I am a fan of the Fairy Tail manga and anime and was excited when the news of this game dropped, but was that was stopped in its tracks when the xbox version was dumped. Still, a while later and I now have a switch so when I saw this game in a branch of CEX I had to pick it up and give it a go.
What’s it all about
The game is essentially a gameplay version of the Grand Magic Games, Tarteros and Avatar arcs from the series. You play as a variety of characters from the show in what is a combat orientated JRPG in an anime style. At the same time as the story you can level up your characters and the guild where you operate from with side quests and character stories.
The good
The game looks great with its anime style and design lifted straight from the anime. Combat is easy to master and the animations and cut scenes look great. It is clear that the designers took a good hard luck at the anime and lifted the attacks and matching animations before putting them in the game. So if you want to play as your favourite character and use the attacks then there is a good chance that you will be able to. There’s a decent split between pre and post endgame content and the difficulty curve scales nicely. The visuals in some places are great though there are some jarring gaps where I would have expected a full cut scene but got none.
The design of the game has you play as multiple characters via side and main quests so you can get an experience of using all the characters as well as your main team and again this is pretty much seamless. This game on the whole runs well save for some odd clipping bugs with alternate item sets i.e. Wendy’s hair clips through the wings on her alternate costume and Erza’s hand hovers over her hip when not in her default armour skin. Tiny things but they are noticeable given how cutscene heavy the game is.
The bad
The story is a problem here. This game is aimed at fans of the series but such people will know the plot and as a result they don’t need to watch the cut scenes. They are well done but the anime and manga give you more and with higher quality and better emotional impact. None fans who pick up the game would get the gist of what is in many ways a visual novel but would perhaps struggle to see what is going on. There is scope for a Fairy Tail RPG in my opinion; but it would need to have you create a character and live in the world rather than just playing a character in a story which people know.
The combat quickly became dull and grindy save for the excellent animations. It is turn based but you don’t have a sequence bar, though you can see who goes next if you use the right key, and the fact that the game essentially pauses whilst you make an attack choice ruins the flow of fights. Given that fighting is all that this game really offers then a slicker combat menu would have made more sense. Atelier Ryza is a stablemate of this game and has a better combat system for me and that system would have made the fights more engrossing than they are.
The side quests also lack depth. Essentially it is go and collect an item for an upgrade or kill x monsters/enemies in a location. After a while you become so strong that even enemies ten or fifteen levels above you go down easily, if not quickly due to massive health levels or defence buffs. After about 24 hours in I was the number two guild with all characters unlocked and my main team at max level. All that was left was to get to level 99 and to be honest I just lost interest in running the same beat up monsters thread I’d done a hundred times already.
The really?
Fans of the series will know that there is a large fan service element in the anime particularly and my god the game takes this to eleven. Within the first few chapters we have had a beach scene and swim suit scene with plenty of camera angle focus on the more ample cast members. Lucy even has a ‘seductive pose’ skill which is an animated cutscene at the start of a battle which is essentially a ‘come to bed’ look. The cut scenes in combat also tie into the fan service element with plenty of ass and chest shots. It meets the target audience I suppose but for me it quickly became cringe.
Also, I have to say the price of this game is daft. I know switch games hold their value but the DLC price is insane. To get the season pass and the game at full price (i.e. not on a steam sale for PC) then you will be looking at £100 give or take. Given that most of the items are cosmetics, including yet more swim suits, then the circa £50 price tag is just nuts. This is not a £100 game in any way shape or form and even if you are a die hard fan you would be mad to pay the full rate.
Conclusion
As a distraction game this is good fun and if you are a fan of the series then being able to use your favourite characters attack is initially very satisfying due to the excellent cut scenes/animatics. After a fairly short time though it becomes repetitive and the end game content is not different enough to keep you interested. The design making you play multiple characters and a visual novel style pretty much removes the replayability option.
All in all a bit of fun but nothing groundbreaking.
Rating: 6/10
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