is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. The player, controlling one of the eight main characters, explores dungeons and fights enemies in real-time combat across three-dimensional plains from a top-down perspective. Multiplayer functions allow up to three players to participate in exploration and combat. The story takes place on the continent of Barnea, where its principle magical energy, Soma, is disrupted by the arrival of monsters called Visitors. This prompts a military group called Pharzuph Division 7 to defeat the Visitors and restore the balance of Soma.
Soma Bringer was the creation of producer and studio co-founder Tetsuya Takahashi. Initially a standard role-playing game before transitioning to action role-playing due to hardware restrictions, the aim was to create an engaging multiplayer experience: this resulted in the gameplay being developed before the story, a reversal of the development style used for earlier Monolith Soft titles. It featured returning staff from Takahashi's earlier titles, including Xeno series writer Soraya Saga and Chrono series composer Yasunori Mitsuda. Development took approximately two years.
First announced in October 2007, Soma Bringer was the first portable title to be fully developed by Monolith Soft and the first game they released since their acquisition by Nintendo. The game was released exclusively in Japan in February 2008. Upon its release, it was critically acclaimed by both Japanese and Western journalists and sold strongly in Japan. Western journalists drew positive comparisons with the Mana and Diablo series.
Gameplay
Soma Bringer is an action role-playing game where players control members of a military unit dubbed Pharzuph Division 7 and explore three-dimensional environments from a top-down perspective, while the overhead camera can be zoomed in and out. Seven characters are available at the start of the game, with an eighth being unlocked later on. The game uses two modes of play. In single-player, the player controls the party leader while two assigned companions are controlled using the game's artificial intelligence. In addition to the single-player mode, the game features cooperative (co-op) multiplayer, which is activated through wireless connection and allows up to three players to freely explore environments and dungeons.
Battles take place in real-time within overworld environments and dungeons. Using a style similar to hack and slash, the three characters attack targeted enemies in the field. Abilities, including standard attacks and special moves related to a character, are mapped to the Nintendo DS's face buttons. Attacks can be chained together into combinations for higher damage. Continually attacking an enemy will cause a "Break", a period where the enemy is stunned and attacks cause more damage. Gameplay is not paused when the item menu is opened, which allows items such as regenerative potions to be used. Character health is automatically replenished when moving into a new area, and can also be restored using items.
There are six different specialized combat roles equivalent to standard character classes, which determines what weapons and skills they can equip. They are Battlers (warriors), Dark (dark knights), Gunners, Kanbus (ninja), Koas (paladins), and Somas (mages). Each class uses a different fighting style: the Kanbus focuses on dual weapons and one-hit attacks, the Koas focuses on a combination of attack and healing abilities, the Dark sacrifices health to deal more damage, Gunners specialize in long-range attacks, Battlers focus on melee attacks, and Somas use long-range magic over close-range physical attacks. Weapons are equipped based on a character's class, and can be upgraded using special items called Orbs. Weapons and items collected through exploration and from enemy drops can be sold to other players through wireless connection.