So a few years back my friend went on a rant on how much he hated Bravely Default, a game I had never heard of. His description of an utter bullshit finale intrigued me on what could get someone to that point and so I tried the first game (his copy, which I now own 
).
It's world and gameplay hooked me in so many ways. When a sequel was annnounced, I knew I wanted it instantly. Of course i'm super stingy so I only got the game a little while ago because of a sale.
I beat Fire Emblem Birthright pretty dissapointed in a lot of ways and then came to this game. And Luxendarc once again enveloped me. The gameplay and characters are still so stupendous.
https://youtu.be/-RuNHMPvaWQ
Bravely Second continues like the last game with its turn based combat system that lets you gamble turns and act multiple times at once at the price of being helpless for a while. Unless you defend yourself and let your amassed turns (BP) build up. It's a fun system that lets you do some crazy shit the more and more you master the system and dare to risk it all on a single action to try and save yourself and, even though it's "just" turn based action it gets pretty damn tense sometimes.
It also, once again has a plethora of Jobs to chooses from. The amount of options you get, and all of the available playstyles that come from the multitude of jobs and the BP system is amazing and makes you feel great. Of all the new jobs, I loved prety much all of them, except the catmancer and Patissier, which I didn't try. Oh, and magic is actually good in this game from beginning to end because of the Bishop and Wizard giving you so many options.
And the story and characters and the world. . .they are so good. Every character is extremely enjoyable down to their very last line. It's so hard to not fall in love with these characters. And once again, Square nails the party dynamic this game. Yew and Magnolia are adorable together but are mpre than just lovebirds, Edea is as fun as ever (easily one of my favorite characters in gaming), and Tiz is IMO, much better in this game than Default. So many enjoyable moments from beginning to end. Plus there is a bunch of fanservice to the first game. And the story is never afraid to throw a curveball or 4 along your way. I want get into it because of spoilers but I will say I though I had reached the end at least 3 times before something crazy happened.
And of course, that one part that needs to get mentioned EVERY time a Bravely game gets mentioned, how much the game is steamlined for players. Default was good with this. It let you lower the encounter rate of random battles or raise it if you wanted to grind. Or you could turn off battles entirely. Plus you could fast forward to make simple battles finish faster instead of waiting through 10 years of attack animations. You could also get streaks to make grinding faster. But Second cranks it up a bit, by completely trivializing grinding. It will still take a few minutes, but you can power level so easily and so quickly in this game, that you could probably just skip through every dungeon i you wanted.
Honestly, the only negatives I can throw towards this game are that its sidequest system is a little wonky, and that the music isn't as good as Default's IMO (Second's special move themes are so lifeless compared to Default's which were so unique)
The ending
There are just so many good things about this game. I just wish I had the skill to articulate why this game is so amazing and now in my top 3 of all time better.
TLR guy beats game he loves pretty much everything about and doesn't want to say goodbye to its world so he made a thread where he gushed about it being amazing (simple and quick yet complex gameplay, fun characters and story, customization and streamlined gameplay) to give himself a little bit longer.
Alt TLR Chomp Chomp!
). It's world and gameplay hooked me in so many ways. When a sequel was annnounced, I knew I wanted it instantly. Of course i'm super stingy so I only got the game a little while ago because of a sale.
I beat Fire Emblem Birthright pretty dissapointed in a lot of ways and then came to this game. And Luxendarc once again enveloped me. The gameplay and characters are still so stupendous.
https://youtu.be/-RuNHMPvaWQ
Bravely Second continues like the last game with its turn based combat system that lets you gamble turns and act multiple times at once at the price of being helpless for a while. Unless you defend yourself and let your amassed turns (BP) build up. It's a fun system that lets you do some crazy shit the more and more you master the system and dare to risk it all on a single action to try and save yourself and, even though it's "just" turn based action it gets pretty damn tense sometimes.
It also, once again has a plethora of Jobs to chooses from. The amount of options you get, and all of the available playstyles that come from the multitude of jobs and the BP system is amazing and makes you feel great. Of all the new jobs, I loved prety much all of them, except the catmancer and Patissier, which I didn't try. Oh, and magic is actually good in this game from beginning to end because of the Bishop and Wizard giving you so many options.
And the story and characters and the world. . .they are so good. Every character is extremely enjoyable down to their very last line. It's so hard to not fall in love with these characters. And once again, Square nails the party dynamic this game. Yew and Magnolia are adorable together but are mpre than just lovebirds, Edea is as fun as ever (easily one of my favorite characters in gaming), and Tiz is IMO, much better in this game than Default. So many enjoyable moments from beginning to end. Plus there is a bunch of fanservice to the first game. And the story is never afraid to throw a curveball or 4 along your way. I want get into it because of spoilers but I will say I though I had reached the end at least 3 times before something crazy happened.
And of course, that one part that needs to get mentioned EVERY time a Bravely game gets mentioned, how much the game is steamlined for players. Default was good with this. It let you lower the encounter rate of random battles or raise it if you wanted to grind. Or you could turn off battles entirely. Plus you could fast forward to make simple battles finish faster instead of waiting through 10 years of attack animations. You could also get streaks to make grinding faster. But Second cranks it up a bit, by completely trivializing grinding. It will still take a few minutes, but you can power level so easily and so quickly in this game, that you could probably just skip through every dungeon i you wanted.
Honestly, the only negatives I can throw towards this game are that its sidequest system is a little wonky, and that the music isn't as good as Default's IMO (Second's special move themes are so lifeless compared to Default's which were so unique)
The ending
Fuck the 4th wall amiright? I loved the insanity of the moment and seeing every character we've saved rooting us on for a climactic ending. Also a sequel hook is always appreciated if it means I get to return to a world I do not wish to leave.
There are just so many good things about this game. I just wish I had the skill to articulate why this game is so amazing and now in my top 3 of all time better.
TL
R guy beats game he loves pretty much everything about and doesn't want to say goodbye to its world so he made a thread where he gushed about it being amazing (simple and quick yet complex gameplay, fun characters and story, customization and streamlined gameplay) to give himself a little bit longer. Alt TL
R Chomp Chomp!