PLATFORM: PC, PS4 (REVIEWED), SWITCH | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Based upon the popular manga and anime, Fairy Tail is a JPRG from Atelier series developer, Gust. The story begins at the end of Fairy Tail‘s Tenrou Island arc; before being decimated by a giant dragon, your guild is whisked back to the Fairy Tail HQ. It turns out they’ve been gone for seven years and, in that time, the guild has massively fallen down the rankings. Your goal is to once again restore Fairy Tail’s status and become the number one guild. Unfortunately, the way to do this is through hours and hours of repetitive fetch quests. You’ll either get your assignment from the quest board or from someone in the guild, head to that location, fight something and teleport back to the guild. Constantly trekking to and from the guild gets old fast.
The battle system is like most turn-based JRPGs; you can attack, use magic, block or use items. Where it differs from most is that there are a small amount of grid-based tactics, with magic attacks able to deal damage to multiple foes if they happen to be lined up correctly. This, on top of elemental damage, adds some extra layers of strategy. Graphically the game looks less like a PS4 game and more like a PS3 one but, thanks to the art style, it still looks decent and, combined with some great music and a decent-sized town, it does a good job of immersing you in the Fairy Tail world.
Like a lot of licensed games, Fairy Tail is held back by the actual license itself, with big limitations on character development and storylines, both of which would generally be a massive part of any RPG. Despite its repetitiveness, combat is a lot fun but you’ll need to be a big Fairy Tail fan to truly appreciate this game.
