Does the story get less depressing?

[piccolo255]

So, I really like Phantom Brave's game mechanics. It's amazing.

However, I played through the first few chapters about a year ago, and the story was too depressing to continue. I prefer my fiction funny/upbeat/positive/optimistic (e.g., Disgaea story is great). An occasional sad scene is fine if the story demands it, but if the overall tone is not optimistic, I'm out -- and so far PB was a non-stop parade of sad scenes, with every positive event immediately turned around into an even sadder one.

My question is, does the story get less of a downer later on? And if so, around which chapter? I could grind random dungeons until I can just rush the entire depressing part in a single evening, if I knew it eventually stops. I assume ending is positive (I saw it described as "heartwarming"), but does it get positive before that?

I tried searching the net for this information, but couldn't find anything that's not a complete walkthrough, which means that to find what I want I'd have to read the entire story anyway.

(If it's difficult to answer without spoilers, spoil away.)

[Fel]

The overall tone is optimistic, but the first parts of the game can definitely feel a bit gloomy when it's setting the scene of "how the world sees Marona right now".
After healing island, it starts to get better and for a good bit you meet new people and have a mostly pleasant adventure around the islands.

Without spoiling too much, let's just say that the story is about a little girl with paranormal powers making and finding her place in the world that you find inhabited by a lot more than the villagers that are disgusted just because of her powers.

Even near the end boss where you are confronted with the usual "impending death of all lives on the planet" just as in most jrpgs, it doesn't become gloomy like the first chapters because there is a whole cast of characters and it's not a little orphan girl all alone (mostly) and bullied by everyone (including adults) like at the start.


if you don't like depressing endings, I would say to maybe skip "another marona", because that one is significantly less kind when it reveal its last cards.


I hope I kept the spoilers to a reasonable level.

[piccolo255]

Thank you very much! So it's not all-depressing-all-the-time until you hit the happy ending, glad to hear that. I'm a fan of traditional shounen stories, where the initially troubled/distrusted protagonist gradually gathers a group of friends and companions (think One Piece), but here it was taking so damn long I just gave up.

Could you please tell me one more thing, around which chapter does it start turning around? I'd like to grind until I can rush there, so I need a ballpark level that will enable me to instaclear all story maps until that point. I don't want to skip the cutscenes, I just want to get the bitter part over with as soon as humanly possible, like drinking medicine.

Thanks for the note about Another Marona, I'll probably skip that. Whenever I hit a bitter ending, I regret even starting the story, heh.

[Fel]

The end of the fourth part of chapter 1 is more or less the last time it ends on a "it seemed to be going good, but not the end bit" (and if you understand a bit about what is going on in that part it's very different from the first 3).

Do read the letters and newspapers too, they add quite a bit to the background of the story.

For better or worse this game is where NIS tried very hard to make a story less generic and less based on humour than usual, so it does mean that they are using ups and downs, taking time to set the world and such (starting with the bad parts of it before going to the better ones), for the whole chapter 1 and its 7 parts.

Also, if bad endings are tat much of a problem for you (small spoiler about the ending and an other NIS game), NIS made another game after this one (PS2 version of it at least) where they show the character that supposedly died at the end (to save the world, but still) alive and well but in a different world (in soul nomad)

[piccolo255]

Thanks. I think earlier I stopped after chapter 1 episode 4, which means I should've pushed on for only one more episode. Bummer! And I did read everything, though at that point news and letters were still mostly just making Marona's life even worse, heh.

Ups and downs are good, but too many downs in a row just seem cruel to the characters. If I wanted a story that hates it's cast, I'd keep reading The Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) instead of stopping after three books :) I can appreciate a good story, and as long as the downs are followed by ups I'll even enjoy it. Even a "heroic sacrifice" ending can be fine, depending on the way it's framed in the story.

The thing is, my sad-story capacity is limited and already quite full. They stay with me much longer, I still get teary-eyed when I recall some sad endings I saw/read more than a decade ago.
Now, when I go through a story, be it a book, a movie, or a game, I try to finish a session on a positive note... so a long stretch of negatives means I get to spend the entire night searching for something positive to end on, and that deeply cuts into the already lacking sleepy-time :)

Anyhoo, thanks again for your replies! The next time I get the Phantom Brave itch I'll be able to scratch it without worries :)

[Delthea]

Short version:
It's an after school special with the cute-and-innocent-hero-with-good-intentions gets kicked repeatedly at the start.

Not spoiling it, but if chapter 1 made you feel bad, you need to finish the game, because you're the kind of person this game was made for.

[St. Haborym]

It all pays off in the end. Just stick with it til then.