Hi everyone,

today we are releasing a quick patch which fixes some issues encountered in the wild after the release of our previous major improvement patch for Phantom Brave.

Here is a full list of the changes:

• Fixed rendering issues on some older AMD GPUs that never got fixes for a driver bug related to AMD pinned memory
  
• Fixed attack animation of "Giga Thunder" (and potentially others) having a slightly broken camera animation at higher FPS
  
• Fixed stats of a reincarnated unit not being correctly reset for stats where no Spiritual Exp was spent
  
• Fixed corrupt "game.cfg" file leading to a black screen or invalid input bindings
  
• Added a hidden setting "scanlineScale" to adjust the scanline size of the CRT effect (edit "%LocalAppData%Phantom Braveph3settings.json" with a text editor)
  
• Fixed various screens not accepting expected keyboard inputs
  • Tutorial message box not accepting Enter
    
  • Menu during battle not opening with Escape
    
  • Enter not being able to advance dialogue

As always, if you want to revert to the previous version for any reason, you can do so using the Steam "Beta" feature.

Cheers,
Peter "Durante" Thoman

Hi everyone,

today we are releasing a major update for Phantom Brave PC, with several new features and fixes to long-standing bugs. Large parts of this update -- outside PC-specific fixes -- are a result of our work on Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Remastered on PS5, and this patch brings all the applicable improvements to the PC version of the game. I'm personally particularly happy that we got to work on this game, as it is my favourite Nippon Ichi SRPG of its era, and one of my overall favourite entries in the genre.


This patch introduces various anti-aliasing options into the game, namely FXAA, partial/full 2x/4x MSAA, and partial/full 2x/4x SGSSAA. The image above shows a comparison with no AA on the left and SGSSAA on the right.

In the original PS2 version of the game, some surfaces such as lava used UV texture animation to visualize their flow. Sadly, this effect was lost in the transition to later ports of the game, including the PC version. We have managed to restore this effect and it is now re-enabled, as you can see above.

Back when Phantom Brave was originally released, a lot of us were still playing on CRT TVs, and LCD technology was just becoming more mainstream. Some people prefer the look of graphics of that era in a CRT style, so the game now includes an optional filter which simulates a CRT image. (Due to the nature of this kind of effect, you probably have to look at the screenshot above in fullscreen to appreciate it)

As a quality of life improvement, skills with an elemental damage effect are now color-coded to indicate their element, as shown above. While this is not particularly useful for skills like "Fire", others are often less immediately obvious, and this change makes it easier to identify their elemental effects at a glance.

The PSP version of the game featured a shortcut option for re-rolling dungeons generated at the "Dungeon Monk" NPC. We rebuilt this feature and added it in this patch.

This one requires a bit of a longer explanation. When you create a new unit in Phantom Brave, its stats are randomly generated (to some extent, and within specific constraints). That is intended behaviour, and you can see these stats when selecting a unit to create. However, in every version of the game except for the PSP port, these stats are partially re-randomized after you select a unit, resulting in the actually generated unit having different stats from the one displayed in the preview.
We reconstructed the PSP behaviour, as it makes more sense for players and is likely what was intended all along.

Phantom Brave now supports framerates higher than 60 FPS!
Note that this is a very old game, originally released more than 20 years ago (typing this made me feel old), so a lot of its logic was bound to fixed framerates. We have resolved a lot of issues while working on the framerate unlocking, and even more during the beta period, but there might still be some that slipped through the cracks. Please report if you encounter anything suspicious.

The PC version of the game suffered from Z-fighting issues on several of its maps, as the Z buffer precision was utilized quite poorly despite the geometric simplicity of the game's graphics. While it took some doing, we have managed to improve how the game distributes its geometry across the Z buffer range, solving all of these issues.

The game now includes a setting which allows you to use higher-resolution versions of some map textures. This applies only to the 3D model textures, not any of the game's sprites.

Here's a hopefully complete list of smaller changes which were not mentioned above:

• Added a quality of life feature which automatically selects the currently equipped item when switching equipment.
  
• Resolved Z-offset issues on AMD and Intel GPUs (make sure you are on the latest drivers!).
  
• Greatly improved saving and loading speed.
  
• Fixed a potential crash on shutdown.
  
• Fixed various issues with the handling of configuration options, and change the defaults for some settings.
  
• Fixed a potential memory leak.
  
• The game is now DPI-aware.
  
• Improved/corrected usage of some button prompts, especially with mouse/keyboard controls.
  
• Fixed many small language and text issues throughout the game.
  
• Improved resolution/display mode handling.
  
• Fixed game launch behaviour when stored in a path with non-ASCII characters.
  
• The game now allows input from arbitrary gamepads when more than one is connected.
  
• Added "-latest" flag to directly load into the latest save game.
  
• Added autosaves on episode completion.
  
• Added a "skip intro" quality of life feature.

As always, I'd like to thank everyone at PH3 -- especially Markus and Alex, who were the core team on this release -- as well as NISA, and of course our beta testers for their work.

Enjoy!
- Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3

Wishlist Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero today!

Set sail to save the day in this colorful strategy RPG! Join Marona – a gifted young girl with the power to speak to Phantoms – as she traverses the ocean world of Ivoire, providing aid to those in need. When a fleet of ghost ships attack, it’s up to Marona and her new friend Apricot to assemble the legendary crew that once defeated these spectral foes.

Recruit Phantoms, bind them to objects, combine them with Gadgets, and even merge them with Marona herself to unleash show-stopping abilities and sink the Shipwreck Fleet!

Marona is a young girl with the power to speak to Phantoms, the spirits of those who have passed on. Alongside her dear friend, the Phantom Ash, she sails the ocean world of Ivoire, providing aid to those in need.

But when a fleet of ghost ships attacks and separates them, it’s up to Marona and her new friend Apricot to assemble the legendary crew that defeated the ghost ships once before.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is an unconventional Strategy RPG that features free movement on a gridless map. Summon your Phantom squad members during battle by “Confining” their souls to objects on the map.

What object you Confine them to is up to you, and each different object informs their stats. Phantoms can also “Confire” with special gadget items for slow-moving but hard-hitting attacks.

In addition, Marona can “Confriend” with Phantoms to transform her appearance and access special attacks!
Play It Your Way: Create a team of allies from over 50 unit types and send them into battle! How the fight unfolds is limited only by your imagination.
Phantom Possession: Take on tactical turn-based RPG battles using the Confine system, which allows Phantoms you've befriended to combine with and possess items to battle alongside you!
Light-hearted Adventure: Marona may be on a quest to save her dear friend Ash, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be fun and new friendships to be found along the way!

Join the optimistic Marona in her journey to help people for free all weekend! Or pick up Phantom Brave PC forever for 60% off! Free to play period ends Sunday, September 8 at 1pm.

User "Durante" can't confine their love for Phantom Brave PC: "Overall, it's a must play for all SRPG fans!" Get 60% off this innovative adventure title right now!

For a limited time, Phantom Brave PC will be available for 60% off as part of our NISA Publisher Weekend Sale! This sale is going on NOW and ends Monday, November 19, so take advantage of these great deals while they last!

You can find this title, along with deals for many other great titles, on the NIS America main page!

Hi Everyone!

We have officially added bicubic filtering and Equip Percent in Phantom Brave PC! Bicubic filtering is now also an option for Disgaea PC & will be an option for Disgaea 2 PC. All three games now offer three filter options:

No Filter:
Bilinear Filter:
Bicubic Filter:
We're also happy to announce a Phantom Brave PC Daily Deal, dood! Check out the discounts below!

• 15% off Phantom Brave PC game
  
• 15% off Digital Art Book
  
• 20% off Phantom Brave PC - Digital Chroma Edition

Stay tuned for more announcements, dood!

Best,
NISA Team

Hi Everyone!

We got some great news, dood! Relive the Nippon Ichi Software classic today by downloading the free Phantom Brave PC Demo! Click the "Download Demo" on the Phantom Brave PC Steam Store page.

Phantom Brave PC Demo includes the following gameplay/sava data:

• Story for Chapter 1, 3 Maps
  
• Unplayable beyond Chapter 1
  
• Another Marona is unplayable
  
• Dungeon monk is unusable
  
• Random dungeons are not playable
  
• Aside from the dungeon monk, everything unlockable in Chapter 1 is playable
  
• Hidden things in Ghost Island are achievable
  
• Save data is transferable to the product version of the game
  
• Product version save data is not transferable to the demo version

Check out the demo and grab your copy of the Digital Chroma Edition today, dood!

Best,
NISA Team