Epic Battle Fantasy emerged as a franchise of turn-based RPGs made in the Adobe Flash engine, available for free to be played online, obviously inspired by the Final Fantasy series, elements of pop culture, internet humor of the 2000s and anime in general.
Unlike the first two games, which were only structured around continuous sequences of battles, here we have an adventure mode, complete with various sidequests, NPCs, cutscenes, and various maps to explore and discover secret items and resources.
The game's combat is simple like its predecessors, a traditional turn-based RPG with elements from Final Fantasy 7 (the limit breaks) and other JRPGs of the genre, but very well done.
Despite featuring three fixed characters, they are distinct enough from each other that the fights can flow organically.
The game features a maximum level cap that characters, their equipment and skills can reach. There is also no leveling between equipment obtained during the game, its effects being much more linked to which stats or elements you want your character to focus on. All of this makes the game much more focused on strategy and party optimization than grinding, which, coupled with a well-balanced difficulty, makes the game a pleasure to progress through.
One criticism that can be made of the franchise in general is how the references to popular culture are always thrown in your face constantly and without any subtlety, which was common in Flash games of the early 2010s, but which somewhat detracts from the game. to create its own image without being tied to other franchises. However, the game still maintains its originality, having a beautiful art direction, music, and a charisma of its own.
Making Lance a friendly character even after his "redemption" is still one of the most problematic decisions I've seen in any video game.
It's a good game for anyone who wants to get to know a classic franchise of indie computer RPGs.

Reviewed on Mar 22, 2023


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