Bravely Default 2 is developed by Claytechworks and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo switch as many of you know Bravely Default™ II is actually the third game in the bravely series following bravely default and bravely second end layer but wait what’s with the weird naming convention.

Bravely Default 2

Well despite end lair being a direct sequel the series producer Tomoya Amano explained in an interview he felt the game didn’t live up to fans expectations and so the makers of the series wanted a fresh new start, which is why bravely default 2 is being treated more like a proper sequel to the first game.

The game is an absolute delight featuring an engaging story charming characters and an addictive gameplay loop that includes a refreshingly malleable job structure and an intriguing risk and reward system like its predecessors bravely default 2 story takes its cues from early final fantasy games, four heroes of light, serendipitously meet with each other. Probably at the time and place and travel across the continent of excellent in order to collect elemental crystals that can stop a calamity from destroying the world stop me.

If you’ve heard this one before there’s a gentle yet stoic princess Gloria the somewhat cheeky mercenary adele the dim but kind-hearted mage Elvis and the cheerful. If somewhat bland pirate Seth who adorably goes r in battle it’s not the most original plot nor the most original cast but an occasional plot twist that made me really think two times about who was a friend and who was foe.

Yes, the characters may be disproportionately small and cute a style which I personally find kind of jarring but these heroes are forced to deal with some heavy losses and serious subject matter told in a mix of cut-scenes tales rescue party chats, and thoughtful. Even moving side quests that shine a spotlight on what would otherwise be relatively minor characters fleshing out both the story and bolstering.

The satisfactory world building which includes five distinct kingdoms each with its own set of monsters topography and culture that’s not to say bravely default 2 doesn’t have flashes of bright humor. Some of the more goofy escapades my heroes got tangled up in but I appreciated the story being anchored in the idea that even the most well-meaning intentions can have dire consequences and because of those consequences. These heroes end up in quite a few confrontations which bring us to the excellent turn-based battle mechanic known as brave default.

This highly strategic risk and reward point-based system lets your heroes and your foes either bank their actions in order to build up a string of powerful attacks or risk being decommissioned for a few rounds by unleashing their attacks all. At once like a crazed berserker, it’s a compelling gameplay mechanic that I enjoyed tinkering with as I attempted to puzzle out whether staying my hand or stringing together devastating battle attacks was the best option but it’s the flexible job system and it’s wonderfully designed costumes, where I feel the game really shines.

Game characters

There’s almost a giddy joy to collecting and equipping objects known as asterisks that allow your characters to magically change into everything from an airborne dragoon to a paint-splattered enemy debuffing Pictomancer each with their set of super active and passive combat abilities handily enough each hero of light can equip two jobs at once. The main job that continues to unlock new special abilities every time you level up and a sub job that won’t actively level up but will allow you to continue to access any previously unlocked skills.

It’s incredibly fun to mix and match different professions and abilities in order to exploit enemy weaknesses that are tied to specific weapon types and elemental spells. Bravely default 2 encourages your heroes to be anything they want in life as long as you the player are willing to do sometimes tedious but necessary level grinding if unlock. Some of the most cooler passive abilities like the noble sacrifice skill that revives fallen comrades. Whenever your oracle swoons in a battle that can be equipped even when your heroes have moved on to harder-hitting jobs but it’s the more aggressive things you can do in the battle that is fun for example.

I love the alchemist class which for the price of an ahem hitting your own team with your own spell allows your mad scientist to combine different elemental powers to zap enemies into oblivion plus I love that ridiculous outfit the phantom class is also pretty cool allowing characters like adele to gain an extra turn should she successfully assassinate a monster on the battlefield, while the ominous hell blade asterisks my boy Seth wreak havoc by sacrificing a bit of his own life to wipe out.

Game weapons

An enemy’s existence even seemingly bland jobs like Pictomancer a vocation that mostly focuses on debuffing enemies ends up being pretty darn useful in a pinch in fact I think it’s well worth exploring all the different vocations in order to access their unique abilities and trigger their unique combat. Specials overdrive attacks that can do extra damage or healing and quickly turn the tide in a tough boss fight but the fun of being a vocational misfit doesn’t stop. Their fashion swaps are considered chic in this game since keeping different sets of armor and weapons allows you to boost your vocational stats according to a job’s needs.

I enjoyed seeing what combinations worked best while trying not to overburden my characters with too heavy of equipment although I admit being able to go into the easy-to-navigate menu press x and have the game auto choose the appropriate gear for me was a nice time-saving option. Making sure my heroes were proficient in all manner of weaponry visually represented by a letter grade that gets higher the more. A character who uses dagger vocations is a lot of fun and I’m glad because even with an adjustable difficulty mode combat can be quite challenging at times.

There’s a pretty substantial difficulty spike every few hours in bravely default 2 that forces you to stop and reassess your levels your patchwork of jobs your strategy and your gear this isn’t necessarily a bad thing since it forces you to make smarter decisions and it isn’t a surprise considering sudden inclinations and difficulty are the norms for RPGs but what I’m not crazy about is the high enemy encounter rate which can’t be adjusted and makes walking from point a to point.

Be a real exercise in patience especially since enemies are fast and running away from them isn’t always a viable option unless you use a thief’s flea ability or have a wandering light item that lets you sneak past enemies as long as you don’t bump into them. The good news is that monsters are now visible on the overworld map that shows you’re about to be clobbered by a colossus way above your pay grade for example dangerous monsters glow red while normal foes won’t engage unless you get too close to them and boogies that are beneath.

You will scatter in every direction the moment you approach which is hilarious and I like that the game incentivizes you to initiate battle by rewarding your characters with an extra brave point should. You successfully sneak up on a monster and whack them with your sword and if you are feeling particularly brave or need to unlock a job skill faster.

I do appreciate the option of using bait to lure out monsters so you can participate in a string of battles that give you extra experience points. Plus the battle music is Rockin so even when I’m facing down the same enemies dealing with a particularly challenging boss I’m not too unhappy because I’m usually bopping around in my seat.

Game options & sound

Seriously the soundtrack a mix of heart-pumping and heartstring-pulling utterly fantastic, oh and of course I can always speed up battle with the battle speed option and smash the l r bumpers to quickly toggle between brave and default options so there’s that too but the real reason I can tolerate level grinding in enemy overpopulation are the two new awesome additions of wagon travel and exploration.

Mode wagon travel allows you to conveniently teleport between previously visited towns at zero cost which means yay no annoying backtracking. This feature allowed me to spend more time taking on quirky side quests some of which are only available at night and yield excellent rewards like rare weapons and items and mini-boss challenges scattered, throughout the world that do likewise I even had time to sneak in a few rounds of a monster-based card strategy game called bnd.

Game new features

In order to try and snag a new asterisk I usually tend to be fairly ambivalent towards these type of mini-games but this one’s kind of fun and allowed me to chat up a few familiar faces as well as a new character who looks an awful lot like mad moxie from borderlands but never mind but my favorite new feature hands down are the introduction of the ship exploration mode.

An evolution of the bravely second mechanic from the previous game bravely default and layer for a busy gal like me this new exploration mode is an absolute godsend by visiting a little old lady in town. I could put in a request to have my pirate hero Seth go off and explore the high seas whenever my Nintendo Switch was in sleep mode I love that when I picked the game up after having slept or worked for eight hours straight.

I was immediately showered with all sorts of gifts like money stat-boosting items and orbs that allowed my characters to quickly gain more job experience. It’s a wonderful system that took the edge off level grinding and made me feel like my time was valued plus there was always a bit of excited anticipation whenever I put the game down and came back to it later.

Bravely Default 2 Gameplay

Oh boy, what was Seth gonna bring me this time I think it’s clear by now I thoroughly enjoyed this game but it’s not entirely perfect in fact players be warned although bravely default 2 looks pretty good both in handheld mode and docked it’s plagued by an incredibly bad frame rate stutter at first I didn’t really mind because it didn’t impede my gameplay and was barely noticeable but by the end of my 70 plus hour adventure.

It was starting to really chug and while the camera was cooperative for the most part I did notice it was a bit tricky to handle in dungeons. Since you can’t spin it around like you can when you’re navigating the overworld map making it tough to avoid dangerous enemies because of objects in the foreground block.

My view and I couldn’t really adjust for that the good news is you can make a few useful adjustments in the options menu including turning on an autosave function always handy and switching between Japanese and English voice acting both of which are great and by the way, I mentioned I didn’t like the accents used by the English voice cast in my preview but now I’ve come to find them rather endearing. They’re kind of goofy and fun and it turns out they do actually serve a purpose all in all.

I love bravely default 2 and truly believe that it succeeds in doing what the developers set out for it to do be both a loving homage to the first bravely default and still stand on its own two feet with a new world of new characters and new gameplay features it gave me over 70 hours a story well worth seeing through for its message of friendship in the face of adversity. A gameplay loop that kept me hooked well into the wee hours of the night and a soundtrack that I’ll be jamming out to for a long time.

bravely default 2 game