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Brandish is on sale on US PSN, don't miss out on this GotY contender

Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Did you like Legend of Grimrock series?
Do you own a Vita, PSP or Vita TV?

Then don't miss out on Brandish: The Dark Revenant, a remake of the PC and SNES Falcom classic.
USD 10, and USD 8 for Plus members
BDR_Jun162014_A07-11.jpg
Click to expand...

Brandish is an Adventure/Dungeon Crawler game where you play as the warrior Ares, as he attempts to escape from the ancient underground-sunken kingdom of Vittoria.

Along the way you'll encounter traps, puzzles and a variety of monsters and enemies as you seek to reach the overworld and be free from this cursed land.

Unlike Falcom's Ys series, this game goes at it's own pace, so you'll be approaching it far differently from how you'd play their Ys series.

Non the less the game has a tutorial mode that'll teach you the basics then it's all up to your wits and skills to progress through the game.

The soundtrack is of course what you'd expect from Falcom's quality.
https://youtu.be/raTBwGZJgfk
https://youtu.be/xevDjSS9vTk
https://youtu.be/0YQBFfMCv3s
Furthermore, beating the game unlocks a Hard mode; Dela mode with even more fiendish puzzles and challenges.

Don't be turned off by it being a Dungeon Crawler, even as someone who isn't a fan of the genre I liked this game so much I ended up replaying it back to back after my first playthrough.
 
L

Lumpy Onion

Member
It's an amazing game for sure. Some of the puzzles are ingenious, especially the one on tower level 9 that a some in the OT hated and called bad. "Getting" that one made me so happy. Being able to switch from PC98 and PSP soundtracks depending on my mood was a nice addition as well. I am playing it on PS TV and am finding it to be quite nice to control on the Dualshock 4.

"Headless" battle was a super panicky surprise that rocked quite hard music-wise. Must have tried at least 20 times before I got the rhythm down.

Also, it's nice to play one of these kinds of game and have it be static and not randomly generated. There is a certain level of quality to the crafting of the levels that is commendable.
 
C

cacildo

Member
opa! SNES Brandish is really great.

Ive never played this remake but i say i would really run and get it if i had one of those systems
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
cacildo said:
opa! SNES Brandish is really great.

Ive never played this remake but i say i would really run and get it if i had one of those systems
Click to expand...

Buy it now then when you can afford any of those 3 you can just download it straight away.
 
MightyKAC

MightyKAC

Member
And here I was, wondering what to do with the $8.13 I had left in my PSN wallet.

+1 Purchase

Thanks for the heads up OP!
 
L

Lostconfused

Member
I didn't actually consider putting it on my GOTY list, but yeah I guess I should.

It's certainly a rather good game, fun, and very old school fantasy.
 
K

kuroneko0509

Member
Yknow if you're gonna say it's on sale, at least say the price. In this case for other posters, it's $10.00 before the Plus discount.

The type of sales where you tell people to put it in the cart to see the price turn me away from it, but YMMV.
 
A

Aru

Member
I love Falcom games, so I just bought it. I don't know when I'll play it though, I'm currently playing Diablo 3, TitS FC, J-Stars VS and Toukiden Kiwami :O
 
Y

YianGaruga

Banned
Amneisac said:
https://youtu.be/KRu_qfjNlKs?t=295

Is this little snippet a fair representation of the gameplay? Because that seems pretty boring to be honest. What are we looking at for any kind of story?
Click to expand...

Not a lot of story. It's a slow, methodical, tactical dungeon crawler. If that looks boring to you it's probably not your thing. The focus is on exploring very well designed dungeons with lots of traps, puzzles and secrets.

But if you like the sound of that, you'll probably REALLY like it.
 
A

Amneisac

Member
YianGaruga said:
Not a lot of story. It's a slow, methodical, tactical dungeon crawler. If that looks boring to you it's probably not your thing.

But if you like the sopund of that, you'll probably REALLY like it.
Click to expand...

Well, I like Etrian Odyssey and Persona Q and stuff. Legend of Grimrock was okay, I just didn't know if there was a lot more that went on besides what I was seeing. It doesn't seem terrible just trying to get an idea of the total picture. $9.00 can go a long way with a Steam sale around the corner!

Thanks for answering.
 
Y

YianGaruga

Banned
Amneisac said:
Well, I like Etrian Odyssey and Persona Q and stuff. Legend of Grimrock was okay, I just didn't know if there was a lot more that went on besides what I was seeing. It doesn't seem terrible just trying to get an idea of the total picture. $9.00 can go a long way with a Steam sale around the corner!

Thanks for answering.
Click to expand...

If you like Grimrock you'll probably like this as well. $10 is a really great price for this game.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Brandish is low on story. The plot is as conducive to dungeon progression as it can be without slowing the pace down for lots of conversation. You encounter Dela Delon, the female sorcerer who chased you down here, a few times before end-game, but otherwise you get world-building from the dungeons themselves, and from shopkeepers dotted throughout. Its story is closer to classic Xanadu in terms of minimalism; the sequels really increase the amount of world and plot development.

Overall Brandish is very fun, and for being the least ambitious game in the series it holds up well today. Some of the puzzles and maps in Fortress are deviously fun, especially the one where you're jumping through same-size rooms full of pits.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Ragnorok64 said:
Gameplay vids?
Click to expand...

Here's the launch trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT6_NdsxtIg

B-Dex said:
I would give it a try if they released it on platforms people own.
Click to expand...

Oh so I'm not people now :p

Amneisac said:
https://youtu.be/KRu_qfjNlKs?t=295

Is this little snippet a fair representation of the gameplay? Because that seems pretty boring to be honest. What are we looking at for any kind of story?
Click to expand...

Story is simple: Ares wants to GTFO of there and must overcome all that shit that's before him.
The dialog and translation however is good, and I really like how after completing each area, we get a short sequence of Ares thoughts on his quest to escape from the underground world he is in.
Falcom games don't exactly have much depth or complexity to their stories but it's the journey and how it is portrayed or experienced that stands out.
 
Y

ys45

Member
First game I completed in 2015 , was awesome, the music the gameplay , a true Falcom game
The story is minimal but it still managed to captivate me .

A great dungeon crawler .
 
A

Amneisac

Member
Tizoc said:
Story is simple: Ares wants to GTFO of there and must overcome all that shit that's before him.
The dialog and translation however is good, and I really like how after completing each area, we get a short sequence of Ares thoughts on his quest to escape from the underground world he is in.
Falcom games don't exactly have much depth or complexity to their stories but it's the journey and how it is portrayed or experienced that stands out.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks. I'm almost done with Persona Q and actually itching for something to play on my Vita, so I will probably grab it.

Edit: It's showing as $8.00 for me, but you have $6.00 in the OP, is that USD?
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Amneisac said:
Cool, thanks. I'm almost done with Persona Q and actually itching for something to play on my Vita, so I will probably grab it.

Edit: It's showing as $8.00 for me, but you have $6.00 in the OP, is that USD?
Click to expand...

Sorry that was a typo ^^;, but even for $8 it's well worth it.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Amneisac said:
That's cool, I grabbed it for $8.00, was just making sure I wasn't missing something!
Click to expand...

Don't be turned off from the early game, it took me a while to get accustomed to it but afterwards I was having a blast progressing and clearing areas. One tip I'd recommend: You actually can FIND stronger equipment in some rooms in later areas, so you don't HAVE to buy them from shops, save all that gold for some magical spells such as Regen magic and Warp magic.
 
B

bababouille

Member
Considering buying a PSTV for 50$CAD to play this game since I don't own a Vita. Legend of Grimrock was my GOTY the year it came out. And EOIV/SMT:SJ are my favourite games on their respective consoles. Should I bite?
 
L

Lumpy Onion

Member
Also, those stones you can break at the end of each floor when you have 100% of a floor mapped rarely seem to have reward items that seemed worthwhile. Giving up trying for 100% floor mapping made the game so much more enjoyable to me. I guess the reward is the feeling of completion and those items received are more of a perk.

I did give up trying to complete mapping around floor 15-ish so maybe there is some amazing reward later on, but the stress involved with completion was getting in the way of my enjoyment.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
bababouille said:
Considering buying a PSTV for 50$CAD to play this game since I don't own a Vita. Legend of Grimrock was my GOTY the year it came out. And EOIV/SMT:SJ are my favourite games on their respective consoles. Should I bite?
Click to expand...

The reason I mentioned Grimrock is because when I asked for games like Brandish, Grimrock was brought up.
If you like the sense of adventure and exploration, I think you will like this game, plus there are a bunch of other Vita TV compatible games on sale atm that you can play along with Brandish.
 
Y

YianGaruga

Banned
bababouille said:
Considering buying a PSTV for 50$CAD to play this game since I don't own a Vita. Legend of Grimrock was my GOTY the year it came out. And EOIV/SMT:SJ are my favourite games on their respective consoles. Should I bite?
Click to expand...
Probably not just for Brandish, but I love Grimrock as much as I love this. If you can find some other games you want to play on that thing, go for it

Vita has a decent library of Dungeon Crawlers
 
L

Lord of Ostia

Member
The game really is great people, definitely one of my favorites from this year, even though it did come out so early. The gameplay is incredibly addicting once you get into it, and it really doesn't play like any other game out there. Similar to a first-person dungeon crawler, but the focus is much less on building a strong party & turn based combat and much more on the exploration, puzzle-solving, and trap-avoiding side of things. It does some very interesting things with some of its puzzle designs, and the meticulously crafted dungeon designs are a breath of fresh air considering that most modern dungeon crawlers use randomized layouts. As others have mentioned, the soundtrack is great just like most Falcom games, and it definitely has that almost indescribable Falcom charm to it. I highly recommend it, especially at only $8.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
This is a really, really good game. I was hoping I'd like it, but it really surprised me with just how well-executed it is.
 
C

Clive

Member
Awesome game. It's just such a joy to play even if the gameplay takes a little getting used to. Little story getting in the way, no anime clichés, just you and dungeon crawling and the game does this incredibly well.

Definitely a top three contender for handheld GotY for me.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
GrumpyAlien said:
"Headless" battle was a super panicky surprise that rocked quite hard music-wise. Must have tried at least 20 times before I got the rhythm down.

It's the omake boss of the game, but very fun even in the PC-98 version where you don't have to time your jumps and can just hack down one of the enemies to get 'em to disperse.

Also, it's nice to play one of these kinds of game and have it be static and not randomly generated. There is a certain level of quality to the crafting of the levels that is commendable.
Click to expand...
Seriously. The gap between a Falcom game with pre-made dungeons and one that doesn't (Gekirin, made by Yoshio Kiya but at another company) is noticeable. Puzzles like the one you mentioned + the non-linear floor progression in Cave and Fortress are top-notch, though it's still an easy-ish game if you abuse the Rest option. Every tool and technique afforded to you gets utilized in multiple interesting ways throughout.

GrumpyAlien said:
I did give up trying to complete mapping around floor 15-ish so maybe there is some amazing reward later on, but the stress involved with completion was getting in the way of my enjoyment.
Click to expand...
Map completion's a stat counted in the PC-98 versions too, but it gets you nothing and at a certain point completing maps requires you to abuse Warp magic and waste your magic potions to reach just one tile at a time. The whole activity's a ruse.
 
M

mdzapeer

Member
I am getting quite a collection of Falcom games on steam, I don't own a psp or vita how likely is this gonna come to steam?
 
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