Rating of
4.5/5
The Most Depressing Game Ever
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 02/20/11
I honestly didn't know what to expect going into “Fragile Dreams.” Having heard precious little about it before its launch and localization, I knew nothing more than that it was an RPG and that it was a ‘human drama.' Considering my love of RPGs and the lack of good ones this-gen, I was willing to try anything.
Presentation
“Fragile Dreams” is a very nice-looking Wii game. Considering that I played it on a large HDTV, the fact that the graphics still looked impressive is quite a feat. The textures in this game are all very smooth and there are barely any jaggies (the bane of all polygonal games). There are a couple of places where the “Fragile Dreams” graphics team failed, such as the chainlink fences and catwalks that look like nothing more than lines of pixels. Part of the reason “Fragile Dreams” looks so good is, I think, the fact that the game is very dark and features small, almost claustrophobic environments for the majority of the game. These environments allow for some interesting lighting effects with the protagonist's flashlight but also cut-down on the amount of processing power required (though there is still noticeable slowdown in several areas). Conversely, the graphics engine's greatest moments are the night skies that overarch a couple of key locations in the game. These skies look absolutely amazing and prove that the environmental artists knew what they were doing.
The character artists, on the other hand, got a little carried away with the anime styling. While I am a fan of anime styling in general, the characters in “Fragile Dreams” all have overly-large heads and scrawny, disproportionate bodies that make them look a bit closer to ‘Super Deformed' than the anime norm. Still, what few characters there are in the game are very distinctive.
It's also worth noting that the end of each chapter features an interesting animated cutscene. I found these to be very artistic and well-done. I would have liked to see more of them.
There isn't much to say about the music in “Fragile Dreams,” as there is very little music in the game. Aside from the appropriately ominous battle theme, the majority of the game is unaccompanied except by the sigh of the wind and the protagonist's footsteps. “Fragile Dreams” does, however, feature great j-pop opening and closing themes that I quite enjoyed.
One incredibly cool feature of “Fragile Dreams'” sound is the fact that enemies make noises through the Wiimote speaker when the Wiimote is pointed at them, even while they're invisible, which allows players to plan ahead or avoid battle entirely. While the sound quality is pretty awful, the fact that someone found a novel use for that tiny little speaker is praiseworthy.
Like most modern games, the narration and dialog are fully voiced. The disc includes options for English, French, and Japanese voices, which is nice, but I went with the English voices, which were somewhat weak. Most of the actors in the English dub are quite competent. Unfortunately, the protagonist is not one of them, as he sounds significantly younger and squeakier than the character looks.
Story
“Fragile Dreams” surprised me by having quite an original story. It begins with a young boy named Seto who has just buried his adopted grandfather. Now, living alone in an abandoned observatory, he decides to set out into the world and see if he can find any other living people. It seems that ‘something' happened that wiped out the majority of humanity. Before leaving the observatory, Seto is confronted by a creature called a ‘thought entity,' that really just seems like a ghost, in the form of a tiki mask oozing blood from one eye. It seems that Seto isn't alone in the world at all… he's just alone among the living.
After leaving the observatory, Seto is shocked to come across a human girl singing in the moonlight. She is shocked as well, and after an awkward moment runs into a nearby underground mall.
Seto spends the rest of the game searching for this mystery girl. Along the way, he can find and pick-up a variety of discarded items that contain the last memories of their owners. At any save point, Seto can ‘read' these residual memories to learn tidbits about what happened to the world and to piece-together side stories about characters we never encounter except as memories.
The story builds slowly over time and requires the player to scour each area for hints, such as old newspapers, that gradually reveal the truth of the situation in the game's world. The initial conclusions I had drawn gradually eroded and were replaced by new conclusions as I progressed through the story. By the time I reached the final exposition, everything made sense: the story is satisfying in the same way a mystery novel is.
The only story I've ever experienced that had the same level of depressing emotion was the movie follow-up to the “Evangelion” anime (“End of Evangelion”). I can't say that “Fragile Dreams” is derivative of that film or copies any of the ideas (How many other ways can one represent a post-apocalyptic world that don't involve anarchy and mutants?). However, the overall similarity between the two makes me confident that anyone who liked “End of Evangelion” will also like “Fragile Dreams.”
Gameplay
“Fragile Dreams” is an action-RPG that is pretty light on the action. The controls require the use of the Wiimote and Nunchuck, as the Wiimote pointer acts as Seto's flashlight while he explores the world. The game plays from a third-person perspective with somewhat tank-like controls, as Seto turns when the Wiimote pointer is close to the edge of the screen and moves around with the analog stick. The B button activates a first-person inspection mode in which Seto can't move but can more easily check-out his environs. The d-pad is used to open the game's inventory and status screens, as well as to use healing items and change weapons. The A button is used for attacks, of which Seto has a relatively limited variety.
There are four types of weapon in the game: swords, staves, hammers, and ranged. Sword-type weapons allow Seto to perform a three-stroke combo, staff-type weapons allow Seto to make a single jab or charge-up a circular sweep attack, hammer-type weapons work almost exactly like staves (but have a shorter range and can knock-over enemies), and ranged weapons force Seto to drop his flashlight (which weakens some types of ghosts) to aim single shots with the Wiimote pointer. Overall, this battle system works fairly well, except when enemies decide to attack from behind, in which case the Wiimote pointer becomes something of a liability. Simply covering the end of the Wiimote with a finger, though, disables the pointer and allows Seto to move with much more agility, but at the same time makes controlling the camera nearly impossible.
Defeating enemies, as one would expect in an RPG, gives Seto experience and money. Experience improves his health and strength while money can be spent with the game's mysterious, chicken-headed merchant. Fighting all battles can become a bit tedious, as enemies re-spawn every time the game is saved and the delicate weapons that Seto finds are prone to breaking. The fact that weapons break means that players must hoard what weapons they find and essentially forces players to stick with the most durable weapons (which are, of course, not necessarily the most powerful) or be left unarmed in the middle of ghost-filled ruins.
Aside from combat, “Fragile Dreams” is a pretty straight-forward RPG in that it's all about exploration and progressing the story. The game is extremely linear, with frequent ‘points of no return.' However, this linearity just helps to enforce the urgency of the narrative. The only things that might make a player want to backtrack are the memory items (which can be easily missed), but the game's short length of ~15 hours makes replaying from the beginning just as practical as backtracking through the game's world without the aid of shortcuts or any form of fast-travel.
Overall
I found “Fragile Dreams” to be a beautiful, depressing experience. If it was any longer, the somber atmosphere and narrative would have been too much to endure. As it is, it stands as one of the best RPGs currently available for Wii in North America, despite its slightly-clunky battle system. I recommend “Fragile Dreams” to “Evangelion” fans, survival horror fans, and RPG fans alike.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
