Yeah it's not an rpg in the traditional sense, I've never played an over the shoulder, torch exploration game RPG before. I don't even think there are turn based battles or stats.

I was hyped from day 1 but its taken so long to be localised I feel enthusiasm being sucked out of me.

gamingeek said:

... 

I was hyped from day 1 but its taken so long to be localised I feel enthusiasm being sucked out of me.

That's 'cause you are a hype-glutton.  This is why I stay away from media about my most anticipated games. 

Dvader said:

Weird game, what do you do in it?

Be a girl.

gamingeek said:

aspro said:

gamingeek said:

...

I was hyped from day 1 but its taken so long to be localised I feel enthusiasm being sucked out of me.

That's 'cause you are a hype-glutton.  This is why I stay away from media about my most anticipated games.

Though I am a glutton for info, it's perilously long localisation times that suck the enthusiasm out of me. Seriously this is the kinda crap we had to put up with generations ago. If you can't get your game out then I will buy something else with my money. It always happens with JRPGs too. You would have thought they would learn to be more efficient.

wish they would all just realise that it's best just to add subtitles and leave the japanese soundtrack untouched.  would save money and time for localisation and be the best for gamers.

bugsonglass said:

gamingeek said:

aspro said:

gamingeek said:

...

I was hyped from day 1 but its taken so long to be localised I feel enthusiasm being sucked out of me.

That's 'cause you are a hype-glutton.  This is why I stay away from media about my most anticipated games.

Though I am a glutton for info, it's perilously long localisation times that suck the enthusiasm out of me. Seriously this is the kinda crap we had to put up with generations ago. If you can't get your game out then I will buy something else with my money. It always happens with JRPGs too. You would have thought they would learn to be more efficient.

wish they would all just realise that it's best just to add subtitles and leave the japanese soundtrack untouched.  would save money and time for localisation and be the best for gamers.

That should be the case with all games.

IGN

You might think Fragile Dreams is a role-playing game. It's not. At least, not really. Rather, it's much more of an adventure with some very light elements typical to RPGs. You play as Seto, a teenage boy whose adventure begins shortly after the old man he's been living with dies. You won't know what happened leading up to this point and the game doesn't concern itself with filling in the blanks -- certainly not initially, anyway. You will very quickly ascertain, however, that the world is not right. As the boy wanders his darkened quarters in search of clues, flashlight illuminating the blackness, he seems to already understand that everybody is gone. Mankind has all but disappeared from the planet leaving only remnants in the form of aging architecture and forgotten relics for those few still alive to ponder.

It's a great premise. Like Samus in Metroid Prime, the persistent sense of isolation is tangible as you explore rundown, rusty theme parks and long-ago abandoned train stations in search of a silver-haired girl -- one of the only people Seto encounters in his travels. He's immediately struck by the young beauty and vows to find her after she runs off into the darkness. It is this quest that remains his primary motivator throughout much of the game.

u control Seto with the nunchuk's analog stick and you aim his flashlight with the Wii remote. Before Konami released Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Fragile featured one of the best flashlight mechanics in any game I've played, and although it's not quite on par with Harry Mason's thriller, it's still pretty impressive. Simply whip the remote to and from and the beam of the character's light will follow, meticulously illuminating detailed environments that pop with gorgeous art. The boy can crouch and sneak if he needs to -- useful so far when walking over dangerously fragile pathways which may give way and for moving unnoticed through tall grass. He can also use a variety of fashioned weapons like bamboo sticks, swords, brooms and iron bars, all of which will wear and break over time.

In addition to the random human survivor scattered across the wasteland, ghosts and demons populate the planet for reasons still not fully explained. Seto often finds memorabilia of people long dead and is able to read letters, many of them complemented by voice work, whenever he sits at a bonfire to save his progress. In one touching scene early on, the boy reunites the ghost of a small child with his mother, who descends in spirit form to take her son away, presumably to the heavens. The demons, however, which come in a variety of shapes -- from looming, spooky faces to rabid dogs and even pairs of walking legs with no torsos -- are altogether menacing and on the hunt for Seto's life.

Thankfully, the boy can defend himself with those aforementioned makeshift weapons and this is when combat is essential and those RPG-light mechanics become apparent. To use weapons, you simply tap the A button on the Wii remote. If Seto is holding a stick, he'll swipe it. If he's got a sword, same thing. And certain weapons offer different maneuvers. For example, Seto can charge his broom for a deadly spin attack if you hold the A button for a couple seconds and then release. He also gains access to long-range devices like slingshots -- weaker, but helpful against airborne attackers like birds and some transparent, gelatinous blobs that appear out of thin air and float

Combat is unfortunately clunkier than it needs to be because there's no lock-on whatsoever. Thus, if an enemy strafes to the side, you can not circle around him and attack. Rather, you must reposition your stance with the Wii remote and then reengage battle. The system suffices, but it simultaneously ignores some of the fundamental advancements introduced to third-person combat -- innovations that date generations back with the Zelda series.

All the while, Seto levels up and as he does so his weapons inflict more damage. You won't be able to distribute points across a character attribute system, but the simple power boosts nevertheless offer a satisfying sense of accomplishment. Seto furthermore carries a briefcase full of items that must be managed as they are in the Resident Evil series -- if you don't have the room for an iron pipe, you'll have to drop some health-giving candy or a broom. What you keep and toss is entirely up to you and plays into strategy given that certain items and weapons are more effective on specific demons. As you save, which you will do on a regular basis, you're able to buy or sell items via a chicken-headed tradesmen in a suit -- don't ask, because frankly, I don't know.

A seemingly empty warehouse -- but a ghost awaits.

So far, I've found the bleak and eerie world in which Seto travels to be positively beautiful and enthralling, in part because I'm a sucker for the mysterious storyline and therefore invested to learn more, but also because the presentation is fabulous. Whether he's running atop and around the tracks of a rickety roller-coaster, carefully trekking through a dirty hotel haunted by demons, exploring the murky sewers or out in the open field and surrounded by red-eyed dogs, the game looks great. The experience is engulfed by a moody soundtrack that is unafraid to go quiet when necessary and a series of breathtaking rendered cinematics that drive the story.

What I don't particularly care for are some of the design choices intended to extend replay value. Several transparent fetch quests, for example. In one case, Seto meets a teenage punk named Crow, who steals the boy's prized locket. As a result, you find yourself chasing the teenager around a theme park for the next half hour and every time you catch him, he calls you names and then jumps away, at which point you have to seek him out again. Scenarios like these are just silly and seem to undermine what is otherwise an intriguing and enjoyable theme.

Completely alone, Seto searches the world for a silver-haired girl.

Fragile comes to America with an English dub but does not sacrifice the original Japanese voice work, which is excellent for purists. You merely select which soundtrack you'd prefer in the options menu. Xseed has invested a lot of time in creating an English dub of high quality, though, so you won't feel cheated if you prefer the translation. The actors and delivery of lines are generally convincing, although the person voicing Seto sometimes reads his lines too slowly and dramatically for my taste.