Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Review – Dead Pirate Pals

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Review

I thought I loved NIS games. And I do! Sort of. What I really love is the Disgaea series. It turns out the more distance you put between that franchise and the NIS game I’m playing, the more bored and frustrated I get. To that end, I had a pretty decent time with Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. On the other hand, I found myself missing the charms and psychosis of a certain gigantic RPG series as I played. Which is totally unfair, but impossible for me to avoid. Although if you’re looking for a complex strategy RPG, Lost Hero has a lot to offer.

Strategy RPGs can get terribly dull if you aren’t careful. That turn-based pacing is thoughtful, deliberate, and slow. Thankfully, Lost Hero changes up the formula in several important ways. You’ve got freedom of movement during your turns, which is nice. Ditching the old grid systems leaves a lot more room for nuance and depth. Characters also have more freedom with the equipment they pick up, although there are affinities to worry about. You can change things up with gadgets and Confriend attacks, and there’s a ton of character classes to experiment with. I struggled with the power balance, however.

The Struggle For Success

Everyone feels super weak all the time. This is pretty normal with games like this. You slog through enough of the game in a powerless state, and you get rewarded with godlike strength towards the back half. The trouble is, I never experienced that shift from scrawny to super tough in Lost Hero. I just sort of scraped along until the end credits. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by a wealth of knowledge about the Disgaea series, but those pathways to greater strength never revealed themselves. Although maybe some of these mechanical systems have the answers I seek.

Lost Hero isn’t as complicated as Diagaea, but no game on Earth is. There’s still a lot to dig through here. The weapon fusion system is full of exploitable potential, if you’ve got the patience. Same with the Juice Bar and the Map Dungeons. You’ve got bonuses to maximize with Confine, plus you can boost your pirate ship for a little extra oomph. All these avenues to success, and yet I still limped my way to the finale. Maybe it was the fact that summoned allies only hang out for a few turns before they vanish. Or maybe it was all your strength being tied up in your weapons. Or the way your stats don’t translate directly to strength at all.

This drove me nuts. Somehow a 4-digit Attack stat is straight-up useless against opponents at your level by Chapter four. You need high affinity with your weapon, and that weapon needs to be a high level. There might be more factors I’m forgetting. The point is the whole game feels designed to drag you down. Maybe it all turns around in the post-game, but I’m not sure I’ll ever know. If it’s been such a struggle this whole time, I doubt the extra content will be any fun to play through.

What Do Your Stats Even Do?

If nothing else, Lost Hero looks and feels great. The character designs are all colorful, cute, and clean. Effects streak in laser-sharp grids and whorls across the map. Explosions and bursts of broken earth fly about with reckless abandon. The music is simple yet catchy, the stages are well-crafted, and the menu design has a simple elegance. I don’t mind the Japanese voice acting, though the English lines are a little screechy. On the other hand, the story is pretty forgettable.

Events pick up more or less right after the first game. You’re immediately separated from your old partner, and then it’s off to amass a new army of dead friends. Enemies become allies, Soft and simple moral quandaries are navigated with breathless ease, and the climax slides into place like a children’s roller coaster. I almost never connect with the narrative in these games. I’m more invested in the mechanics.

Army Of The Dead

In theory, all the mechanical stuff is top-tier. Character stats are affected by what said character is confined (summoned) into. You’ve got massive freedom of movement. Anyone can use any weapon. Things like ship customization, the juice bar, weapon fusion, and the map dungeons all suggest a yawning depth beneath this game’s surface. But it’s all labor without enough rewards. Every system can stack with perfect synergy, and you still feel weak as a kitten. I know this isn’t permanent, but it might as well be. I need more carrot and less stick for the grind to feel like it’s worth it.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is tough to recommend. This is a deep, difficult strategy RPG with a long campaign, tons of characters, and satisfying mechanics. Unless you’re coming here from the Disgaea series. Then it’s a shallow imitation of a superior franchise with an even more inconsequential storyline. On the other hand, if you’ve never played Disgaea, it’s unlikely you’ll encounter this game at all. If you’ve somehow gotten here with no Disgaea in your history and a love of complex strategy RPGs, The Lost Hero will be an excellent adventure. Otherwise, I’m simply not so sure.

***A Nintendo Switch code was provided by the publisher***