I truly do long for the glory of old Square enix to return once again but that day looks to be coming no time soon. So till then I guess I should make do with the closest thing I can get. That being Bravely Default. Though published by Square Enix, Bravely Default is made by Silicon Studio and truly they are the closest to capturing the spirit of Squares once great rule over the RPG. Though they just seem to be falling short of catching it. The first game of the series held a lot of potential. The battle mechanics where spot on perfect and the system took the best of the JRPG and removed much to the negatives to it. For example, you can alter the encounter rate at any point in the game. Random encounters were once the necessary evil of the genre in that they made traveling anyway a pain when you just seeked to reach the end of a level. In this game you could turn up or off the encounters whenever you wished so you can only face them when you need to. There are also things such as having a speed up button for combat and the game’s most defining feature. The ability to take multiple actions in exchange for skipping future turns. Two of these are small changes that remove a lot of the tedium of RPGs; so much so I wonder why it took this long for someone to implement them. The third gives a whole new depth to the turn based battle system. However while I can lavish praise on the game’s mechanics, the same cannot be said for it’s story. The story of bravely default is passable and has some neat aspects but the game truly suffers from it’s last arc. For you see before facing the last area you are forced to fight the same four bosses, not just once, or twice, or three times, or even four. Five times people, you are forced to fight the same four bosses five times over. When I played this it felt like a joke. I just couldn’t believe someone thought this was a good game design decision. Part of this could be blamed on how this boss rush seemed to be a part of a sort of updated version of the game but it still a terrible idea. The bosses don’t even change, they just level up which forces you to grind. Story Wise I can sort of understand the intent but it’s never a good idea to make your game intentionally tedious. Sorry I ranted quite a bit but despite the flaws in story and that last boss rush, I felt that this game could have a great sequel. Which brings me to Bravely Second. As to how I have it despite it not being released in america, us europeans got it before you Americains. So consider this a head up on what to expect and trust me when I say I won’t spoil.
After the events of the previous game has saved the world, we now have a new crysis. On the day the Church and the army decide to work hand in hand for the future, a mysterious man called the Black Kaiser crashes the ceremony and kidnaps the pope who is Agnes from the previous game. Having been completely defeated a young boy from a noble household and two friends of a royal army known as the crystalguard set off to assault the Kaisers floating Fortress and free the pope. The story of this game is better…I guess? The Kaiser is a villain that had a lot more layers to him than the villain of the last game and at least it puts aside the old plot of awaking crystals. However it does share a number of weaknesses with it’s predecessor. For one I think this series has now a tradition of having a main party with two fun characters and two dull characters. Two characters make a return from the first game, those being Tiz and Edea. Edea’s still fun but despite the fact that Agnes isn’t around for Tiz to constantly fuss over, he’s still a rather boring character. Our two new characters are Yew and Magnolia. Magnolia is an strange addiction whose background honestly sounds utterly ridiculous. She’s a bold sassy girl from the moon whose occupation is being a Ba’al Buster(Take note, that is pronounced “Ball Buster”. Clearly intentional and makes me smile every time.) and happens to sometimes speak in French because…people from the moon are French.(I know. I think it’s weird too but just roll with it) Yew on the other hand is not really that notable. He’s a bookworm, is oddly optimistic despite being meek and has a very strange saying of “For the gravy!” or “Coup de Gravy!” Other than that, despite being a step up from Tiz he’s still not all that interesting. The enemies you face fare a lot better as they all have their own reasons and distinct personalities. I also like the level of playfulness with the narrative. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and does make fun of itself at times. The main narrative does have a lackluster hook though as it mainly involves you chasing the Kaiser’s floating fortress all over the continents as he sends his elite members down one by one to fight you. There are also these creatures known as Ba’als that pop up now and again but really serve little narrative purpose besides being bosses at the end of some areas or things you can fight in the rebuilding mechanic of the game. The character interactions do work well to fill the less exciting parts of the story.
Taking over from Revo from the first game we have a new composer for the music called Ryo and I certainly pity the man. Revo’s Bravely Default soundtrack is excellent in its mismash of folk instruments and rock. It’s a soundtrack that gave expectation for the sequel to live up to and Ryo simply cannot meet those expectations. He is far from a bad composer as his boss themes do hold some promise as to how he can grow but he has far too heavy a reliance on electric guitar which makes his ost sound too derivative. The gap in quality is further emphasised when tunes are reused from Revos soundtrack which truly makes Ryo’s music feel inferior by comparison. In one battle there was points were the music switched between Ryo and Revos music that showed the wider range of instruments used by Revo and the impact. There are a few standouts in Ryo’s soundtrack, as I said I do like the boss themes, but it is an undeniable step down. As for the mechanics they remain the same as the previous game which is good as they were perfect. The only change in that area is the new jobs which you can obtain. There are some stranger jobs now like Catmancer and pastry chef but they do open up new tactics to play. Leveling up a job class remains a gratifying experience and the level of customization you can have for your own team is staggering. There’s also a gamble feature where if you defeat all enemies within the first turn then you are given the option to fight another battle with exp gain and Jp gain increased. If you manage to do the same in the next battle then the multiplier goes higher. However you do not reclaim health or character turns when you do so. So it’s a matter of risk and reward. As far as the general gameplay goes, it’s all good. Returning features include the Bravely second ability(Which I for the most part completely ignored) and a feature to rebuild a town in exchange for new abilities and items. However you can no longer buy from shops built in this town and I found it’s a lot harder to become overpowered in this game than it was in the previous game. Though pro tip, you can level up quite fast by going to Gaap Keep and making use of a lot of phoenix downs.
Here comes my biggest problem with this game and I must say that in all the reviews I have read there doesn’t seem to be hide or hair of this massive glaring issue. Perhaps it’s not quite as noticeable as I make it out to be but I must warn you if you are a fan of the previous title. For you see, Bravely Second recycles a heavy amount of content from the last game. You may think that’s not so bad but listen to me on this. It recycles a massive amount of things, so much so that I was getting a lot of deja vu while playing it. The world map is reused, the dungeons are reused, music is reused, enemy models are reused, and towns are line for line reused. It is to such an unbelievable degree that I truly question just how much of this game is truly new content. It feels very much like a glorified DLC expansion quest than a genuine new title. I so tried to ignore it and think to myself “But hey it’s not that bad right. The story is different.” but it nagged and nagged at me the more I played. I mean if you must make use of an old area then wouldn’t it be only right to change the layout? I mean I am going through the exact same area, pressing the exact same switches and seeing the exact same paths I saw in the first title. This is beyond lazy. This game may have dodged the problem of having a series of boss rushes near the finish line but it has filtered that same level of repetition throughout this title. I wouldn’t blame you if you felt you were done a replay of Bravely Default while playing this game. For those jumping into the title from this entry it shouldn’t nearly be as much of an issue though.
Speaking off topic slightly there has been controversy regarding this games localization. The biggest issue is that a character who was previously based on a native american style was changed to not offend native Americans. What I find most amusing about this change is that in order to not offend native Americans they changed a native American character into a cowboy. Now I don’t know about you but to me that seems far more offensive than simply having an Native american character. As for the change itself it actually makes more sense as the character’s skillset is based around guns and sniping. Through the localisers missed a bit as her skillset is still referred to as “Shamanism” in the localized title. The other controversy involves the side quests of the game which take on an interesting approach. There are a number of side quests in the game which can gain you jobs which were featured in the previous game. However each side quest involves a dispute between two job holders over an issue. You must choose which persons side to take and in doing so you fight the opposing side and obtain their job. Here is the interesting part, the game points out that you will not be able to obtain the other job for the rest of the playthrough and the argument between the job holders is usually not a black and white issue. For example, do you allow a jewel that produces water to be used to quench the thirst of dying desert nomads or let the jewel be researched to create a potential new energy source which could let to untold good? Do you allow a unknown song from a famous composer to be remade by a diva for modern appeal or respect the composer’s wishes for it to remain as it is? Lots of moral dilemmas which have no real right answer but create a dissonance between your needs as a gamer and your own ideology. For example I was caught in a debate between making a school Coed or having separate schools for both genders in a country which was primarily governed and populated by women. I was on the side of making the school Coed as I heavily disagree with the opposing sides reasoning. However a job which I had been after from the very start, the monk job, also sided with that argument. In order to obtain the monk job I would need to side with someone whose argument I disliked massively. It was an fascinating experience. I sat lost in thought over just what was more important to me. Do I stick to what I believe is right or toss my beliefs aside to get what I need? I was truly impressed by this feature which makes it all the more disheartening at just how they ruin it. For you see, while trying to keep this as vague as possible, something happens which effectively negates these choices and allows you to go back and obtain the jobs you missed. My hard thought out choices just invalidated like that. So I then disregarded my ideology completely and just sought out the jobs for completionist sake. In doing so I found out that it really didn’t matter what I picked as regardless everything turns out fine in the end anyway. Part of the controversy was that the more dark consequences of these choices was changed in the localization version which I don’t like. However regarding what happens to your choices in the end it’s really doesn’t make the pointless nature of the choices any better.
Looking back on my playthrough of Bravely Second I can’t help but feel that this series has the ability to reach greater heights but once again it has missed this opportunity. The heavy amount of reused assets, the lackluster soundtrack and a still lacking story hold back a fantastic battle system and RPG mechanics. I did quite enjoy it but I admit I was getting quite sick of it as I neared the end of my playthrough. The ending salvaged a good amount of my feelings and I say this game is good but not great. But I still look forward to another Bravely title for they have all the ingredients for the perfect JRPG and all they need to do is get them all together. Better yet, why not make a full console title instead of another handheld. Truly all that is needed is a better writer and to have Revo to come back for the soundtrack. Give it a graphical update for good measure and cut it out with the lazy padding and recycling. With that what you would have would surely be an RPG to remember.
