Does this game have a plot with dialogue or is it old school in a sense that there is only gameplay?
Sort of a little from column A, a little from column B. There are story scenes with dialogue boxes and such, but they're VERY few and far between, and mostly consist of encounters with Dela (which usually wind up getting cut off by Dela accidentally falling down a hole or something), brief chats with shopkeepers about how they wound up in the dungeon, or the rare encounter with a ghost, or a friendly goblin, or a treasure hunter, etc., which kind of play out as short side-quests. It's enough to keep things moving, but you'll literally go for like, 2 hour stretches with no plot, then get maybe a minute of dialogue-driven story before it's back to the dungeon with you.
It thus plays out more like a gameplay-only game, but a gameplay-only game with purpose -- there are specific goals to drive you forward, and more than enough lore to really complement the game's atmosphere, but it's really all there to justify the gameplay, as opposed to the gameplay existing to justify the story as in many other JRPGs.
so what does it mean when its 'real time'?
its not turn based like Mystery Dungeon stuff?
Nope, not turn-based. You swing your sword directly, raise your shield to block attacks, jump, dodge obstacles, etc. It's a full-on action RPG -- it's just an action RPG on a grid, so it almost has a strategy board game-y feel to it in a way. Most action RPGs rely on speed for challenge, whereas Brandish is more about tactical positioning, timing and full awareness of your surroundings.
So I'm not huge into dungeon crawlers if I'm being honest. However, I love everything Falcom. Ys, Trails, Xanadu. I've played every souls game so difficulty isn't necessarily an issue.
I assume I should still give it a shot given the above information?
If you like Xanadu (any Xanadu), then there's no reason I can conceive of that you wouldn't also enjoy Brandish. All versions of Xanadu are every bit the dungeon-crawler Brandish is. I'd say think of it less like a dungeon-crawler, and more like an atmospheric action RPG that happens to be set in a dungeon -- kind of like how Ys Origin is set entirely within one dungeon, but is ultimately so much more than a simple dungeon-crawler.
Btw, when you play as Dela Delon, will she have her own story?
Yes, but like the regular story, it's pretty minimal -- even more so in Dela's case, as it's more or less a prequel to the events of the main story, and consists almost entirely of Dela trying to track down Ares.
-Tom
