Before picking up Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force, I was unaware it was a remake of a PS3 game. Though, upon learning this, I was anything but surprised. Despite its sugary sweet, cookie-cutter JRPG aesthetic, this game feels a little worn. Regardless of the love I have for JRPGs and cute anime characters, this game never quite felt right throughout my playtime. This is unfortunate, given the Switch is in need of more JPRGs.

As with all great JRPGs, Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force begins with a convoluted battle between an evil god and benevolent goddess. For whatever reason, these cosmic beings have decided not to fight this battle on their own. Rather, they use “furies”, weapons of sorts, infused with special abilities that only “fencers” can use. After a long and arduous battle, both the god and goddess are locked away, as are their furies.

This is all preamble to the meat of Fairy Fencer F, which takes place long after this battle. Naturally, only very special people can use furies, such as our main character, Fang. To bring order to the world, Fang is pushed to unlock the Goddess by using furies he has unlocked. This is where the game gives players some choice: you can choose to unlock either the goddess or the god, and, naturally, this choice affects the story. For a JRPG, a genre rife with hand-holding, I found this to be a neat inclusion.

Yup. These anime kids are gonna save the world.

Silly plot aside, the characters that occupy this universe are unfortunately kind of shallow. Fairly regularly while playing through this game, my roommate would walk by and break into laughter regarding how cliche everything was. Of course the main character is a lazy bum who likes to eat. Of course some of the characters are borderline tsundere. I’m all for some silly, anime tropes, but it would have been nice to see a few places where the plot broke out of the cookie-cutter JRPG characterization.

That said, cliched tropes aside, a good battle system would make the silly plot worth trudging through. However, the combat in Fairy Fencer F wasn’t all that great and never felt particularly nuanced. You level up your character, get new equipment, and at regular difficulty, I was able to get through battles without any trouble. There are options for more difficult play, which is a saving grace, but battles simply feel boring.

The battles are less than exciting, as are the dungeons.

Beyond that, for a game with distinctive anime visuals, I expected the art direction to be perhaps a little more exciting. Unfortunately, the dungeons all felt like rehashes of things I’ve seen in other JRPGs and none of the worlds ever really came to life for me. The walls of the dungeons are inaccessible and feel more like a backdrop than organic parts of the structure you are exploring. Mix in dungeons that are extremely streamlined, and I even missed out on the joy of exploration that accompanies so many JRPGs.

All of that said, I have never played a game from this developer before. I know they have fans, so perhaps I’m missing the point. But anyone without a connection with this developer will have a hard time connecting with this game. I have no doubt that long-time lovers of this developer will have a good time. Presumably, they know what they are walking into. However, for me, all I felt was disappointment. Getting in enough hours to write a review felt like an upwards battle. If it were me, I’d skip Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force in lieu of something more unique.

Thanks Nindie fans for giving this one a read! If you’re looking for a JRPG that I did enjoy, check out my YIIK review! To keep us ad-free, consider becoming a Patron!