Here's the start of another action JRPG I really enjoyed playing. Not many enjoyed it as its prequel, however, but I felt like it had untapped potential that Square Enix did not fully realize at the time (& 2005 was a really busy year for them). If only it had more polish... For one, based on some of its staff, I think this game was Square Enix's potboiler towards finishing up with another sequel: Kingdom Hearts II. Regardless of this game's flaws, I wanted to give it some attention, too, just because it's the PS2 sequel to the much more-popular Brave Fencer Musashi! Because of that, I uploaded playthroughs of both it and Brave Fencer back-to-back, so that both Musashi games could still find attention together through my actions and passion for both games. -------------- It has a really flashy anime opening from Studio Gainax during its Gurren Lagann days, or what Studio Trigger is now. The opening shows this game's Musashi kicking a lot of ass! We even get a glimpse at some of the main villains and monsters, as well as most of the important girls he'll be saving in the game. -------------- In the actual game's start, we're shown an area with a massive ruby hanging above. That cute girl in pink is named Mycella, princess of Antheum, and she is using her magic powers to call for help against a corporation that has just invaded her home. She managed to complete the summoning, but no one appeared and she strained herself over the summoning. It probably didn't even work... Her guard could only protect her for so long until this corporation's minions, the Ninjaroids, knocked him away. From them also appeared a fancy gentleman that wanted to negotiate with Mycella over the success of his company's president, Gandrake. While Mycella was weakened from her summoning, and the odds were stacked against her, this brave young princess still had the will to stand up and against them, refusing to let her village be overtaken by these villains. The gentleman was disappointed with her response and decided to kidnap her for not cooperating. -------------- Turns out that the summoning did work. However, it was misdirected, and the boy that was summoned ended up being tossed into a forest, instead. An old, talking cat managed to find him, however. A week's worth of training later, this boy, Musashi, was about to complete his training by the old cat known as Master Mew. He trained him in a fighting style called the "Way of the Stray Cat". Compared to Brave Fencer's small, mouthy, blue-haired kid Musashi, this game's version of Miyamoto Musashi is instead a somewhat-rowdy, brown-haired teenager with attitude. He has insanely wild hair, an odd choice of fashion (a belly shirt?), a rather dumb and young voice for a teen, and he never calls his master "Master". He's only been calling him "Whisker Dude", but Mew doesn't seem to mind. Although he can't talk too good, Mew's a pretty cool cat. -------------- Musashi's final lesson in his training is really just a tutorial for you on how to control him. You learn things like moving around, jumping, locking-on to enemies, his 3-hit combo, defending with his katana, & managing stats after leveling up. In a different area of the forest, Musashi must learn about Carrying, for just in case somebody can't leave out with him on their own. You can even learn to carry enemies through Duplication. Using Mew himself as a test drive, while carrying someone, you can use the weight of their bodies to bump them at enemies. Hahaha! For something more practical, you can also toss people up into the air, perform a spinning slash, then catch them afterwards. If you get hit at anytime, you'll drop the person immediately! Try not to do that. Besides his katana, Musashi had another weapon with him: The Great Oar. Master Mew took this weapon, powered it up, then put it in a magic barrier. With Carrying, you should quickly be able to figure out how to reach that oar. Swinging the Great Oar does more damage than the katana, but it's painfully slower, and you can't use it during a jump. Only use that attack to finish off a foe. The better part about the Great Oar is its Latent Power, the Maelstrom! It becomes a huge, purple-glowing blade that Musashi swings in a circle. It's very good for clearing out an area, but it costs so much MP. The last move Musashi learns is Duplication. If his Focus Gauge is full, and he takes a hit, he can fight against the ability he's learning WITH the ability he's learning. Pretty clever! The first of these is an extended 5-Hit Combo. -------------- That wraps up Musashi's training. His first mission on the job is to head to an place called Nebulium Tower to rescue Princess Mycella, the girl who summoned him in the first place. There are also blue orbs called Capsule scattered all over the world, each of them contain a Mystic, the people of Antheum. The first person you free is Modena, the owner of Antheum's general goods store.
