Soma Bringer
Encyclopedia
is a video game developed by Monolith Soft
and published by Nintendo
for the Nintendo DS
. It was released in Japan
on February 28, 2008, and while it has not been announced for any other region, there is a fan-translation into English that is complete with the exception of the in-game encyclopedia.
, although magical attacks are also in real-time).
Corps - Uses one-handed weapons and spears, can equip shields. This class is balanced between offense and defense, and uses holy magic as support.
Darks - Uses two-handed weapons and spears. This class uses dark arts and can sacrifice the user's HP to deliver additional damage.
Gunners - Uses bows and guns. This class focuses on range combat and status attacks, while relying on traps and survival skills.
Kampfs - Uses hand-to-hand combat and two-handed polearms, and can dual wield. This class is for melee combatants that prefer using combo attacks and assassination skills.
Somas - Uses Staves. This class is a magician class that uses mainly spells to target elemental weaknesses.
The newest member of the 7th Division. He was hand-picked by Einsatz into the elite combat unit that is the 7th Division because of his enthusiasm. He is also affectionate and has a strong sense of responsibility. He serves as the narrator of the game's story as he recounts his experiences in the 7th Division. His default class is Battlers.
Idea
A mysterious girl under the protection of the 7th Division. She was found in a large pod, with no memories of her past other than her own name. Her default class is Somas.
Einsatz
The commanding officer of the 7th Division, with the rank of captain. He has a calm demeanor, and is a flexible leader that isn't bound by rules and regulations, and is more concerned about his team and doing what's right. For this reason, he is extremely popular with his subordinates.
His default class is Kampfs.
Jadis
The vice-commander of the 7th Division. His personality is a complete opposite of his large physique, and he's always made fun of by his subordinates. But when it comes to the crunch, he's always there as the superior officer. He is Einsatz's best friend since they were children and they were recruited into Pharzuph together.. His default class is Darks.
Millers
Her speciality is martial arts, and is an accommodating person who thinks of her companions. She's always looking out for Welt as he's a new member. Her default class is Kampfs.
Cadenza
He is calm and gentle, but is also very alert. He's protective of Welt and Idea, while always playing mediator when Millers and Forte argue. His default class is Gunners.
Granada
She's the silent type who doesn't share her feelings openly. Seen as a possible candidate for a commander role. She also has a knack for origami. Her default class is Corps.
Forte
She has a cheerful personality and is generally the mood maker of the team. She has a natural connection with the flow of Soma energy, and is also in charge of the team's equipment. Whenever she's with Millers, they always find a way to start up an argument. Her default class is Somas.
Monolith Soft
is a Japanese entertainment company that has created video games for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS, and cell phones. The company was founded in 1999 by producer Hirohide Sugiura after he left Square Co. and accepted an investment from Namco...
and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
. It was released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on February 28, 2008, and while it has not been announced for any other region, there is a fan-translation into English that is complete with the exception of the in-game encyclopedia.
Gameplay
The player's party consists of three members. Combat is in real time and takes place on the same map as exploration (a similar combat system to Secret of ManaSecret of Mana
Secret of Mana is an action role-playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed and published by Square in 1993. The game was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2008, and was ported to Japanese mobile phones in 2009...
, although magical attacks are also in real-time).
Classes
Battlers - Uses one-handed and two-handed weapons, can dual-wield. This class has the most HP and defense. It is almost entirely melee focused.Corps - Uses one-handed weapons and spears, can equip shields. This class is balanced between offense and defense, and uses holy magic as support.
Darks - Uses two-handed weapons and spears. This class uses dark arts and can sacrifice the user's HP to deliver additional damage.
Gunners - Uses bows and guns. This class focuses on range combat and status attacks, while relying on traps and survival skills.
Kampfs - Uses hand-to-hand combat and two-handed polearms, and can dual wield. This class is for melee combatants that prefer using combo attacks and assassination skills.
Somas - Uses Staves. This class is a magician class that uses mainly spells to target elemental weaknesses.
Weapons Specialities
Each class has its own limitations on what weapons can be equipped. At the start of the game you will pick one of those weapon specialities to start with, which determines your starting equipment. Each weapon speciality has its own skills that can be learned. They are divided into ranks, and once you reach the required rank in that class, you will be able to learn the skills in that rank for the weapon specialities available to that class. As you level up in the game you will gain AP (Ability Points), and you will use these points to learn and enhance the skills available to you. It only takes 1 point to learn a skill, but the more points you put into a skill, the more effective it is. Each skill has a maximum of 20 levels. The different weapon specialities are One-handed Weapons, Two-handed Weapons, Dual Wielding, Spears, Bows, Guns, Hand-to-hand, Two-handed Polearms, and Staves.Character Points
Besides gaining AP as you level up, you also gain CP (Character Points), which can be used to increase the character's four base statistics. These base statistics determine the strength of physical and magical attacks, as well as maximum HP/SP, defensive power and so on. The statistics that can be boosted are Strength, Magic, Health and Skillfulness. Stats are maxed at 255, life and SP at 9999, attack speed at 170%, run speed at 180%. Any equipment that has extra stats does not go over 255. You will lose out if you put 255 in that stat and are wearing an item that adds +10 to the stat as an example.Battle System
The combat in Soma Bringer is meant to be simple to execute yet extremely customizable and strategic for the player. Each of the four buttons on the DS (X, Y, A, B) is mapped to an action. This action can be a normal attack, an attack skill, a non-attack ability or a spell. Simply by pressing that button, the mapped move will be executed. Up to five sets of actions can be customized, and the player switches between the five sets using the R button, though any set not having something allocated will be skipped. Items are also mapped onto the four buttons, and by pressing the L button, the game toggles between battle mode and pocket mode. In pocket mode pressing a button will consume the item type mapped to it. The select button toggles between 5 different camera modes of zoom, and the start button will brings up the menu. While you can bring up the menu to change mapped actions at any time, the game does not pause when you access the menu, so it would not be wise to do so while in the middle of combat.Break System
When combos and consecutive attacks are pulled off on a single enemy, an exclamation mark (!) will appear over the enemy. Continuing to pummel the enemy in this state will lead to a (!!), and finally when 3 exclamation marks appear (!!!) the enemy will be in a "break" state and any attacks in this period will result in tremendous extra damage. Certain forms of attack and timed combos can more effectively bring an enemy into break state than others. Although, just as enemies can be put into break states, so can the player.Characters
WeltThe newest member of the 7th Division. He was hand-picked by Einsatz into the elite combat unit that is the 7th Division because of his enthusiasm. He is also affectionate and has a strong sense of responsibility. He serves as the narrator of the game's story as he recounts his experiences in the 7th Division. His default class is Battlers.
Idea
A mysterious girl under the protection of the 7th Division. She was found in a large pod, with no memories of her past other than her own name. Her default class is Somas.
Einsatz
The commanding officer of the 7th Division, with the rank of captain. He has a calm demeanor, and is a flexible leader that isn't bound by rules and regulations, and is more concerned about his team and doing what's right. For this reason, he is extremely popular with his subordinates.
His default class is Kampfs.
Jadis
The vice-commander of the 7th Division. His personality is a complete opposite of his large physique, and he's always made fun of by his subordinates. But when it comes to the crunch, he's always there as the superior officer. He is Einsatz's best friend since they were children and they were recruited into Pharzuph together.. His default class is Darks.
Millers
Her speciality is martial arts, and is an accommodating person who thinks of her companions. She's always looking out for Welt as he's a new member. Her default class is Kampfs.
Cadenza
He is calm and gentle, but is also very alert. He's protective of Welt and Idea, while always playing mediator when Millers and Forte argue. His default class is Gunners.
Granada
She's the silent type who doesn't share her feelings openly. Seen as a possible candidate for a commander role. She also has a knack for origami. Her default class is Corps.
Forte
She has a cheerful personality and is generally the mood maker of the team. She has a natural connection with the flow of Soma energy, and is also in charge of the team's equipment. Whenever she's with Millers, they always find a way to start up an argument. Her default class is Somas.