Brave Hero Yuusha EX

I enjoyed it, fresh story, cute monsters, some interesting post game stuff its def worth its asking price.

Normally I'm a bit worried about games that try to be funny, but BHYEX does it so damn well. It's not overdoing it. It knows when to slow it down to make events more impactful.

Starts out extremely silly, but gets more and more serious as the story goes along. Which is how these kind of games should be written. That's not to say it's 100% serious towards the end, because it definitely isn't, but it hits the sweetspot perfectly.

Then the post-game hits and all bets are off and that's perfect as well!

Seriously. Can't remember the last time I enjoyed a game quite this much.

I was poking through games with the RPGmaker tag in the itch.io bundle for racial justice looking for something to scratch the Dragon Quest itch, decided to give this a shot cause it looked cute, and ended up liking it so much I bought it again. Not only is it a lovingly crafted tribute to the Dragon Quest series (specifically DQ 1 and 2, I feel) but it's a super fun and charming RPG in its own right. The combat is well balanced, you have a lot of tools to work with, and it's fast. My ideal JRPG combat is turn-based but still fast enough that it feels exciting, and this game nails it. You have the option to skip battles you're overleveled for by pressing a button right before the fight starts, and that's the way it's meant to be played. I skipped every optional battle and never felt underpowered or so overpowered that I didn't have to think about each encounter. It's a great mechanic, because players who would rather grind still can. It's the perfect length, about 8-10 hours to do everything. The game's full of fun surprises and rewards for exploring. I've seen complaints that the story is shallow, and sure, Brave Hero Yuusha Ex isn't literature (no video game is.) The quote-unquote "story" of a DQ game is always "party of heroes goes out to slay ultimate evil threatening the world", and BHYEx doesn't stray too far from this standard, but it has a couple fun twists on the usual formula, and a couple genuinely heartwarming moments. A DQ game is always about the little moments, the charming characters you meet, the weird goofy jokes, the small stories you play a part in. Sure, there's always the ultimate evil you have to slay to save the world, but it's a formality. It's really about discovering new places, making new friends, solving problems, and finding secrets. If that sounds like your jam, this game will be your jam.

Cute game and solid balancing. I quite enjoyed playing this!

As I was starting to write this, I was trying to think of any gripes I had with it to get them out of the way. But, to be perfectly honest, I can’t really think of anything that is really wrong with this short RPG adventure. In all fairness, it doesn’t do anything groundbreaking in terms of visuals, battle system, or overall gameplay, but it does all of those things well enough. The thing that really makes this game a little more special, though, is the story.

Like many games before this one, there is a bit of a fourth wall break, where everyone within the story is aware that they are part of that story. Granted, they are aware that they are part of a children’s novel, not the game itself. But something goes wrong, and things start to fall apart, and story elements are starting to get out of order or go missing altogether. Then, the hero, the villain, and the damsel in distress team up to figure out what is wrong. This unlikely trio set out on an adventure to tell a new story in order to fix the old one.

The overarching narrative that follows this motley crew is mostly goofy and somewhat heartwarming. Most of the NPCs you encounter gripe about the story being a mess, and then gripe more when you fix it (in a lighthearted, comical way). Yet, the main three characters seem to be struggling with the idea that they MUST fulfill their roles and have no choice in the matter. They question whether or not it is the best thing to fix their story, damning them to repeat an endless cycle to which they already know the end.

There is also a more mysterious “side story” which helps set the stage for the protagonists. I was taken aback a bit when it started playing out in full, since it is quite a bit darker and heavier than the main adventure. I’m not sure if the developer(s) meant for this part of the game to be so heavy, but I think it is more serious than they may realize. It deals with some real-world issues that some kids and adults truly deal with (namely OCD and similar disorders). While I never directly dealt with these issues, I have met a few people who have, and it can be terrifying for those afflicted and their families, especially if they don’t understand what is going on. While this definitely adds an interesting depth to the story, it is a bit jarring. In the end, I feel like it was handled fairly well, so not a bad thing.

Overall, this is a nice, relatively short (can be beaten in about 8-10 hours on Normal, and another 2-3 for the post game stuff) game that certainly tells a good story. Absolutely worth every penny of the $3 price tag! If you love old-school JRPGs, and can do with a feel-good story with an overall happy ending, you should definitely pick this one up!

Brave Hero Yuusha Review and Critique

Disclaimer, I am hard to please and I enjoy complaining and nit-picking! However, I am biased in favor of 8-bit rpgs! I just finished the main game and it was very satisfying. Looking forward to the post game where I get to add the king an the court jester to my party! I would like players to read this as a review to use to evaluate whether they want to play this game and as notes for its developers, or other game developers.

I like the art overall. It's very simplistic and light hearted. Plenty of NPCs and PCs have a cool NES Dragon Quest look. I like the variety and visual themes of each location. My only complaint about the art is that battle monsters are too cute! Even the bosses. I prefer my monsters and especially bosses too look at least a little intimating. I suspect that there may be an explanation for the cute monsters in an aspect of the story which is revealed later, and I guess it's a fair explanation. Final art criticism is that the game text hurt to read! I skipped some dialogue just because of that.

I like the music and sound effects. One criteria I use to judge the sound track of a game or movie is based on whether or not I hum the tunes later, and there's a few goodies here. I enjoy 8 bit music in general. The music suites the tone of numerous scenes and locations.

The story was new and satisfying. I liked the characters. The hero wakes up the morning of their brave new journey to do the thing! But, when the hero speaks to the king to receive the quest, the king kicks the hero so hard the hero flies and lands in the final villain's lair. It was funny and exciting. Then we establish a bigger, grander conflict than the story itself about a villain who transcends the story! Neat! That said, I am disappointed that this game is not a traditional RPG. I would describe the story is a metacommentary about RPGs and gamers disguised as a traditional RPG with some unorthodox but good stuff thrown in. I have daydreamed about going into a game and assuming the roll of a character in the story and helping the characters out. I think there was probably a missed opportunity here somewhere. There's a reveal late in the second act that made me want to replay the game just to review the the story from the insider's perspective. I still don't know what a Yuusha is, however.

Gameplay is fun. You crawl short, maybe too short, dungeons, find items, fight monsters, defeat bosses, explore, etc. There's some overworld backtracking as you gain new key items to get cool stuff. I like the whale! There's an item collecting sidequest. It's classic RPG goodness; simple, great. My complaints are that the game is too easy and therefore feels too short. Every new town offers a bunch of new and affordable equipment and as a consequence, equipment upgrades feel trivial and unearned. Finding new stuff just isn't trilling or satisfying. Unlocking any gear, even the best gear in the game, felt routine. I skipped some upgrades just because. I like how the equipment give you some build options for your characters, but I don't think there's much consequence to what you pick. I barely used items. The monsters themselves are not particularly scary. You never walk into an encounter and go "oh, crap! not this guy!" There are no enemies you just have to get rid of first. Some enemies have powers that compliment other enemies, but are few and far between. I had some characters die at times, but it didn't add any stress or fear. That said, there's a really cool feature to skip random encounters if you're at a certain level relative to the encounters. Very handy for exploring. There is some strategy in the boss fights, but once you figure out how Pain and Agony work, and how Amplify works, and to use Zeal and Barrier, you've learned the most complicated strategies in the game. The dungeons are too short and they're not risky enough. This could be fixed if you remove the purple healing crystals at the end though. The dungeons generally have forks and branches, and puzzles to solve, so it's more than just about walking a fixed path like say, FFX or FFXIII.

I recommend this game for people who like RPGs or 8-bit stuff and I look forward to future projects from this developer. I'm even going to look into the previous project from this developer now!

What starts out as a "typical" Dragon Quest-like RPG turns upside down when someone starts changing the story, forcing you to team up with an unlikely cast of characters. If you like humor and unexpected characters, this is your game! I love that it's short, but it still has a lot of challenge and extra secrets for anyone who wants them. My time spent playing speaks for itself.

Really fun and short RPG game that's a little on the easy side. I just wish there was a bit more help to find the Moon Gears (I'm missing one) and also a way for the game to let you know you've completed an area %100 so that you don't end up going in circles for hours. I'd get this game on sale, but $5 is a pretty good price for it.

This game is really good! If you like dragon quest then you should do yourself a favor and pick this up.

Unfortunately can't recommend.

The frame story tries too hard to be both sentimental and tongue-in-cheek but there isn't enough meat to the gameplay to support the plot. Dragon Quest this is not.

This cute JRPG blasts you back to the good ol' days. It gave me the same vibes as Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy I. I really liked the light-hearted story and the message of the game. I played on Easy but felt that the game was still enjoyably but comfortably challenging. I liked all the characters and how they played off of each other and how their expected tropes are turned upside down. Music is great as well with many solid themes. The game performance is amazing and I did not experience a single lag on my 10+ years old laptop.

I think this game is a must for JRPG lovers. Play it on a weekened for some feel good story, enjoyable gameplay and memorable music.

Some time ago, I played a free game from the creator of Soma Spirits: torch60, called Brave Hero Yuusha and it was okay. Had a few presentation issues and got boring after a while but I still recommend it. Originally I was just going to list all the new stuff and briefly talk about them but that seem lazy and looking back, the review for the original was kind of crap even by my unprofessional standards as seen here and since game had some effort in being an remaster, then I should remaster my review so here we. To remastering..

Story:

I know I’m just copy pasting this but whatever, it’s the premise.

You are the Brave Hero Yuusha, the one who will save the land and Princess Glynn from the evil Demon Lord Volza. But things quickly go wrong when the king throws you straight to the finale unprepared and when you confront the Demon Lord, the castle is slowly destroyed by a man calling himself the Puppeteer and the pieces of the castle have been scattered. Now you, Volza and Glynn must travel the land to find the pages so you can finished this tale.

I could talk about the story but it’s just going the usual Mario levels. I do want to talk about the theme however since both this and the other games do have a strong theme. Soma Spirits had it’s balance theme with our hero’s having to make decisions over gray issue while the villains were extremists of those decisions. And Crescent Prism...Okay I have no idea where that’s going since it’s just the first dungeon and not much happened except craps about to go down.

In BHY, the theme is clearly about roles and how people about them, and each of the main cast has something involving this theme. Volza is a nice guy playing the villain even though he just wants to see the world and help people, Glynn has a bit of a harsh tongue but has a identity crisis when she doesn’t know if she’s just a damsel in distress, A spoiler free version of the puppeteer’s is he wanted to be someone he’s not and the designated hero who’s constantly being undercut or ignored and just wants to go home. I’ll be honest , this did the silent protagonist with a personality better than Persona 5 cause the hero isn’t the most important part of the story and fits the audience surrogate better.

Also the goon squad also have something to do with the theme unlike the old version where they just minions. With the exception of Jeeves, all of them are the Puppeteers replacement for the main cast. While this those fleshed them out, I have to say that the ninja is now even funnier than he was previously since now while the other two are a bit more extreme version of those roles, the ninja is a mirror as the hero and just wants to go home like them and it’s funny.

And there’s the new post-game story and....You know, I’ll leave it for a surprise. and the final boss of that bonus story... fans of torch 60 are in for a threat.

Gameplay:

While Soma Spirits and Crescent Prism have unique gimmicks in their combat, BHY does not. It’s as basic as basic come so it’s a good place for beginners or newcomers of the genre. The hero is the main melee fighter, Volza is the healer with dark magic and Glyn is the black mage. The post game even has two new characters, like a guy who hits hard and a healer with light magic and while these guys are fine, they come with the flaw with them being post game characters and you’re already use to playing with Volza and Glynn so unless you want to experiment with these new characters, you most likely won’t use them for the new bonus content.

The dungeons themselves are simple with simple ideas like the fire dungeon has lava you need an accessory to cross safely and the first real dungeon which is a cave has some boulders to push. Nothing crazy like the box factory. And they are paced well enough that I’m at the end of the dungeon when I need to heal. And like in CP and Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, when your stronger than the enemies in an area, you can skip it with a push of a button.

And the bosses, They are way more memorable than in the previous version. I think I remember how three of the bosses. Here, each boss stands out in their own way(one reason I’ll get to later) and some have even been redesigned like the ninja been completely redone and the final boss is no longer just keep using strongest skills. That’s still an element but now you have more things to worry about. I think it’s now one of my favourite final bosses. And the new bosses, I think there was one I just didn’t like that horror boss mainly cause I thought it was boring compared to everyone else.Even Jeeves who just hits hard. Also there are now more Mimic fights.

One new feature added to this remaster is the Mitten, which is just a place where you fight all the main story bosses again. This is probably one of the easiest arena’s I’ve played since it just limits you to the level and equipment your bound to have when you fight them, have no items except a one time heal and nothing else. I guess you could use the two new guys and see how feel they stand against them and you get a neat reward for beating it so there’s that.

Presentation:

Now I know what you’re thinking: why are the overworld graphics just polished off versions of the old retro graphics. Why aren’t they like the usual style if this creator like the battle sprites? Well my friends, it’s to emphasise that this is not the world where those games are taking place in that world but in a story book since the intermissions outside the book do use that art style and looks as.And there are some new graphics like Lorica has gotten a total redesign, the second boss now has it’s own overworld sprite, gender select for the hero and the parts of the overworld that look like they don’t belong are more noticeable like where you fight Fracture Core.

And the music. While it’s still not that memorable, I was boppin head to the tunes of this redone soundtrack, and if you prefer 8-bit music, there’s and option to go the old soundtrack so everyone wins

But one thing I have to mention that really brought the previous down is the battle animations. In the old one, there were no battle animations at all so you’ll soon lose track on what was going on in a turn if you weren’t reading the text. Now, I know what it me and the bosses are more interesting with the visual flair. It’s amazing how one small addition improved the experience for me.

Verdict:

I bought this on day one and I don’t regret my purchase. This is a well done remaster with a more enjoyable experience and I’m going to look forward for that moon child game.

9/10

I love this game!

Pros
- Great story, battle & exploration balance and pacing
- World, dungeon and puzzle design
- Succeeds and mixing the familiar and the unfamiliar
- Choose between 2 versions of the soundtrack (I preferred the chiptune style of the original BUT if you get deep into the 'post-game' you'll see the remastered graphics and soundtrack are thematically justified).
- Some character customisation thanks to stat boost items and meaningful equipment choices

Cons
- RPGMaker limitations: F12 shutdown, Start Screen volume not linked to options menu volume control

Conclusion
- The main quest offers a satisfying little RPG with plenty of surprises. Meanwhile the whole of the EX post-game not only gives you more if you want more, it includes the the kind of RPG gameplay segments that were not yet utilised. The EX chapter also takes the story to a whole other level; one that had me laughing, cheering and taking a step back to admire the pure imagination.

The game comes from a developer with a great love for old RPGs. An amazing gaeme that is a love letter to old RPGs, especially the old Dragon Quest games. While short, this is good since games tend to get over burdend with useless activities to pad out game time. This game knows what it wants to do and does it masterfully.