Brave Story understands the gamers’ plight. That’s exactly where the game begins, with you ignoring everyone thanks to games sucking your life away. That is –until something drastic happens and your best friend suddenly falls into a deep coma or something. We’re never clear on what her problem is, but that’s not the whole story anyway! Following this turn of events, you soon find yourself having wandered into a portal to the world of Vision. Alternatively, this kid’s wildest dreams have just come true in the worst way, as he’s finally a world such of a game although only at the cost of risking this girl’s life. Bummer, I know. Why can’t we all just dive into our TV’s for the fun of it?

In the world of Vision, you’re thrown into the role of a traveler, and as such you’ve got the ability to travel between your world and Vision’s. You’re not the first traveler but you do have that special something to you, and that’s enough to start a journey to find the mystical Goddess of Fortune, who will grant the wish of whoever manages to reach her. This all begins with a simple trial in which you’ll determine your attributes - strength, wisdom, constitution, agility – along with getting a sword and rank. Afterwards, the old and wise Wayfinder Lau explains the story behind the Goddess of Vision and then you’re off!

In no time you start meeting people and building a party, with cat-people, giant lizards, and the like –usual RPG fare, you know. The story follows a linear trail from here, of becoming a Highlander (not the immortal kind) and traveling from town to town in your eventual quest to reach this goddess and wish for your friend to be better again, but the pacing does keep quick and goes nicely with the spot-on localization. It’s all very comforting, and a bit reminiscent of the 90’s RPGs, but perhaps that’s because the game doesn’t try to overcomplicate anything with any sort of revolutionary story or gameplay for that matter.

The turn-based battle system is both fast and fun –especially for a game in the genre where fighting can easily be neither. The party works in three’s, and is actually based around friendship. I know, I almost laughed too! Seriously, though, you’re rewarded for using characters in tandem and building Unity between them, so that in no time they’re creating combos off of each other like they grew up together. It’s all very satisfying. Along with this are the standard and special attacks which come into play. One of the contributors to the quick battles and system would be the simplification of things, as there aren’t a superfluous amount of options at hand. You wanna hit a Rabby with a sword? Go ahead and hit him, we got that.

The load times are fast, too. Not just for the random battles, but throughout the entire game, which is nice and impressive at the same time, since it’s so pretty. Back to combat, though. The Unity and Magic attacks use BP, or Brave Points, which are equivalent to MP, but regular attacks are a tad different. They actually refill the BP gauge. This helps speed things along, as you’ll oftentimes find yourself getting multiple hits per turn, which lends to a more powerful attack and leaves you with more BP. And of course, the more you fight, the higher you level, but ho! You can level up mid-battle, too? This was an extremely pleasant surprise, to which I found another level of strategy added onto the game’s combat system. There is another means of leveling up, but it’s outside of combat and rewarded by finding Bravestones which will cause a character’s weapon to become stronger.

If any of this sounds familiar or like you’ve been there before, don’t feel bad. We have been here before. It’s a straight-up RPG. The game has a comfortable place in the hearts of anyone who grew up with Chrono Trigger or a Final Fantasy. That’s not to say it’s a carbon copy at all, there’s an original story here, with new characters, and fore mostly it’s not a port of anything. The game’s graphics are up to par and then some, constantly reminding me of how assured and impressed I felt throughout my first playthrough of FFX, with great little touches like Yuko’s moving cat ears, or spying a “KERSLAMM” or “Slikkt” along with an attack. The game’s got a style, and it’s not only convincing, but it works.

Along with this are some suitable voiceovers, which can be switched to Japanese or English, and a great soundtrack. The whole package is here, and although a pretty face doesn’t make a good game, it’s certainly got the substance and inner workings of a good RPG. Perhaps what is most attractive about it is the pacing. Once again, it’s quick and never really slows to the point of wanting to set the game down and come back later. Brave Story: New Traveler is aware of the console it’s on; it knows it’s a portable title and wants you to enjoy as much of your play time as you can within whatever limits you find yourself. In that sense, it fulfills a purpose that games find trouble doing –in which it feels rewarding to play.

Brave Story is a great portable game. It’s also a good RPG. Not a long one (around 20 hours), and not too challenging either, but a good RPG. It’s one of those games that looked back and took notes from history’s best, simplified that, and sped up the pacing just a bit to keep players interested each time they turn it on. It’s got the feeling of a Christmas morning present that you’ve got a whole two weeks to fully enjoy, even if you’re doing it in fifteen minute chunks on the bus to work, but thanks the nostalgic gameplay, original story, and understanding pacing, it’s rewarding enough to be worth a purchase. And if you can just pick it up and start the fun, why look for a new way to push your family and friends away? Gaming is still here, you just have to look a bit harder these days.