Unchained Blades Game Sample - PSP
Want an obscure, semi old-school first-person dungeon crawler in the Wizardry / Class / Etrian family with a fairly high pedigree and one underrated, adorable waifu? If you said yes, add "Unchained Blades" to your want list. The game has a few rough spots, but it is still a gem when everything is said and done and it tries to combine a variety of mechanics to make things less stale in its 50-70 hour runtime of grinding and maze hopping. Originally co-developed by Art and FuRyu in 2011, the title was localized outside of Japan by XSEED Games for both the PSP and 3DS between 2012 and 2013, but neither iteration of the game is particularly well known due to poor sales as a digital-only release. A sequel was released (UnchainBlades EXXiV) but never localized and the 3DS version looks slightly better with a few more frames of animation for monsters.
As one of FuRyu's earlier titles, the star power on display is actually a little surprising and it's the byproduct of industry friends and cold-calling others in hopes of their participation. Akashi Toshio (who originally worked on the "Lunar" series) directed the game, Hino Takashi (who previously worked on "Grandia") handled the scenario, Nobuo Uematsu (a legend) and his protégé Tsutomu Narita (who got his first big break working with Uematsu) handled the soundtrack, and at least a dozen different artists contributed to the main character and enemy designs. Some of these artists include "pako" (Shining series, Chrono Crusade), "Haruyuki Morisawa" (Dream C Club, LORD of VERMILION), Kazushi Hagiwara (BASTARD!!, Endride) and more. I didn't even start to talk about the respective voice casts for English and Japanese (OF COURSE Yuri Lowenthal is here)... if you stop and think for a minute, you remember that all of these folks were assembled to work on a dungeon crawler and realize that the amount of effort is overkill, but I respect it.
Enter "Fang" the "Dragon Emperor", whose sole reason for existing is power and to be classified as the strongest in the world. He is arrogant, narcissistic, brash, overconfident and more. He is, quite simply, a rather unlikable main character initially (though the game has three mains and a supporting cast). He's not the type of person one typically roots for and the game thinks so too when he crosses the line by bad-mouthing the Goddess Clunea, a sovereign deity capable of granting wishes. His hubris gets the better of him and she strips him of his power and sends him crashing to the lands below in a "Pre-Fledge" state. Now a weakling once more, he is forced to rely on others who are seeking to have their wishes granted and slowly grows on his quest for vengeance. The story is straightforward, but the characters do have a degree of development and the plot leaves much less to the imagination than most dungeon crawlers for the simple fact that it actually has pre-defined avatars with their own personalities, stories and a world with hints of lore.
UB is tough and monotonous, but it is still easier than most games in this genre and very forgiving in the grand scheme of things, serving as a gateway for newcomers. Players are tasked with exploring various multi-faceted dungeons while collecting treasures, avoiding traps, completing quests, battling enemies and backtracking often to move the story along. The game attempts to differentiate itself by introducing a variety of sub-mechanics such as a little Megami Tensei / Persona / Pokemon action in the form of monster catching (in the form of "Unchaining Followers" who have less than 50% HP and conversations which influence mood or gifts), farming goods for the crafting system, large scale "Mini War Battles" against a large number of followers, and private campfire actions which give you more insight on your allies and also rewards additional skill points. This game also has a comprehensive sphere grid system not unlike Final Fantasy X where each character has different nodes which offer a fair degree of customization, though this is partially an illusion (because if you don't get team-wiping attacks asap, you'll be the one getting wiped).
While most of the mechanics don't reach their full potential, they are more than satisfactory with the inclusion of conveniences such as the ability to easily leave dungeons and save anywhere. While I've heard complaints about how long the dungeons are (kind of a genre staple), the group battles (they clicked for me right away and I never had to really grind to beat them) and that you're constantly out of MP (which is kinda true), I didn't find it to be that big a deal (then again, I grew up with TRULY BRUTAL crawlers) and you can craft items that restore MP without too much difficulty after a certain point. Dungeon designs are intelligent with several HP-regen spots for easier grinding, the game looks good, and the soundtrack is great... and how can you not like an adorable medusa lady with great assets (Lapis)? A buy for RPG fans and dungeon rookies.