Bravely Second: End Layer (2015)

As I eagerly await Bravely Default II coming out soon, I thought I'd reminisce and gush about everything that made Bravely Second so perfect.

At it's core, the Bravely Default series brings back customizable job systems, that when combined with the Brave & Default combat options, add to depth to party management and battles rarely seen elsewhere. These features alone made this series amazing worth checking out for JRPG fans who favor engaging turn-based strategy.

On top of this, the series includes some genius quality of life features for the player to tailor their experience. Different game difficulty settings, adjustable encounter rates, the ability to choose if battles only give money, exp, or Job Points, sequential battles for bonus rewards, battle speed settings, autobattle, battle command presets, etc.

There's a lot of great features in place to let the player tailor their experience or tweak it based on what they want to focus on at any given time. It's game that feels made for jrpg veterans and new players alike.

While not for everyone, I also really enjoyed how goofy and generally light hearted the story and journey was this game. It was a fine contrast to the more dramatic previous game. The characters this time around do still suffer from being very one-dimensional, expect some lazy gags repeating the one or two defining aspects about a party member over and over. This lack of character development however is the only real downside I can attribute to this otherwise fantastic JRPG staple.

It seems like the second instalment didn't really meet some people's expectations, especially after the success of the Bravely Default. But I beg to differ. I loved the second installment just as much as the first. Bravely second brings the same battle mechanics as it's predecessor, so if you enjoyed the battle system before be reassured nothing has changed. The cast of characters is a mix of old and new, and as much as I found myself missing and wondering where some of the original band from BD are up to, I still really liked the new characters they introduced for Bravely Second.

The world gives less of a "wow" factor this time around, because most of the places are pretty much the same as Bravely Default, which I was a bit disappointed with but I get their decision. The story here is less memorable than the original, but it was still enjoyable. The conversations between your party members are still fun to watch and gives an insight into each characters personality. I enjoyed the music in Bravely Default, even though it isn't anything memorable. Unfortunately, Bravely Second's music is even more unmemorable or maybe it's just not my style.

The reconstructing your town system is back again, but this time you are reconstructing Magnolia's hometown on the moon. This game took me roughly 95 hours to complete, which is close to the first game. If you enjoyed BD, I would definitely recommend giving Bravely Second a try! Though it's a far stretch, I wish they will consider making a third installment.

8/10

The Bravely series so far has been a mix of genius and bullshit, and Bravely Second is no different, though I would say this game suffers a little bit more than the first. For the record, I think I gave BD an 8.5 because once the plot twist was revealed (cool twist), it became a repetitive and annoying slog, even if it made sense from a narrative perspective.

I don't feel like writing out a review so I'm just going to bullet point some thoughts:

- Gameplay mechanics are still awesome. I love the twist on the JRPG turn-based battle system, along with things like being able to turn random encounters off. You can also stack battles to get more exp and job points. Simply put, BD and BS are wonderful at cutting out some of the lame JRPG shit -- and I say this as a JRPG kid. Still has grinding but that's okay since that's the genre.

- Job system is still awesome, and this has neat jobs as a whole.

- Graphics are fine for a 3DS game, for the most part. Not really into this game for the graphics.

- In BD you had to repeat areas and in BS you... play in the same world. Sure, things have changed and characters have, but I can't shake the bland feeling of simply going to places that I've already been in. I guess that's a problem with having a sequel, but it's not like the world in the first one was so compelling that we have to journey through it again.

- I enjoy that acquiring jobs is more tied into the story, because everybody seems to have their own motivations. But at the same time, you lose out on classes due to the fact that you have to make those choices. I mean, I'm not pissed but you do end up making a choice based on what class you want, rather than who you agree with... if you're anything like me.

- There may actually be way too much dialogue, and that's strange for the genre. Sometimes they just don't shut up and they really drill everything home.

- It didn't pull me in from the opening moments like the first one did. Some people don't like the gyroscope feature on the 3DS but I felt like the beginning of Bravely Default was expertly done and kind of strange.

If I had to sum up the game, I'd say that it's still one of the better JRPGs from a strictly gameplay perspective, but the material around it suffers. It doesn't feel as fresh--due to being a sequel--so when they just rehash the same things, it does suffer a bit. I still highly recommend it.

Ba'al busters.