Bravely Default II - True sequel to the best FF since XII - February 26th

[mdn2]

Oh my, turns out there's a Triple Triad card game in this! I've just preordered it based solely on that. 

[AK Bell]

This game is right up my street. But! Is anyone else bothered by the dialogue text? It's not the easiest to parse and it's hard to tell who is talking without looking. 

 

Maybe I'm just a bit thick. But in these kinds of games I tend to rattle through the text as fast as possible and I can't be arsed carefully reading it. 

[Cyhwuhx]

Polygon makes me go more hmmm... Yeah, I'll wait until you guys give it a final stamp.

[LaveDisco]

Big ooof at polygon's review.  I’m regretting a reckless preorder now. 

[BadgerFarmer]

3/5 review from me: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/reviews/bravely-default-2/

 

The jobs system is great, but I found the setting and characters pretty dull and it's poorly balanced in terms of difficulty. You can autopilot your way through most dungeons only to hit a brick wall at some of the bosses.

[Paulando]

1 hour ago, mdn2 said:

Oh my, turns out there's a Triple Triad card game in this! I've just preordered it based solely on that. 

omfg u wot.

 

Life. Over.

[Keyboard Koala]

Seems like it:

 

 

[mdn2]

20 hours ago, mdn2 said:

Oh my, turns out there's a Triple Triad card game in this! I've just preordered it based solely on that. 

Well, that was quick. 

 

 

[mdn2]

The music in this is lovely. And I love the Australian bad guy who keeps calling everyone a Drongo .

[sprite]

Mine just arrived after I forgot it was coming out and Nintendo sent me a reminder! Got the set from Amazon with the stickers and whatnot, and I’m largely oblivious to anything about it. Yay!

 

Now I just need to decide whether or not to power on through FFXII first, or abandon it (again).  I’m 18 hours in...

[Sane]

I gotta say this game doesn't make a great first impression. Technically it's a mess: the graphics are basic and in some ways downright ugly, they forgot to turn on AA and on top of that it runs like crap and drains my battery like no other game. Also the 'story'  is generic rubbish, but I guess that's a given. I do like the battle system though and the first boss fight was pretty challenging.

 

I'll give it a few more hours but at the moment it feels like I would be better off spending my time with other games .

[spork]

4 minutes ago, Sane said:

I gotta say this game doesn't make a great first impression. Technically it's a mess: the graphics are basic and in some ways downright ugly, they forgot to turn on AA and on top of that it runs like crap and drains my battery like no other game. Also the 'story'  is generic rubbish, but I guess that's a given. I do like the battle system though and the first boss fight was pretty challenging.

 

I'll give it a few more hours but at the moment it feels like I would be better off spending my time with other games .

 

I've been enjoying it. Not played there other BD game(s?) But quite like jrpgs in general.

 

The story is definitely a bit generic 4 hours in but it's a jrpg so y'know. Job system seems like it will be good and the combat seems decent so far and being able to speed it up at any time is nice. The painted style towns look pretty cool too I thought.

 

Worst bit so far is the main character looking like a 5 year old and the previously mentioned Aussie guy. 

 

I think if you like JRPGs and can look past some slightly dodgy graphics and a generic story then there's quite an enjoyable game.

[sprite]

As with the first game, this is addictive as anything.

Four hours in already, prologue done.

 

It does run poorly though, puzzled why there’s a bit of a delay loading menus or Party Chat and such.

 

And yeah, story is seemingly usual JRPG Crystal fare but that’s what I’m here for  

Enjoying/10.  The battle and job systems are some of the best the genre has to offer, it’s great fun mixing the classes around.

[sprite]

On 28/03/2020 at 12:04, Professor Puzzles said:

Does Adelle have an Icelandic accent? She sounds like Bjork!

Not meaning to bump from quite so long ago but my first thought was that she reminded me of Fran from FFXII, who actually was inspired by Bjork.  But it’s not the same actress evidently.

[BadgerFarmer]

No, just the same character. 

 

I'm not keen on the idea that hey it's a JRPG so what do you expect from the story/characters. The best classic JRPGs might've been daft, but they were full of original ideas in that respect. That was always a big part of their appeal, and an area where BD2 could do so much more.

[Sane]

Some more positive impressions:

 

I do like the job system a lot. It gives a lot of scope for interesting party setups (you level up a main job and can equip that job then as a sub job, giving you acces to all the skills and spells). I heard some of the bosses are brutal so I hopefully it's possible to use the system to beat them rather than grind for levels. 

 

I also like the quality of life stuff they put in: being able to fast forward battles is very nice. Weapon swapping in the middle of battle is also appreciated. 

[Paulando]

Also enjoying this so far, a few hours in, but it definitely has lost some of the charm in the transition to hi-def graphics, and I don’t remember the story being so generic in Bravely Second. Perhaps it was? I met a pig on the world map who was telling me his story and a few lines in I was like ‘holy fuck i don’t care m8’.

 

Might just skip the story bits. I remember absolutely loving the battle system and dungeons in the previous game, so I might just be in for all that stuff.

[sprite]

2 hours ago, BadgerFarmer said:

No, just the same character. 

 

I'm not keen on the idea that hey it's a JRPG so what do you expect from the story/characters. The best classic JRPGs might've been daft, but they were full of original ideas in that respect. That was always a big part of their appeal, and an area where BD2 could do so much more.

Agree, it feels pretty formulaic in that respect.  That said the moment Elvis opened his mouth, I was all in.

[Sane]

1 hour ago, BadgerFarmer said:

I'm not keen on the idea that hey it's a JRPG so what do you expect from the story/characters. The best classic JRPGs might've been daft, but they were full of original ideas in that respect. That was always a big part of their appeal, and an area where BD2 could do so much more.

Yeah exactly, it's just a shame that somehow we've all come to accept that it's OK to just use generic plotlines in these games. It's not just that the writing isn't great, it's that there's not a single original idea to be found. It feels like the developers have some set idea of what an RPG story should be. Hero with amnesia? Check. Princes with gruff mercenary protector? Check. Magic crystals? Check. Why not hire an actual writer? Come up with some interesting ideas for a plot and build the game around that. It just makes the game as a whole so much more entertaining.

 

As it is I just skip all of it and focus on the gameplay. Which can work well enough, but there's potential for so much more.

[Luseth]

4 minutes ago, Sane said:

Yeah exactly, it's just a shame that somehow we've all come to accept that it's OK to just use generic plotlines in these games. It's not just that the writing isn't great, it's that there's not a single original idea to be found. It feels like the developers have some set idea of what an RPG story should be. Hero with amnesia? Check. Princes with gruff mercenary protector? Check. Magic crystals? Check. Why not hire an actual writer? Come up with some interesting ideas for a plot and build the game around that. It just makes the game as a whole so much more entertaining.

 

As it is I just skip all of it and focus on the gameplay. Which can work well enough, but there's potential for so much more.

 

It's kind of a lose lose for developers in that regard, I imagine stuff like the storylines keep getting reused because it continues to sell, it's somewhat similar to all the remasters and remakes, they continue to sell. Just the difference with jrpg's in general is that they do change environments, names and can be quite creative with the art styles etc. It's their safe zone isn't it like say Mass effect being redone, they know it will sell so why take a gamble on something so drastically different for half the gaming world to criticize and complain about.

 

That said there is quite a bit of variety in terms of JRPG's, their plotlines etc, I think to Dragon Quest XI where -

 

Spoiler

The end of the world actually happened in a game for once

There's the new Yakuza like a dragon, the tales series, Ni No Kuni andI'm playing YS VIII at the moment. I think the issue is more that once they tack onto a winning formula they stick with it and that's why despite Bravely Default being a new series it is just Final Fantasy of old with crystals, princesses and forgotten memories, Bravely Default is just the final fantasy series with a new name whilst the actual Final Fantasy games are beginning to forge a new path which I think we'll see even more with Devil may fantasy 16.

 

That said I've got this turning up this week so keeping my reservations in check after reading everyone's thoughts but I suspect I will enjoy it even if it is a story that I've read or played through a thousand times.

[therearerules]

Haven't played this, but big old spoilers for the 3DS games regarding the tiredness of the plot

 

Spoiler

The 3DS games subvert those plots by taking them at face value, then revealing through time shenanigans that it was all for naught, or you were doing harm instead of good. They wouldn't work without the tropes being able to be taken as read immediately by players. It uses that shared cultural expectation of a jrpg to undercut it deeply at the end.

Wondering if this game does the same.

[Delargey]

So far the plot in this is bobbins and I've mostly skipped scenes after the first few sentences and I don't feel like I have missed anything.

 

As you say the previous games

Spoiler

Did some interesting and meta plot twists so I'm hoping this does the same.

 

Has anyone discovered any good job combinations yet?

[Sane]

I've just beaten the second boss and got the

Spoiler

monk

 job. That seems to open some interesting possibilities. 

 

The boss fight itself was pretty easy, not quite the challenge I was hoping for but it's still early days. 

[Paulando]

I’m nearly four hours into this and I still have Sloan holding my hand in battles. You can literally spam forage and he’ll heal and revive your team, and kill all of the enemies too. When does he fuck off?

[BadgerFarmer]

The first chapter/area does hold your hand quite a bit. Expect it to change once you move on from there.

[Sane]

It's a nice touch really, eases you into the game with a safety net. 

[Paulando]

27 minutes ago, BadgerFarmer said:

The first chapter/area does hold your hand quite a bit. Expect it to change once you move on from there.

 

3 minutes ago, Sane said:

It's a nice touch really, eases you into the game with a safety net. 

It does, definitely a nice thing for beginners, but 4 hours in is a bit much really. Made the route to the desert quite tedious 

 

Anyway, I loved the battle system in Bravely Second, so I really am looking forward to this one ramping up.

[Delargey]

They have another companion after Sloan, one that's not as powerful and hand holding though.

 

I found it mildly annoying as it disrupts my plans. The companion buggers of after a while though, I'm not sure if you will get one in every new area or not.

[Sane]

Beat the third boss yesterday.  I enjoy playing the game and building up my party but at the same time I'm already feeling myself losing motivation to keep going. Let's see how far I can go before being distracted by something else. 

[sprite]

This is addictive and annoying.

 

The side quests are dire.  I’ve just had to go take some bloke his lunch in a dungeon from a town, gone back for a flask to the quest giver, gone to the bloke who needs a fork so back to the quest giver, then the bloke, and finally cash back into the quest giver. 
 

Hmph