8.Brave Story New Traveler
Language: Japanese, English
Spoiler for Story:
-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 travellers sword he holds so he can return to his old world and restore Miki back to full health
This game is based on the Japanese manga, Brave Story, and features some of the manga's cast, although the main characters, Tatsuya and Miki, are original creations for the game.
9.Breath of Fire III
Language: Japanese, English
Spoiler for Story:
The game begins in a chrysm mine in a far corner of the world, where a rare and powerful mineral is being harvested from the fossilized remains of dragons. When a large deposit is cracked open by dynamite, a preserved baby dragon emerges and quickly attacks the panicked miners before being knocked unconscious and placed aboard a train to be taken away for study.
On the way out of the mine, the dragon jostles his cage off the train and falls down a hill on the outskirts of a large forest, where he transforms into a young boy before again losing consciousness. He is found by a wandering thief named Rei, member of the cat-like Woren clan and fellow orphan who believes him to be just another abandoned child. Taking him to his home in the woods, they meet Teepo, Rei's longtime friend and partner-in-crime, who agrees to let the boy into their thieving operation, and find out that his name is Ryu, the only thing he can remember. The team commits several crimes, and come into favor with local village when they steal from their corrupt mayor, McNeil, and re-distribute the funds across town.
Secretly a member of a large crime syndicate, the mayor contacts two hitmen, the horse brothers Balio and Sunder, to seek revenge, who proceed to burn down the trio's home and violently attack them. Awakening a short while later, Ryu finds himself in the care of a woodsman named Bunyan who had found no trace of his friends. Believing them to be alive, Ryu travels to the city of Wyndia where he meets Nina, child daughter of the King, who helps him escape Balio and Sunder, who are now on his trail.
Ryu and Nina eventually come across a large tower and meet Momo, an inventor and engineer who is researching the properties of chrysm when the two of them arrive. Together with her diminutive robotic assistance Honey, the three escape the tower by rocket when a group of bounty hunters arrive looking for them.
Momo leads them to a nearby chrysm research facility conducting experiments on plants when they are approached by the institute's chairman and colleague of Momo's father, Dr. Platt, who tells them that there is a mutant creature causing trouble at the dump area where their biological waste is stored. After defeating the mutant plant creature, it gives up its offspring, whom Nina names Peco, to be cared for in its absence.
As the four continue their journey east, where they are captured by Balio and Sunder in a double-cross and taken to a nearby colosseum. It is there that the team meets Garr, a seasoned warrior who aids them in defeating the horse brothers for good.
Garr agrees to help the group in finding Ryu's friends on the condition that he also accompany him to a sacred temple far to the east. After crossing a large bridge and traveling straight through a volcano, the group arrives at the temple, where Garr and Ryu journey inward alone.
It is there that Garr reveals the true fate of the Brood, having been slaughtered by him and his fellow guardians by the hundreds at the behest of Myria, an ancient goddess who promised an age of peace in return for their services. With Ryu as the last living dragon, Garr attempts to slay him, only to have Ryu assume his most powerful form, Kaiser, and escape.
The story then cuts to several years later, where reports of a rampaging dragon have led Garr to the same mines where Ryu was originally found, and finds an adult Ryu within its depths. Convincing Ryu that he will not harm him, Garr instead asks forgiveness for his actions against his people centuries ago and asks that Ryu help him discover the truth behind Myria's genocide of the Brood.
The two re-group with Nina, now a young adult, and Momo, who has been performing experiments at the plant institute with Peco, who himself has been frequently visiting the great tree Yggdrasil, overseer of the world's forests. They continue their journey once they receive information about Myria's whereabout from Deis, an immortal sorceress from the first two Breath of Fire titles. The team finds Rei alive, now battling the leader of the crime organization responsible for the attack on his friends, and have him join their group, learning that he also has not seen Teepo since the incident.
Crossing the ocean to the forgotten northern continent, the group finds a town littered with advanced technology from a forgotten age, and then proceed to the last known village of the Brood, Dragnier, where they learn of the battle between the heroes from the first Breath of Fire and the Goddess centuries ago, and how she has returned to seek her revenge against the Brood. Crossing a large desert, the team arrives at the ruined city of Caer Xhan, a former haven of technology, with a lift leading to Myria's fortress.
Making their way up the large escalator to the floating Myria Station, the group fights their way into the facility's inner sanctum where they meet a lavender-haired young man who reveal himself to be Teepo. Having survived the attack by Balio and Sunder due to his latent dragon powers, he was later contacted by the Goddess, who convinced him to live in peaceful seclusion in her fortress to spare the world his destructive power. Unable to convince Ryu or his friends to do the same, he transforms into the gigantic Dragon Lord and attacks them, only to be defeated, his dying words revealing that he just wanted to be with his "family", Ryu and Rei.
The determined groups makes their way to Myria herself within the station's control center, where she reveals that she exterminated the dragons centuries ago for the same reason she removed the world's high technology: to keep humanity from inadvertently destroying themselves. She presents Ryu the same choice she gave Teepo, to live the rest of his life in peace within her station or be destroyed. The spirit of the great tree Yggdrasil then channels himself through Peco and tell her she is taking her power too far, and like any parent, she must allow her children to make their own way. With that, Ryu and his friends attack and defeat her, fleeing the station as it crumbles around them.
Garr opts to stay behind to atone for his past mistakes, and Deis, now revealed to be Myria's sister, appears to her just as the station falls apart, saying they will now leave the world in humanity's hands. Ryu and his friends make their way from the rubble and back into the desert on their journey home.
10. Wild Arms XF
Language: Japanese
Spoiler for Story:
-The game's story centers around the knight group called the Blanquizel and how the protagonist and her team of knights take back their homeland, The Elsius Kingdom, which is being controlled by the Senate.
The Queen of the Elsius Kingdom died in an incident, followed by the king's death due to illness resulted the rise of the Senate. Like other Wild Arms titles, this takes place on the dying planet Filgaia where the remaining natural resources; food, land and financial assets are at the center of continued armed confrontations. Despite this, the Elsius Kingdom is one of the few peaceful places on Filgaia.
11.Tales of Phantasia
Language: Japanese
Spoiler for Story:
-Tales of Phantasia begins by showing a heroic battle between four unknown warriors against an evil sorcerer, Dhaos, the outcome of which changed the fate of the world.
The warriors were victorious, but Dhaos escaped through time. However, four different heroes are awaiting him: they seal the weakened Dhaos away using the power of two pendants, thus returning peace to the world.
In the town of Toltus ten years after Dhaos had been sealed away, where a young swordsman named Cress Albane (known as “Cless Alvein” in the Japanese version) and his best friend, archer Chester Burklight (Chester Barklight in the Japanese version), live. The town is destroyed by a dark knight named Mars(Malice in the DeJap translation) and his soldiers, while Cress and Chester are out hunting in the forest.
Every villager is killed in the attack, including Chester’s sister and both of Cress’s parents. While Chester mourns, Cress vows for revenge. He decides he will head to the town of Euclid, as his mother asked of him before she passed away. The two friends decide they will meet up later, in Euclid.
Upon his arrival in Euclid, Cress is soon betrayed by his uncle and is thrown in jail, captured by Mars. The heirloom pendant entrusted to Cress by his father Miguel is taken away from him, but Cress does not know of its significance in holding Dhaos sealed, nor that his father was one of the four who sealed him away.
Cress meets Mint Adenade ("Adnade" in the Japanese version, a practitioner of the healing arts) in the jail, and she joins the party and helps him escape. Soon afterwards, the party meets Chester again at Trinicus (“Tornix” in DeJap’s translation) D. Morrison's house, another of the four warriors. Trinicus informs the party that he knew Cress’s parents and Mint’s mother quite well, and they once joined together to seal away a great evil. He is horrified to hear that Cress’s pendant has been stolen, and immediately runs off towards a nearby mausoleum.
Cress, Mint, and Chester deduce that Mars must be there, and so follow Trinicus without his knowledge and against his will. Unfortunately, Mars manages to release Dhaos using the pendants before Trinicus and the party can stop him. With no hope of dealing with the all-powerful Dhaos for now, Trinicus attempts to send Cress, Mint, and Chester back a century into the past, so that they will learn about Dhaos and procure a means to preemptively defeat him. After killing Mars, Dhaos attacks the party with a magic spell that Chester dives in front of. So it is that Chester and Trinicus are left behind to suffer Dhaos’s wrath, with only a broken bow and a diary respectively all that Mint and Cress have to remember them by.
In the past, Dhaos is still causing chaos, preparing for an imminent war against the two largest human countries — Alvanista and Midgards. These events happened around ninety years before he was sealed. In this time period, Dhaos’s evil pervades most of the world, and he even controls the prince of Alvanista’s royal family. The party learns that the only way to defeat Dhaos is by using magic, but neither Cress nor Mint can practice the magical arts — only elves and half-elves can use the powerful spells.
However, they soon meet Claus F. Lester (given as Klarth F. Lester in Japanese versions) (a summoner) and Arche Klein (a half-elf witch), who join them in their quest. Claus is a researcher of summoning (the act of evoking a magical spirit or elemental), and is thus one of the only humans who can indirectly use magic by forming a pact with the spirits via special rings and then summoning them to attack in battle.
He suggests that the spirit Luna may be useful to them and so the party travels across the world to the deserts of Freyland, the depths of the ancient dwarven caverns of the Morlia Gallery, and to mountains above and caves below in search of rings and spirits to help them fight Dhaos.
Eventually, the party reaches Midgards and succeeds in helping fend off Dhaos’s army in the conflict called the Valhalla War. They proceed to Dhaos’s castle in search of him, with hopes of restoring peace to the world and avenging the deaths of their loved ones. Reaching the throne room, an epic battle with Dhaos ensues. Unfortunately, Dhaos escapes. Dhaos is down, but not out.
The party travels back to their original time to interrupt the resurrected Dhaos from killing Trinicus and Chester in the mausoleum, and fight him once more. This time, Dhaos is thoroughly defeated, and the cave begins to collapse in on itself, and an unconscious Dhaos. The party escapes and then decides that, with Dhaos most likely dead, they have succeeded and can part ways so that Claus and Arche can return to their original time.
But at that moment, a time-traveller arrives from the future to inform them that Dhaos is still alive and is terrorizing the future. Cress and company immediately travel forward in time fifty years to deal with Dhaos and his minions once and for all.
Upon the advancement of their journey, Cress, Mint, Arche, Claus, and Chester (in the remakes, Suzu Fujibayashi can also join the party) learn of the Eternal Sword, which is considered to be the only weapon that may eliminate Dhaos once and for all. After acquiring it, the party ventures into Dhaos’s floating castle, invisible to those who do not wield the Eternal Sword. When they reach the top, they battle against Dhaos, who they learn is much more than a simple sorcerer.
He happens to be from another world that is trying to save The Tree of Life (Yggdrasill, or as Dhaos calls it, The Giant Kharlan Tree) from withering and dying; the Mana that the tree exudes is of utmost importance to the survival of this world, the planet Derris-Kharlan (mistakenly rendered as “Derris Karran” in the GBA localization). After his defeat, Cress and the others return to the Tree, and the Goddess Martel explains Dhaos’s circumstances. The game’s protagonists come to realize that, in the end, Dhaos was merely trying to save his people; by defeating him, they had doomed his world.
Finally, Claus and Arche return to their own time. however, after the party leaves, decides to form a Mana Seed and travels to Dhaos’s world to save their Tree of Life. In the Super Famicom version, Dhaos’s corpse as well as Martel herself both become part of the seed, but in the remakes, Martel sends the Mana into space including only Dhaos (in the GBA remake, Mint creates a barrier around Yggdrasill before leaving, so that the Mana Seed can be formed).
12. Valkyrie Profile Lenneth
Language: Japanese, English
Spoiler for Story:
Valkyrie Profile is distinct in that most of the game takes place in a 2D perspective (hence the name). Dungeon sections play more like a platformer than a traditional RPG. Lenneth Valkyrie, the player character, makes her way through these by jumping, sliding, and using her ability to throw ice crystals. These ice crystals can do a number of things, including making temporary steps and freezing enemies. They are also used for solving small puzzles. Upon contact with an unfrozen enemy, an RPG-style battle begins.
Valkyrie Profile boasts a unique take on a turn-based battle system. The two sides wage battle during alternate turns. The whole party shares one turn however each member can attack during that turn at the same time. Each enemy is given their own turn and they do not combo with one another. Each of the four party members is assigned to a particular button.
Pressing the corresponding button on the player's turn orders that character to attack. Conventional fighters have three character-specific attacks, and can use those that their weapons' properties allow once per turn. Mages cast their preset offensive spells, which builds up their CT (Charge Time). Charge Time replaces MP, decreases slowly on its own and prevents spellcasting when above 0. While a mage's CT decreases, they can not perform any actions. There are exceptions to this however, in the form of certain equippable skills.
Stringing attacks together produces combos that prevent a target from defending or recovering, yield Magic Crystals, and Purple Gems that respectively boost experience and reduce CT, and add momentarily to the Hit Gauge. When the gauge hits 100%, a character with no Charge Time may release a special attack ("Purify Weird Soul") that both causes great damage and refills the gauge by an amount, possibly allowing another character to use a PWS. Such attacks cause CT to rise.
Fighters again have character-specific moves, while mages typically use multi-hit versions of their selected spells; the exception are mages wielding scepters with Great Magic capabilities that elevate spells into extensive cinematics that strike all on-screen enemies. Human-forged Great Magic scepters have a high chance of breaking in such use, and the unbreakable ether-coated ones are extremely rare.
13. Final Fantasy II
Language: Japanese, English
Spoiler for Story:
-Final Fantasy II begins with Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon being attacked by imperial soldiers and left for dead. Firion, Maria, and Guy are rescued by Princess Hilda of Fynn, who has established a rebel base in the nearby town of Altair after the Emperor's capture of Fynn. Hilda denies a request by Firion that he, Maria and Guy join the rebel army on the grounds that they are too young and inexperienced. Eager to prove their value to the resistance movement, the three set off for the besieged Fynn, where the four find an ailing Prince Scott of Kashuan, Princess Hilda's fiancé, in the basement of the rebel-friendly local pub.
Scott dies of his wounds from the battle of Fynn against the Emperor, but not before giving the party his ring, which reveals the world map. He also informs them that Borghen betrayed the rebellion and became a General in the Imperial army. He tells the party to tell Hilda that he loves her, but retracts the request, and dies shortly afterward. The three adventurers return to Altair and present Hilda the ring, who after an emotional reminiscence of Scott, allows them to join the rebel movement.
Having proved their worth, the party is charged with journeying to the mountainous northern parts of the world to find Mythril that the rebels need to make weapons that can measure up to that of the Empire's. Before leaving, the party is joined by the White Mage Minwu, who healed the party at the beginning of the game. The party sail across the ocean to the eastern continent and make it north to the mountain village of Salamand, which is under siege by the Empire and are forced to mine Mythril for the Imperial army. There they meet Josef, the hero of the town, who informs them that the men of the village are being forced to mine Mythril in the Semmit Falls. Josef, however, can do nothing, as his daughter, Nelly, is being held captive.
The party enters the mine and saves the captives, including Nelly and Paul, who is supposedly the world's best thief. The party defeats an Imperial soldier and returns to Altair with the mithril. The party is then told to go to Bafsk, which is under General Borghen's command and is easier to infiltrate. However, the party is too late to stop the Dreadnought from being completed.
A plan is formed to use the Sunfire from Kasuhan Keep, but to enter, either the Goddess Bell or the voice of a Kashuan is needed to open the keep. Josef helps the party enter the snow caves with a snowcraft, and the party retrieves the bell. On the way out, Borghen attacks the party, and although he is defeated, he sends a boulder after the party. Josef holds back the boulder to allow the party to escape, but is crushed to death.
The party reaches Kashuan Keep, where they find Gordon has already entered. Although they retrieve Egil's Torch, and use it to capture the Sunfire, the Airship - with Cid and Hilda on board - is captured by the Dreadnought's crane arm. The party enters the airship and saves Hilda, before throwing the Sunfire into the engine. Immediately after doing so, the Dark Knight appears, and Maria recognizes his voice before she escapes.
The King of Fynn, now close to death, summons Gordon, Minwu and Firion's group into his bedroom and gives them assignments. Gordon is given command of the rebel army, Minwu is told to find the Ultima Tome, and Firion's group is given the task of finding the seemingly extinct dragoons of Deist. The king then dies of his wounds. Firion's group realizes that no captain will take them to Deist save one- Leila. Leila, however, turns out to be a pirate, and orders her crew to attack Firion's party.
The party fights them off, and although Leila expects that Firion will kill her, he instead asks for her help in taking them to Deist, a request with which she complies. In Deist, the party finds only a mother with her son, learning that the all but one of the Dragoons and all but one of the Wyverns are dead, partly as a result of Imperial poison. The party obtains a pendant to speak with the last Wyvern, who tells the party to take its egg to a pool deep in the cave before it dies. The party plants the egg in the cave, and fights off some monsters that come after it.
The party returns to Altair, where they learn that Hilda has been acting oddly, eating mice and acting seductively. She summons Firion to her room and tries to seduce him, revealing her true form as the Lamia Queen. The party defeats the Lamia Queen, and learns that they had rescued a decoy on the Dreadnought; the real Princess is in the Arena; Gordon goes to save her while leaving Leila to run the rebellion.
The party defeats a Behemoth to win the Princess, but the Emperor tricks them and has the Dark Knight and his soldiers capture and detain them. Paul, however, breaks them out, and the party saves the real Princess.
Upon their return, the party learns that Hilda and Gordon are launching an attack on Fynn, and infiltrate the castle to kill the commander of the enemy forces. Hilda then tells the party that Minwu has not been heard from for some time, and tells them to search for him. The party acquires a Crystal Rod to enter the tower after acquiring other relics, but Leviathan swallows their ship and separates them from Leila.
They meet Ricard (his name is based on the Game Boy Advance translation, and varies significantly with the translation), the last surviving Dragoon, who had set out to find the Ultima Tome, and they join forces. After gaining another ship, they sail to the Magicians' Tower. At the top, Minwu explains that he was waiting for the party, and then casts a powerful spell to shatter the Ultima Tome's seal, at the cost of his own life.
The party returns to Fynn and sees that many towns have been destroyed by the Emperor's Cyclone. The party calls upon the newly born last Wyvern to take them to a castle inside the Cyclone, where they confront and kill the Emperor. Everyone celebrates the Empire's defeat, but a mortally wounded soldier arrives and reveals that the Dark Knight has taken the throne and plans to destroy the Rebels with the Imperial army. He then makes a more shocking revelation- that the Dark Knight is Leon, Maria's long-lost brother. The party realizes that they will have to infiltrate the castle of Palamecia from the air after talking with Paul, and receive the airship from a dying Cid, who was mortally wounded by the Cyclone.
The party enters the castle and confronts Leon. Then, the Emperor returns in a new demonic form, and reveals that he does not seek to regain the Empire, but to destroy the entire world. As he summons magical fire against the party, the Wyvern arrives, and takes the party to safety as Ricard holds off the Emperor and dies. Princess Hilda is shocked to see Leon on their side, but Maria convinces her to trust him, and Leon agrees to help his friends and sister once again.
The then enters the Jade Passage, an underground cavern near a lake, and find a portal to Pandemonium. The party fights its way through the fortress, and reaches the Emperor at the top, defeating him for a second time. The party then receives congratulations for their efforts, and learns of Hilda and Gordon's plan to unite Fynn and Kashuan, which may indicate that they plan to marry.
Paul is upset that he will no longer have the Empire to steal from, and suggests that he will steal from the former rebels. Leila invites Firion to become a pirate, but Maria objects, and Leila suggests that Firion will have to deal with her in the future. Maria hopes that they will live together as they once did, but Leon says that they cannot live together again- some translations have him indicating that they know too much about each other, which may refer to his lust for power.
Maria begs Firion to stop him, but Firion believes that Leon must follow his own path, but tells him that they will be waiting for him, as though he hopes that Leon will return someday.
14. Aedis Eclipse ~Generation of Chaos
Language: Japanese, English
Spoiler for Story:
The second Generation of Chaos strategy title on PSP takes place in this world divided into three warring planes. Each world has its own main character and story; therefore, players can experience three different stories at once. Depending on which world the player begins with, the difficulty level will differ. The lower world is regarded as the beginner's stage with many tutorials to guide the player through the game. The higher the world you choose to play with, the more difficult it becomes. Battle in each mode using a combination of incredible team customization and item crafting in a multi-unit battle system, with a focus on fast-loading and constant battles to give players a nearly seamless RPG experience.
DIVINE WORLD: In a world where angels and demons lived together in peace, tragedy strikes as the king of demons is assassinated by a radical group of angels. Now, a war has broken out between the two factions and you must stop them from destroying the world...
UPPER WORLD: A young knight has arrived in a kingdom ruled by a ruthless ruler. His fellow comrades have been captured by the royal army and you must rescue them before it is too late...
LOWER WORLD: Another boring day of school is suddenly interrupted by a surprise bombardment. While most students flee for safety, you decide to watch the battle. In a bizarre turn of events, you are dragged into the bloody warfare....