So, how was Bravely Default II?

[Deleted member 17627]

Square Enix's….memorable conference reminded me that this was in fact a game that released a few months ago.

I'm on Era almost every day to check the news, yet I haven't seen anyone mention this game since it came out.

How did it end up being?

Would love to hear how it compared to the original too, as I'm a huge fan of it.

 

[dunkzilla]

I got bored of it after about 3 hours. Aggressively fine.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

It's fine. It's a little less boring than the original Bravely but it still didn't hold my attention for very long.

 

[DragonSpear2462]

It's pretty much a "next-gen" Bravely Default in terms of looks. Aside from that, the gameplay is very similar and the story follows the classic "4 heroes of light hunting for the 4 Crystals".

It's okay, but don't expect anything drastically different from past two games.

 

[Zutrax]

I was kind of excited to play it, played it for like an hour and felt very lukewarm on it after realizing I might not have been in the mood for a rote JRPG experience.

Hoping someone here can convince me it's worth going back to.

 

[whiteninja]

Pretty forgettable in terms of story and characters. The battle system is still fun to exploit though.

 

[TheDanimal]

It's fun! If you're looking for just a fine jrpg with the fun bravely default system and an amazing ost, that's bravely default II.

 

[sredgrin]

Some fun boss battles, but probably among the most generic stories I've experienced in a while.

No more 4 warriors of light stories please guys.

 

[b3llydrum]

I fucking loved it, put over 130 hours into it grinding up a dozen combinations of teams to smash the endgame challenges and final boss

Spoiler

es.

Pretty much everything I want out of a job-based JRPG. But I guess I'm in the minority?

 

[Meriadock]

Amazing game. Very addictive.

 

[RiOrius]

I enjoyed it. There were things I liked about BD1 more than BD2, but it was definitely a worthy successor overall IMO. If you like turn-based combat and job systems it scratches those itches.

Pretty easy, although there are some challenges towards the end (plus of course some broken job combos that can trivialize them).

 

[FreshYoungDoggo]

Really enjoyed it, it's not breaking any new ground though.
The soundtrack is excellent and is worth listening to even if you don't play it.
Still one of my favorite turn based battle systems and after beating it I prefer how turn order is in this game compared Bravely Default and Bravely Second.

Some cute meta twists in the end of the game which aren't as long in the tooth as prior entries.

 

[Kazer]

It was alright. Put about 10 hours into it and dropped it though. Fun battle system, standard story.

 

[DoctorPlayer MD]

It's pretty good. The battle system and job customization is still great, as are the asterisk holders and the main characters are pretty likeable. It's very "safe", and kinda of what I expected. There's a typical Bravely style twist in the story, as in you need more than gathering the 4 crystals to save the world, but you don't have to repeat the same story beats 5 times so it's better paced than the first one.

Soundtrack is great but IMO not as much as the original.

 

[Deleted member 63122]

I loved it! Put more than 70 hours on it.

 

[Shadout]

Personally loved it. My favorite game of the year so far, which to be fair might not say that much, as it has been abysmal.

But lots of fun build combinations to toy around with, in a good combat system, which is very much the sole star of the game. Story etc. is quite forgettable.

 

[Drachen]

Good gameplay, horrible everything else. I couldn't stick with it because I hated the story and characters.

 

[Belthazar90]

It's a JRPG that would've got lost in the shuffle in the PS1/PS2 era due to it being just fine and there being far better options available. But as there are less options available in the genre nowadays, it might be worth a try.

That's how I see it at least

 

[Kneefoil]

I kind of wanna play it just to see what kind of meta twist they're going for this time, but I'm still considerably less interested in it than I was in the first two games. I don't know how much I should be judging it for just having played the first demo, though. I should play the final demo sometime when I'm not too busy playing something else.

 

[KtotheRoc]

The story was extremely generic. I hope you aren't playing it for that.

The gameplay was probably the best in the series.

 

[Apollo]

Great game that could have used some options to make it more challenging

 

[mindsale]

I enjoyed it enough. It was fair.

 

[John Harker]

Best of the 3. Really solid voice acting. It's pretty too.

i liked it more than Ocotpath.
It's not amazing, or overly special. It's just the best of this series so fAr

 

[b3llydrum]

I kind of wanna play it just to see what kind of meta twist they're going for this time, but I'm still considerably less interested in it than I was in the first two games. I don't know how much I should be judging it for just having played the first demo, though. I should play the final demo sometime when I'm not too busy playing something else.

Click to shrink...

The only meta twist is

Spoiler

the secret class Bravebearer which is sort of supposed to represent you, the player, "bearing" the game "Bravely Default 2" and breaking the game by exploiting all the mechanics. All of Bravebearers abilities scale based on time played, money earned, battles won, etc.

 

[Ouroboros]

I didn't like it and I loved the two on 3DS. I didn't like any of the characters, the story wasn't great, and the music was so so.

 

[Rae]

It got better at least with character writing after I played BD and BS on 3DS. I spent 57 hours total and I got most major quests done and I liked the new job outfits except for really cursed outfits like a gambler.

 

[GarudaSmiles]

It was okay. It felt like a step back from the DS games in a lot of ways. I liked the voice acting, and the writing itself was decent, but the story was boring.

 

[lightning16]

I loved it. I was so-so on the two 3DS games but I think most of the gameplay changes in this game were very good. I was a big fan of them ditching round-based actions and moving towards individual turns. Spent a lot of time completing as much of the game as I could.

 

[ARobotCalledV]

It's a decent game with the usuals great gameplay the team is known for, but it's easily the worst of the three. It just lacks any of the creativity BD or especially BS had.

 

[Soltis]

It's good if you need something to scratch that old school FF itch. IMO, the story and gameplay don't quite live up to the original and it's sequel, though.

 

[King Dodongo]

Loved it a ton. Card game was surprisingly engaging too.
Cast was better imo. The first BD was too tropey for my taste in general.

 

[baberunisei]

I feel this game is gonna be cancelled

 

[chicagocubsfan]

Really enjoyed it.
Plot was like a 7/10 but was propped up by the great voice acting. Enjoyed the wide range of jobs as well.

 

[Quinton]

I liked it a lot.

 

[aiswyda]

I beat the game, and would give it like. a solid 6.5-7/10. It's fine. Some of the characters are fun and have decent interactions. Some moments are interesting. Boss fights are interesting but some of the late game scaling is unpleasant. A lot of the actually dungeon aspects felt tedious, including normal encounters. The job system was by far the most interesting aspect of the game--which is why I play BD games, tbh, but I've always enjoyed the music and characters a lot more for previous titles.

 

[Rayasab]

It's quite hard

 

[Deleted member 17627]

Hmmm, story and characters being okay, but not anything to really praise is disappointing.

Might just hold out hope for a Black Friday sale.

 

[BriGuy]

I beat it (like beat the shit out of it beat it; nothing in the game could stand up to my final party load out) and I have difficulty recommending it. It's very grindy, very light on meaningful content, and even its best moments are just merely ok to good as far as JRPGs go. It filled a couple of slow weeks on my gaming calendar, but that's about it.

And holy shit does some of the music suck. Hope you like the sound of trumpets on helium.

 

[Faiyaz]

It is pretty good, if not outright great.

 

[Kitty Paws]

I loved it. Great job system, and while the plot could have used some more twists, I liked the story and the characters.

 

[GARU]

VERY simple and straightforward RPG. The first few hours are meh, the boss battles are pretty hectic and fun though.

At one point it picked up and the gameplay loop with the mix and matching of the jobs got pretty cool and addicting for me and the story got a bit more interesting. I ended putting 95 hours into it which I didn't expect.

Edit: If you are gonna play it, put the voices in Japanese. I usually dislike putting my games in Japanese but the delivery there is leagues better than the one in English, Elvis in particular was the worst offender of the English dub, completely different character.

 

[Kenichiwak]

Is thev story bad enough that it has impeded people's enjoyment? I liked the first one but never finished it. Mainly because I rarely finish most games

 

[Noriea]

Repetitive, dull, uninspired and grindy. Classes were fun, but too many.

 

[Faiyaz]

Is thev story bad enough that it has impeded people's enjoyment? I liked the first one but never finished it. Mainly because I rarely finish most games

Click to shrink...

The story wasn't super great, but not even close to being bad.

 

[DoctorPlayer MD]

The only meta twist is

Spoiler

the secret class Bravebearer which is sort of supposed to represent you, the player, "bearing" the game "Bravely Default 2" and breaking the game by exploiting all the mechanics. All of Bravebearers abilities scale based on time played, money earned, battles won, etc.

Click to shrink...

There's another one.

Spoiler

The Night's Nexus save file in Lady Emma's book.

 

[Zen Hero]

It's awesome, totally lived up to the other Bravely games for me.

Gameplay systems are a clear iteration on what they had before, really strong fundamentals with some subtle tweaks that make it feel a bit different. Familiar but also new to me.

I agree that the foreground plot is kind of dull, but the characters and background lore were really great in my opinion, and develop the Bravely universe in an interesting and meaningful way.

Music is just incredible across the board. There are so many battle themes it's kind of extra, but they are all amazing.

 

[Sgs2008]

Solid 8/10. Better than I thought it would be

 

[Aska]

It was defaultely brave.

 

[Zen Hero]

The only meta twist is

Spoiler

the secret class Bravebearer which is sort of supposed to represent you, the player, "bearing" the game "Bravely Default 2" and breaking the game by exploiting all the mechanics. All of Bravebearers abilities scale based on time played, money earned, battles won, etc.

Click to shrink...

Don't forget that

Spoiler

The party is able to "see the future" of Gloria's death, because the player wrote that memory into their book by saving the game after the ending. The main meta element in this game is how the player manipulates the book to help the party. In effect the player takes the role that the Adventurer used to have in the previous Bravely games.

 

[Balfour]

it was ok. just not as good as the first 2 games imo