Given the renewed and irrepressible popularity that the JRPG enjoys today, it seems almost unlikely that starting from the second half of the 2000s the genre has experienced a lasting period of crisis , at the end of which the developers necessarily had to devise new solutions and reinvent a genre considered “antiquated” as the Japanese role-playing game. Paradoxically, while the Final Fantasy series embarked on an action drift that continues today, the whimsical Tomoya Asano instead limited himself to rejuvenating the formula used by his Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light and, together with the Silicon Studio guys, developed a of the most original and articulated combat systems that the history of this medium remembers.
Keeping in mind what Bravely Default: Where the Fairy Flies and its direct sequel meant for Nintendo 3DS owners and especially for fans of the genre (by the way, here is the review of Bravely Second: End Layer ), the announcement of the upcoming Bravely Default II , which occurred like a bolt from the blue at The Game Awards 2019, was therefore welcomed with irrepressible enthusiasm by Square Enix fans, who among other things saw the hope of seeing one day realized the many times mentioned Bravely Third.
While waiting for this to happen, the time has come to find out if Bravely Default II, which we remember will beavailable exclusively for Nintendo Switch starting February 26, 2021 , whether or not it has retained the caliber of its illustrious predecessors.
In search of the Crystals
If there is one thing that unites the titles produced by Tomoya Asano and scripted by Yura Kubota, who in more recent times have enchanted us with Octopath Traveler (for all the details read our review of Octopath Traveler ), it is the main theme of the journey : a long pilgrimage to the four corners of the planet and undertaken by a handful of perfect strangers, whose destinies have however been indissolubly intertwined by a superior will . A force that, in this case, is represented by the Elemental Crystals, that is the magical stones that watch over the whole world and that keep away a terrible calamity known as “Oblivion of the Night”.
Since ancient times, the four gems have been guarded by the royal family of the Kingdom of Musa, but the shocking and yet unexplained fall of the nation meant that the Crystals of Fire, Water and Earth were stolen, triggering a chain of natural disasters that have been going on for three years and that, according to an old prophecy, would actually anticipate the now inevitable end of the world. The only hope of stopping the cataclysm lies in the four Heroes of Light, who can wield the boundless powers granted to them by the Elemental Crystals to drive away the forces of evil whenever they try to subjugate the world.
The protagonists and the quality of the story
Scampata miracolosamente alla morte durante la misteriosa caduta del suo paese natale, sulle spalle della principessa Gloria Musa gravano molte più responsabilità di quante possa sopportarne una fanciulla della sua età. Non solo la caparbia e generosa principessa, che attualmente protegge il Cristallo del Vento, deve fare quanto necessario per tenere alto il buon nome del suo nobile casato, ripristinare l’antico splendore del Regno di Musa e far luce sugli eventi che ne provocarono la distruzione, ma il compito di recuperare i Cristalli e riportarli nel luogo in cui sono stati conservare per secoli ricadrà proprio su di lei, costringendola ad affrontare di petto una serie di situazioni pericolose che di volta in volta non mancheranno di mettere in mostra sia la sua grande temerarietà che le insicurezze tipiche dell’animo umano.
Having survived the catastrophic sinking of the boat on which he was employed, the willing Seth seems to marry Gloria’s cause out of pure gratitude , as the princess, after having found him unconscious on the beach and in the midst of the debris carried ashore by the waves, does not he will be able to do without taking care of it until the boy is fully recovered. The shipwreck of Seth – who among other things will not be able to recognize any cartography of the unprecedented continent of Excillant – and the subsequent meeting with Gloria, in reality, will not be the result of random coincidences, but the two will soon discover that they have been the same Elemental Crystals to summon the boy from a very distant place, so that he could become one of the new Heroes of the Light.
Born and raised in the suggestive Wiswald, a city that stands among the branches of a centennial tree and which houses the renowned Institute of Magical Research (a kind of university historically dedicated to the study of the arcane arts), Elvis Lazlow has abandoned his studies to decipher the contents of the book handed down to him by his teacher. A mysterious and initially illegible volume, but which in contact with the Asterisks – the gems that unlock new professions in the Bravely Default universe – allows its new master to decipher the contents of their pages. Curiously, the current owners of the Asterisks would be said to be somehow linked to the theft of the Crystals, which is why the scholar will not hesitate for a single moment to accompany Princess Gloria and put at her service the magical arts learned in years and years of research.
Energetic and characterized by a playful personality, Adelle Ein is the last member of the party, but the girl turned out to be the most interesting character of the cast. Equipped with unrivaled agility and physical strength, the mercenary travels alongside Elvis as her bodyguard , but her real purpose is to look for clues to the whereabouts of her sister who a few years earlier suddenly left the village where two had grown up. Having no lead to follow, Adelle therefore decided to carry out a job that allows her to constantly move from one place to another and expand her search network as much as possible, increasing the chances of discovering sooner or later what happened to it. of the consanguineous disappeared into thin air.
Flying over the stereotypes and historical topoi of the JRPG genre, which actually abound in Bravely Default II, the history of the product has nevertheless managed to entertain us properly, also thanks to a couple of particularly effective twists. However, it should be noted that the classic and even a bit slow-moving storyline could put off anyone not particularly fond of 90s-style RPGs .
To sublimate an already (almost) perfect system
As told in the special focusing on the winning features of Bravely Default II , the most successful element of the whole package is once again the tried and tested combat system , which the boys of the newborn Claytechworks studio have reused almost in its entirety. First the team removed the loved / hated random fightspresent in the first two episodes of the Square Enix series, so now the battles take place when the player comes into contact with the wandering monsters on the screen: in the event that the user attacks the creatures encountered during his wanderings from behind, the system will rewards resourcefulness with a small head start, but it is also possible that monsters have the initiative to start at an advantage.
The most substantial difference between the Bravely Default II combat system and the original, however, is represented by the management of turns . Anyone who has experimented with the two Silicon Studio masterpieces will remember that at the time the player, at the beginning of his turn, was called to give orders to all four Heroes of the Light, who followed them one after the other. As happens in most turn-based JRPGs, in the title packaged by Claytechworks it is instead the speed of the fighters and monsters that determines the order of attack, which is why this time the orders must be given individually, when the time comes to switch to the action.
To the inexperienced eye it might seem like a superfluous trick, but in realitythis change of course minimizes the risk of wasting precious turns , as the player is no longer forced to establish his own attack strategy in advance, but on the contrary is free to act according to the moves made by the enemy. For example, if in Nintendo 3DS titles it often happened that the bosses resorted to Default at the beginning of the turn, completely nullifying the orders given to the four playable characters, the individual turns allow you to establish the attack plan in real time and adapt it to the situation. .
The mechanics of the Brave and the Default remained unchanged , whose alternation still constitutes the cornerstone of the combat system and gives it an incomparable strategic component, but also rather difficult to master. Let’s go step by step, explaining also to the novices what one and the other consist of. Selecting the Default item during a fighter’s turn causes this to assume a defensive position and to report minor damage in the event of an attack, but above all it allows you to accumulate a precious Brave Point (which from this moment we will shorten to PB).
The Brave item, on the other hand, allows you to spend all the accumulated PB, or in any case to renounce in advance a maximum of three future turns,
patience the flow of attacks. This is in fact a double-edged sword, since if it is true that abusing the Brave at the beginning of a fight, to give the team sixteen different orders, can annihilate all the weakest creatures, the slightest miscalculation and above all the impatience can instead force the party to remain helpless for several shifts, in order to repay the debt of “action points” contracted with the system. A chilling situation which, given the high difficulty of the title , does not struggle to lead to a premature defeat. Memorizing the number of attacks required to eliminate a given creature and understanding when to resort to a more daring approach therefore take on considerable importance,.
True to the tradition of the genre, the playable characters also have special attacks, which are accessed by meeting certain requirements during the course of the battle. The Thief, for example, can resort to his most devastating blow only after having used the techniques that fall within the Stealing set for at least seven times, while for the Hunter it is enough to use four skills from the Hunting category.
Spectacular and deadly, but usable only after receiving the blessing of the Crystals, the special shots can balance the fate of a fight, as they are not limited to inflicting massive damage to all enemies, but the effect varies according to the class and moreover, once used, the entire party enjoys a temporary power-up that lasts for several turns. A phenomenal ace in the hole , this one, which during our test pulled us out of situations of extreme disadvantage.
The art of mixing classes
Speaking of classes, Bravely Default II includes several dozen of them, some of which must be unlocked by recovering the hidden Asterisks in the post-game. As in the previous titles, the characters are free to specialize in all the jobs of the system, while in the middle of the battles they can show off a maximum of two, one main and one secondary, so as to have at any time two sets of techniques or spells – a depending on the class selected – and fill each other’s shortcomings.
Moving on, each job levels up regardless of the character that selects it and at level-up gains a new skill, which can be active or passive, but unfortunately we have noticed that once again only the main class of each fighter receives experience points, precluding any development to the secondary one. An annoying limitation that the series carries with it since the progenitor , and that forces the player to develop each class individually by dedicating many hours to tight and compulsive grinding .
A company that nevertheless rewards not a little the efforts made, as the selection of the best combinations favors the creation of real hybrid classes, as well as able to prove their worth in any
circumstance. Also because each character has five slots to assign the best passive skills, regardless of the class they belong to. This means, for example, that White Wizards and Black Wizards can take advantage of each other’s special skills, which respectively favor MP recovery during the day and in the middle of the night. A physical class such as Fury, on the other hand, can take a great advantage by equipping the “Defensive Offense” ability of the Armored Infantryman, which in fact reduces the damage suffered by 70% in the turn in which at least one attack was scored with the equipped weapon. The presence of many different professions indeed offers hundreds of interesting solutions, thus favoring the personalization of their units and the composition of a fierce, competitive and above all unique party.
A sometimes exasperating difficulty
If there is one aspect of Bravely Default II that just failed to convince us, it is undoubtedly the overall balance of difficulty, which unfortunately seemed beyond all logic . In reality, the two product demos had already shown an above average level of challenge or in any case in line with the standard of the Square Enix series, but we were convinced that the introduction of three different modes would allow any category of player to adapt experience to your preferences and needs.
Conversely, the Easy and Hard modes do not in any way alter the stats of the enemies encountered during the journey, but only delay or anticipate the advent of their turn. On paper it may seem a considerable advantage, but in practice we realized that the difference is really minimal, as the order of attack plays little and nothing in favor of an unprepared party or, vice versa, of groups of level monsters. inferior.
Considering that in the old Bravelys, which however were already quite challenging, the transition from one difficulty to another greatly influenced both the HP and other parameters of the creatures, Claytechworks’ decision to raise the challenge level still further could represent apowerful deterrent for users not inclined to spend whole days grinding .
Bravely Default II, after all, is a title in which few levels tend to make a difference, as long as the player has the necessary patience to develop effective strategies and undergo rigorous training sessions. As fans will remember, in the past side missions speeded up the development of playable characters, as they donated not only money and rare items, but also valuable experience points. In Bravely Default II, however,
Hoist the sails, let’s set sail!Since the hybrid car of the Kyoto House does not have functions similar to the StreetPass of the Nintendo 3DS, Bravely Default II has not been equipped with social elements like those present in the first two Bravelys. On the other hand, once in possession of a boat, the player can access explorations, which is a mechanic that allows you to get rewards when the console is in rest mode. Remembering to set sail before going to bed or otherwise leaving the car for long periods of time, on your return Seth’s cargo hold will be filled with delicious tonic pan that increase the HP and stats of the warriors, globes that increase the experience. and even the rare globes of the class.
the many sidequests available in the various cities – mere fetch quests rather boring – offer only monetary rewards and some items, so much so that during the campaign we never found ourselves short of funds. Returning to the grinding, the only real allies of the player are therefore represented by the battle speed modifier, which at any time of one against allows in fact to slow down or speed up the exchange of blows, and the possibility of engaging in consecutive battles, since in the event of victory the team receives bonuses proportional to the number of fights sustained. Two tricks that we have abused a lot in recent days, in order to reduce as much as possible the time dedicated to farming and in the meantime earn a lot of Class Points.
The magic continues
Artistically speaking, Bravely Default II is a small digital work of art , which manages to express its best both in dock mode and on the small screen of Nintendo Switch. Evocative and enchanting, the hand-painted landscapes overflow with colors and patterns that warm the heart, inviting the player to gaze at every single detail of the fairy-tale cities visited by Gloria and her companions. The only drawback is represented by the “plasticky” polygonal models , which initially struck us thanks to the refined and imaginative style that distinguishes the costumes, but which unfortunately are excessively inexpressive .
In their simplicity, the models of the old Bravelys were paradoxically more lively and expressive than the new ones , which even in the most dramatic sequences of the story struggle to convey any emotion and, consequently, to emotionally involve the user. Nothing to complain, however, on the monumental soundtrack composed by the master Revo, who after missing the appointment with Bravely Second: End Layer has returned to enchant us with melodies of an Arabian and nostalgic style, as well as careful to accompany the themes with delicacy or decision. assumed by the story.
During our rehearsal we enjoyed both the English and the original Japanese dubbing, but as expected it is the second to have convinced us the most, since it presents vocal combinations more suited to the age and characterization of the various actors. Finally, the track subtitled in Italian is excellent , which despite some licenses and the annoying local tendency to alter the original names, denotes a rather painstaking translation work.
