Bravely Default is a sequel to 4 Heroes of Light in that Final Fantasy II is a sequel to Final Fantasy. The overall design and themes are very similar but the characters and world are different. Genre-wise, it walks a thin line between classic RPG and Dungeon Crawler - a formula that works extremely well.
The story is, essentially, 4 young people from different walks of life coming together through adverse circumstances to restore order to the four elemental crystals (hmmm, this sounds familiar) and save their planet. I realize that I just summarized the plot of several Final Fantasy titles, but - as always - they've made it unique and added enough character and story to make it its own. 99% of the dialogue is voice acted and it is done well. I will admit, I am not a voice acting aficionado, so people may disagree with me on this point.
Gameplay is very interesting. Square-Enix got a bit experimental with the mechanics which I find very exciting. While the SNES era of Squaresoft will always hold a special place in my heart, I loved how innovative they were during the Playstation days. I felt that they really pushed the envelope and attempted new things, something I don't feel they have done much of over the past few years... at least until now.
Bravely Default (yes, I think it's a stupid name too) gets its name from the battle system. Combat is turn based in the traditional sense, but you can select the Brave command up to 3 times to take up to four turns at once. The downside of this is that every time you select Brave, your taking away your next turn. This means you may have to wait through several enemy turns while your turn gauge catches back up. So, if you don't defeat your enemy, you may be forced to watch - helplessly - as your team gets slaughtered for up to four turns in a row. Fortunately, the Brave/Default command is per party member, so while you may max out your Brave on your Monk so he can hit four times in a row, you can let your White Mage take their turns one at a time so they can dole out the cures and eliminate status effects after each attack.
The Default option is essentially Defend, only it allows you to save your turns as well(up to 3). So, using the White Mage as an example again, I max out Brave on all my offensive party members. The boss is still standing and their turn gauges are all at -4 meaning they have to wait through four turns before they can act again. I opt to let my White Mage take their turns one at a time, taking each turn as it comes, healing my party. The boss makes his next attack and misses, there's no need to heal anyone. Instead of attacking with my White Mage for paltry damage, I'll select Default. My White Mage will Defend and my turn meter will increase by 1 (meaning I have an extra turn saved up). Let's say this happens twice more, now my White Mage has 3 turns (the maximum) saved up on top of their standard turn. Then the boss unleashes a massive attack that blinds my Monk, kills my black mage and deals heavy damage to everyone else. No worries, my White Mage has four turns saved up! I hit Brave three times to use up my saved turns on top of my current turn and cast Raise on my Black Mage, Blindna on the Monk and Cura twice. These actions all happen in succession and now my party is now fully restored. Because I had turns saved up from Defaulting, I'll be able to take my next turn as usual because Brave didn't put me into a deficit.
It probably sounds complicated, but it really isn't. It's a unique twist on turn based combat that adds an element of calculated risk to the equation. It's a great spin on turn based combat that allows you a little extra control over the flow of the battle. Keep in mind though, the enemies can also use Brave and Default, so you may get a boss that will attack four times in a row, but remember they'll have to wait four turns to act again as well. There are also job abilities that can add brave points to your teammates or subtract them from your enemy which adds an additional element of strategy, allowing you to act sooner or keeping the enemy from acting longer.
Another new mechanic is called Sleep Points. You have a gauge that fills whenever the game is put in sleep mode. For every eight hours you get one SP or Sleep Point, these points can be used to get an extra turn in the middle of battle regardless of your brave or default status where you act immediately. You can also buy sleep points with real world money if you feel that they're necessary. I'm never a fan of micro-transactions, but the game is perfectly playable to its fullest extent without buying additional Sleep Points, so this doesn't bother me.
There are 24 jobs (classes) in Bravely Default and you can switch your character's job on the fly, as long as you are not in battle. Jobs are obtained by defeating key bosses that represent the job. So, for instance, everyone starts out as a Freelancer. Shortly into the story you will fight a Monk and a White Mage. When you defeat them, you obtain an item called an "asterisk". This item unlocks that job for all your party members. You party members will level up with experience points as per usual, but your job will level up independently of your party member's level with job points collected from each battle. Each job level grants you additional abilities and attributes for that job. For instance each level of a Mage job will give you access to more powerful spells.
Attributes are passive abilities. These are gained by leveling up jobs. Once you unlock attributes, you can set them to the party member even if they change jobs. For instance, the Valkyrie attribute - Piercing - can be set to a Ninja to make them more effective against armored enemies. Each attribute has a numeric value and each party member has a maximum value their slotted attributes can equal. For instance, if your party member's attributes can't equal more than 5, you can't slot in 3 attributes that have a value of 2. Using the right Job and Attribute combination can make for a REALLY powerful party. It's a nice element of customization and strategy that rewards experimentation that's really rewarding.
Lastly, you can use one set of existing job abilities in addition to your job specific abilities. An example would be, if you mastered the Black Mage job on one of your party members and you want to have them start the White Mage job. You can select Black Magic as their extra ability set and still have access to the spells they learned. It's essentially a sub-job. This can also make for powerful combinations and support opportunities.
Traveling takes place just as a standard RPG, you enter towns and dungeons via the world map and either run on foot or use vehicles (depending on where you are in the story) to navigate around the globe. Random battles take place both inside and outside dungeons. The encounter rate didn't seem too extreme either way.
Part of the game centers around rebuilding a town. You collect townsfolk via Streetpass tags. Each time you get a tag, even if it's the same person, an additional townsperson will be added. Building shops, upgrading shops and clearing paths take real world time for your townspeople. When you want to complete these tasks you can select how many of your townspeople you would like to work on it. Increasing the townspeople assigned to a task greatly increases the speed in which it is completed. You can put everyone on one project and get it done quickly, or spread the townsfolk around more strategically and get several tasks done simultaneously. Rebuilding shops gives you access to purchase their goods when you're at a save point. Upgrading shops increases the quality of the goods offered. Clearing road blocks gives you access to previously inaccessible shops. As you upgrade shops, rebuild and repopulate your town you will receive care packages from your townsfolk including potions and items. Upgrading shops also grants you different abilities based on the weapons you're using. Once you have assigned your townsfolk work, you can return to the gameplay and they will let you know when they have finished.
Every once in awhile a Nemesis may arrive in your town, usually piggybacked on a Streetpass tag. These are powerful enemies you may choose to fight for exp. and items. Only 7 can be present at a time (check their level first so you don't find that you're in over your head) the oldest ones will age off as new ones arrive unless you choose to "protect" one, saving it for later. You can choose to send select Nemesis with your Streetpass tags to other players.
Speaking of Streetpass, you can also send your party's information via Streetpass to your registered friends. While in battle, they can call on your to jump in and execute an attack. You can also pass along special moves to your friends and each of their party members can slot a single special move received from you.
Graphically, this is the prettiest game I've seen on the 3DS. The hand-painted backgrounds are beautifully done. Details like waterfalls and moving objects are plentiful. I've wandered around the city in day and night just examining the details. The 3D was expertly handled and you can tell they put some real thought into it instead of just making the moving stuff come forward and sticking everything else in the back. The demo looked good, but the finished product looks amazing!
Sound is beautifully done. The 3D sound is executed well and the gorgeous music pairs perfectly with the breathtaking scenery. This game is aesthetically brilliant.
The Collector's Edition (as long as it wasn't smashed by Amazon) is well worth the fifty bucks. You get the game, obviously. It also comes with a very nice/large - softcover - artbook. The artbook has paintings and detailed sketches, character designs, etc. It's one of the best CE artbooks I've seen in a long time. The soundtrack is great, 10 tracks total. The AR cards come packaged like a deck of cards and allow you to see interactive cut scenes. The art on the cards is pretty cool as well. The packaging is just about twice the size of the SMT: IV packaging. If I had to do it over again, I would definitely still buy the CE, which is more than I can say for several other titles released over the past few years.
Overall, Bravely Default is one of the most refreshing RPG experiences I've played in years. The amount of customization and strategy included in this title make gameplay a blast! It is extremely robust! There is so much put into this game, it's a bit overwhelming at first. However, the learning curve and tutorials are done very well and you'll be on your way in no time. Graphically it is gorgeous. The story is well done and very much an active experience, things are constantly happening to advance the story and provide insight to the world around you. Traditional RPG and Dungeoncrawler elements are fused seamlessly and perfectly. It really reminds me of the kind of innovative game Squaresoft put out on the PSOne and I love every second of it! This is a must buy for any 3DS owner!
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