BRAVELY DEFAULT II Reviews

Very fun

nice game . I wish they would import the first 2 games to steam they are more amazing . Still solid JRPG and every penny

I haven't played much of the original Bravely Default for 3DS yet. even so I see this game is a hyper-orthodox reimagining of everything the original was going for. less meet cute adventure, more solemn heroic journey. lighthearted comic relief is sprinkled in, but only so much as to pleasantly highlight the bittersweet tone of the narrative. at a glance, everything seems less brave and more default... while a part of me is left yearning for the touchscreen fairy, silly puns, and borderline sexually charged prerendered cutscenes that were abandoned with the 3DS, another part of me wonders if this game is meant to show me what it truly means to be "bravely default." like, it's actually (read: unironically) impressive how much of a water cracker of a video game this is. and it's mechanically polished and smart.

The Job Specific Outfits Settings keep turning OFF on it's own

Was a fun time. Played on Steam Deck quite a bit and it ran super well. There are a huge unbalance with the classes though. If you pick the wrong ones you could either blow through the game without a worry or have the absolute worst time imaginable/

Ignore the play time at the reviews writing, I played through the game in its entirety on Switch so I have a pretty good grasp of what I'm about to talk about. Tl;dr: If you're looking for a solid, traditional JRPG with fresh new mechanics and a job system, and don't mind a bit of a bland story, you'll enjoy this game. I primarily wanted to write this review as a way to splurge my thoughts as a day 1 Bravely Default fan onto a spot someone might see it. I played the first two Bravely Default games on the 3ds, and finished them, and I just want to say, I do not like Bravely Default 2 as much as I like those first two titles. Allow me to explain. It's the story. That's pretty much what drags it down for me. As far as gameplay goes, this game is just as good, if not better, than the first two, if we ignore a certain passive ability which is pretty much mandatory later on once it's unlockable. But back onto the story, it's just Bravely Default 1's story, but worse. The main characters aren't as enjoyable, and the story follows the same general line of "go to place, solve problem, get crystal". This, in and of itself probably isn't too much of a problem for the uninitiated, but, as someone who has played the first game, the characters and story are lacking, I find. Gloria is Agnes but worse, and Adelle tries to sort of fit the same mold that Edea did, but doesn't hit quite the same. Elvis is great, no complaints there, but my biggest problem is Seth. He alone brings down the entire party by virtue of having no perceptable character traits besides being the stand in for the player. Tiz, and by extension Yew, had some amount of character development or personality traits that made them feel like.. Yknow, characters. They each even had their own arcs that they played through as the games progressed, to what I find were satisfying conclusions, or were at least in good places by the time each game concluded. Then we have Seth, who's character development is, uh.. Er.. "Well Sir Sloan sure was a great guy!" That's it. No overcoming a previous event in his life, or coming to terms with the fact that what happened cannot be changed and moving on from it as a stronger person, nothing. He's just the guy who REALLY liked Sir Sloan. Point is, it feels like the characters are watered down versions of the main cast from the previous titles, which probably isn't as much of an issue for someone who hasn't played them, but as someone who HAS played them, it's pretty egregious. Oh yeah I haven't even touched on the storyline yet. If you've played any FF game before 7, then, this verse is the same as the first. You go around, getting crystals corresponding to the four elements, and some bad guys also want them, so then you fight. The main villain isn't ACTUALLY the main villain though, he was getting played by another villain who ALSO isn't the main villain! It is pretty by the numbers, and nothing out of the ordinary if you played literally any FF game. It's pretty close to what BD1's story is, so if you played that you'll see the twists from a mile away and find the same general story beats. Now for the gameplay.. It's good! Really good in fact! If you took that in a vacuum, it would be hard to find complaints with the general gameplay. I love job systems, and being able to make any of your four party members any class you want is great! You want to play as four black mages? Go ahead! Four monks? Who's gonna stop you? Four white mages? You might have some trouble, but you can do it! Experiment and find out what you enjoy! But uh, when you get surpassing power, there is some opportunity cost for not using it, and I feel like the game really expects you to USE IT after its available, as certain bosses will punish you for not pumping as much dps as you can get away with. Hope you like not having MP ever on a certain boss.. All in all, Bravely Default 2 is a solid 7/10, or 8/10 if I'm feeling particularly generous.The story leaves very little to be desired, to the point it almost feels like it's unfinished after a certain point, but the gameplay is doing a LOT of carrying this generally positive score. At the end of the day, I am a gameplay first type of gamer, and the gameplay is very good. I would recommend picking up it up during a sale, as it is not worth a 60 dollar price tag unless you are a DIE HARD Bravely Default fan, like me.

A shadow if it's former self. While the dual job system is cool, the general mechanics and gameplay didn't improve enough to keep the game interesting or satisfying. It looks nice but that's about the only good part of the game (also turn off Vsync, it was making my game drop frames constantly since I play on a 144hz screen). Play it at your peril on deep discount of just play the vastly superior games on 3ds (or heck play Octopath Traveller 1/2 who's systems are generally better but you also get lots of cool job combos!)

Played a lot on Switch, through story completion and NG+. Bought again for Steam. One of the best modern JRPGs that honors the genre's roots. Has an absolutely amazing sound track, one of the best out of any game I've played. If you love old-school Final Fantasy (1-6) or Dragon Quest, I think you will love this game.

Classic turn based rpg, for better or worse. Has good job customization and general gameplay, not too much there in terms of a story though. Recommended for those who grew up on grindy jrpgs.