Fairy Fencer F Review (PC)

The latest in a slew of JRPG’s that have been heading towards the PC recently, Fairy Fencer F serves up last year’s PS3 adventure with an extra helping of dessert although the only real change to the PC version is the inclusion of a 1080p resolution option, slightly sharper graphics and an option to play using the mouse and the keyboard, full controller support comes as standard.

This bright and happy RPG is brought to you by Compile Heart and as such it shares some similarities with the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, most notably the battle system and dungeons are very similar in style. You play as Fang, a laid back generally lazy guy who is content with simply eating and sleeping his way through life, upon hearing a rumour that if he manages to pull a certain sword out of a stone all of his life’s wishes will be granted for him, he gives it a go, succeeds... and lo and behold, he inadvertently becomes a Fencer. 

Almost straight away, a colossal quest is dumped upon him by the fairy Eryn who appears from the sword (Fury) that Fang just released from the ground – it is her duty to resurrect the goddess which can only be achieved by acquiring enough furies (weapons containing fairies who can then be fused with a human in order to create a greater warrior otherwise known as a Fencer).

Initially Fang does not take this revelation too well as all he ever really wanted to do was chow down and not do a lot until the end of his days (this becomes a bit of a running joke in the series). Eventually, he succumbs and agrees to help Eryn where on his adventures, he is quickly joined by Tiara – a stuck up girl who also has a bit of a masochistic side. He is later joined by Harley – a fairy researcher, Galdo – an energetic young man who loves eating almost as much as Fang, Ethel – a rogue fencer whose only reason for existing is killing and Pippin who can only be described as a green cat-like humanoid. There are also two optional characters that can be recruited if certain conditions are met.

All of the characters have their reasons for joining and whilst they are fairly one dimensional in their personalities, the dialogue is generally quite fun and humorous and unlike the Hyperdimension Neptunia games there isn’t really too much dialogue to flesh out their personalities further. In a game with a combat system as fast paced as this one, it works like a treat. The cut scenes in which the plot is advanced are to the point, the characters do not beat around the bush with unnecessarily drawn out dialogue and they will most likely only last a few minutes which definitely works in its favour. 

Next onto the really fun part, the combat - which is blisteringly fast and quite frankly, the most interesting part of the game! Each Fencer’s weapon never changes and so instead, you have the option to upgrade it using WP - which is a ubiquitous form of currency that can be used to pay for learning new attacks, new spells and a wide variety of skills. Over time, you’ll acquire different attacks and unleash massive combos upon enemies which are pleasant to watch. Each character also has their own special skill, for example Fang has a ‘Serious Face’ mode which is quite amusing as he does 1.5x normal damage. However, this also consumes SP at the same time. 

In order to plough through dungeons at light speed, you’ve got to utilise your furies and engage in a ton of ‘world shaping’. In order to awake either the goddess or the vile god, you’ll have to pull the swords out of their stone cold bodies – this can only be done by using a fury. Once a sword has been successfully removed from the bodies of the gods, the furies will then be imbued with their power – which effectively enables you to stab the furies into the earth and alter the properties of the dungeon based on what powers they have – you can easily gain 100% exp, increased money and item drops from this process although it can be a bit of a double edged sword as with each power up there is a power down – so choose wisely. 

The game utilises a tension system so after X amount of being battered or vice versa, battering enemies, your tension gage will fill up and you’ll be able to Fairize which is essentially where you can transform into a more powerful version of yourself by combining with your fairy. Visually this does look quite cool although on the whole the graphics are quite simple – on par with most Hyperdimension Neptunia games and looking somewhat like I’d imagine a HD version of Rogue Galaxy (Yes, it’s a PS2 game...) might look like. 

When not in battle or in a dungeon, the game plays out like a standard visual novel – the art is fine and the colours are vibrant but the characters are quite static overall. One of my gripes was that the FPS of the game would randomly drop during battles for no apparent reason – this occurred both on my laptop and my desktop which is a much more beefy machine so I can only attribute this to poor optimisation of the game. 

The game effectively consists of a dungeon – plot – dungeon – plot mechanic which is fine although approximately halfway through the game – it does a 'Bravely Default' style manoeuvre and you end up back tracking through a number of dungeons which are exactly the same as what came before. Battles are also far too easy and this takes some of the fun out of it given that it’s almost impossible to die (unless you deliberately choose to kill yourself by going mad with 'world shaping'). 

Musically the game is also swings and roundabouts, some of the songs are quite nice and the song that is heard when the game loads up is quite good although some of the other tunes aren’t really memorable and won’t stick in your head for very long, the sound effects are standard and the English voice acting got on my nerves after 10 minutes as usual. Luckily the option to switch to Japanese is included as standard.

Overall, it’s a solid JRPG with an addictive battle system which is let down by the repetitive plot, minor technical glitches and generally being way too easy.

6/10