Brave Fencer Musashi [U] ISO
Description :
Brave Fencer Musashi has been summoned to stop an ancient evil force, to save the kingdom and rescue the princess.
Embark on a wild, comical, Action/RPG adventure in a massive 3-D world filled with platform-style action, two-fisted sword fighting, challenging puzzles, and scores of enemies whose skills Musashi can learn and use to his advantage. Locate five powerful magical scrolls to conquer the twisted Thirstquencher Empire.
Embark on a wild, comical, Action/RPG adventure in a massive 3-D world filled with platform-style action, two-fisted sword fighting, challenging puzzles, and scores of enemies whose skills Musashi can learn and use to his advantage. Locate five powerful magical scrolls to conquer the twisted Thirstquencher Empire.
Squaresoft is known for their dramatic RPGs. But are they also known for
comedic adventure games? That's exactly what Brave Fencer Musashi is.
BFM is laughable game-in all of the right places. BFM is sometimes
compared to Zelda 64, but I completely disagree with that. The game
system is much different, as I will explain below, and Zelda 64 sucked.
Face it. It did.
Now enter the review of this mystical journey with our Brave Fencer...
MUSASHI!!
-------------------------
Design Elements
-------------------------
Visuals/Graphics
Squaresoft is known for their impressive FMVs and pre-rendered backgrounds on the Playstation. Not here. No FMV scenes, no pre-rendered backgrounds, it's all pretty traditional. Environments look awesome, with tons of color and realistic shading effects. The characters are a bit clippy, and Musashi isn't too detailed, though receiving Legendary Armor pieces adds some extra detail to him. The collision detection is a bit average at times, also (ex: Enemies suddenly walk through walls). Slowdown was pretty major at times, but only a minor problem. Near the end of the game enemies fill the screen, which causes the visuals to get reeeeaaaalllllyyyyy slllloooowww. It gets quick again, however, and hardly ever affects the gameplay. Good work.
Rating: 7 Good
Music/Sound
The voice acting in BFM is great...I think. It's supposed to be comical, yes, but I'm wondering if Kojiro's Japanese accent is supposed to fade and come back randomly. Mostly good voice work, though. Sword clashing sounds are good and the echoes in the Frozen Palace are done very well, too. Near the end of the game you'll be hearing lots of electricity noises. The music is good, but the best tunes aren't played enough. My favorite tunes include one at the very start of the game, which replays itself when you receive a scroll (I like to call it the heroic tune), and the Thirstquencher Empire theme, which was only played at the end of most of the chapters. Mostly a lot of Super Nintendo-esque Squaresoft stuff, medieval in a sort of way.
Rating: 8 Great/Very Good
-----------------------
Gameplay Elements
-----------------------
Story/Dialogue
The story was quite a disappointment for one reason: NOTHING EVER HAPPENS! It starts out nice and comical in a way. Ages ago, The Wizard of Darkness tried to take over the world, but was saved by Brave Fencer Musashi and the Five Scrolls of Lumina. When the Wizard was defeated, Musashi sealed the scrolls crests with guardians. Now, the Thirstquencher Empire has turned against Allucaneet (All You Can Eat, get it?) Kingdom and has attacked while the King and Queen are away. There is only one thing they can do now: Summon the legendary hero, Brave Fencer Musashi! Too bad it turns out it looks like they made a mistake when a little kid with blue hair pops out. Now he must collect Lumina, which he succeeds in, but now the Princess has been captured and Musashi must collect the Five Scrolls. Then I waited for something else to happen. Five Scrolls later, still nothing. At the very end of the game there are some interesting and unexpected plot twists, but come on! Something during the game would have been nice. Well, at least the dialogue is funny. Characters are great, with funny dialogue, that range from a character making fun of medieval dialogue and bad translation (Ex: Come hithereth, youngeth personeth!) to, a well, ah, ''girly guy''.
Rating: 7 Good
Gameplay
Many flaws, some perhaps fatal in this category. You also may have noticed by overall score was a 10, an incredible rating. Well, it was close to being 9, but for some reason despite the flaws, I loved it. Let's get to those bad points later, and talk about why BFM is so great. First of all, this game in uncomparable to Zelda 64. First of all, the landscape. There is only one small town in the game where Musashi stocks up and continues to the town's outskirts, where by gaining new skills, can reach new areas that couldn't be discovered before. Musashi also must rescue the crew of the Allucaneet castle by hitting 'Bincho Fields', green crystals, hidden throughout the land to gain attack skills and help on boss fights.
When fighting enemies, instead of sparks or blood, hit points come from enemies, RPG style. This makes it more comparable to Secret of Mana.
A very original feature are the weapons. You have two weapons starting Chapter Two, Fusion (Square) and Lumina (Triangle). Lumina can absorb 'scrolls' which five are scattered through dungeons and mountains, each at the end or middle of the chapter. Lumina can now use special powers by holding R1 and pressing Triangle to activate them. But Fusion is even cooler. By holding R1 and pressing Square, Musashi will throw Fusion at the enemy he's aiming at, and by pressing Square repeatedly, you can gain the enemy's special skill!
My favorite features are the realistic time and sleep features. Depending on the day and time, stores will be opened or closed, even puzzles must be solved on a certain day in the game! The game starts on Monday and goes throughout a normal week. Too bad the days were so short. Fifteen minutes were about eight seconds, meaning it could take a game hour to walk across town to a store. Still, a certain boss fight is about surviving for four hours, so it doesn't take too long. And as time passes, Musashi will get tired according to a percentage on the pause screen. If it gets too high, Musashi will fail to attack and will walk slowly, so you have to sleep in the inn, the castle or the field. Sleeping on the field is slow and time consuming until you let the weaver make you a quilt later in the game.
Here comes the bad...
The game can get vague at times, so I recommend you use a strategy guide or MHobb's Walkthrough (9.8 on my scale, man!). The game just stops and doesn't tell you anything at times. One was where Musashi, without any clues, must visit the bakery and talk to the clerk. Another one was pouring newly found Rocksalt on a giant slug in the outskirts. Salt, slug, easy, right? Wrong. At that time you've probably never visited the giant slug. There are a few minor ones, but I've just cleared up the major ones for an enjoyable experience.
The complete lack of save points. You can save at an Inn (one in the entire game) or after a chapter is completed (or a boss, at times). It's very limited, and if you die on the field you'll have to return to that area and gain your level ups again, or start at a 'memory box' and lose half of your money. The field 'memory box' also saves temporarily, so turning the power off or resetting will cause you to start at the Inn again. The memory boxes could have been used as real save points.
The ol' uneasy jumping bits. If you fall off a cliff, you'll return to where you fell with some HP lost, but depending on that amount, it could be fatal. Plus, like Xexyz, you don't know if you're going to land or fall off, causing confusion.
Hmm, a 9? So, it must be very fun...
Rating: 9 Excellent
Fun Factor
Yes, you may have noticed the things I liked about the gameplay. And because of those, I couldn't get my hands off of the controller. This game became an addiction, pass the flaws. The good outweighed the bad in the end.
Rating: 10 Incredible
-------------------------
Final Rating
-------------------------
Good Points
Sleep and time system. Original weapon/special power ideas. It's very, very fun. It's good for everyone.
Bad Points
Platformer issues, like jumping control. Lack of save points. Sometimes the game is unclear on what to do.
Final Score
It's always the fun that counts, and the fun is what completes this original adventure. Musashi's adventure takes him through an exciting 25+ hour journey that's fun even if you hate RPG's (my RPG hating friends loved it).
Rating: 10 Incredible
Now enter the review of this mystical journey with our Brave Fencer...
MUSASHI!!
-------------------------
Design Elements
-------------------------
Visuals/Graphics
Squaresoft is known for their impressive FMVs and pre-rendered backgrounds on the Playstation. Not here. No FMV scenes, no pre-rendered backgrounds, it's all pretty traditional. Environments look awesome, with tons of color and realistic shading effects. The characters are a bit clippy, and Musashi isn't too detailed, though receiving Legendary Armor pieces adds some extra detail to him. The collision detection is a bit average at times, also (ex: Enemies suddenly walk through walls). Slowdown was pretty major at times, but only a minor problem. Near the end of the game enemies fill the screen, which causes the visuals to get reeeeaaaalllllyyyyy slllloooowww. It gets quick again, however, and hardly ever affects the gameplay. Good work.
Rating: 7 Good
Music/Sound
The voice acting in BFM is great...I think. It's supposed to be comical, yes, but I'm wondering if Kojiro's Japanese accent is supposed to fade and come back randomly. Mostly good voice work, though. Sword clashing sounds are good and the echoes in the Frozen Palace are done very well, too. Near the end of the game you'll be hearing lots of electricity noises. The music is good, but the best tunes aren't played enough. My favorite tunes include one at the very start of the game, which replays itself when you receive a scroll (I like to call it the heroic tune), and the Thirstquencher Empire theme, which was only played at the end of most of the chapters. Mostly a lot of Super Nintendo-esque Squaresoft stuff, medieval in a sort of way.
Rating: 8 Great/Very Good
-----------------------
Gameplay Elements
-----------------------
Story/Dialogue
The story was quite a disappointment for one reason: NOTHING EVER HAPPENS! It starts out nice and comical in a way. Ages ago, The Wizard of Darkness tried to take over the world, but was saved by Brave Fencer Musashi and the Five Scrolls of Lumina. When the Wizard was defeated, Musashi sealed the scrolls crests with guardians. Now, the Thirstquencher Empire has turned against Allucaneet (All You Can Eat, get it?) Kingdom and has attacked while the King and Queen are away. There is only one thing they can do now: Summon the legendary hero, Brave Fencer Musashi! Too bad it turns out it looks like they made a mistake when a little kid with blue hair pops out. Now he must collect Lumina, which he succeeds in, but now the Princess has been captured and Musashi must collect the Five Scrolls. Then I waited for something else to happen. Five Scrolls later, still nothing. At the very end of the game there are some interesting and unexpected plot twists, but come on! Something during the game would have been nice. Well, at least the dialogue is funny. Characters are great, with funny dialogue, that range from a character making fun of medieval dialogue and bad translation (Ex: Come hithereth, youngeth personeth!) to, a well, ah, ''girly guy''.
Rating: 7 Good
Gameplay
Many flaws, some perhaps fatal in this category. You also may have noticed by overall score was a 10, an incredible rating. Well, it was close to being 9, but for some reason despite the flaws, I loved it. Let's get to those bad points later, and talk about why BFM is so great. First of all, this game in uncomparable to Zelda 64. First of all, the landscape. There is only one small town in the game where Musashi stocks up and continues to the town's outskirts, where by gaining new skills, can reach new areas that couldn't be discovered before. Musashi also must rescue the crew of the Allucaneet castle by hitting 'Bincho Fields', green crystals, hidden throughout the land to gain attack skills and help on boss fights.
When fighting enemies, instead of sparks or blood, hit points come from enemies, RPG style. This makes it more comparable to Secret of Mana.
A very original feature are the weapons. You have two weapons starting Chapter Two, Fusion (Square) and Lumina (Triangle). Lumina can absorb 'scrolls' which five are scattered through dungeons and mountains, each at the end or middle of the chapter. Lumina can now use special powers by holding R1 and pressing Triangle to activate them. But Fusion is even cooler. By holding R1 and pressing Square, Musashi will throw Fusion at the enemy he's aiming at, and by pressing Square repeatedly, you can gain the enemy's special skill!
My favorite features are the realistic time and sleep features. Depending on the day and time, stores will be opened or closed, even puzzles must be solved on a certain day in the game! The game starts on Monday and goes throughout a normal week. Too bad the days were so short. Fifteen minutes were about eight seconds, meaning it could take a game hour to walk across town to a store. Still, a certain boss fight is about surviving for four hours, so it doesn't take too long. And as time passes, Musashi will get tired according to a percentage on the pause screen. If it gets too high, Musashi will fail to attack and will walk slowly, so you have to sleep in the inn, the castle or the field. Sleeping on the field is slow and time consuming until you let the weaver make you a quilt later in the game.
Here comes the bad...
The game can get vague at times, so I recommend you use a strategy guide or MHobb's Walkthrough (9.8 on my scale, man!). The game just stops and doesn't tell you anything at times. One was where Musashi, without any clues, must visit the bakery and talk to the clerk. Another one was pouring newly found Rocksalt on a giant slug in the outskirts. Salt, slug, easy, right? Wrong. At that time you've probably never visited the giant slug. There are a few minor ones, but I've just cleared up the major ones for an enjoyable experience.
The complete lack of save points. You can save at an Inn (one in the entire game) or after a chapter is completed (or a boss, at times). It's very limited, and if you die on the field you'll have to return to that area and gain your level ups again, or start at a 'memory box' and lose half of your money. The field 'memory box' also saves temporarily, so turning the power off or resetting will cause you to start at the Inn again. The memory boxes could have been used as real save points.
The ol' uneasy jumping bits. If you fall off a cliff, you'll return to where you fell with some HP lost, but depending on that amount, it could be fatal. Plus, like Xexyz, you don't know if you're going to land or fall off, causing confusion.
Hmm, a 9? So, it must be very fun...
Rating: 9 Excellent
Fun Factor
Yes, you may have noticed the things I liked about the gameplay. And because of those, I couldn't get my hands off of the controller. This game became an addiction, pass the flaws. The good outweighed the bad in the end.
Rating: 10 Incredible
-------------------------
Final Rating
-------------------------
Good Points
Sleep and time system. Original weapon/special power ideas. It's very, very fun. It's good for everyone.
Bad Points
Platformer issues, like jumping control. Lack of save points. Sometimes the game is unclear on what to do.
Final Score
It's always the fun that counts, and the fun is what completes this original adventure. Musashi's adventure takes him through an exciting 25+ hour journey that's fun even if you hate RPG's (my RPG hating friends loved it).
Rating: 10 Incredible
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