Brave Story: New Traveler is a game you'll want to like. A role-playing
game in the mold of Final Fantasy, it has all the ingredients of its
Final forebear and even some helpful touches of its own. The problem is
that New Traveler takes its cues from ancient entries in the genre and
suffers from maladies long ago cured. You'll wander through labyrinthine
dungeons tangled with dead ends and random encounters in the name of
thwarting evil, as well as coming of age. If only this game took its own
advice and grew up.
At least the story writers are abreast of recent trends. Like so many
RPGs these days, New Traveler's tale begins in modern-day Japan, with
your hero sitting on a park bench next to his girlfriend playing on his
PSP. Your dog, Kratos, chases a frog, perhaps under a log, and your
girlfriend follows. You, too busy playing your game, fail to notice
anything is amiss until she's been afflicted with an incurable curse of
the darkest magic. Whoops?
