contain Furies and thereby help to advance the plot. Dungeon exploration is pretty typical of the genre: Maps are for looking for treasure and events, while enemies encountered in the field can either be dodged or attack, which allows for nice degree of control over the number of battles. Unfortunately, the dungeon layouts and styles will start to repeat upon themselves after a while, so dungeon crawling will begin to become a bit tedious.

When in battle, the characters are controlled directly, each with a specific turn. Party members can be moved around, and each attack has its own range. This makes battles a bit more interactive than the RPG norm, requiring engagement and attention in every fight in order to win efficiently.

If battles go on for a while, party members can Fairize; essentially combining the powers of a Fencer and his or her Fairy to transform into a more powerful form. Fencers who have Fairized have vastly increased stats, and access to their most powerful skills, giving a huge edge in battle. The ability to Fairize depends on the character's Tension Gauge, which will increase while giving or taking damage, and decrease while being healed.

The battle system of 'Fairy Fencer F' alludes to the game having deep, strategic gameplay, but the related problem is that the game in itself is not difficult. Many boss battles boil down to 'attack the enemy for a while, Fairize when it's available, and heal when needed', with little to no need to use specific moves or worry about positioning. Throughout most of my time with the game, I ended up being underleveled (if the levels of new party members joining up were any indication), but was still able to easily defeat bosses without worrying about any real strategy. Because of that, 'Fairy Fencer F' turns what could have been a well-thought-out system into something tedious and can devolve into just a mashing the attack button strategy.

It's important to mention that there are quite a few more mechanics other than just in-battle skills and moves. Collected Furies can be used with the Fairies to help revive the Goddess, add effects to dungeons, or to equip characters to give them a stat boost. Also, since Fencers cannot equip new weapons, they instead level up their weapons via Weapon Points, which are used to upgrade the weapon's stats, skills, and spells.

There are even more mechanics within 'Fairy Fencer F', but in the end many of them don't seem to add much to the experience. Since the game feels as though it lacks an overall challenge, there's no need to learn the ins and outs of these various systems to succeed. It is certainly true that taking the time to work through everything the game has to offer will make it more enjoyable, but without a motivation many players, myself included, will find little reason to really dig into all 'Fairy Fencer F' has to offer.