Fairy Fencer Advent Dark Force - Ethel was absolutely the cutest. Tiara!

Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force is a turn-based RPG developed by Compile Heart and released by Idea Factory in 2016. This specific version is an expanded edition based on the original game, which was released in 2013 without the subtitle. I played the first game on the PS3 and then played the expanded version again on Steam.

The story is set in a world where a major conflict occurred between a Goddess and an Evil God. These two did not fight directly but created an enormous amount of weapons for others to use in their stead. It was essentially a proxy war between the two factions.

Eventually, the war ended, and the two entities vanished from the world, leaving behind the weapons called Furies and the warriors who wield them, called Fencers. The story centers around two of these Fencers, Fang and Tiara, as they get caught in the remnants of the struggle between the Goddess and the Evil God.

The game has three main endings (Goddess, Vile God, and Evil Goddess), two of which were added later with the Advent Dark Force version. To unlock these, you need to have pulled a certain number of swords from the Vile God. You need fewer than 7 for the Goddess route, more than 7 for the Vile God route, and more than 15 for the Evil Goddess route.

Each ending has a character-specific additional scenes based on which event you see near the end of the game. It is not possible to get them all in the first playthrough, so you will be forced to do multiple runs. I did three playthroughs in total at the time.

The main characters of this story are:

Fang

Accidentally becomes a Fencer after freeing Eryn from her Fury weapon. After learning more about the background of the world, he sets his goal to recover Eryn's memories. He is usually uninterested in anything aside from eating and sleeping, but slowly becomes more apt for the role of protagonist.

Tiara

A teenage girl with pink eyes and long white hair. She is a Fencer and the main heroine of the story. She is refined and serious but does not shy away from using underhanded tactics to get what she wants, including poison. It becomes apparent from the story that she has somewhat masochistic tendencies, as she seems to enjoy it whenever Fang berates her for something she did.

Eryn

A Fairy that lived within Fang's Fury. She has no memories of her past and is on a journey to try and recover them. She has an arrogant personality at first, especially toward Fang, but slowly softens up as the story progresses and she interacts more with the other characters.

Harley

A young and very attractive woman who can be best described as a "Fairy fanatic." She is a researcher of their abilities and lives, going as far as taking samples of their hair for her research. She lacks common sense and is often seen walking around half-naked in her room after waking up from an all-nighter.

Ethel

A young girl with a very machine-like personality. She is initially introduced as an enemy who only speaks the word "kill," with her Fairy, Karin, acting as a translator for her thoughts. She eventually joins the team and slowly becomes more and more like a normal girl.

Karin

Ethel's Fairy. She has a fox-like appearance with a white color palette. She is very attached to Ethel and worked as her translator at the beginning. She is gentle and has an easygoing personality, which is a stark contrast to her less talkative master.

My favorite character overall was definitely Ethel because of the gap between her adorable looks and her taciturn personality. I also like how she grows and changes as a character in the various routes. Plus, her relationship with Karin makes me want to wear my yuri goggles.

I can easily suggest this game to any JRPG fan, as it is a solid title despite its age. I am also going to give the spin-off, Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord, which was released a few years ago, a chance once I get some extra time.