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    Brave Fencer Musashi

    Game » consists of 6 releases. Released Nov 10, 1998

    After being summoned to another world, the brash young swordsman Musashi embarks on a quest to save the peaceful Allucaneet Kingdom from the evil Thirstquencher Empire.

    The Best Games Ever! ...According to me: BRAVE FENCER MUSASHI

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    KillEm_Dafoe

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    Edited By KillEm_Dafoe

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    I can count on one hand the times I've discussed Brave Fencer Musashi with someone. It's sad, really. I figured if there was one place anyone would have any reverence for this game, it would be Giant Bomb. Much to my dismay, I was apparently wrong. COME ON, GUYS. Where is the love? It wouldn't bother me as much if it wasn't such a fantastic game, but it is. So leave it to me, because I'm going to discuss the shit out of this game right now and school you fools.

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    Like the game I previously blogged about, Parasite Eve II, Brave Fencer Musashi is a PS1-era Squaresoft game. For someone who wasn't into RPG's as a child and cared very little for most of Square's output, some of their more nontraditional releases from that era really stuck with me (Einhander is definitely on that short list, but I sadly never played that much of it). Brave Fencer Musashi is another one of my all-time favorites, despite having never finished it until recently. I've been wanting to write about it for awhile now, and when I finally decided to, I realized how much I really wanted to go back and play it. It's been, oh....probably at least 12 years since I last gave it any attention, if not more. So I dug out my PS2 (I think my PS1 is long gone) and the game, wiped some seven-year-old unknown sticky crud off my old DualShocks and fired that bitch up.

    A rendering of the real Musashi....I'm not sure I see the difference
    A rendering of the real Musashi....I'm not sure I see the difference

    I guess Brave Fencer Musashi was supposed to be Squaresoft's "Zelda killer" at the time. It obviously didn't penetrate the market like Zelda had,but you know what? I think this game wipes the floor with the sorry ass of any Zelda game. That's right, I said it. Okay, in all fairness, I've never been much of a Zelda fan, not that I really have anything against them. In fact, I don't think the series was even on my radar back then. It certainly does share some distinct similarities to the Zelda franchise, like an overworld with areas that require certain items or powers to access, but it doesn't exactly lift the entire Zelda formula wholesale.

    As for the story, it is very loosely based on the real-life Japanese samurai Miyamoto Musashi, who was known for his excellent swordsmanship. The character name is about all the game takes from the true legend, though not being a Japanese history buff, there are probably some other references that flew completely over my head. The plot of the game has a kingdom in peril, under attack from the powerful Thirstquencher Empire. A child version of the legendary Musashi is summoned from another dimension to save Allucaneet Kingdom via collecting five elemental scrolls with crazy powers and infusing them into a magic sword called Lumina. Like I said, I'm no history buff, but I'm like 99% sure that didn't happen in real life.

    Good thing I did decide to play it again, because although I remembered a staggering amount of things about it, even parts that I had only ever played through once when I originally got to the end of the game all those years ago, there were more than a few things I probably would've overlooked and kicked myself for later. What I was most worried about, though, is that I was viewing the game through rose-tinted glasses and couldn't remember whether or not I just loved it as a kid and it wasn't an objectively good game. Somewhat shockingly, it still holds up quite well. That was a sigh of relief. Most of the things I liked about it back then I still like about it now. Other parts...don't get by as well. But I think of this game as having a mildly retarded child; it mostly performs well and is very likable, and will occasionally do something stupid like walk head first into a wall, but I love it unconditionally and forever.

    Lemme give you the goods first. What stuck in my head most about Brave Fencer Musashi since it came out in 1998 is almost everything but the game part. Not that playing it is bad by any means, but it has a very cutesy anime look to it that I still find irresistible to this day. The art design is colorful and vibrant, with many of the human characters having a slightly chibi-ish look to them in-game (their concept art is more traditional), without the big dumb heads. Even some of the enemies are adorable, but the bosses usually look as badass and intimidating as they ought to. This mix of designs never clashes as the overall art direction is very cohesive.

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    And if the art isn't charming enough, how about the fact that many of the game's locations and characters are really food-related puns? Allucaneet Palace, Thirstquencher Empire? Princess Fillet, Steward Ribson, Mary-Nade? Imagine me repeatedly nudging you with my elbow, asking you "D'ya get it?!" Some of you may roll your eyes at this, but the game is so committed to this stupid joke that it's endearing. I mean, the castle taste-tester is named Salmonelli. That's too great not to like. Much of the game is voice-acted, too, mostly the main story beats. The voice acting is...I don't want to say good, but it's not terrible either. Okay, some of it is, but it really just feels...appropriate. I honestly couldn't imagine in any other way. The dialogue can be bizarre and is often campy, but is almost always delightful. Really, you can't get any better than this:

    Also, the Wolverine himself, Steve Blum, is in this game. I was blown the fuck away when I suddenly recognized his voice for a character that appears early in the game. It's weird coming back to this game so many years later and having that hit me.

    "Ah, dicktits! These shit stains got me locked up again!"

    The cast of characters is interesting, to say the least. Musashi himself is a bratty, cocky know-it-all kid. Playing as him isn't nearly as bad as it sounds, I promise. Playing as a kid with a shitty attitude that must face insurmountable odds over and over is actually kinda funny. The rest of the cast runs the gamut. There's your wise, bearded sagely old man, a simple-minded muscle-head bouncer, cowardly knights, brave mercenaries, etc. There's a slutty waitress at the diner who clearly wants to bang the shit out of Musashi, who, might I remind you dear reader, is probably around 12 years old. I also suppose Brave Fencer Musashi could be considered a very progressive game for its time, as it is insinuated that the blatantly gay librarian Scribe Shanky is in a relationship with another man. But then again, Shanky is portrayed as being so ludicrously and stereotypically flamboyant that somebody somewhere is bound to be offended. I just find it funny. In the end, all of the characters come together to create a great sense of community and world that was comfortable to be in.

    Oh, how foolish of me. I haven't mentioned the soundtrack for this game yet. Holy shit, it's so good. Like, really, incredibly good. For me, it's as big a part of the game as the gameplay. This music has been ingrained into my soul. Every last composition perfectly sets the tone for the epic adventure it accompanies. One of your main goals parallel to the main quest is to rescue the 35 castle residents that have been captured. One of my favorite parts of returning to the game was learning that each time you rescue one of the castle musicians, another instrument was added to the castle theme song. As if it couldn't get any better! Seriously, go check out the OST.

    Is there anything you would like to pre-order? No? Are you sure? I'll give you time to think. Okay how about now?
    Is there anything you would like to pre-order? No? Are you sure? I'll give you time to think. Okay how about now?

    A few other little touches go a long way in adding to the game's personality. One of the coolest things is being able to go to the toy shop and buy action figures of the game's enemies and bosses. Then you can take them back to your room and play with them, or you can choose not to open them and keep a pristine collection. It's totally incidental to the rest of the game but awesome nonetheless.

    So obviously the gameplay is pretty important, as well. It's real simple and doesn't always work the way you want it to, but gets by with the novelty of its few systems. The basic combat of your two swords (Fusion and Lumina) is fast, sometimes kinda finicky, but usually satisfying. One of the biggest draws for me, especially when this game was new, was using the faster sword, Fusion, to 'assimilate' abilities from enemies. Playing it again now, I realized it wasn't as dynamic as I had remembered, as many of the abilities are used to traverse specific environmental obstacles or solve puzzles. I still think it's pretty neat, though. The other, heavier sword is Lumina. It's a key piece of the game's story, and as Musashi gathers the five scrolls, Lumina is infused with their elemental powers. This is really where the Zelda-ness comes through, because the abilities you gain from the scrolls allow you to progress through dungeons and defeat big bosses.

    The game is way more of an action/platformer than an RPG. You do still gain experience levels and increase the power of your weapons, but the focus is definitely on jumping around on moving/collapsing/stationary platforms and killing dudes. The game gets quite of bit of mileage out of its gameplay, though, as it has you doing all sorts of video-gamey shit and it never really gets old. The boss battles are still pretty great, if not mostly kind of easy (until the last few, at least). Many of the main ones follow the rule of 3's, though the more skill-based ones are definitely the most fun. There are only two or three real dungeons in the game, and they're not super-inspired but they are certainly welcome in the context of the rest of the game. Environmental variety isn't a problem. Forests, mines, ice fortresses, flying sky bases, ancient underground ruins, the game has it all!

    The Vambee Soldier.
    The Vambee Soldier.

    That latter location is part of what is maybe my favorite part of the game. In the third chapter, the town is overrun by zombie-vampire hybrids - called 'vambees' appropriately - and it's up to you to find out where they're coming from. They only appear starting at midnight during the game's day/night cycle and clearly wander out of the village diner/bar, but to ridiculously contrive things, even when you go in there to check it out, you can't actually do anything about it until you have evidence. Anyway, for a game that's kinda super-cute and charming, the vambees walking around the town at night is a little unsettling, despite the fact that neither you nor they can deal damage to one another here. Eventually you discover the ruins hidden beneath the bar, and then you go down there and kill vambies, solve puzzles, go bowling, kill a boss, yada yada yada.

    I think the game does a respectable job of mixing things up, as each section of the game tries to set you up with unique puzzles or set-pieces. It keeps things fresh, for sure, but sometimes they don't work. And other times, they REALLY don't work. The raft ride down a river or obnoxiously long mine cart ride come to mind, but they are nothing compared to the infamous Steamwood section. Well, it's infamous to me. About an hour or two into the game, steam starts appearing around the town, and you learn that Steamwood, a facility that, I dunno, provides steam to the village I guess, is about to shit the bed and blow up the village if you don't intervene. You have "24 hours" to fix it, which is actually about 12 minutes in real time. What follows is painful series of stressful mini-games connected by what should be very simple platforming. And if you mess up or don't finish one of the mini-games, odds are you will have to do them all again from the beginning.

    Fuck everything about this.
    Fuck everything about this.

    Sweet tits of Mother Mary, this part was designed by complete and total assholes. It's so easy to mess up and is the prime example of the wild difficulty spikes in BFM. This segment is what kept me from progressing on most of my playthroughs when I was kid. There's a very unpleasant kind of sphincter-clenching tension that it provides. Good thing you only have to do it once OH WAIT YOU HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK NOT? Unfortunately for me, I had fully forgotten that they make you do this utterly fucking rotten bullshit again hours and hours later. If there's one blemish on what I think is an otherwise wonderful game, this is it.

    The end of the game is where things get truly batshit crazy. The final chapter consists of an exhausting gauntlet of combat, puzzles, and boss fights, one of which is a dancing rhythm mini-game that only comes out of absolutely nowhere. When I originally played this game, I had only made it to the end once, but never finished it. I didn't remember much about it, so after finishing it I loaded my old save and remembered it was the second-to-last boss that thwarted me. Not this time, asshole! I'm older and better at video games now! Anyway, there's a particularly awesome and extended combat sequence near the end that allows you decimate all matter of robo-knights, laser-trees, ED-209's and Contra doors with some mighty-powerful weaponry. It's exactly the kind of power fantasy the game needed before the final confrontations.

    You'll never get past my four easily-avoided attacks!
    You'll never get past my four easily-avoided attacks!

    Eventually I made it to the final boss, which I had never seen before. As one might guess, it had multiple forms. The first form you don't fight, just run away from. The second was dead simple once I figured out how to cheese it. The third and final form was a bit more devious, but after an intense fight I killed that bitch with just 16 health (or one hit) remaining. As I struck the final, triumphant blow, I let out a cheer and a massive sigh of relief. I really, truly beat Brave Fencer Musashi. It was like closing a chapter of my life that had been open since 1998.

    One of the reasons the game means to much to me is because of how it came into my collection. I rented it once or twice when it came out, but didn't come to own it until a couple years later. In 2000, at the age of 11, I came down with pneumonia, which in turn lead to the discovery of a grapefruit sized tumor inside my chest cavity. Of course, it required surgery to remove. This was undoubtedly the scariest part of my life. One of my cousins offered me any video game I wanted while I was in the hospital, and I asked for Brave Fencer Musashi. After the surgery, I received a smattering of gifts, one of which was BFM packed in a big white, cushioned envelope. I was so happy to own it. Finally finishing the game nearly 14 years later gave me a weird sense of closure and reminded me heavily of the game's role in my life.

    Sorry for getting so touchy-feely for a moment. I guess what I'm trying to say is, Brave Fencer Musashi was and still is a totally rad game. When Square announced a sequel for the PS2 in 2005, called Musashi: Samurai Legend, I was excited beyond words. It even came out on my birthday! I should've known, though, that it wouldn't be what I wanted. The sequel isn't really a bad game. It has some neat boss fights and more RPG elements, but has nowhere near the same feel of the original. I booted it up after finishing the first to refresh my memory and see if I could get into it again. I played about an hour and decided that's all I needed to remember that the combat is very, very repetitive in the beginning and that the voice acting and dialogue is almost unbelievably horrid, and not in a fun way.

    For as many parts as it pulls from other games, I still feel like Brave Fencer Musashi is one-of-a-kind. The pleasant atmosphere and colorful cast of characters mixed with the diverse level design and the combat mechanics lift it beyond being just a Zelda clone. It doesn't hit every mark, and even sometimes makes me want to shatter the disc into pieces out of frustration, but I'm confident saying that it's one of THE BEST GAMES EVER...according to me.

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    RenegadeSaint

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    I very much enjoyed Brave Fencer Musashi when it was first released. I beat it two or three times back then, but haven't gone back to it in quite a while. While I wouldn't place in my top 5 games of all-time, I would call it one of my favorites.

    If you want to try something similar, Threads of Fate is the spiritual successor to Brave Fencer Musashi.

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    jakob187

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    #2  Edited By jakob187

    I love the shit out of Brave Fencer Musashi. However, that opinion has gotten a lot of hate on these forums over the years. I'm unapologetic for it, though.

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    Flappy

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    I remember having a demo disc (or something of thag sort) that allowed me to fight the Giant Head Boss ocer and over again. 'Twas good fun, and I eventually bought the game because of it.

    It has a lot of charm and the gameplay was fun, but I can't recall if I ever finished it.

    Huh...

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    ch3burashka

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    Every one is entitled to a wrong opinion now and then.

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    Fredchuckdave

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    #5  Edited By Fredchuckdave

    Never finished it, was mildly enjoyable. Radiata Stories, now there's a game with fucking intense puns and an ungodly number of recruitable characters.

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    AMyggen

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    I played it when it was first released, but was like 13-14 back then so I can't say I remember very much of it. I remember finishing it though, so probably liked it?

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    musubi

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    I really liked it back in the day. I remember being blown away by the game having a day/night cycle I think its the first game I remember ever seeing that in.

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    KillEm_Dafoe

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    If you want to try something similar, Threads of Fate is the spiritual successor to Brave Fencer Musashi.

    I remember seeing that game advertised a lot back then. I never really knew what it was, but I may have to check that out. Thanks! Was it made by the same team as BFM?

    @jakob187 said:

    I love the shit out of Brave Fencer Musashi. However, that opinion has gotten a lot of hate on these forums over the years. I'm unapologetic for it, though.

    Damn straight. I'll never get how anyone could hate this game. I'll admit that my love for it is deeply rooted in nostalgia, but playing it again, it's still really solid and fun just about all the way through.

    Every one is entitled to a wrong opinion now and then.

    Sure, but I'm not sure how that applies to this...

    Anyway, I can't believe how much I wrote about this game. I probably could've gone on longer. Thanks to anyone who reads any of it at all!

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    ThunderSlash

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    Brave Fencer Musashi is great. The way it has a constant day/night cycle and schedules for the NPCs was fucking next gen! If I recall, only Ultima VII had something similar at the time. Also it had some cool boss battles.

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    iceman228433

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    I have a Friend who always brings that game up, I don't remember it so I can't say much.

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    crithon

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    such an under rated game, it should be praised more often

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    Marino

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    #12  Edited By Marino  Staff

    @onekillwonder_: Aaaaaaaand you're on the front page of this here web site.

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    forteexe21

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    I beat it at least a dozen times cause its really great. Disappointed that it isnt in PSN though. Not as disappointed at how much i hated the sequel.

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    JZ

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    #14  Edited By JZ

    It's good

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    MormonWarrior

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    #15  Edited By MormonWarrior

    This game was pretty rad. I remember being confused by the whole passage of time/time limit thing though.

    EDIT: I think it's great, but c'mon man...it's no Ocarina of Time. I'd accept an argument that it's better than Majora's Mask, sure, but nothing beats Ocarina of Time. And I'm a huge PlayStation-era Square fan.

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    Nasar7

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    #16  Edited By Nasar7

    Brave Fencer Musashi was the shit back in the day. Pretty sure I still have my copy too in that glorious old double jewel case. Ah the golden days of Square, when almost anything with their logo on it was guaranteed gold.

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    KillEm_Dafoe

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    @marino:

    Oh, wow! Thank you so much! It's truly an honor.

    I beat it at least a dozen times cause its really great. Disappointed that it isnt in PSN though. Not as disappointed at how much i hated the sequel.

    I remember being really disappointed when I found out what the sequel was. I remember my buddy coming over soon after I got it and we stayed up til dawn playing through most of it. I'd say I have good memories tied to the game, and I remember liking a lot of the boss battles, but I can't say it's that great of a game. The brief time I spent with it last week reminded me of how dully repetitive the combat is and how slowly Musashi moves. Seriously, walking around in that game is a chore. It was interesting to see how many ideas and story beats it takes from the original, though. I still think it looks beautiful, too. Cel-shaded art styles really are timeless.

    EDIT: I think it's great, but c'mon man...it's no Ocarina of Time. I'd accept an argument that it's better than Majora's Mask, sure, but nothing beats Ocarina of Time. And I'm a huge PlayStation-era Square fan.

    I've played all of about 30 minutes of Ocarina of Time. I'm sure it's an amazing game, but as I said in the blog proper, I never really got into the series. I don't have anything against it, but any time I've ever played any Zelda game, they never resonated with me. I think I was just never fond of their style. My tastes have changed over the years, though. I might feel differently about them today but my interest in finding that out is fairly low.

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    Pabba

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    Um, no. This absolutely does not deserve front page love for horrible metaphors like this:

    But I think of this game as having a mildly retarded child; it mostly performs well and is very likable, and will occasionally do something stupid like walk head first into a wall, but I love it unconditionally and forever.

    I mean, really. You couldn't have thought up another comparison that is not abrasively offensive?

    @marino said:

    @onekillwonder_: Aaaaaaaand you're on the front page of this here web site.

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    Cyrus_Saren

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    I remember loving the hell out of Brave Fencer Musashi when I was younger. I never did end up finishing it though. I have wanted to go back and finish it but I lost my disc a long time ago. I was always hoping it would come out on PSN or something but I don't think that's going to happen.

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    KillEm_Dafoe

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    #20  Edited By KillEm_Dafoe

    @pabba:

    "Abrasively offensive"? I think that's a bit harsh. It's meant to be a light-hearted joke that happens to not take the politically correct route. There're no inherently flagrant connotations or assumptions made about the slightly-mentally challenged population, nor did I intend any ill will toward them. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the blog but I won't apologize for writing what I wrote, especially when the rest of the blog contains far "worse" language. I guess you can't please everyone.

    @nasar7: Yeah, I have the double-jewel case, too. With the FFVIII demo. I believe that was my first experience with a FF game. I miss those big cases so much.

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    redcream

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    I even enjoyed the parts you hated. Truly a remarkable game for its time.

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    Solh0und

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    #22  Edited By Solh0und

    Remember: Musashi took on giant bosses before this Kratos dude ever did.

    PS: The Steam Knight boss theme is one of my favorite boss themes of all time. I blame the face that I played the demo an insane amount of times as a kid.

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    LikeaSsur

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    #23  Edited By LikeaSsur

    @pabba: As soon as I read that sentence, I knew someone, somewhere would say something about this. Goodness gracious.

    Anyway, I loved this game so much. I'm really surprised you didn't mention collecting poop to increase your health.

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    pakattak

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    As the only one of my friends without an N64 and Ocarina of Time, this was my heralded 'big-adventure' game that I clung to. Loved it. Tried the sequel years later and was disappointed by how awful it was. I hated what Tetsuya Nomura did with the character design.

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    PeezMachine

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    @jakob187 said:

    I love the shit out of Brave Fencer Musashi. However, that opinion has gotten a lot of hate on these forums over the years. I'm unapologetic for it, though.

    Fight the good fight. BFM for life.

    I never owned a console, but this was a game where three of us would hang at my friend's house and work our way through it. Time well spent.

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    Lightor

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    #26  Edited By Lightor

    You have no idea how great it is to see someone else hold this game in such high esteem. I too rented it very often as a child and played it to the end recently. This game and Megaman Legends in my mind are the standout games of the 32bit era. They both did a lot of things that were way ahead of the times and mostly went unnoticed. I feel like later gens lack the freshness and creativeness present in those games.

    Great read

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    deactivated-601df795ee52f

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    The lack of posts on here for this game depresses me. Brave Fencer Musashi was fucking awesome, and thanks for writing this.

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    riostarwind

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    #28  Edited By riostarwind  Moderator

    Brave Fencer Musashi was indeed a great game that I actually took the time to beat twice a while after it's release. It's to bad Musashi: Samurai Legend didn't live up to the hype we both had about it. I wonder if Square-Enix will ever revisit the franchise again although if they do I guess it would be a phone game huh.

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    KillEm_Dafoe

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    #29  Edited By KillEm_Dafoe

    @redcream said:

    I even enjoyed the parts you hated. Truly a remarkable game for its time.

    Man, really? Haha, I don't get how anyone could like Steamwood. Maybe it's just me, but that part, both times, is so damn nerve-wracking with its insane time restrictions. I barely had the sense of timing and coordination when I was 10 years old to deal with that shit.

    @turtlebird95 said:

    The lack of posts on here for this game depresses me. Brave Fencer Musashi was fucking awesome, and thanks for writing this.

    Seriously. I checked the BFM board on here probably close to a couple of years ago thinking someone had to have said something about it at one point, but no one did. For the longest time I thought I was one of like 5 people who even played the damn thing. Thank you for reading!

    @lightor said:

    You have no idea how great it is to see someone else hold this game in such high esteem. I too rented it very often as a child and played it to the end recently. This game and Megaman Legends in my mind are the standout games of the 32bit era. They both did a lot of things that were way ahead of the times and mostly went unnoticed. I feel like later gens lack the freshness and creativeness present in those games.

    Great read

    Thanks, man! I couldn't have said it better myself. Games took risks back then. It felt like every game I bought was going to be something different, and in most cases, that was true. I still love video games but so much today is so utterly predictable that there's no element of discovery or surprise with the big releases anymore. Also, I love MML to death and both of them will be the subject of a future blog. I will unabashedly say that the MML games are the best in the series.

    I'm so glad this blog encouraged the BFM lovers to come crawling out of the woodwork. I knew you guys existed.

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    audioBusting

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    I agree, it's a cool and fun game and I liked it a lot too. Thanks for the nostalgia...

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    supamon

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    Nice write up! One of the games I played repeatedly as a kid. How could people hate this little gem?

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    KillEm_Dafoe

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    Anyway, I loved this game so much. I'm really surprised you didn't mention collecting poop to increase your health.

    I don't think it was their poop, though. As far as I could tell, you find the Minku poo as an indication of where they come out at night, and then catching one gets you the longevity berry. But then again, the berry and their poo are both pink, so...

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    VargasPrime

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    Very nice, very nice. I've played through Musashi a few times since its release, although the most recent time was probably before the PS3/360 generation began. I have a lot of love for this game. When they finally DID make an actual sequel (Musashi: Samurai Legend) in 2005, it was a far cry from the original. The art style was pretty different, probably an attempt to make the game appear less "cute," and from what I remember of it, much of the campy humor and tone of the first game was completely jettisoned.

    Shortly after the PS2 came out, someone broke into my parents' house and stole all my Playstation stuff... consoles, games, controllers, everything. I think I had more than 50 PS1 games at the time (most of which was actually covered by my parents' homeowners insurance, thankfully), and Brave Fencer Musashi was actually one of only a few games that I actually went out of my way to obtain a new copy of, which says a lot about how much I loved the game.

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    futurstock

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    so much nostalgia, it was a great game, first i remember with a day night cycle, and VAMBEES!!!

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    TheManWithNoPlan

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    Huh, I might have to check this out now.

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    xyzygy

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    #36  Edited By xyzygy

    That drawing looks like Kaim from Lost Odyssey!

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    TehPickle

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    #37  Edited By TehPickle

    Ahh, it never came out in Europe. That explains why it completely passed me by.

    Shame. Looks kinda cool.

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    vigorousjammer

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    Never played it, but I loved the style of JRPGs of that era... I didn't play too many of them, though... I briefly played Final Fantasy 8, and a little bit of Wild Arms...
    However, I did play all the way through Skies of Arcadia, and watching the clip of Brave Fencer Musashi, it's taking me riiiight back to that era of video games. Ahhh, good times.
    I should probably pick this up at some point and play it.

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    Zefpunk

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    #39  Edited By Zefpunk

    I absolutely loved this game! So unique, so charming, what an underrated classic. Cheers!

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    C2C

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    #40  Edited By C2C

    I really liked Brave Fencer Musashi. And I will agree with you that is a well made game, and that the ability to gain abilities from enemies was really rad. I also agree that the soundtrack was also really well composed. I really only disagree with two statements that aren't really about the game.

    I think this game wipes the floor with the sorry ass of any Zelda game. That's right, I said it. Okay, in all fairness, I've never been much of a Zelda fan, not that I really have anything against them. In fact, I don't think the series was even on my radar back then.

    Not even gonna argue this. I disagree with your opinion on multiple levels, but seeing as you only gave Ocarina of Time about half an hour, I don't think that a debate is warranted on this end.

    The sequel isn't really a bad game. It has some neat boss fights and more RPG elements, but has nowhere near the same feel of the original.

    Dude, no. That game was not good. The original had a variety of ways that it freshened up gameplay, and had a sort of whimsy tone with the lighthearted story. The sequel really focused on combat and was generally pretty bland with the story. The ending with the white text on the black background was one of the laziest endings I have ever seen. I mean I dug the art style and music, but when Kingdom Hearts 2 came out later almost better than every way I couldn't help but feel a little ripped off.

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    KillEm_Dafoe

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    #41  Edited By KillEm_Dafoe

    @c2c said:

    I think this game wipes the floor with the sorry ass of any Zelda game. That's right, I said it. Okay, in all fairness, I've never been much of a Zelda fan, not that I really have anything against them. In fact, I don't think the series was even on my radar back then.

    Not even gonna argue this. I disagree with your opinion on multiple levels, but seeing as you only gave Ocarina of Time about half an hour, I don't think that a debate is warranted on this end.

    That statement really wasn't meant to be taken that seriously, which is why I qualified it with saying I was obviously biased against it in the first place.

    As for the sequel, maybe I should've said I don't think it's a terrible game. There were certainly things about it I enjoyed, but yeah, a lot of it was a real drag. Never did finish it, either. I got to the final stage and just sorta gave up. Doesn't sound like I missed much, though.

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    WilyBoy

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    I also completely love this game! It would probably make my top 10 games of all time.

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    DethandRez

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    I popped this game into my PSOne not too long ago. The one main thing that struck at me when I played it was the voice acting. I was quite amazed with how good it still is (also recognizing some of the voices that I've now heard from other games). I remember beating it when I was younger and it was one of the first games I got for my Playstation along with Metal Gear Solid.

    Loading Video...

    And let's not forget about the dance battle towards the end. Good times indeed.

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    AURON570

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    #44  Edited By AURON570

    I was roughly 7 years old when this came out, and remember wanting to buy it just because it was made by Squaresoft. I think my parents said no and never ended up getting it. Also my excitement ("omg Squaresoft game, must buy!") was because Final Fantasy 7 was literally the first game that made me care about video games, so yeah. Good to know that this game was a gem, and perhaps I will get around the playing it some day... But for now I'm busy and content with waiting for the FFX/X-2 HD collection and MGSV.

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    cabrit_sans_cor

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    I absolutely love this game. I rented it multiple times, then bought it, then lost it. I might have to seek it out again.

    Also, it's probably been a decade since I've played it and I still get snatches of the music stuck in my head at random moments.

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    development

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    @pabba: I think that's a simile.

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    fattony12000

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    #47  Edited By fattony12000

    @onekillwonder_: How did you get the YouTube video player to be that huge? BFM is a pretty good video game though.

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    tourgen

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    #48  Edited By tourgen

    cool writeup, game sounds crazy.

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    veektarius

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    You lost me at child version

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    KillEm_Dafoe

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    #50  Edited By KillEm_Dafoe

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