Bravely Default (3DS) - Initial Impressions

      I was looking for a new JRPG to get into this past week and I remembered that not too long ago Bravely Default was released for the 3DS. This game made by Square Enix draws many of its' influences from the older Final Fantasy games and in many ways this is a good thing!

      Bravely Default is the story of four characters who happen to meet together in an effort to help Agnès (ahn-yes) go around the world and purify the four crystals from the all-consuming darkness. The characters all have their own unique stories, and it seems that surprises will be coming throughout the plot and game. 

      The job system is also back in a big way in this game through the use of asterisks. The cool thing about the game is you have to beat the class before you can actually use it. This also forces you to acknowledge the weakness of the class. The number of classes is quite extensive and has some unique classes beyond the standard set most Square Enix fans would be accustomed to (Black Mage, White Mage, Knight, Thief, etc.).

      The game also ramps difficulty quite well so far, which is nice because already I have felt times where I needed to take some time and grind some experience. I feel this really harkens back to a genuine JRPG experience. I am also trying my best to avoid guides as well as trying to min/max my characters to break the game. We’ll see how that works out as I progress further along in the game. 

      Bravely Default also pulls from other games outside of the Square Enix stable for inspiration. I noticed that they use “Party Chat” which are little vignettes among your party members. This reminds me of something similar from the Tales series which is another JRPG staple. 

      The battle system is very similar to most standard JRPGs except for one major change. The Brave/Default system from which the game drives it name from. During battle you can use brave and stack many attacks at one time, or use default in order to save up your turns. This can severely change the strategy and flow of a battle as both allies and enemies use this system. I have found times where this system can be devastating to my party and at times made battle very easy (especially against random encounters). This makes grinding relatively easy and not too much of a chore. 

      I am only roughly through 10 hours of the game, and only on chapter two. I know that many more surprises are coming in the game and I’m really looking forward to seeing what end game is like. I will have a full review once I have finished the game.