I love JRPGs. I’m fond of their peculiar characters and linear storytelling, and I cherish how most of them always try to bring unique leveling and progression systems.
With many Japan-made-or-inspired RPGs under my belt, I’ve also become numb to specific quirks and tropes that can be a turn-off for many players.
However, if there’s one trope I’m getting increasingly tired of, it’s child characters.
To my luck—or lack thereof—Phantom Brave: The Lost Herointroduces two child protagonists, so I knew I’d have to buckle up and keep an open mind if I wanted to fully enjoy the game without letting my preconceptions get the better of me. And, oh boy, that was tough.
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For context, I’m familiar withDisgaeaand played the firstPhantom Braveback in the day. In that game, Marona, our 13-year-old protagonist, is accompanied by Ash, a phantom with whom only the young girl can communicate. Ash acts as her guardian and mentor, shielding Marona from her naivety.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Herois a direct sequel set six months after its predecessor and introduces Apricot, a pirate even younger than Marona. Although her age isn’t revealed, I’d guess she’s around 10 years old.
So, to find out whether this game is worth your time, and why these kids simply refuse to attend school, stick around.
Phantoms and Pirates
The theme ofPhantom Brave: The Lost Heroonce again revolves around the idea of phantoms. This time, it dives deep into how dead people become phantoms by harboring lingering feelings and remaining in the world.
While some befriend Marona, others are exploited and become monsters. All the narrative happens in a fresh pirate setting, full of swashbuckling and exquisite crews.
The game begins, and Marona is attacked by the Shipwreck Fleet (a crew of Ghost Ships), becomes separated from Ash, and is left stranded on an island. The island belongs to the Argento Pirate Crew, who strongarm the girl.
But with the help of the phantom Apricot, Marona convinces the pirates to help her find Ash while they also search for Captain Argento. Argento is Apricot’s father and has been missing for five years, the same period of time Apricot has been dead.
Introducing the game’s story with a dead child made me brace myself for a likely heart-wrenching journey down the road. The premise had the potential to shove a heavy theme into the narrative, butPhantom Brave: The Lost Herokeeps the execution way too light and nonchalant, which often doesn’t work in the game’s favor.
There are touching moments and some clever dialogue, but overall, everything seems to converge on “the power of friendship” to justify the unshakable optimism of the two child protagonists.
Adult characters serve as reality checks for the girls, always trying to convince them to exercise caution or not trust an apparent ultra-sketchy character. But repeatedly, Marona and Apricot proclaim they’ll turn the impossible into the possible, believing everything will work out in the end and often extending a helping hand to even the most evil villains.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero’sstory and narrative were the least engaging parts of the game. Many dialogues are overly verbose, with characters simply repeating what others have just said or Apricot overreacting to the group’s decisions.
Everything consistently goes as the children desire just because, undermining any narrative development or story beat. By the way, enemies becoming allies is another JRPG trope. The payoff can be amazing when neatly justified, but it can botch the entire plot if it feels farfetched.
The dynamic between the two protagonists, who approach every problem with love, care, and dialogue, makes the narrative somewhat predictable. WhenPhantom Brave: The Lost Heroattempts to innovate, the results often feel either dull and uninteresting or excessively bloated to extend playtime.
I grew tired of defeating an antagonist only to discover that it wasn’t truly them—perhaps a copy, a shade, or a false version—just to prolong the game.
Deep Themes Amidst a Shallow Execution
The story’s execution didn’t impress me and often made me sigh heavily. Nippon Ichi games are known for having a visual novel-esque format, with cutscenes involving static character images.
This structure is no problem by itself, but it makes the game more dependent on strong voice acting and well-written dialogues than those with active cinematics.
It was a nice touch to bring back the original voice actors for Marona and Ash after 20 years, but not even that could save the uninspired performances.
The voice volume is uneven, and moments meant to be impactful feel lifeless, undermining the entire scene. To be fair, I don’t blame the voice actors because it seemed more like an inconsistent audio direction rather than awkward dubbing.
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Unfortunately,Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero’sstory and narrative were the least engaging parts of the game. Many dialogues are overly verbose, with characters simply repeating what others have just said or Apricot overreacting to the group’s decisions, contradicting any logic behind the same members choosing her as the crew’s captain.
In short, if you play RPGs for a gripping story, creative narrative, unusual plot twists, and unique characters,Phantom Brave: The Lost Heromight not be the game for you.
Anything Goes in Tactical Combat
If you’re after a tactical RPG with insane customization, endless progression, and nonsense-but-thrilling itemization, then you wackos are in the right place. It’s in the gameplay thatPhantom Brave: The Lost Herogoes deliciously off the rails. I don’t know how familiar you are with NIS games, but things are about to go bananas.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero’sgameplay resembles its predecessor. Battles occur in a dedicated field where characters move freely, respecting their Move attribute, and can execute various skills depending on their class or equipped weapon.
What setsThe Lost Heroapart from other strategy RPGs is that Marona is the only combatant on the field until she starts summoning phantoms to help her. She does this with the Confine command, selecting an item on the map—ranging from traditional swords to a random palm tree—and then choosing an ally.
Each phantom has a specific Remove attribute, which determines how many turns they can act before being permanently removed from the stage. This pushed me to diversify my characters instead of focusing on just a few and made me adapt my playstyle in several instances.
There’s a limit to how many phantoms can be summoned at once, but the limit replenishes if they’re removed rather than killed by enemies.
Occasionally, a phantom confined to an item may permanently acquire it, which goes to the base for use as a weapon. Sometimes, items on the field are linked to others or to enemies, granting buffs or debuffs, adding another tactical layer to the fray.
There are countless unique weapons, each with its own skills and perks. An axe might have abilities that deal damage based on the user’s HP and Attack stats, while a molten rock uses the Defense attribute.
Battles in this 3D field feel more creative and allow for greater tactical variety than grid-based systems. This design makes skills with circular, triangular, rectangular, and other area-of-effect variations possible.
Many times, I found myself hitting an ally to take out multiple enemies, favoring a small sacrifice for the greater good.Phantom Brave’stactical style is less rigid, allowing me to innovate mid-battle compared togrid-oriented JRPGs.
Everything is a Piece of Equipment
Each ally can only equip one item as their weapon, and this is wherePhantom Brave: The Lost Heroshines.
Some classes specialize in certain weapons, reflected in their passive skills, but nothing stops you from defeating the final boss with a cactus, as I did.
This unbridled customization madePhantom Brave: The Lost Herograb hold of me. you’re able to either stick to a class specialty or create your own character using scrolls that teach passive skills.
There are humans with traditional classes like Warriors, Mages, and Archers, as well as monsters and beast-people with unique abilities. If you don’t want to be tied to one class, you can eventuallyawaken or reincarnate characters, switching them from a human class to a mushroom monster and mastering both.
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Phantom Brave: The Lost Herohas a max level of 9999. While it’s not necessary to even reach level 100 to beat the game, there’s plenty of room for those who want to grind endlessly.
The sequel brings back randomly generated dungeons, featuring multiple floors that reward powerful weapons upon completion and titles that grant fixed percentage bonuses to units and items. It was where I leveled two of my main characters above 3000 to tackle the post-game bosses.
The Island of Operations
Marona’s pirate crew is based on Skullrock Island, where you canaccess various facilitieslike the Shop, Salvage, Requests, and Fusion.
New facilities unlock as you summon different classes, each with its own quirks. The Shop does what you’d expect, while Salvage sends explorers to retrieve random items after some time or a stage.
All these gameplay features interconnect to give players maximum freedom in character creation, always with a dose of randomness that can shift the game from one stage to the next.
My strategy was to equip Apricot with the highest ATK attribute weapon possible, sacrificing all her HP and Defense. Then, with the new Confriend mechanic, which lets Marona merge with a phantom and play several turns in a row, the protagonist would inherit the best attribute between the two, transforming into a 13-year-old killing machine.
While the game became way too easy, it was due to a strategy I devised using the tools I found during my playthrough, something that could be entirely different from any other player.
Being a tactical RPG,Phantom Brave: The Lost Herohas zero exploration. You navigate regions on your pirate ship, but interaction is limited to reaching an island and selecting a stage with the press of a button.
Each story battle stage is immutable, presenting the same enemies, items, and placements. You’ll have to rely repeatedly on the dungeons for something more random.
In short,Phantom Brave: The Lost Herooffers fun strategic gameplay and a boatload of unique customization you probably won’t find in other games outside of the NIS catalog.
Or are you going to tell me you’ve seen a character gain more HP by equipping a rare swordfish? If you enjoy progression and breaking the system with insanely overpowered characters, you’ll find dozens, maybe even hundreds, of hours to trial and experiment here.
Charming and Humble Presentation
In terms of visuals,Phantom Brave: The Lost Herois modest. The in-play character designs are charming, with a chibi style, but nothing to write home about. The illustrations accompanying the cutscenes are lovely and effectively convey each character’s personality.
Combat animations grow flashier as you unlock more powerful skills. They’re not as over-the-top as those in theDisgaeaseries but still showcase the attack’s potency well.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Herostays true to NIS’s artistic style and doesn’t innovate much. In fact, it feels more on a budget compared to the company’s more established series but delivers on its promises.
One highlight of this tactical JRPG is its soundtrack, which genuinely surprised me. The game features about 20 tracks, all well-suited to their settings, enhancing the atmosphere and immersing the player.
The theme for the base on Skullrock Island is one of my favorites, evoking a breezy, seaside vibe as if kids were playing make-believe in a pirate world.
Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, the voice acting was lacking. I didn’t test the Japanese version, so if that’s your jam, you might not share the same complaints. Also, some characters say their abilities name out loud in cutscenes, which I, as a Knights of the Zodiac fan, absolutely adore.
Closing Thoughts:
Any game receiving a sequel after 20 years is an achievement, especially one from a company’s niche portfolio. Phantom Brave has always seemed more like a Disgaea spinoff than a major Nippon Ichi Software title. Still, the game had its unique identity, unusual features, and heartfelt characters. The sequel, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, expands on the original’s mechanics. It introduces new ways to employ the phantoms and their quirks in strategic combat and also adds fresh methods to strengthen and progress characters. However, a lackluster and overly childish story might turn off players uninterested in grinding to astronomical levels, potentially putting the series back into a long hiatus or even ending it for good in favor of NIS’s more acclaimed tactical RPGs.
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Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
Reviewed on PlayStation 5
