High Dynamic Range Lying

Arc System Works is well known in arcade gaming circles as a premier fighting game developer. After numerous iterations of Guilty Gear, each one tweaking balance and adding characters, ASW moved on to its second sprite based fighting game: Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star (北斗の拳). While Hokuto no Ken lacked the balance and roster of Guilty Gear, it was well received, and even received a port very recently on the Playstation 2.

When ASW announced that they were making a new fighting game in its own universe, everyone expected a game true to its roots: a brutal and fast fighting game with a dark palette and post apocalyptic locales, akin to its first two series. What they got was something entirely different when the game began location testing earlier this year. The game they got, was Battle Fantasia.

Battle Fantasia is a vastly different game from ASW’s offerings in the past. The is far slower than the likes of Guilty Gear, and far cuter than either Hokuto no Ken or Guilty Gear. Also unlike the two, Battle Fantasia is entirely polygonal. Much like Capcom’s shortlived Street Fighter EX series, Battle Fantasia acts like a regular 2D fighter, despite its polygonal graphics.

Fantasia’s graphics are largely uneven. Characters are well animated and full of emotion. Environments on the other hand, while still full of style, are lacking. Objects have a very low polygon count, as well as fairly low resolution textures. Sadly, the backgrounds have fairly rudimentary animation to boot, so the graphics are not saved the way World of Warcraft’s were, based purely on animation.

Characters, on the other hand, are a different beast. Characters are large and detailed. They move quickly, and animation is akin to that of a 2D fighting game. When players perform special moves, enemy faces change to a look of fear if they’re too close to player casting. When attacking or casting a spell, characters have an intense look of concentration upon their face. Despite the underwhelming backgrounds, there’s a lot of atmosphere and life in the characters, which makes battles that much more satisfying to play.

Thematically, the game is vastly different from ASW’s previous efforts. Unlike the post apocalyptic and dark worlds of their previous games, Fantasia is far closer to a whimsical storybook than anything else. The vast majority of selectable characters are cute, the color palette is predominantly pastels, and even battles are called “Chapters”. While a bit jarring and unexpected, the game’s light and cheery atmosphere makes for a very unique experience.

Despite being developed by Arc System Works, Battle Fantasia is far slower than Guilty Gear. The game also doesn’t take to the air often, restricting most combos to the ground. The game also lacks air blocking and air dashing. Likely attempting to be a slightly more methodical fighter, the game seems to concentrate more on short ground combos and powerful special attacks.

Fantasia also takes some hints from RPGs. Not only does the game’s visual design share a lot of similarities with Japanese fantasy RPGs, but each character also has an HP count. Unlike other fighting games, each character in Battle Fantasia has a different amount of health to start the match, represented by a number below the health bar. Faster and smaller characters seem to have less HP, but compensate by being far more difficult to hit. Large hulking characters like Deathbringer have far more HP, largely to compensate for their inability to maneuver in all situations. There is a strong chance that the inclusion of HP in the game may unbalance the game, but I did not get to play the game long enough to get a sense of the game’s balance, or lack thereof.

Battle Fantasia is a game with potential, but Guilty Gear fans might do well to look elsewhere. The game borrows more from more conservative 2D fighters, and a less vertical, more personal battle style. RPG fans would do well to check it out, if only for the multiple nods to the genre conventions. If nothing else, Battle Fantasia is a unique fighting game that’s well worth checking out at the affordable 100円 entrance fee.