Bravely Default

Voices of: Ami Koshimizu, Mitsuki Saiga, Erin Fitzgerald, Bryce Papenbrook, Cassandra Lee Morris, Spike Spencer, Stephanie Sheh, Dave Mallow, Mona Marshall, Paul St. Peter
Developer: Silicon Studio
Directed by: Kensuke Nakahara
Rating: T
Genre: Role-playing
System: Nintendo 3DS
2012

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Four young people join together to investigate strange phenomenon linked to the world's four elemental crystals and uncover a global threat.

Review:
Tim: I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Square Enix's Bravely Default. They are one of the greatest video game publishers and the experiences they've created through their role-playing games have greatly influenced my life. When I sat down to play this game, I immediately was hit with nostalgia and excitement. The game felt very familiar, if you've played any Final Fantasy games. However, the excitement came at a new game, new characters, and new battle mechanics. There's so much to unpack in this game, a further reminder that the small Nintendo 3DS carried some very big games.

The story itself is vast and intriguing. I loved learning about the world of Luxendarc, one of the four elemental crystals holding the world together, the Crystal Orthodoxy, the looming darkness. The characters are unique and while I might not have loved them to start, Tiz, Agnes, Edea, and Ringabel grew on me during the journey. Their personalities, their struggles, I eventually felt connected to them all. The story is surprising in many ways and it feels epic. These characters (and me, as their proxy) went through so much. I experienced so many emotions throughout this game. At many points, I did experience great frustration. There were weeks and weeks that passed without me even having a desire to pick this game up. When I finally did, though, I'd learned what I needed to learn, got past the obstacle in my way, and got sucked back into the game. For someone who's played a lot of RPGs, this game definitely will test you.

I do need to highlight the extreme talkative nature of this game. There's so much dialogue- an incredible amount. And, it happens to often be some of the worst dialogue I've seen in a game. I cringed and rolled my eyes numerous times throughout the game. Eventually, you kind of come to peace with it and accept it for what it is, but the prolonged, unnecessary exposition was a huge drag. There's a lot of worldbuilding here (which is great), but everyone utters unnecessarily long explanations for everything, forced, silly banter, and a whole lot of words that don't feel like they add up to much. It was brutal at times.

Speaking of frustrations, one other minor issue (and not the game's fault, necessarily)- I started playing this game after Nintendo shut down the online servers, so I wasn't able to rebuild Norende in any meaningful way. I wasn't about to put my 3DS on sleep for endless hours, so there was a chunk of additional content I could never access. It didn't change the gameplay at all, but I wish I could have gotten some of the weapons and accessories that remained inaccessible to me. It's just annoying.

On the other hand, the battle mechanics were impressive. At first, I struggled a bit with the whole Brave (use an extra turn) and Default (guard and build up an extra turn) options. I admit I rarely used them and I treated this game like any RPG. Dozens of hours into the game, it eventually forces you to learn how to utilize these options more effectively. I admit, when I finally mastered them, the game became significantly more fun. What seemed like a weird gimmick at first quickly became an additional level of strategy. I grew to love making those decisions and in the end, I became a huge fan of those strategic decisions. It definitely make the battles feel unique in this game.

The other thing I loved about this game was the extensive Job Classes. There's 24 unlockable Jobs, and I worked hard to get all of them. Once you get the asterisk, you can have your characters change and combine jobs and abilities in countless ways. It's all a bit complicated and detailed, but the game forces you to learn how to best combine strengths to defeat brutally tough bosses. I had a ton of fun mastering the different classes. I ended the game with each character in the following level and which jobs they'd mastered- Tiz- Lv. 93, Mastered Freelancer, Knight, Ranger, Valkyrie, Pirate, Ninja, Swordmaster. Agnes- Lv. 92 and Mastered White Mage, Spell Fencer, Red Mage, Salve-Maker, Performer, Arcanist, Spiritmaster. Ringabel- Lv. 92, Mastered Thief, Merchant, Ranger, Pirate, Swordmaster, Templar, Dark Knight. Edea- Lv. 99, Mastered White Mage, Time Mage, Red Mage, Spiritmaster, Vampire, Conjurer. There's some jobs no one mastered, but I covered most of them. That was a time-consuming but fun aspect of this game.

Those Jobs become so important because the bosses are extremely challenging here. The game is set up where there's really no way you can just become over-leveled and overpower different bosses. You really need to figure out the strategy for each. This, I admit, was incredibly annoying at times. You'd be breezing through the game, fight a boss and get absolutely obliterated. You almost have to lose the first encounter, so you can learn the boss's strengths and approach and adjust accordingly. I admit, I wasn't about to spend dozens of hours on each figuring it out. I read guides online and although I didn't always follow it, I used that knowledge to craft my own approach. It's painstaking and time-consuming regardless. There is real joy when you've figured out a strategy to defeat a tough boss, but it can be a true slog at times. Most of the "breaks" I took were when I was so disgusted with my strategy that I couldn't even bother to adjust it. I needed time away to cool down before adjusting my approach.

I know I'm jumping around here, but there's so much ground to cover. The story involved here is fascinating. In some ways, it feels like a typical RPG. And then, there's some shocking twists that occur throughout the film. That might not be the best way to describe it- the biggest twist is hinted at long before the big "reveal" and it's hinted at repeatedly, so eventually, you learn the secret. However, when you step back and consider it, it's a wonderful shift. The title screen even changes in a brilliant way. I loved that aspect of the story. On the other side, though, the story also becomes one of the most controversial, complained-about aspects of the game. You proceed through the game for a long time in a fairly linear fashion. And then, big shifts happen and the game changes. It suddenly becomes shockingly repetitive. Like, in a way I cannot fathom. I read online many articles because I was so in disbelief at what it expected me to do. Now, I didn't do everything. SPOILER, but not a major one- there's an option to re-fight nearly every boss in the game multiple times. I had zero desire to even try that. I did the required tasks, but I ignored all that unnecessary repetition. Still, even doing that, the back half of the game is stunningly repetitive. I worked through all that, so many hours of play, because I eventually wanted to reach the True Ending. I did get there and I completed the game. It took me 72:34:15. That is a crazy amount of time for a 3DS game, and you'd be stunned by things I didn't do. It would have taken well over 100+ hours to complete everything. The fatigue I felt in the back end of this game was real. I love completing things and this game gave you countless things to complete. In the Encyclopedia, I completed Humanoids, Beasts, Bugs, Plants, Undead, Demonkind, Inorganic, Bosses (32/32). There were still a bunch of monsters I never found, or I missed and it was too challenging and annoying to go back to fight them. I missed a number of them. From the items, I collected: Consumables- 97%, Weapons- 86%, Shields- 92%, Head Armor- 86%, Torso Armor- 84%, Accessories- 81%. That's crazy, right? I even got all the Blue Treasure Chests throughout the world! I spent 72 hours on this game and see how many things I missed? Many of them were locked behind the Norende rebuild, which I couldn't really do. But still, I did a TON and couldn't hit 100% on any of them. In battle, I achieved 1-Turn Hero- 353 times, Unscathed Hero- 142 times, and Sweeper Hero- 160 times. There was additional things I didn't do- the whole Compounding items thing I never did and capturing things with the Vampire, I didn't do. Still, I achieved most of the things in the game and what mattered to me.

The game does offer up a number of nearly game-breaking powers and abilities. I never did the "whole party are Ninjas" thing to make battles impossible to lose. That felt too much like breaking the game. My approach was definitely not the best way to do it, but I had Agnes as my healer- mostly a White Mage and Spiritmaster abilities. I made Tiz and Ringabel both Pirates and Swordmaster- their combined Free Lunch and Amped Strike absolutely destroyed people. Edea I changed too much as the game went on, but she was a heavy Red Mage and Vampire. Eventually, my team became so powered that I could defeat the final bosses. They weren't exactly easy, but I'd mastered enough of the battle mechanics at that point to feel confident. I never even tried to do the optional Adventurer end-boss. I read what that battle was like and just thought, "Nope."

I have so many thoughts about Bravely Default. It's brilliant, incredible. Frustrating and annoying. It offers a genius battle system with incredible depth. However, the dialogue is atrocious and the story is aggravatingly repetitive. I loved the characters and I was frequently annoyed by them. I wanted to quit the game numerous times, but I adored the experience in the end. Every video game that's worthwhile is going offer many different experiences and create unique emotions in the players. One of the reasons I love RPGs so much is because the best of them go significantly deeper than any other game. My head is still swirling with everything this game demanded of me. I had a terrible time playing it and I had the very best time. It's absolutely flawed, but it's probably the best RPG on the Nintendo 3DS. I'll never forget the experience of playing this game.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Bravely Second: End Layer, Bravely Default II