I just can’t shake this tired, bluesy feeling lately, though it’s mostly the fault of the late summer heat/humidity. It’s like my body saps up excess moisture in buckets and triples my body mass for however long it takes me to reach the next air conditioned building. Needless to say, I’m more of a winter type, but not so much that I’m one of those “Let’s jump in the freezing river!” psychos.

Uh, anyway.

In what could constitute another mini-review/impression bit, I gave in and picked up my own copy of Phantom Brave a couple weeks back, for $15 new. Whee. And, similar to how I latched onto Soul Nomad, I’m finding this other less-sung N1 title to be pretty enjoyable. The time-limited summoning is actually a lot less aggravating than it sounded on paper, as it sort of justifies the bloated casts these games end up with. The way items and confinement work adds a lot of possible dimensions to the play, and while Makai Kingdom expanded on the modified, grid-free engine, the plot was a lot weaker, and combat ended up repetitive and shallow. On the other hand, jetbikes.

Phantom Brave, on the other hand, is a regular puppy kicker of a yarn, featuring a quirky cast and witty script focused entirely on shoveling piles of horrible onto the head of a relentlessly optimistic little girl. Go Japan!