Fairy Fencer F by Compile Heart is a turn-based JRPG that has you in the role of Fang, a starving vagabond that frees a sword known as a ‘Fury’ from a large stone. Removing the sword unlocks the weapon’s essence, which is a fairy by the name of Eryn. Now labeled a ‘Fencer’ (a warrior that is imbued by the power of his weapon’s fairy), Fang and his fairy must work together to collect all 100 weapons (or Furies) to free a goddess, and potentially a demon called the Vile God, from their spiritual prisons.
The adventure begins in the city of Zelwinds where you meet up with Fencer Tiara. Along the way, the game introduces the player to the gameplay mechanics through short tutorials known as, ‘Eryn’s Fencer Lectures’. These brief tutorials are quite in-depth with their explanations of important gameplay functions.
The Inn Sunflower is where you sleep, speak to party members, and use the Godly Revival skill. When a new Fury (i.e. weapon) is recovered, you can use Godly Revival to enter the spiritual prisons of both the Goddess and the Vile God. At this point, you can choose which God to free first. A number of Furies are impaled in both deities, and you must search their bodies for the first weapon to remove. When the appropriate Fury is found for removal, you must battle the fairy spirit attached to the weapon. Defeating this fairy releases the sword from the God in question, and adds it to your collection (which you can equip later to boost skills, stats, etc.)
You can also inspect a Fury’s fairy by accessing the ‘Fairies’ menu. You can highlight the desired fairy with the directional pad and select it by pressing X button. Fairies that have gift boxes on their portraits will give the player a gift upon inspecting them. Fang can equip these fairies as a ‘Resonance Effect’ and gain their parameters and abilities. Also, if a Fairy is not equipped as a Resonance, it will not gain any XP.
When you’re not freeing the Goddess or her adversary, the Vile God, you can visit Guillermo’s Pub to complete side missions for additional gold and XP. Tomoe’s Shop is where you can purchase and sell items, and synthesis new equipment with the items you acquire along the way. The synthesis process is relatively simple compared to games such as Atelier Meruru. There is no failure percentage or time consuming practice runs; you can synthesis items as long as you possess the materials.
Like most of NIS America’s RPGs, combat is turn-based and relies on a turn order system. On the surface, combat seems like your standard JRPG fare, as you press X button for basic melee attacks and Triangle button to access your party’s Skills and Magic abilities. Where Fairy Fencer’s gameplay differs from other games in the genre is its ‘Tension’ Gauge and ‘Fairize’ skill.
The Tension Gauge – which is located in the top right corner of the screen – increases as your party attacks their foes, but decreases when melee attacks or spells miss their target. When the Tension Gauge fills up, you can execute a special skill called ‘Fairize’. This skill fuses a Fencer with his weapon and fairy, and it’s shown in dramatic, cinema-style fashion. The Fencer in question tosses their weapon upward and impales themselves before the transformation occurs. What follows is a hybrid version of the Fencer with increased damage and magic abilities. While in this ‘Fairized’ state, your Fencer’s P-ATK and P-DEF are incredibly powerful. The skill is best used during boss battles due to its damage output and defense bonuses.
As your party levels, melee-based combos are learned to enhance your Fencers’ basic attack abilities. These combos are assigned to the X, Square and Triangle buttons respectively. Performing a consecutive number of combos on an enemy will activate an ‘Avalanche’ Attack, where the closest standing Fencer will assist in dealing damage. While combos come in handy when you’re low on SP (Spell Power), they’re not the primary focus of combat.
Another feature worth mentioning is the ‘Shaping Effect’, which is used on the world map. Before entering a dungeon, you can impale the location with any of the Furies y from your adventure to increase your party’s damage output and improve item drops, to name just a few. Overusing this ability can have adverse effects on the environment, so it should be used sparingly.
Compile Heart’s RPGs, as a rule, appeal to a niche crowd of gamers. But Fairy Fencer F is more mainstream in its approach to both story and gameplay, leaving out the quirky idioms seen in some of the company’s earlier franchises. This may disappoint hardcore fans that look forward to Compile Heart’s crafty, tongue in cheek approach to the genre. But this isn’t to say that Fairy Fencer F is devoid of sexual innuendos or large breasted female characters because it isn’t.
Fairy Fencer F is one role-playing game that every gamer should play, whether they enjoy Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest or RPGs in general. Compile Heart out did themselves with this release, and hopefully a sequel is in the works. We need to see more role-playing games like Fairy Fencer F.
Mike Pittaro
Platform: Playstation 3
Developer: Compile Heart
Publisher: NIS America
ESRB: T (Teen)
Price: $39.99
Fairy Fencer F’s Official Website
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| Gorgeous 3D models and colorful backgrounds. | |
| Sound | |
| Some of the best English voice acting in a JRPG. | |
| Gameplay | |
| The Tension Meter and Fairize Skill add to the combat experience | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| It's not often that a game like Fairy Fencer F comes along. It's one of the games that will end up with a cult following, and difficult to find later on. | |
