Brave Story: New Traveler

Brave Story: New Traveler
Developer(s)	Game Republic
Publisher(s)	JP SCEI NA Xseed Games
Director(s)	Yoshiki Okamoto Yoshinori Takenaka
Writer(s)	Tadashi Satomi Hideyuki Ishizeki
Composer(s)	Manase Kawasaki Minako Seki
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)	JP July 6, 2006 NA July 31, 2007
Genre(s)	Role-playing video game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	UMD

Brave Story: New Traveler (ブレイブ・ストーリー: 新たなる旅人, Bureibu Stōrī: Aratanaru Tabibito) is a video game loosely based in the world of the novel and manga Brave Story. It was released in Japan on July 6, 2006. An English version, published and localized by Xseed Games, was released on July 31, 2007 in North America.

Plot summary

The game starts off with the player as the main protagonist, called Tatsuya as the default name, and introduces us to his best friend, whose default name is Miki. The story kicks off with Tatsuya and Miki sitting on a bench. Tatsuya is too immersed in the game he is playing on his PSP to notice that Miki is missing. Kratos, Miki's dog, barks and shows Tatsuya where Miki is and thus he finds her unconscious on the ground, sick by some unknown illness. He wishes for her to become better, and suddenly, a voice magically appears and asks Tatsuya if he wants to save his friend and make her healthy again. He agrees and thus the adventure begins in an unknown land separated from the rest of the world in order to seize 5 different gems for the Traveler's Sword he holds so he can return to his own world and restore Miki back to good health.

The game is based on the Japanese novel Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe, and features some of the original cast, although the main characters Tatsuya and Miki (as well as most of Tatsuya's party) are original creations for the game.

Playable Characters

Tatsuya (タツヤ)
Voiced By: Mayumi Tanaka (Japanese) Wendee Lee (English)
An 11-year-old human boy from the real world with an intense love of playing video games on his PSP, often blocking out others when he is playing; he embarks on a quest to save Miki's life journeying to the world of Vision as a Traveler. He is given a powerful blade called the Traveler's Sword by a mysterious elderly man named Lau. Despite being so young, he wields the sword quite well in battle and the sword's own strength grows as he locates the mysterious five gemstones. With each gemstone added, not only does he get stronger and learn certain abilities, he is also allowed to return to the real world for a short time with the Mirror of Truth. Tatsuya fills the role of the typical silent protagonist in the game and only speaks when prompted by questions or decisions.

Yuno (ユーノ)
Voiced By: Tomoko Kawakami (Japanese) Michelle Ruff (English)
A 15-year-old half ankha half kitkin girl who Tatsuya meets shortly after arriving in Vision. She is a tomboy and the first girl who makes friends with Tatsuya. Yuno is Tatsuya's first companion, ergo she has traveled with him the longest and could be assumed as the person closest to him in Vision. She takes an immediate interest in him after he helps save her life from monsters and remains a very close ally and friend throughout their journey together. She tends to be a bit high-spirited and bossy (a comparison Tatsuya makes to Miki) as well as curious about the many unseen sights of the world. It is hinted multiple times that she has a crush on Tatsuya. She wields a bow in combat as well as useful healing songs, like Meena.

Sogreth (ソグレス)
Voiced By: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese) Jamieson Price (English)
A 30-year-old waterkin who befriends Tatsuya and Yuno when they help to save his son from trouble. He is Kee Keema's best friend. He is bent on training his 4-year-old son Minos to be a man, but his methods borderline on the extreme, and everyone in his town knows what his son goes through daily. Despite his tough exterior and gruff manner, he is actually quite kind and empathetic to even the least disheartening of situations. As revealed in one of the sidequests, he seems to have a particular affinity for Meladee's sister. He has a tendency to say "Sakes Alive!" whenever he is surprised. In battle, he fills the role of strongman and wields an axe with great power.

Meladee (ミレディ)
Voiced By: Ai Orikasa (Japanese)
Friends (and rivals) with Kutz, she is 25-years old, and the newly appointed leader of the Highlanders in the desert branch. She acquires the assistance of Tatsuya and his friends at the request of her sister. She is kind yet tough, beautiful, and skilled. Yuno also idolizes her as the kind of woman she wants to grow up to be. Meladee fights with twin short swords and wields numerous healing spells.

Ropple (ロプル)
Voiced By: Akira Ishida (Japanese) Yuri Lowenthal (English)
A 17-year old pankin starseer Tatsuya and co. meet in Gasara. He is working on a school assignment to receive credit and the party agrees to help him. He is knowledgeable in regards to magical lore but very oblivious to people's feelings. His professor wants him to better understand the people around him and help them selflessly, which, in the end, he gets considerably better at. Ropple has an unusual tendency to say "and/or" in his sentences. He wields a staff and attack spells much like Mitsuru.

Leynart (レイナート)
Voiced By: Shō Hayami (Japanese)
A 27-year old beastkin Knight of Stengel who is responsible for dealing with many lawbreakers at borders and checkpoints. He is a handsome man with a courteous, genial disposition and a sense of humor combined with an inner toughness. When the team first meets him, Leynart mistakes Yuno and Sogreth for criminals, but after a short quest he releases them from his custody. He eventually joins the party in order to continue to fight for justice and find some way of helping his lover, who has fallen into a state of amnesia. He fights using a lance and shield, and can cast a few offensive and defensive spells.

Guest Characters

Kee Keema (キ・キーマ)
Voiced By: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese) Steve Kramer (English)
A 29-30 year old waterkin who is Sogreth's Close Neighbor & Closest friend. A waterkin merchant who traveled with Wataru and Meena in the original novel and game. He teams up with Tatsuya and Yuno to save Sogreth's son early on. He also seems to be have many connections with many important people in Vision. He wields an axe in battles.

Wataru Mitsuya Mitani (ワタル)
Voiced By: Akiko Yajima (Japanese) Mona Marshall (English)
The hero from the previous Brave Story and the protagonist of the original novel that inspired the games. He is an 11 year old Traveler who is very kind and helping to others. He is also one of Tatsuya's best friends. He first appears to assist Tatsuya with clearing his friends' names. Like Tatsuya, he is also a Traveler. He wields a special blade (called the Brave's Sword) in battle and fights with essentially the same Bravura techniques with a few exceptions.

Meena (ミーナ)
Voiced By: Chiwa Saitō (Japanese) Sherry Lynn (English)
A 12 year old kitkin girl who traveled alongside Wataru in the previous game and original story. She is also Yuno's Best Friend. She is also a little bit powerful version of Yuno because of her Dagger. She is spritely and kind, and willing to help Wataru no matter what happens to him. Kee Keema told interesting things about Yuno this was the impact to idolizes Yuno. She wields throwing knives in battle and uses healing songs, like Yuno.

Mitsuru Ashikawa (ミツル)
Voiced By: Romi Park (Japanese)
An 11 year old mysterious young mage Traveler with a rather cold and condescending tone toward Tatsuya, whom he meets early on. He is one of Wataru's best friend and Rival to complete there wish. Though he assists Tatsuya for a brief time, he has no intention of being his friend or ally as he has his own agenda regarding the gemstones. In the original novel, Mitsuru is Wataru's friend and rival in their quest to get all the gemstones and fulfill their wish. He fights using a staff and powerful attack spells.

Kutz (カッツ)
Voiced By: Mami Koyama (Japanese)
A 24 year old Highlander leader at the town of Gasara who is close/best friends (and rivals) with Meladee. She tends to be overly brazen when it comes to letting people hear what she has to say and does not tolerate people breaking the law (even the smallest infraction sets her off). She joins the party for a short time. Kutz uses a whip in battle.

Antagonist

Rei

Voiced By: Yuri Lowenthal

A 17-18 year old masked man who is one of the main antagonists of the game. He is a false Traveler who had a terrible past and came to Vision to wish his dark memories to be erased.

Postgame features

After beating the game and watching the credits, the player can save over their current playthrough. The new file is marked with a star and is entitled "Epilogue". Resuming the game from the star-marked file allows the player to continue the game from the last save point but with access to the new Roster feature under Settings. Roster allows the player to place the guest characters Wataru, Meena, Kee Keema, Mitsuru and Kutz into their party any time they please; the guest characters are now at Level 60+ and have new equipment and abilities. There will also be an extra part of the game to complete, The Earthrift.

Reception

Brave Story: New Traveler was generally well received by critics earning aggregated scores of 76% from Metacritic,^[2] 79% from Game Rankings.^[1] RPG Land posted the first review of the completed English game and said, "It’s got a solid battle system, entertaining story, good characters, and other RPG ingredients done very well -- thoroughly enjoyable."^[7] Joe Dodson from GameSpot commends Brave Story: New Traveler for its visual and sound effects but criticizes its "homogenous and never-ending" monsters.^[3] GamePro commends the game for "vibrant graphics, small load times and solid presentation on the whole" but criticizes it for "some too-familiar aspects of story and gameplay, story may be too "kiddy" for some."^[8] Louis Bedigian from GameZone commends the game's graphics saying that the game "pays homage to the 3D Final Fantasy games".^[9] Matt Paddock from Game Vortex commended the title on its faithful translation from comic to game form: "if any of the Harry Potter books had been translated as faithfully, the game versions of Rowling's work would be selling gold and platinum right now".^[10] Greg Miller at IGN criticizes the game for having "a set of the exact same events -- random battles, dungeon, random battles, boss".^[5]

References

External links