Alternatively: LTTP: Bravely Default - I can do it. I will do it 9 times.
So I reached an ending of Bravely Default. All things considered, what an amazing modern take to a classic Final Fantasy-like RPGs. The game has the most interesting turn-based battle system I've seen in any RPG, and it even takes advantage of pretty much all the hardware-gimmicks of 3DS.
It's a shame that the whole package is hindered by all-over-the-place writing and poor -to say the least- endgame design.
Story:
The game was released 4 years ago and has a sequel, plus the major issue of the game is fairly well-known, so spoilers should be fine by now? Anyway, spoilers in next paragraph.
So I reached an ending. I figured out what was going on with Crystal Orthodoxy and Airy during Chapter 5 (that's 2nd world) and skipped straight to the Finale. I know that there's supposed to be few more time loops and I definitely got the feeling that I figured out what to do too early, because some of the things my party suddenly knew and were told in Finale came out of nowhere (apparently Airy had killed the party several times in other dimensions?), and overall the story's closure wasn't as great as I thought it should be.
After credits rolling and game bringing me back to the moment before destroying the crystal, quick google search confirmed my suspicions that what I beat was "false ending" and that you are expected to do it at some point to reach true ending.
So now I'm back at Chapter 5. I'm someone who doesn't mind grinding a lot and likes long RPGs so I'm still fairly tolerant towards the story's structure, but I can definitely understand where the hate towards this game comes from. If I know enough by the end of Chapter 5 to skip to the ending and still understand what's going on, there's absulutely no need for 8 chapters.
(Oh, I just noticed how the subtitle changes in the title screen. Nice.)
/spoilers
Okay, what about the actual story?
The story is a little generic (4 warriors of light awakening 4 crystals being the literal plot of Final Fantasy I) and while it tries to start going into interesting places, endgame fails to deliver. Some side characters and most bosses boil down to their respective character traits, and while some of them make a good use of that (Ringabel, Black Mage, Merchant, Red Mage, Ninja, Diva, Proprietress) some are more on the cringy side (Monk, White Mage, Hunter, Summoner, Salve-Maker...). As is often the case, actual adults of the cast (Braev, Kamiizumi, Lord DeRosso, Sage Yulyana) understand best what is going on and are the most interesting characters.
Speaking of which, I'd argue that the lore is more interesting than the story. Hearing about confrontations and co-operation between DeRosso and Yulyana has pretty much been the high point of the game for me.
Gameplay:
What an awesome battle system! Brave and Default commands by themselves open up lots of ways to predict enemy AI's movements or to go on all-out offensive. Add to that your ability to mix jobs, job commands and abilities freely and suddenly it's only up to your imagination to come up with broken movesets that render you invincible while sweeping encounters in 1 turn (I'm rocking mastered Pirate Job with MP Free in a Pinch-ability with Tiz, with Knuckle Lore as extra kick. Agnes and Ringabel have Spiritmaster Job Command with Stillness unlocked).
Equipment Aptitude is little vague to me. It seems like usually you can just ignore your aptitude numbers if that gear's stats are better. It is a little odd that in specific circumstances your white mage may have better stats wielding bows or daggers than rods and staves, for example. Maybe the game could/should have added bigger punishments to using gear you have no aptitude towards? Either way, right now it feels like the system hasn't been implemented to it's full potential.
3DS Features:
Speaking of full potential, huge shout-out to the developers for taking advantage of pretty much every gimmick 3DS has to offer! 3D works well with the game's artstyle and looks especially nice in towns with their pre-rendered environments. AR cards are... well, they're pretty insignificant, but they're there. Streetpass and sleep mode give a interesting narrative reason for Norende's reconstruction (and even if you don't have friends you can get new villagers daily by updating your game data), which in turn allows you to buy endgame gear from travelling merchant. Not to mention sending and receiving moves to and from your friends can go as far as to trivialise otherwise surprisingly difficult game. And then there's Bravely Second, which is pretty cool gimmick for getting that one extra push in battles, if you ever need it. Apparently there's some other way besides sleep mode for getting those extra turns, but nobody has ever figured it out or even tried to do it any other way, so who knows...
And that's pretty much my experience. Story unfortunately hinges on people not talking enough to each other, but all-in-all Chapters 1-4 are good, and if you like long RPGs and grinding you can tolerate rest of it, but it is pretty undeniable and unfortunate that latter part of the game wastes your time. Personally though, I don't feel so burned out that I wouldn't buy and play Bravely Second sometime in the future.
So I reached an ending of Bravely Default. All things considered, what an amazing modern take to a classic Final Fantasy-like RPGs. The game has the most interesting turn-based battle system I've seen in any RPG, and it even takes advantage of pretty much all the hardware-gimmicks of 3DS.
It's a shame that the whole package is hindered by all-over-the-place writing and poor -to say the least- endgame design.
Story:
The game was released 4 years ago and has a sequel, plus the major issue of the game is fairly well-known, so spoilers should be fine by now? Anyway, spoilers in next paragraph.
So I reached an ending. I figured out what was going on with Crystal Orthodoxy and Airy during Chapter 5 (that's 2nd world) and skipped straight to the Finale. I know that there's supposed to be few more time loops and I definitely got the feeling that I figured out what to do too early, because some of the things my party suddenly knew and were told in Finale came out of nowhere (apparently Airy had killed the party several times in other dimensions?), and overall the story's closure wasn't as great as I thought it should be.
After credits rolling and game bringing me back to the moment before destroying the crystal, quick google search confirmed my suspicions that what I beat was "false ending" and that you are expected to do it at some point to reach true ending.
So now I'm back at Chapter 5. I'm someone who doesn't mind grinding a lot and likes long RPGs so I'm still fairly tolerant towards the story's structure, but I can definitely understand where the hate towards this game comes from. If I know enough by the end of Chapter 5 to skip to the ending and still understand what's going on, there's absulutely no need for 8 chapters.
(Oh, I just noticed how the subtitle changes in the title screen. Nice.)
/spoilers
Okay, what about the actual story?
Just talk, you bastards! You could have saved like 40 hours of gameplay by demanding explanations!
The story is a little generic (4 warriors of light awakening 4 crystals being the literal plot of Final Fantasy I) and while it tries to start going into interesting places, endgame fails to deliver. Some side characters and most bosses boil down to their respective character traits, and while some of them make a good use of that (Ringabel, Black Mage, Merchant, Red Mage, Ninja, Diva, Proprietress) some are more on the cringy side (Monk, White Mage, Hunter, Summoner, Salve-Maker...). As is often the case, actual adults of the cast (Braev, Kamiizumi, Lord DeRosso, Sage Yulyana) understand best what is going on and are the most interesting characters.
Speaking of which, I'd argue that the lore is more interesting than the story. Hearing about confrontations and co-operation between DeRosso and Yulyana has pretty much been the high point of the game for me.
Gameplay:
What an awesome battle system! Brave and Default commands by themselves open up lots of ways to predict enemy AI's movements or to go on all-out offensive. Add to that your ability to mix jobs, job commands and abilities freely and suddenly it's only up to your imagination to come up with broken movesets that render you invincible while sweeping encounters in 1 turn (I'm rocking mastered Pirate Job with MP Free in a Pinch-ability with Tiz, with Knuckle Lore as extra kick. Agnes and Ringabel have Spiritmaster Job Command with Stillness unlocked).
Equipment Aptitude is little vague to me. It seems like usually you can just ignore your aptitude numbers if that gear's stats are better. It is a little odd that in specific circumstances your white mage may have better stats wielding bows or daggers than rods and staves, for example. Maybe the game could/should have added bigger punishments to using gear you have no aptitude towards? Either way, right now it feels like the system hasn't been implemented to it's full potential.
3DS Features:
Speaking of full potential, huge shout-out to the developers for taking advantage of pretty much every gimmick 3DS has to offer! 3D works well with the game's artstyle and looks especially nice in towns with their pre-rendered environments. AR cards are... well, they're pretty insignificant, but they're there. Streetpass and sleep mode give a interesting narrative reason for Norende's reconstruction (and even if you don't have friends you can get new villagers daily by updating your game data), which in turn allows you to buy endgame gear from travelling merchant. Not to mention sending and receiving moves to and from your friends can go as far as to trivialise otherwise surprisingly difficult game. And then there's Bravely Second, which is pretty cool gimmick for getting that one extra push in battles, if you ever need it. Apparently there's some other way besides sleep mode for getting those extra turns, but nobody has ever figured it out or even tried to do it any other way, so who knows...
And that's pretty much my experience. Story unfortunately hinges on people not talking enough to each other, but all-in-all Chapters 1-4 are good, and if you like long RPGs and grinding you can tolerate rest of it, but it is pretty undeniable and unfortunate that latter part of the game wastes your time. Personally though, I don't feel so burned out that I wouldn't buy and play Bravely Second sometime in the future.