Fairy Fencer F: Intro and Game Review

GAME: Fairy Fencer F
GENRE: JRPG
DEV: Idea Factory International
Game Time: 44+ Hours (High Replay Value)
Steam Cards: Yes
Steam Achievements: Yes

    JRPG fans and filthy weaboos rejoice, the game for you has been found. Fairy Fencer F introduces a cast of 9 playable characters You begin your adventure with the fencer Fang and his fairy Erin and go from ruins to ruins trying to find furies to resurrect their god. The Goddess is a powerful deity that defended humanity against the Vile God long ago. You go on your journey meet new allies, and your choices will influence the ending of the game. With multiple endings you can determine the fate of your characters and who you end up romancing.

Fairy Fencer F

CHARACTERS:

      If you couldn't tell by the appearance, Fang is the main character of this story. He is the character you will play as and the game revolves around him. Fang is an incredibly lazy individual with immense potential and power. To his disdain he found a legendary weapon known as a Fury and he was destined to become a Fencer. Unluckily for Fang this means he cannot eat and sleep all day. His trusty weapon and sidekick Eryn urge him to help her collect enough Furies to awaken her Goddess. Fang's morale code and Eryn's persistence force him on a journey to collect the furies.
    Within the first moments of your journey Tiara, a pompous condescending verbal masochist who claims Fang and Eryn as her servants. Fang and Eryn see the benefit of an ally so they go along with it. Fang constantly verbally assaults Tiara but she seems to enjoy it for some reason.
   Later in your journey you come across Harley. Harley is a researcher as well as a fencer. She wishes to accompany your party to get more info on different Fairies. Harley is a bit older than the other party member. Harley is often unaware of social norms and often nearly strips because it is more comfortable. Harley puts little effort into anything but her research and as a result her hygiene suffers. Her Fairy Bauhaus doubles as a male maid and father figure to her.
  As you progress through the story you will be introduced to more characters and you actions determine if they will join your party and whether or not they will survive the struggles ahead. The characters in this game are a very strong point. There is a variety of character designs and personalities for everyone's own taste.
  **Note:There are two characters that are very hard to get on your first play through.

COMBAT:

    Fairy Fencer F is a turn based game. You put in your command and you start hitting some dudes. You have magic and you have a variety of melee attacks. Certain enemies have weaknesses that you can take advantage of by either using a character with a specific element or using a specific weapon type.
   Every character has an element type and you can switch between all your party members to take advantage of this. Every character also has a weapon type, however as you level up you can transform your weapon mid battle for the specific situation. For example Fang starts off with a sword, but can change his weapon into a glaive, scythe, gun, or a whip at a moments notice. It is inefficient to have more than two or three weapon types so switching out your party members is ideal. You will probably use EVERY party member.
   Fairy Fencer F is a bit different than the standard turn-based game because with every move you get a movement. You can position each party member with every attack. The positioning of your allies and enemies determines if you will be hit by AOE or if you will be in range to attack or be attacked.
  In addition each character has a Fairized Form where they have perfect synchronization with their fairy. While in this form the player experiences temporary increased power. And most importantly, the music changes. When Fairize is activated the hype becomes real and you feel like a true anime protagonist.

STORY/DUNGEONS:

    This is the part where some criticism will occur. The first half the game has a very solid story. It isn't an award winning novel or anything but it is entertaining. However the second half of the story starts to include a lot more cliche anime tropes. I can't exactly go into detail for the risk of spoilers. The story overall was solid and I did end up replaying to unlock another ending and to play through the content only available in the new game +. You could easily sink 80+ hours into this.
   The dungeons are the weakest part of the game. When you play through an area there is little difference between to sections. Everything is either recycled or uninspired. The areas you go through are rarely unique to the single area. You will have to play through the same areas 2-4 times. This is simple laziness by the creators of the game and one of my largest complaints with the game. Because of this the exploration is more of a chore than an experience.

Should you play this game?

    Fairy Fencer F is a solid JRPG that most fans of the genre would enjoy. It is not however the highest caliber game. If you play through the game you will see that the devs got lazy halfway through and didn't put enough effort in certain areas of the game. The characters are something that will make many love this game despite its flaws. I will admit there are great character designs and you will find a character you like in the massive cast.
    Something I greatly enjoyed was the amount of secret content. I am sucker for secret content and as a result it has great replayability. In addition there are many costumes to unlock and plenty of abilities.
   Fairy Fencer F is not something that everyone would enjoy. Those who enjoy JRPGs, anime, light novels, or story driven games should give this a shot. I would recommend that you wait for this game to go on sale before purchasing it.

さようなら,
Vaaren