Brave Story: New Traveler

Brave Story: New Traveler (ブレイブ・ストーリー: 新たなる旅人) is a video game loosely based in the world of the novel and manga Brave Story. It was released in Japan on July 6, 2006. An English version, published and localized by Xseed Games, was released on July 31, 2007 in North America.

Plot summary
The game starts off with the player as the main protagonist, called Tatsuya as the default name, and introduces us to his best friend, whose default name is Miki. The story kicks off with Tatsuya and Miki sitting on a bench. Tatsuya is too immersed in the game he is playing on his PSP to notice that Miki is missing. Kratos, Miki's dog, barks and shows Tatsuya where Miki is and thus he finds her unconscious on the ground, sick by some unknown illness. He wishes for her to become better, and suddenly, a voice magically appears and asks Tatsuya if he wants to save his friend and make her healthy again. He agrees and thus the adventure begins in an unknown land separated from the rest of the world in order to seize 5 different gems for the Traveler's Sword he holds so he can return to his own world and restore Miki back to good health.

The game is based on the Japanese novel Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe, and features some of the original cast, although the main characters Tatsuya and Miki (as well as most of Tatsuya's party) are original creations for the game.

Characters
Tatsuya - a young 11-year-old human boy from the real world with an intense love of playing video games on his PSP; he embarks on a quest to save Miki's life by journeying to the world of Vision as a Traveler. He is given a powerful blade called the Traveler's Sword by a mysterious elderly man named Lau. Despite being so young, he wields the sword quite well in battle and the sword's own strength grows as he locates the mysterious five gemstones. Tatsuya fills the role of the typical silent protagonist in the game and only speaks when prompted by questions or decisions. His Bravesoul (an ability only unlocked when a certain action is completed) is Indomitable spirit.

Yuno - a 15-year-old half ankha half kitkin girl who Tatsuya meets shortly after arriving in Vision. She takes an immediate interest in him after he helps save her life from monsters and remains a very close ally and friend throughout their journey together. She tends to be a bit high-spirited and bossy (a comparison Tatsuya makes to Miki) as well as curious about the many unseen sights of the world. It is hinted quite a few times that she has a crush on Tatsuya. She wields a bow in combat as well as useful healing songs.

Sogreth - a 30-year-old waterkin warrior who befriends Tatsuya and Yuno when they help to save his son from trouble. He is bent on training his 4-year-old son Minos to be a man, but his methods borderline on the extreme and everyone in his town knows what his son goes through daily. Despite his tough exterior and gruff manner, he is actually quite kind and empathetic to even the least disheartening of situations. As revealed in one of the sidequests, he seems to have a particular affinity for Meladee's sister. He has a tendency to say "Sakes Alive!" whanever he is surprised. In battle, he fills the role of strongman and wields an axe with great power.

Meladee - 25-year old the newly appointed leader of the Highlanders in the desert branch who requires the assistance of Tatsuya and his friends at the request of her sister. She is both kind and tough as well as beautiful and skilled. Yuno also idolizes her as the kind of woman she wants to grow up to be. Meladee fights with twin short swords and wields numerous healing spells.

Ropple - a -17-year old pankin starseer Tatsuya and co. meet in Gasara. He is working on a school assignment to receive credit and the party agrees to help him. He is knowledgeable in regards to magical lore but very oblivious to people's feelings. His professor wants him to better understand the people around him and help them selflessly, which, in the end, he gets considerably better at. Ropple has an unusual tendency to say "and/or" in his sentences. He wields a staff and attack spells much like Mitsuru.

Leynart - a -27-year old beastkin Knight of Stengel who is responsible for dealing with many lawbreakers at borders and checkpoints. When the team first meets him, Leynart mistakes Yuno and Sogreth for criminals, but after a short quest he releases them from his custody. He eventually joins the party in order to continue to fight for justice and find some way of helping his lover, who has fallen into a state of amnesia. He fights using a lance and shield, and can cast a few offensive and defensive spells.

Kee Keema - a waterkin merchant who traveled with Wataru and Meena in the original novel and game. He teams up with Tatsuya and Yuno to save Sogreth's son early on. He also seems to be have many connections with many important people in Vision. He wields an axe in battles.

Wataru - the hero from the previous Brave Story and the protagonist of the original novel that inspired the games. He first appears to assist Tatsuya with clearing his friends' names. Like Tatsuya, he wields a special blade (called the Brave's Sword) in battle and fights with essentially the same Bravura techniques with a few exceptions.

Meena - a kitkin girl who traveled alongside Wataru in the previous game and original story. She is spritely and kind, and willing to help Wataru no matter what. She wields throwing knives in battle and uses healing songs like Yuno.

Mitsuru - a mysterious young mage Traveler with a rather cold and condescending tone toward Tatsuya, whom he meets early on. Though he assists Tatsuya for a brief time, he has no intention of being his friend or ally as he has his own agenda regarding the gemstones. In the original novel, Mitsuru is Wataru's friend and rival in their quest to get all the gemstones and fufil their wish. He fights using a staff and powerful attack spells.

Kutz - the Highlander leader at the town of Gasara who is close friends (and rivals) with Meladee. She tends to be overly brazen when it comes to letting people hear what she has to say and does not tolerate people breaking the law (even the smallest infraction sets her off). She joins the party for a short time. Kutz uses a whip in battle.

Postgame features
After beating the game and watching the credits, the player can save over their current playthrough. The new file is marked with a star and is entitled "Epilogue". Resuming the game from the star-marked file allows the player to continue the game from the last save point but with access to the new Roster feature under Settings. Roster allows the player to place the guest characters Wataru, Meena, Kee Keema, Mitsuru and Kutz into their party any time they please; the guest characters are now at Level 60+ and have new equipment and abilities. There will also be a extra part of the game to complete, The Earthrift.

Reception
Brave Story: New Traveler was generally well received by critics earning aggregated scores of 76% from Meta Critic, 79% from Game Rankings, and 8.3/10 average on GameStats. RPG Land posted the first review of the completed English game and said, "It’s got a solid battle system, entertaining story, good characters, and other RPG ingredients done very well -- thoroughly enjoyable." Joe Dodson from GameSpot commends Brave Story: New Traveler for its visual and sound effects but criticises its "homogenous and never-ending" monsters. GamePro commends the game for "vibrant graphics, small load times and solid presentation on the whole" but criticises it for "some too-familiar aspects of story and gameplay, story may be too "kiddy" for some." Louis Bedigian from GameZone commends the game's graphics saying that the game "pays homage to the 3D Final Fantasy games". Matt Paddock from Game Vortex commended the title on its faithful translation from comic to game form: "if any of the Harry Potter books had been translated as faithfully, the game versions of Rowling's work would be selling gold and platinum right now". Greg Miller at IGN criticises the game for having "a set of the exact same events -- random battles, dungeon, random battles, boss".