Soma Bringer is an action RPG for the Nintendo DS system. The game was developed by Monolith Soft. It was produced by Tetsuya Takahashi, who is most known for his work on the Xeno franchise such as Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade. It was written by Soraya Saga, who helped write some of the script for Xenosaga as well as developed some of the characters for both Xenogears and Xenosaga. The music is by Yasunori Mitsuda, who has worked on some of the greatest RPGs ever such as Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and Shadow Hearts just to name a few and previously worked on the music for Xenoblade with ACE+, Manami Kiyota, and Yoko Shimomura.
The game’s story revolves around a world in which Soma powers everything. Soma is the energy source that powers all technology. In recent times, the Soma production has been disrupted by beings called the Visitors. The Secundadeians created a military division called Pharzuph in order to get a handle on these Visitors. The Secundadeians are the people that control Soma throughout the world. The story follows the exploits of the 7th division of Pharzuph as they investigate the Visitors phenomenon.
The game play is a typical hack-and-slash, action RPG except with timed button presses to make bigger combos similar to Phantasy Star Online. There is a great variety of skills and items to choose from which can be linked to the X, Y, A, or B buttons on the DS. There are six different character classes to choose from. Each character class has their own pros and cons. Enemies will drop loot after you defeat them which could be weapons or items. Characters will gain AP points which can be used to make your characters skills even more effective by defeating enemies. Each skill has 20 levels. You will also gain CP (character points) which can be used to increase your basic stats. Also, the game features a multiplayer mode where you can add up to 2 other players which replaces the CPU controlled members of your party.
This is a fantastic game where the story and music set it apart from many other RPGs on the DS system. I think it is a shame that it never saw a North American release. I hope that Nintendo of America will consider in the future to release it on the eShop.
