It is time for an adventure! After seven years, it is time to rebuild. Luckly you are not alone. Join Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, and everyone else from the legendary Fairy Tail guild in this adventure. Rebuild the legacy lost in the last seven years, and defend the world from a new uprising evil in a new adventure! Time to take a journey in our review for Fairy Tail!
Fairy Tail
Platform: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), & Steam
Genre: RPG
Developer: Gust
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Voice: Japanese
Subtitles: English & French (PS4/Nintendo Switch); English, French, Chinese, & Japanese (Steam)
Release date: 7/31/2020 (PS4 & Nintendo Switch), 7/30/2020 (Steam)
*Special Thanks to Koei Tecmo for the Playstation 4 Review Key! Nintendo Switch version was self purchased for review purposes*
Intro/Story:
From the press email:
Demons, dark wizards, dragons, and cats – players will find it all as they start your journey in the land of Fiore. In FAIRY TAIL, wizards play through the adventures of Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia, as well as other eccentric members of the FAIRY TAIL mage guild, on a fun-filled and thrilling quest. GUST Studios is creating the game under the supervision of author Hiro Mashima, promising a faithful recreation for the FAIRY TAIL world and its unusual inhabitants; including everything from magic to its iconic characters. Accomplish missions, win magic battles full of exhilarating action inspired by the manga, and bond with other characters in FAIRY TAIL to increase your guild rank in the Grand Magic Games. With a customizable party of guild members, each playthrough can be a unique experience with its own storyline.
Fairy Tail somewhat follows the anime closely and loosely. It tells the overall arching story but takes liberties to not make it 100% the same thing. This provides players and fans of the anime a unique experience as not everything is retold in the same manner.
The pacing of the story follows that of an anime. You get the “major arc” of the anime. In that major arc there is the main story, and side stories as well. It takes the overall story being told and puts it in an RPG format. It works surprisingly well.
As a newcomer to Fairy Tale in general, the experience was brand new to me and fresh. The story kept me engaged and I wanted to know what was to happen next with each new arc. To compliment good storytelling is… alright gameplay.
Gameplay:
Gameplay in Fairy Tail is very basic for an RPG. It is similar to Atelier games, but excluding the sense of urgency that those games deliver. Players in the world do the main story, side quests, fetch quests, and battle. Not much more than that for Fairy Tail.
The battle system is very simple in Fairy Tail. There is a tutorial given for battling and it sums it up well. It is a turn-based battle system. The player gets their turn, then enemies and the cycle repeats. Players have to choose from physical attacks, magic attacks, power moves known as awakening, and combos.
When players first start, battles may be difficult, but after leveling and ranking up your party, the battle difficulty (outside the Powerful aura enemies) becomes a non-issue.
Exploration takes players through a variety of locations pulled from the anime. Players can explore to find loot, talk to NPCs that are in that area, do quests, and battle. Each area has a start point and finish point (outside of the main hub towns). The player must go from start to end in each area to advance to the next zone.
The side quests are the same repetitive quests that pop up. It may be a mix of characters that are required, but it boils down to “fetch quest” or “battle quest”. Some quests have their own stories, but not much deviation from this.
In terms of loading times, The Playstation 4 pro can load the game with minimal issues. it takes 1-3 seconds to load into new areas, which is hardly noticeable. On the Nintendo Switch, the load times are noticeable. They can range 5-10 seconds. Fundamentally though they are the exact same game.
Audio and Visual:
Audio-wise, to my understanding all of the anime’s voice actors reprise their roles in Fairy Tail. It shows because the voice acting is very well done. There are only Japanese voices, with a number of different language subtitles. In terms of music, it gets repetitive as there is not enough variety in the music tracks.
Visually, Fairy Tail manages to capture the anime atmosphere. Each area that is shown in the anime has been visually recreated in the game. The visuals are anime-like, down to character emotions.
To compare, the Playstation 4 is the better option over the Switch only on a visual standpoint. There is a clear visual downgrade on the Switch Version. It still looks fine, but the PS4 has the edge here. Audio-wise, they both are the exact same.
Fun Factor:
The formula of Fairy Tail kept me interested to see where the story goes. I eventually stopped doing the quests after I got an A rank (around chapter 4) and went through the main story. It was fun and interesting to see the twists that occurred and it kept me engaged the entire way through.
Wrap-up & Conclusion:
Fairy Tail is a game that took me by surprise. I went in expecting a Musou/warriors type game (what Koei Tecmo is mainly known for), but I received the complete opposite. What I got was a game that is similar to the Atelier franchise to some degree, but creates its own identity. It was a welcome change from what was expected. It created a very enjoyable experience for someone who’s first exposure to Fairy Tail was this very game.
While Fairy Tale had its share of issues, it was never game-breaking. Issues for me were quests could get very repetitive enemies eventually became either really easy or really difficult (no middle ground after a certain point), and the music does get redundant after a while. It never took away from my overall experience. I enjoyed Fairy Tail from start to end.
If players had a choice, opt for the PS4 version. There is a slight visual downgrade on the switch version, and loading becomes more apparent on the switch version. The PS4 (or PS4 Pro version, which was used for this review) is superior in regard to both areas. Otherwise, players will get the same experience on both platforms. Regardless, Fairy Tail is a very interesting Journey that newcomers, such as myself, can hop in and enjoy.
*Until next time, Mgs2master2 out!
*Special Thanks to Koei Tecmo for the Playstation 4 Review Key! Nintendo Switch version was self purchased for review purposes*