Does the PSP have another fantastic RPG added to its library?

XSEED and Game Republic’s latest RPG, Brave Story: New Traveler, has finally landed on store shelves for the PSP. With no shortages of RPGs on the PSP nowadays, does this RPG deliver a well-rounded experience? Or does it stagger out of the gates and bring forth a tedious game? Let’s take a gander at what Brave Story has to offer.

Being loosely based on the anime – not to mention novel too -- the storyline for Brave Story: New Traveler follows the outline for the archetypical “Chosen One.” The story begins with a normal day in Japan where the main character, Tatsuya, is mingling with his friend Miki. When Miki leaves Tatsuya’s side to follow her dog, she falls into a coma and is placed in a hospital. Visiting his friend, Tatsuya doesn’t have high hopes for Miki’s survival and is down on himself until a voice whispers to him. The voice speaks of a way to save Miki as long as Tatsuya sets forth through a giant door on the top of the hospital. Thus, the journey begins for Brave Story: New Traveler.

What’s exactly behind the giant door? Well, it’s a whole new world to embark through. Tatsuya enters the world of Vision – a world compromised of the thoughts and the experiences of the traveler entering the world. His goal is to find all five gems to be able to summon the Goddess of Destiny. The Goddess of Destiny created the world of Vision for people to endure the labor of the quests to get their wishes granted.

The storyline isn’t strong enough to hold water to other RPGs on the PSP. Sure, it does manage to avoid the “save the world” cliché, but it falls into another cliché of “saving the girl.” The biggest problem with Brave Story is that the story takes too long to take off. Four hours into the game, I was dissatisfied with what was placed before me – at least with everything regarding the plot -- and felt bored out of my mind. Continuing on with the plotline, players will meet a motley crew of characters that will join the party and assist in any way possible. But, the supporting cast just didn’t capture my attention – they felt bland and generic. Though, there are a few positives about Brave Story – mainly the people that make up the world. Game Republic incorporated a world full of cat-people, walking and talking lizards, and many other fantasy creatures to meet.

Make no mistake though, Brave Story isn’t the standard collect-a-thon or level-grinding that many other RPGs tend to fall into. For one, it’s an old-school RPG with a large map to travel across and many towns to visit. Second off, the battle system is turn-based and holds up to a three-man party on the screen. Taking the place of magic, players will earn bravery points to pull off unique attacks. Earning bravery point is easy: the more attacks players successfully pull off, the more the BP gauge will fill up.