Battle Fantasia, developed by Arc System Works, is a strange beast. At first glance, it looks like an obscure RPG that would fit the mold during the PlayStation 2 era. Instead, you have a versus fighting game that is fairly traditional in its gameplay flow. With influences from fantasy and some steampunk elements, it makes for a unique enough experience when a younger me decided to take a gamble to trying it out for myself.
When the dust settled after playing it, however, it became clear that the game is a mixed bag, but in a way that is harder to pin down. There is a good impression here with what you get with Battle Fantasia; there is a lot to like, and most critically, a lot of potential that has the makings of greatness. However, the entire experience feels incomplete and slightly off, but in a way that is not obvious when you play through the whole ordeal.
While fighting games always have piss poor plot points, Battle Fantasia actually has a fairly fleshed-out world. The characters you control actually grow, provide semi-branching paths, and have miniature arcs. It also helps that many of the storylines are specific to the current character you’re playing as, something Arc System Works built on with BlazBlue. Here, though, the stories are not only coherent but also downright touching. Sure, others serve as comic foils that flesh out their respective characters, but overall, it was actually impressive with the tales spun here.
Mechanics-wise, you have what you expect here. A mix of combo attacks, poking, zoning, grapplers, and other standard tricks that don't really rock the boat. The unique parts of the mechanics include HP values for the characters, which behind the scenes dictate damage scaling. A character with a lot of HP would receive extra damage, while lower HP values would take less.
Two other major mechanics are Gatchi and the Heat Up Gauge. Gatchi is basically a parry that negates damage and pushback, while with some button combinations it can lead to a Gatchi Drive, a follow-up attack. These follow-up attacks also allow for powerful combo moves that can cause massive damage if they connect. The Heat Up Gauge works like a resource. You can activate it, which allows characters to cancel normal attacks, mimic attacks, and even get access to special moves that can do big damage.
On paper, these mechanics mesh together to make a fairly fun fighter. Sadly, solid storylines and the decent fighting mechanics could not save the game from a few problems that detract from the experience. When the game originally came out, it was an Xbox 360 exclusive, and the controls were a bit sluggish on the console. Fighting games often require precision, so anything that slows down your reactions can leave you open to attacks as you try to perform limited combos with the characters' move sets. There is a blocking system, but it seems hit or miss most of the time. Part of this is another problem that is not entirely Battle Fantasia's fault; the 360 port is not fully optimized.
There are numerous moments where there is massive slowdown when playing on the 360 version. This causes a lot of issues as the framerate seems to dip whenever the action gets more heated with character special attacks. Unfortunately, a lot of typical fighting game strategy- when to block, when to use a special, when to poke and zone your attacks- kind of hampers the whole experience.
It also doesn’t help much that there are major balance issues. Certain characters either have an amazing reach with specific moves, or are ridiculously underpowered by their design. For example, the character Watson is an example. Watson is a rabbit mage who needs to level up his power to become more effective. If you don’t know how to level up or you get pummeled, which is likely to happen because of the sticky controls, then it makes him almost useless to play as. Other characters, like the gunslinger Face or the mysterious shadow named Ashley, are extremely overpowered, able to use charge moves that can touch pretty much the entire screen if aimed correctly. This type of issue can doom a fighter from the start if they are not careful, being incredibly imbalanced.
The game also has the standard survival, time attack, and arcade modes, which work well and offer unlockables, like in most current Arc System games. The multiplayer, of course, was an issue. Even at the time of release, it was practically dead due to it already being a niche title. With no way to track statistics that I know of, it is hard to measure how you do online and off. It seems bare-bones in this regard, offering what is needed to make the game tolerable at best. Nowadays, though, the only way to play Battle Fantasia is online through its 2017 Steam re-release, and it likely suffers from a similar fate of being fairly desolate for online play.
With a medium-sized cast of fighters (relative to today, at least), imbalance definitely can be a problem. It's a shame, as a lot of the characters have solid designs and well-thought-out fighting styles. The twelve fighters each represent a different archetype of fantasy tropes, all kind of mish-mashed together. The aforementioned Face, designed to look like a western desperado wearing a burlap hood, is a fast, combo-heavy fighter that has multiple charge moves that can punish a player who can't cope with quick comboing. The massive Donvalve is a huge viking-like Dwarf who serves as the main grappler, with jump baiting skills and anti-air attacks. The flag-wielding Olivia has powerful mid-range pokes and can set up special attack combos when powered up.
The game's character design really prevails. This was one of the only Arc System Works games at that time to use 3-D character models with lush, 2-D backgrounds, and while there is a lack of detail at points, the designs, as always, are amazing. Ranging from a magic-wielding rabbit to a pirate with a 5-foot hook on his arm, the obsession with cat-girls continues with Coyori, a cat-girl waitress who fights with a tray and broom. There is also an interesting, hand-drawn style to the portraits that makes the game look antiquated in a charming way, like an in-universe sketch of the characters. The backgrounds are colorful but in a fairytale kind of sense, offering a bit of subtle whimsy that gives the game good character.
Sound-wise, though, it's less memorable. The background music is mostly forgettable, and the sound effects are adequate but nothing new, with characters exclaiming attacks with a bevy of grunts, pants, screams, and punching sounds thrown into the mix. The game was translated by text only, and all the voices are in Japanese, which is not a problem, though some of the voice actors came across as annoying.
It's hard not to see why not too many people have played, let alone heard of, Battle Fantasia. It is an obscure game at the very least and maybe an above-average game at best. It has a lot of potential and lots of promise, with good technical mechanics, a memorable cast of characters, and cool storytelling moments. The glaring deficiencies of the 360 port, the unbalanced character abilities, and the good-looking but mostly above-average presentation give it the feel of a budget title, making it hard to really get into. Fighting fans may find true enjoyment, but for all of its positives, Battle Fantasia is likely destined to stay more obscure than it probably rightfully deserves.