Brave Nine - Strategy RPG Reviews

by BigEdZach

If you’re a fan of strategy games, games with decent (perhaps even good) stories, and games where the gameplay isn’t actually brain-dead like most mobile games are, you’ll love this game at first. Maybe for a long time after even. But over time you’ll begin to get frustrated. You’ll peel back the curtain and see just how many imbalanced units there are in the game, how many op characters dominate the pvp arena, and how the campaign missions soon boil down to you needing one or other exact units to beat. Maybe sometimes, with just the right units and putting much thought into your formation, you can get around all this, but then you see that it never ends. More OP units come out, and the old Op ones left untouched. Soon, you wonder: is this even all worth it? And as someone who doesn’t have much time or money to waste, the answer to that question for me is no. Who knows, perhaps you can look past it all and have fun, and good for you if you can. But unless major balance changes happen, where one unit isn’t enough to wipe out entire teams, this will be the end of the line for me. A shame, since I think the ideas here are so novel and fun. But good ideas lose their luster when clouded by greed.

by Trulop

The game has a decent combat system setup, looks like alot of missions to play through and events, the problem i have though is the second you get in game theres a million things all over your screen and things to do and things to buy and things to draw and things to pull and dice to roll and, hey check this out too! No wait look over here! Way to manny things smashed together with very little explanation outside of the main things like battle tactics and campaign stuff. For over a week ive tried to push through and tough it out to see if i will just adjust or get used to how things are set up and its only annoyed me increasingly over time =\

ideas? Have different areas to go to with things that are similar to each other in those areas. Look at ML Adventure and see how that game has split up areas to make things less cluttered and smoother. Also do a better job explaining all the random things that are going on so people know what to actively do when they stary, or if its content they cant do til later on. Its cool to have a million characters, but having 11 different summoning things out at once that somewhat seem to summon the same guys is strange as well.

by Yalikethisname?!phfoahfkshd

Game is going in a great direction, spending money isn’t necessary as nearly everything you do is rewarded. However, that doesn’t mean there’s gaps in what you are taught. For starters, they put packages in your face without teaching you a few things. For example, they give you awakening packages saying you can awaken 5 star characters immediately for 600 crystals and you need these items to do so. Sounds straightforward right? Wrong, you need to rank up your 5 star mercenary to a 6 star before you can awaken them and that requires another five 5 star heroes to rank them up. Then there’s the rune package, get two 6 star runes of any choice sounds like a steal ya?! But they don’t tell you your mercenary ALSO has to be 6 star to use them. So you’re telling me I had to buy packages and make my mistakes in order to learn the game? Why have a glowing question mark filled with information if it doesn’t have the information needed? These are only 2 examples, good game, good devs who listen to feedback, just underhanded ways of teaching you stuff after spending money. I think I’ll stay f2p after all. No point in spending more money to be infuriated.

by Pilosadj

The game is great, if I could play it.... it’s soooo laggy that every action you take has a couple seconds delay and it really ruins the entire game. Sometimes the loading circle just keeps spinning endlessly and then I have to close out of it to start again. Don’t even get me started on the “get all” feature in the mail section. It doesn’t work for a lot of things and you have to manually open each letter all the meanwhile waiting for the lag delay between each item you get, it’s not a fun experience. I don’t have ANY of these issues with any other game so I am 100% certain it’s BraveNine.
Lastly, silver 1 in arena is cancer, everyone I fight instantly destroys me. Seems like people who have stopped playing the game still stay active in the arena which makes it impossible to climb.

I got all the bad things out of the way, now the good stuff. This game does a great job of keeping you busy and handing out rewards that actually feel satisfying. They hand you some very good units right off the bat , it’s up to you to figure out what works best for you. It’s a shame that there are so many app issues because I would love to spend money on a game like this but no way am I spending money on an app riddled with bugs. Fix these issues and then I’ll reconsider.

by Hai No Yama Sake

Solid tactical rpg with great art. All the combat is auto so most of the game is setting up units so they can stand the test. So far so good.

Update. The rates are apparently raised than their Asian server counterparts and the legendaries are at a 0.2% rate. 4000 diamonds plus 500 is at 100 bucks with taxes. It’s 900 diamonds per pull. And to keep being competitive in the game you need like 2-3 octos now. Given you’re almost granted a free octo by completing in game things to earn ancient coins, but if you mess up your early game and trash certain characters you’ll soon notice how obsolete you’d become. (hell is in every team you’ll face and doing towers won’t be easy if you don’t have her. Very OP) The only disappointing factor for me is that game advertises pure tactical but even completing the story line requires more luck if you want to see it all. You can grind it out f2p but you’d have to know what you’re doing. I see a ton of f2p people constantly rerolling. If gacha luck is not with you I can see how this game can lose interest after a month or two.

by Jasonpc00

It was only my second day playing. I played in the morning, and everything was fine. After lunch when I came back to play more, I saw I had lost all progress since the second tutorial battle. I lost a 5 star character, which I was apparently really lucky to get from one of my first bunch of scrolls, and several 4 stars. Hope people aren’t spending money on this game. Doesn’t seem very stable.

Update: Pretty sure my progress got reset through some weird interaction with Game Center, which the game uses to sync progress. I had reset my data a couple times at the start. Somehow things probably got out of sync, and then later the earlier version overwrote the later version. But for completely unrelated reasons, they gave everyone a massive amount of scrolls a couple days later, and I summoned some good mercs. So I guess no harm, no foul?

by Gearsnsproketz

I am new to these types of games, this being the second one I’ve ever played. That being said, in my opinion, it’s a very fun game with excellent artwork, great animations, and tons of beautiful characters to fall in love with. It has a real in-depth guide system to help you understand the game and what is going on, unlike the last game I played. The last game had no explanations, confusing armor system, and no one really seemed to care to explain.
When I saw the guide in this game, it made me think the makers of the game really put in time and effort, and loved the game they were making. I recommend this game to anyone who loves anime style art, with a seriously cool battle system and story. So far not all characters have a story, but the main ones do and it pulls you into the game with immersion.
I gave it 5 stars and it deserves 5 more!

by Freakachu000

This mobile game is unlike all the other cash hungry games. This game is absolutely not pay to win and actually rewards playing the game unlike many others, the amount of rewards you get from campaign alone is insane with a great story to go along with it not only that but of course you can buy gems and such but the campaign alone is enough for you to get a pretty great team I haven’t spent a dime on this game and I have only spend like a few weeks and nearly my whole team is now awoken I really do love this game and I hope this game stands as a bar to what other mobile games should match thank you developers for also listening to reviews unlike other faceless corporations and continue doing what you are doing!

by Dmonster32

I’m a big fan of Strategy games but most mobile game ones are very mediocre and fall victim to bad gatcha elements, poor gameplay and expect you to grind way too much. I’m happy to say Brown Dust doesn’t fall victim to that. They give a lot of stuff away for free and care about their fans. This is a game you’d see on consoles or PC and I’m really surprised it’s free. Beautiful art design that reminds me of Darkest Dungeon or the old Blood Bros. mobile games. Also they eliminate the grind by allowing you to farm resources from dungeons automatically as you play through the story or do PVP. It’s great, I also like the fact that you can sit back and enjoy the art style by turning off the grid. As someone who gets very annoyed by UI I’m glad this is a feature. Great game and I hope this one sticks around for a long time.

by Reuben The Pig

I’m a game I’m playing on my phone for downtime, there is a couple of requirements for it to be good: simple, fun, and not pay to win. These requirements were met HEAVILY in this game. Now of course you can buy a bunch of gems to use, however the amount of gems you can earn is immense with just playing the game, and not only that but once you do a big “mercenary spawn” you get a small discount for another time. The gameplay itself is smooth and simple, allowing the player to really get into it for simple downtime, and to top that off the story is an actual legendary experience. The amount you can do just in small parts of this game is good for simple downtime, and not only that but it’s n auto battle game, which is fun so I can have one hand on a cup of coffee. If you haven’t already pick up this game, the people working here have already made it clear they CARE about your feedback as the recent patch made iOS players unable to play for almost a day and a half, yet they gave so many items to the players on iOS.

by Billyboy1245

I have played and deleted so many games like this in the last 3-4 years I can’t keep count. But this game has so many different characters and so many ways to line them up and play them it’s unreal. It was one of my first favorites and it’s the only game of its kind that I still play on a regular basis. I could care less about the half naked anime girls but if you’re into that sort of thing it’s an even bigger bonus. They are constantly reworking and adding characters and companions so you don’t get bored. Now you can’t contend with the big dogs in the Arenas unless you spend money but even if you don’t there are always little events to get you super high end characters and keep you feeling special lol. Just fantastic.

by Boxlord Coppens

I enjoy the game. The mechanics and aesthetic remind me a small bit of old school Ogre Battle in a weird way. Gameplay is great but not overly heavy. Basically it’s strategy/planning set up and then it auto play outs in combat phase. Story is interesting. The gacha system overall is fair, which I think is important. The company needs to make money which I totally understand and it’s not super expensive like other games so I feel better about the draws. I think they do this right. Plus they do allow even ftp players the opportunity to snag a few 5*+ if that’s important to you. I love the art style and I do hope some of the other characters get full art. Some of the three stars are super cute and totally deserve it!

by ZachtheRed

While it looks overwhelmingly complicated at first it isn’t at all. No being stuck in hours long tutorials either. You slowly and easily get introduced to the different mechanics, features, and upgrade systems with always being able to check again if you missed something. There are tons of events and login bonuses which give you a huge amounts of rewards while playing without spending hours and hours a day playing. I’m sure it must slow down at some point but so far it seems like you get a constant ability to earn free premium currency. Unlike any other game of this type I’ve played I haven’t ever felt like I couldn’t get enough units. If you like anything like Brave Frontier, Girls x Battle, or Record Keeper definitely give this game a try.

by Einen99

It’s rare that I am compelled to write a review for a free to play game, this is the only FTP game i’ve come across that doesn’t care if you spend money or not, in fact they encourage you to spend money by never ever gating you or placing you in a situation that makes you feel like you don’t have enough resources or can’t keep playing they constantly throw the premium currency at you and reward you for spending your time on top of the gameplay being quite fun, im truly impressed and really appreciate what they’ve got going on here, i hope more companies take notice and learn from these dev’s. Also the gameplay really reminds me of a simplified person’s of lordly caliber snes and n64 games, i wish some company would port one of those to mobile but in the meantime this scratches the itch. In the end, this game is worth your time as they certainly seem to respect it more then most others.

by Aesang02

I’ve always played RPGs like this: Get interested, download, play everyday for a month, delete of boredom. That has never happened for me with this title; it has consistently held my interest everyday because of how well it was made. I’m an F2P player, but I’ve received so many rewards that I don’t see the need to spend any money. Sure, summon rates are pretty rough, but even summoning gives you guaranteed rates after a certain amount. People who keep saying “Oh, this game is such a P2W game” haven’t realized this game isn’t a sprint to the top. It’s a game that just takes time and strategy to build up your strength, you won’t immediately get the “best units” from the start. Sure didn’t happen to me, but perseverance paid off and I’m able to keep up with constantly changing meta. So just enjoy your time in this game, don’t rush it or it’ll just run dry on you.

by ღτοссιღ

Even though I’ve been playing on and off I’ve seen the changes and it’s great honestly, the game hands you some great characters to start with and the tutorial is short, (which I love) It’s easy to navigate and did I mention this game is super friendly to F2P players? They have a great storyline and over 500+ chapters to keep you busy. They have special event that give you *free* rewards, and some parts of the game like Gate of Chaos are completely original ideas, which I love. There’s only 1 problem which is the Korea Server problem, but it’s not a super problem to me personally as I’m not very competitive or active in the game right now. They have a repeat battle system so even if you close the game it’ll continue, (easiest way to level up) and they give you TONS of opportunities to get all currencies including Ancient Coins and Diamonds. Overall, a total plus. 👍🏼

by Yisix

I stumbled upon this game whilst contemplating whether I should re-install Fantasica for the 8th time. This game is sooo so much better. The Gacha feels like the 4/5* % drop rate is much higher than most games, and the gameplay is addicting! I will never go back to Fantasica again after having found this gem!

On the flip side: There are a few things the game is lacking in; stability being one. The game crashes a lot when I go from campaigning to do something in the Arena. It can get frustrating and quite annoying. The second thing they need to change is: language filter, it’s using a pretty old filter system that *** whatever you type if it suspects you’re inferring to or “interpreting”. There are much better filter tools out there that would be less obstructive and not blotch group/guild/review messages. Lastly: be warned that many of the reviews for units are rather lewd and worthless. I hope someday they add a report feature to take some of these down.

by Where,when,why?

I rarely, and I truly mean rarely, ever write reviews, but this game struck me differently. I've played a MASSIVE variety of RPG and Anime games, ranging from Genshin Impact to Darkness Rises to Ninja Voltage and even to Disgaea RPG.

This game offers a simple, easy on the eyes experience that I quite enjoy. This is especially more apparent when it's compared to the massively overcomplicated games that litter BraveNine Store nowadays.

It is also INCREDIBLY beginner friendly, with the purchases being completely optional and 100% unneeded to progress further. It gives out a variety of rewards as you move forward. While you still need to work, the tasks are rather simple and offer great rewards, such as maxed characters or EXP slimes.

The summons are pretty decent, and you gather the currency for them rather quickly if you play enough missions. If anything, they aren't really needed as you can, as I said before, gain many powerful characters simply by leveling up and completing a simple two missions.

The login rewards (atleast right now) are pretty awesome as well, and giving out a Legendary like Angelica so early on is incredibly exciting. I know it sounds childish but a great way to get me hooked on anything is too give me a good head start so I stay interested, and this game satisfies that need.

All in all, amazing game, and I look forward to watching it grow as you have earned yourself a new player.

~ Cheers!
Ethan.

by Random Person 78907

So I rarely write a review because I rarely play a game long enough to have an opinion on it. Well I’ve been playing since the global release so 6-7 months now. Anyway I’m just going to write out something I think a new player should try. In my opinion your first account shouldn’t be one you keep, the game has a learning curve and it will take 2-4 weeks before you start understanding what’s good and what’s bad and what’s worth spending diamonds on. I think playing till lvl 40 doing whatever you feel is best and then resetting and going for a good reroll is extremely helpful. Then armed with your knowledge of the game you can have a great time with good units . Of course there are some situations it’s not worth it for example pulling an octo or joining during an event like the +15 6 devil release where they give you too much stuff to the point it would take months of playtime to catch up. Anyway that’s my big tip for new players. It’s a fun game and the developers are very generous with compensation which is nice.

by Random-thingy-bloop

It’s enjoyable. Like, legit super fun with no need of purchasing anything at all at the start. (I say start since typically games like this do end up requiring a purchase here and there towards the later parts of a story. But that’s pretty usual.)
Though, as other comments have mentioned, the game gives a lot of stuff away which is super generous.

I typically download various games of this type and always delete them after a small while due to how limited they are at the start. You have to either purchase a lot to just get a good base start or repeat the same starter levels over and over till you get lucky to unlock better perks or characters. In this one, just knowing how to organize your team on the field can help you win and due to them giving away a lot of stuff too, you can build up your roster quickly. And if you’re a type to have a select key people, you can use the extras you know you won’t use to level up the people you prefer. (Very convenient.)

The story is fun so far, has an ongoing cliche with the main character though, albeit Tis fun to watch.

Overall, I’m glad I downloaded this game. Honestly just started today and already got lost in the game for 3 hours straight lol. That competes against console and pc games I play normally. Playing more than a few minutes on a mobile game... that’s rare for me lol.

by JuustHelpIng

The game is most definitely pay to win. Nothing can change that. However, free to play is very possible if you dont really care for the pvp/arena. But the resource grinding and all your efforts of months of gameplay and farming may or may not go to utter waste. It is by far a gamble and could be potentially worth the grind . But the more likely solution is that all that grinding goes to waste. Not at the fault of the games pve content. But at the fault of RNG. I absolutely know that all gacha games are very suspect to bad rates but that’s not the games fault or the devs fault. Brave nine and every gacha game suffers from this RNG system. Aside from the RNG you have guaranteed summons. However, most units the game require multiple merges/copies or books to be made even relatively useful/decent. In the end the game is fun but it just suffers from the same rng based gacha factor that all gacha games suffer. Hopefully one day we can get a game where all characters can be chosen and summoned on purpose through selectors.