Bravely Default Review - Damn Fine RPG
- Thread starter Slycne
- Start date
Yeah, there were a surprising number of errors like that.John P. Hackworth said:
On the issue of the game, I tried the demo with great enthusiasm but so far I've had party wipes on every battle I've done. I have no freakin' clue what it is the game wants me to do to not be dying constantly. So as a result I have zero interest in playing this, I'm sad to report.
I find it interesting that this game has the SP microtransaction, as well...it feels like some higher up said 'this game needs microtransactions to make more money!' and the developers went 'k' and put it on something so completely stupid and pointless that it really wouldn't earn much of anything. If you want to throw money at things to win battles, just make someone the Merchant class.
I've played the game on and off for a week or two (released earlier in EU) and find it to be a fun JRPG. Nothing really new or revolutionizing, but a quality game. If you tried Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light and enjoyed it you'll probably find this to your liking. It's basically the same thing, but better. Try the demo before buying the game, it's a separate mini-story where you get rewards that carry over to the full game.
My go to strategy for a boss encounter, unless I wipe and need to change it up, consists of two physical damage dealers, a healer and a caster. In the demo you could probably go for Monk (or Knight if you want less DPS but more tanky), Red Mage (White Mage will be a better healer, but Red Mage can be equipped to do both healing, physical and magical damage), Black Mage (or a Red Mage here as well, depending on what you need) and Valkyrie. Default your characters up to 3BP (but your healer may want to toss out heals - Default only if you don't have anything better to do, only deal damage at 3BP if you don't need to heal), observe the enemy and try to find a pattern. If the enemy goes into negative BP, Brave four times and punish him by exploiting any weakness you have noticed. Repeat until you win.
I had a similar issue at first, before I learned the Default/Brave system. Basically, the game is horrible at explaining that you need (at least for bosses and late game enemies) to Default your characters in the beginning of fights. Learn how the enemy works, how they attack, if they drop their defenses after a combo, etc. Then unleash all hell via Brave combos and Specials (which are not included in the demo as far as I can recall). Also remember that changing jobs will lower your stats, as your stats are based both on character and job level.Jumwa said:
My go to strategy for a boss encounter, unless I wipe and need to change it up, consists of two physical damage dealers, a healer and a caster. In the demo you could probably go for Monk (or Knight if you want less DPS but more tanky), Red Mage (White Mage will be a better healer, but Red Mage can be equipped to do both healing, physical and magical damage), Black Mage (or a Red Mage here as well, depending on what you need) and Valkyrie. Default your characters up to 3BP (but your healer may want to toss out heals - Default only if you don't have anything better to do, only deal damage at 3BP if you don't need to heal), observe the enemy and try to find a pattern. If the enemy goes into negative BP, Brave four times and punish him by exploiting any weakness you have noticed. Repeat until you win.
The demo is horrible and not really a good representation of the final game; it starts you off in the second town with a level 1 party, so naturally you will be facing difficulties, especially if you get hit by the Aera spell.Jumwa said:
I myself have 100%'d the game back in December within 45 hours and found it highly enjoyable. I recommend it to anyone looking for a classic Final Fantasy experience with a job system very similar to that found in FFV.
*shudders*Slycne said:
Sorry, but reading that only reminded me of the awful Stock-Boost system of Xenosaga Episode 2.
That were exactly my thoughts when I played this game! After about 70 hours I got through it and absolutely loved it. Hopefully the sequel will be up to this high standard. Overall I can only agree with the review that there are small issues, but they never really bothered me.nuttshell said:
It's not that bad, just think of Defaulting as the Defend option in most other RPGs and the Brave action letting you take multiple actions in a single turn at a (possible) cost of losing actions later on.Atmos Duality said:
On the review, some spelling errors but sounds about right. I love this game so far, haven't beaten Chapter 1 yet but just about to
sail off on the Eternian airship for parts unknown
But that is literally Xenosaga II.otakon17 said:
Using Stock puts you into a defensive stance. There's even a skill that heals you a little just for using Stock.
Boost lets you interrupt the regular turn cycle.
Stock for three turns -> Aired/Grounded -> Boost, hit enemy's weakness or the A-zone.
Repeat for every fight in the game. EVERY. SINGLE. FIGHT. Because if you didn't, you would either get your arse kicked, or the fight would take bloody ages with Ether attacks or regular attacks.
Even at its most efficient, it was like taking a regular turn-based RPG, but requiring that you spend fours times as long in random encounters (and with the ridiculous encounter rate for most of the game, that was a problem).
Actually no, since the encounter rate is adjustable in Bravely Default(from double encounter rate to NO encounters at all). Also, you can get through without abusing the Brave system, in fact the game punishes you for using it too often as it eats your turns. It doesn't allow you to interrupt turns of the enemy, however there is ANOTHER system called Bravely Second that let's you do that. The only way to get points to use it is to let the game run and put your 3DS to sleep for up to 8 hours or BUY with real money SP Drinks. However, it's a completely optional system.Atmos Duality said:
Not only that, you can increase the battle speed so fights will be over very quickly if you're set up right. Also, Xenogears didn't have a job system that allows you to customize your characters for certain roles and allowing synergy in your party beyond "Load up the most damaging characters you have access to".
Look, if you're unsure give the demo a shot. For completing the demo 100% you get bonuses that you can carry over into the actual game. The only thing to note is that the demo takes place in the area of Chapter 1 and your characters start off at level 1(they should be around 10 by then at least) so the difficulty might be a bit much at first.
I really can't stand the in-game character models, and random encounters aren't my thing, even with the option to turn them off.... I dunno. Maybe I'll check it out after I get through Devil Survivor.
SE's transformation is complete; they are now Japanese EA.
Seriously, cramming in unnecessary micro transactions just to speed the game up and milk a few extra bucks from the players? Did SE model them after Dead Space 3?
I now find myself at a crossroads; I promised never to buy another full priced game with forced Micro Transactions after the debacle that was Dead Space 3, but I really want this for my 3DS.
Curse you, SE, for putting me in this position. CURSE YOU!!!
Seriously, cramming in unnecessary micro transactions just to speed the game up and milk a few extra bucks from the players? Did SE model them after Dead Space 3?
I now find myself at a crossroads; I promised never to buy another full priced game with forced Micro Transactions after the debacle that was Dead Space 3, but I really want this for my 3DS.
Curse you, SE, for putting me in this position. CURSE YOU!!!
I really can't stress enough how *COMPLETELY* pointless the microtransaction is. You *GET* SP from just leaving it in sleep mode, and you can't have more than 3 at a time...they're really just 'emergency' turns, like if someone *REALLY* needs healing. The only thing you could do with microtransactions would be to literally brute force your way through the game by spamming turn after turn after turn, but that would be so prohibitively expensive as to require insanity to try it.Brian Tams said:
That's not my point, though. It could be the most ridiculously useless ability ever conceived by man, and it would still trouble me if there was some form of micro-transaction attached to it. Its the principle of the whole thing. Why are publishers forcing devs to add micro-transactions to a game that I already have to purchase in order to play? Are they insecure that the game may not make enough money off sales alone? That seems awfully insecure for SE.Uratoh said:
I don't want publishers to think that micro-transactions in any form are okay in a game that you have to pay for anyways,and the only way I can effectively show that is not purchasing their game.
The Japanese player base asked for the ability to buy SP. How is having micro-transactions in a game you have to pay for already when you can get your money's worth out of a game without ever spending another dollar?Brian Tams said:
Like I said, its the principle of the matter; Micro-transactions of any form in a game with a retail price is not okay. I paid for the software, I shouldn't have to keep paying in order to use a specific part of it for any reason, no matter how worthless that content is. Publishers cannot be allowed to think that any form of micro-transactions in a retail game are okay; if they do, then we will begin to see more and more intrusive forms of micro-transactions, more and more gated off content, and more and more attempts by publishers to snake their hands into our wallets even though we already shelled out money for the game.crispskittlez said:
What about that is so hard for you people to understand?