| Soma Bringer | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Monolith Soft |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Tetsuya Takahashi (producer)[1] Shingo Kawabata (director)[1] Tonny Waiman Koo (art director)[1] Tomomi Sano (coordination)[1] Hiroshi Sato (project management)[1] |
| Writer(s) | Soraya Saga (scenario designer)[1] |
| Composer(s) | Yasunori Mitsuda |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Genre(s) | Cooperation action RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
| Media/distribution | Nintendo DS Game Card |
Soma Bringer (ソーマブリンガー) is a video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan on February 28, 2008, and while it has not been announced for any other region, there is a fan-translation into English that is complete with the exception of the in-game encyclopedia.
Contents |
The player's party consists of three members. Combat is in real time and takes place on the same map as exploration (a similar combat system to Secret of Mana, although magical attacks are also in real-time).
Battlers - Uses one-handed and two-handed weapons, can dual-wield. This class has the most HP and defense. It is almost entirely melee focused.
Corps - Uses one-handed weapons and spears, can equip shields. This class is balanced between offense and defense, and uses holy magic as support.
Darks - Uses two-handed weapons and spears. This class uses dark arts and can sacrifice the user's HP to deliver additional damage.
Gunners - Uses bows and guns. This class focuses on range combat and status attacks, while relying on traps and survival skills.
Kampfs - Uses hand-to-hand combat and two-handed polearms, and can dual wield. This class is for melee combatants that prefer using combo attacks and assassination skills.
Somas - Uses Staves. This class is a magician class that uses mainly spells to target elemental weaknesses.
Each class has its own limitations on what weapons can be equipped. At the start of the game you will pick one of those weapon specialities to start with, which determines your starting equipment. Each weapon speciality has its own skills that can be learned. They are divided into ranks, and once you reach the required rank in that class, you will be able to learn the skills in that rank for the weapon specialities available to that class. As you level up in the game you will gain AP (Ability Points), and you will use these points to learn and enhance the skills available to you. It only takes 1 point to learn a skill, but the more points you put into a skill, the more effective it is. Each skill has a maximum of 20 levels. The different weapon specialities are One-handed Weapons, Two-handed Weapons, Dual Wielding, Spears, Bows, Guns, Hand-to-hand, Two-handed Polearms, and Staves.
Besides gaining AP as you level up, you also gain CP (Character Points), which can be used to increase the character's four base statistics. These base statistics determine the strength of physical and magical attacks, as well as maximum HP/SP, defensive power and so on. The statistics that can be boosted are Strength, Magic, Health and Skillfulness. Stats are maxed at 255, life and SP at 9999, attack speed at 170%, run speed at 180%. Any equipment that has extra stats does not go over 255. You will lose out if you put 255 in that stat and are wearing an item that adds +10 to the stat as an example.
The combat in Soma Bringer is meant to be simple to execute yet extremely customizable and strategic for the player. Each of the four buttons on the DS (X, Y, A, B) is mapped to an action. This action can be a normal attack, an attack skill, a non-attack ability or a spell. Simply by pressing that button, the mapped move will be executed. Up to five sets of actions can be customized, and the player switches between the five sets using the R button, though any set not having something allocated will be skipped. Items are also mapped onto the four buttons, and by pressing the L button, the game toggles between battle mode and pocket mode. In pocket mode pressing a button will consume the item type mapped to it. The select button toggles between 5 different camera modes of zoom, and the start button will brings up the menu. While you can bring up the menu to change mapped actions at any time, the game does not pause when you access the menu, so it would not be wise to do so while in the middle of combat.
When combos and consecutive attacks are pulled off on a single enemy, an exclamation mark (!) will appear over the enemy. Continuing to pummel the enemy in this state will lead to a (!!), and finally when 3 exclamation marks appear (!!!) the enemy will be in a "break" state and any attacks in this period will result in tremendous extra damage. Certain forms of attack and timed combos can more effectively bring an enemy into break state than others. Although, just as enemies can be put into break states, so can the player.
Welt The newest member of the 7th Division. He was hand-picked by Einsatz into the elite combat unit that is the 7th Division because of his enthusiasm. He is also affectionate and has a strong sense of responsibility. He serves as the narrator of the game's story as he recounts his experiences in the 7th Division. His default class is Battlers.
Idea A mysterious girl under the protection of the 7th Division. She was found in a large pod, with no memories of her past other than her own name. Her default class is Somas.
Einsatz The commanding officer of the 7th Division, with the rank of captain. He has a calm demeanor, and is a flexible leader that isn't bound by rules and regulations, and is more concerned about his team and doing what's right. For this reason, he is extremely popular with his subordinates. His default class is Kampfs.
Jadis The vice-commander of the 7th Division. His personality is a complete opposite of his large physique, and he's always made fun of by his subordinates. But when it comes to the crunch, he's always there as the superior officer. He is Einsatz's best friend since they were children and they were recruited into Pharzuph together.. His default class is Darks.
Millers Her speciality is martial arts, and is an accommodating person who thinks of her companions. She's always looking out for Welt as he's a new member. Her default class is Kampfs.
Cadenza He is calm and gentle, but is also very alert. He's protective of Welt and Idea, while always playing mediator when Millers and Forte argue. His default class is Gunners.
Granada She's the silent type who doesn't share her feelings openly. Seen as a possible candidate for a commander role. She also has a knack for origami. Her default class is Corps.
Forte She has a cheerful personality and is generally the mood maker of the team. She has a natural connection with the flow of Soma energy, and is also in charge of the team's equipment. Whenever she's with Millers, they always find a way to start up an argument. Her default class is Somas.
In a world where the a magical energy source known as Soma drives the technology and daily lives of all its inhabitants, there lies a huge continent named Barnea. In recent years, the natural balance of Soma has been disrupted by the arrival of mysterious beings called Visitors. To investigate these occurrences, Secundadeians - the organization that regulates Soma in the world, creates a military division to deal with these Visitors - the Pharzuph. The story follows the seven members of the 7th Division of the Pharzuph. What they discover on one of their missions will determine the fate of the world...
