Of all the amazing character designs that Tsunako came up with in her time at Idea Factory, Fairy Fencer F’s Tiara might just be my favourite. Not only was she an excellent fighter in an excellent JRPG, but she’s so damn pretty and that frilly blue dress and her cute blue underwear underneath and…
Related reading: Check out our review of the original Fairy Fencer F.
Ahem. I digress. That was a big digression. Point is, I loved Fairy Fencer F and its characters and I was over the moon to hear that Idea Factory wasn’t done with the little series. Now we have a western release window for the sequel – Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord – and it’s not too far away now.
The game releases in Spring 2023 (that’s Autumn for those of us south of the equator), and will arrive on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, as well as the Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam). It is a direct continuation of the plot of the original game, and that does mean Tiara is back (but also the other characters if you’re weird and preferred any of them). There’s also some new heroes to look forward to.
However! It is going to play differently. The original Fairy Fencer was a turn-based JRPG with a combat system similar to the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. Refrain Chord, meanwhile, is actually a tactics JRPG.
Idea Factory has also provided a neat, one-paragraph description of the game, according to the press release, to whet your appetite: Fang and the others run into a mysterious woman named Glace, who has the ability to brainwash other people with her song. Another woman named Fleur joins their party, who also has the power of song. The two are known as Muses, and are able to boost or change other peoples’ abilities with the power of singing.
2023 is starting to shape up really nicely now!
