Platform Played On: 3DS
Rating: 8.5/10
Verdict: Bravely Default is a wonderful RPG in a lot of ways, but there are some things later on that dampen the experience and keep it from being a masterpiece.
"Oh man, I can't wait to play Bravely Default... it's finally out!"
I turned on my 3DS and cleared off some space and started the download. After it was completed, I laid down on my bed and fired it up. "Oh, this is a pretty song on the main menu, I'm getting into this already. This feels like an RPG."
I press New Game, and I do all the things the game requires me to do to set it up. All of a sudden I'm looking at my room through the top screen on the 3DS -- a feature that has always existed on the 3DS but one that I haven't really seen used in-game before, but I only bought my 3DS last year and have mostly played RPGs on it anyway. A woman comes onto the screen (the screen that is still showing my room) and she's in a panic. She's screaming and rambling on about saving things, but I'm swinging the 3DS around following her as she walks around. All of a sudden the ground gives out and there's a giant hole in my room. This woman, Agnes, is now scratching and clawing for her life. I tilt the 3DS down and look at her as she is at my feet, her body dangling down into the hole. She falls.
"Wow, that was actually a really awesome beginning." From that moment I was hooked. It wasn't until later that it all tied in, and as of writing this review, I can fully appreciate what they were trying to accomplish there. Very cool stuff.
From there I play as Tiz, and while I wished I could change the names (I come from the old school of RPGs), it's not a big deal because at this point in gaming it's understandable, with voice acting and whatnot. I watch Tiz loses his family in the same way I just lost Agnes. "This game is dark," I say to myself, continuing on.
Once I become familiar with Tiz, and end up meeting Agnes again, I realize that at this point in time the story is nothing fantastic. I meet Ringabel, who doesn't remember who he is, and Edea, who was a villain but left the Eternian forces (Sky Knights) because she starting seeing things differently than them. Ringabel is a pervert. Edea is hardheaded. Bravely Default has been called a Final Fantasy by many reviewers, and I'm no different. It has all the trappings of a good Final Fantasy/JRPG, with its cutesy character models, perversion, Job System, and a story that involves crystals. I find out that Agnes is trying to reactivate all the crystals, and that's pretty much how the story goes for a long time, while I see how the characters grow and change towards each other.
Ringabel and Edea, in particular, are the most interesting to watch interact. There are legitimately some times where I laughed out loud and how they talked to each other. While Tiz and Agnes are more serious and predictable in where they will go, Ringabel and Edea keep the mood light and entertaining as often as they can.
.JPG) |
| A man modeled after my own heart. |
As I walk through the different lands to each of the crystals, I am treated to a beautiful World Map song. It helps make walking feel like a real adventure, as any RPG should. As I hear more and more of what the OST has to offer, like the fantastic boss battle themes, or the music while I'm in my menu, I think to myself about how wonderful the soundtrack is from top to bottom. This is another reason why Bravely Default can favorably be compared to a Final Fantasy because at its best, Final Fantasy had amazing and awe-inspiring soundtracks. Bravely Default is no different.
I also am treated by the gorgeous visuals. The art and visual design on this game is on point, with every location feeling distinct and different, and beautiful rendered. It truly feels like a fantasy world, and allows me to get lost in it.
I am never forced to listen to the small talk between the characters, because the developers were smart enough to realize that a lot of people don't need to hear every single thing that a JRPG character has to say. Instead, I find it refreshing that "Party Chat" pops up on the screen and you press a button in order to access it. I always eavesdropped on the characters anyway, but it's a small feature that's appreciated.
As I progress, I keep myself busy with a few different things. Throughout the game I am reconstructing Norende, the town that Tiz is from that he saw get destroyed. When I am going to save the game, I can choose to update and the game will find villagers for my town. I can do this once a day, and when I do, I get optional monsters sent to me along with the villagers. I am the boss now, and I choose where to place my villagers. I realize it's smart to just focus the villagers on one thing at a time, because it can take hours upon hours to complete one task, especially later on. I get rewarded for my fine managerial efforts in various ways: I can buy more powerful weapons and armor, sometimes I get gifts in the forms of items, or I can get abilities to add to my special attacks. It's a simple concept, but it is important to remember to constantly have construction going so you can get some of this cool stuff. After all, it's as easy as simply clicking what you want to focus on next and when they're done you'll get a message on the screen saying they've completed it. It takes no time at all and is a huge benefit.
But as I play with the complex Job system I am filled with the most joy. Like Final Fantasy Tactics or Final Fantasy 5, the main pitch for me is the existence of said Job system. Each Job can level to 14, but not only that, you can have a sub-Job and special abilities from whatever jobs you've unlocked stuff for. What this means is that there are a ton of ways to play the game. Do you for some reason want your Black Mage to also have the Martial Arts ability (a Monk ability)? Well you can. You can also select buffs from all over the spectrum, if you've put in the time to unlock them. The combinations are endless, and as I progress through the game I kept getting more and more jobs and kept re-thinking what I wanted to do.
I grind so I can level-up my jobs and see what they have to offer. I do this again and again and again, but it's never boring despite the repetitive nature. Every time I level up a job I get excited to see what I will gain. When I master a job, I jump to another job to see what it has to offer. It's an obsession for me at this point.
I do the side-quests because they aren't really side-quests at all. It becomes clear early on that in order to unlock at least half of the jobs of the game, you have to complete these side-quests. I think to myself, "Why wouldn't anybody do these? The main crutch of this game is the Job system." Some of these side-quests are long, but I knew what was coming so I anticipated it like a child on Christmas Eve.
As I travel through the world, activating the crystals and seeing the melodrama unfold, I never get bored of the battles because Bravely Default does some neat things with the JRPG formula. For one, they created "Braves" and "Defaults." I think having that as the title is dumb, but it makes sense because it is a main point of the game.
The game has Brave Points, and you can have up to 4 at any given time. When you start the battle you have 0, and when you do an action you lose one. You gain one each turn so what this means is you can always attack once per turn. That isn't anything new, but if you Default, you gain a BP and it's like defending in other RPGs so enemies do reduced damage that turn. There are abilities in this game that require BPs instead of MP, so the battles are a constant struggle between managing your BP and risk and reward. It's a refreshing take on a tried, tested and true system because theoretically you can demolish your enemies in one turn... which cuts down on the grind time. So does the fact that you can fast-forward through a battle at two different speeds. You also get rewarded at the end of the battle for winning in one turn, along with other things. The battle system is still turn-based but they tweaked it enough to make it interesting even today.
There is also the SP, which allows you to interrupt your enemies for another attack. You get more by leaving your game on Sleep or paying for more, but I never needed them. They're just a way to make things easier if you need help. "I don't need no stinkin' SP," I say to myself triumphantly, with the only time I used it being when I accidentally pressed the button on the screen.
The game also uses Street Pass effectively, but I live in a small town and I never get to fully experience Street Pass features. You can use it to acquire friends to summon, a feature that allows you to summon your friends for powerful attacks in battle, or you can just get more villagers for your town. I cry a little bit inside because I cannot experience Street Pass.
I'm having a blast playing this game, listening to the music, leveling up my various jobs, switching abilities around, watching Ringabel perv on every girl he sees... this is a JRPG I can get behind. "This is one of the better RPGs I've played in the last ten years," I say to myself.
Then I get to, I believe, Chapter 5 and the game goes terribly, terribly wrong in some ways but awesome in others. A smorgasbord of blue exclamation marks -- which represent side-quests -- shows up on my touch screen. "Wow! There's a lot of content thrown at me," I exclaim so loud that my entire neighbourhood hears (okay it wasn't really like that). I eagerly travel to the nearest side-quest, and it turns out I get to fight a boss from earlier in the game again. It is important to note that from this point on, there are spoilers. I don't intend to give specifics unless I include spoiler tags, but depending on how sensitive you are to this sort of thing, you should proceed with caution.
I go towards another side-quest and again I fight a boss I've previously defeated. Something is different though, and I am intrigued by how the conversation between myself and the bosses have changed. It turns out every side-quest is like this.
I stop enjoying doing the side-quests because I've already done this. I don't care if they're harder, but I do appreciate that the encounters between my team and the bosses have altered in little ways. I can get behind that, but it's a sin to make a player replay sections. With that said, they are technically optional and they give you a lot of Job points and experience. It's still a crappy time.
However, with this, the story has kicked up a notch.
I can get behind where the plot goes, and I do, because I start truly loving the story, even if it took a lot of hours to get to this point. I'm just glad it happened.
"But I hate doing this," I say to myself, because I feel like they mishandled the situation. Bravely Default sends me to re-activate the crystals, so now I'm running through dungeons I've already run through enough, beating bosses I've already beaten, and this just puts a damper on the entire experience. I stop enjoying the game play. I try to justify it by thinking about how it makes sense from a storyline perspective, but I can't forgive it. "How dare you take a dump on my Bravely Default experience, Bravely Default!"
In order to get the true ending, you have to do the crystal thing again and again. Which means you beat a boss and then mangle your finger pressing X repeatedly (an idea I actually enjoy because it makes you feel the stress and pain that Agnes does, just like Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4). I respect the immersion much like I did in the opening scene in the game. Rinse, repeat, yawn. I start playing Bravely Default less and it takes me longer to complete than it should.
Finally, I trudge through it and complete the game. It's a satisfying conclusion and there is a plot twist thrown in there. The normal ending is decent but not amazing, and the true ending is significantly better. I lay on my bed and think about what I've just played, and what I'm going to write about it. "What am I going to score it?" It's something I struggle with because when Bravely Default is on, it's on like Donkey Kong.
"But after Chapter 5 is kind of ass," I say to myself. I decide on 8.5 because even though the story does get better and less generic, the developers have committed a cardinal sin. It is because of this that Bravely Default only gets an 8.5, but I strongly recommend it regardless.
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