QCF: Fairy Fencer F

t's nice to see NIS bounce back from the edge of financial ruin like it has. Rumor has it that the Japanese RPG developer was certain to lose its doors for good, barring the success of Disgaea 4.

Thankfully, this wasn't the case, and we've seen some great offerings lately for our troubles, and respectively theirs. From the awesome Witch and the Hundred Knight, to the fan-favorite Danganronpa, and the recently-remade Neptunia Re:Birth 1. With so many games spewing forth from NIS recently however, there's bound to be some overlap, and Compile Heart's Fairy Fencer F is a perfect example.

More or less, Fairy Fencer F feels less like its own game, and more of a spinoff to Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth 1. Everything from the battle system, to the overworld, and the sound effects to the dungeon navigation... it's all very similar to what we've already seen once before –in fact, it was very recently at that we have, right here at Press Pause Radio. The consolation of a different story and its unique approach with progression, holds some nice gameplay twists within the experience at the very least.

The events of Fairy Fencer F revolve around the aftermath of an epic battle between a goddess of light, and a demon of darkness (of course.) It is said, that these two deities were locked in a tremendous battle, and were nearly brought to the very edge of death; by way of mystical weapons called Furies. The Furies are inhabited by various fairies, and are wielded by the titular Fairy Fencers.

Fast-forward to the now; a down-on-his-luck youth named Fang, stumbles upon an urban legend that states that anyone who can draw a powerful sword from the rock that lies at the edge of town sword-in-the-stone-style, gets a single wish granted. Of course; Fang can draw it, and out ops Eryn, the fairy residing in what turns out to be a Fury. After a bit of coercion on Eryn's part, Fang reluctantly (of course) agrees to go on his journey to collect more furies and revive the sealed goddess of light.

Much like Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth 1, navigation on the world map is as easy as pointing and clicking on various icons. In towns, varieties of menus are accessed to make your way around the different shops and locales to get information, quests and purchase items for your travels. Anything important will be marked with an event icon, as well as the additional sub-event quests for people that like a bit of side-questing in their adventures. You can also buy information about new furies in town as well, though it can get a bit pricey. All told, this is nothing most RPG players haven't seen before, and for the most part, this is the most boring part of the game.

Dungeons are also ripped straight out of the original Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth entry itself, in that the dungeon layouts are often simple, and contain a large amount of enemy respawns, often with impossibly difficult enemies that unwary players suffer utter annihilation from, in a very short time (be sure to save often, tee-hee.)

There's even an exit icon in exactly the same place and manner as in Re:Birth 1 as well, something that was pretty much exactly where I expected it to be when I went to check-in at low health. Specific events will happen at markers displayed within these areas as well.

Combat is pretty quick for the most part with a system very similar to – you guessed it – Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth 1, albeit with more restrictions. The attacks you'll use don’t have the same multi-foe attacking capabilities as Neptunia, which makes for a little too much back-and-forth until more people join your party. Certain abilities are able to hit multiple enemies at once though, and the Fairize ability can be stored up and used to unleash some pretty heavy damage. Collecting fairies and equipping them to your weaponry can also yield all kinds of beneficial effects, like heightened offence, defence and elemental attributes.

Here's where things start to branch off a bit though; when new furies are obtained, they will need to be used to find new areas to explore and, in turn, get more furies. These furies are stuck into the world map and must be imbued with collected fairies in order to work. These fairies will grant area-wide enhancements just like if they were equipped to a weapon, so careful use of specific fairies can be a great help in any dungeon you happen to be in.

As far as the gameplay goes, it's solid, but there isn’t anything here that will particularly wow you if you've played Neptunia Rebirth 1. The story is pretty brash, with a lead character that even I have a hard time putting up with, especially with this couldn't-care-less attitude that seriously grinds my gears.

There's an awful lot of tropes in addition to the sword-in-the-stone thing at play here too, including the anime-fan-favorite mysterious girl somehow surviving amongst powerful enemies, complete with a frilly dress and bouncing cleavage. It's not as panty shot-enhanced as Neptunia though—bonus there.

Now, I had been wondering what Yoshitaka Amano and Nobuo Uematsu have been up to lately and as it turns out; they've been hard at work on Fairy Fencer F. The signature hallmarks of Amano's monster designs shine through and almost clash with the character design from Neptunia's Tsunako, which, as always, seem to have a little too much jiggle on the fairer side of things. That's not to say that the design is bad by any stretch; the character design is as good in Tsunako's style as Amano's is in the monster design.

Meanwhile, Uematsu's musical styling will instantly grab a solid hold of the discerning fan's ear while complimenting the Kenji Kaneko et al's typical super-anime JRPG score, complete with a lyric-laden hero transformation and opening theme. The short of the long of it is, the audiovisual styling of Fairy Fencer F is pretty great, which comes as zero surprise.

I don't say this often, but I really think that Fairy Fencer F would have been a lot more meaningful to me if I hadn't already played the first entry of the Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth line, so recently. With so many mechanics overlapping Fair Fencer's, this game really just feels like a separate extension to a totally unrelated series, something I was never able to shake as I played it. But the story works, and the overall gameplay is great so if you haven't checked out Re:Birth 1st, give this one a shot for sure. On its own, Fairy Fencer F is a JRPG well worth looking into, even with a complete loser for a main character.