-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Bravely Default |OT| A better Final Fantasy than Final Fantasy
- Thread starter Samurai_Heart
- Start date
So yeah, finished! It was great fun but as most have said, the last few chapters really pull it down. As an idea it was pretty cool, but it was stretched to unneeded lengths.
Story was alright, nothing groundbreaking but interesting enough. Saw the twist a mile away though, I admit I was expecting something bigger and was a bit disappointed cause S;G is one of the best anime I've ever seen (and will probably be one of the best VNs I've read if I ever come around reading it). Some things felt like they were completely forgotten - like
Ringabel and Edea were fantastic, Tiz and Agnes boring. The music was awesome, the sights and art incredible.
In the end, gameplay was obviously the best part of the game. As far as turn-based JRPGs go, this was gameplay-wise the best I've played in a loong time. It was just super slick and the amount of customizability was awesome.
So yeah, solid 8 I'd say. Will get the sequel day one if it ever comes out in Europe, but won't probably be as excited about it as I was about this one.
Story was alright, nothing groundbreaking but interesting enough. Saw the twist a mile away though, I admit I was expecting something bigger and was a bit disappointed cause S;G is one of the best anime I've ever seen (and will probably be one of the best VNs I've read if I ever come around reading it). Some things felt like they were completely forgotten - like
some NPC saying Tiz has a second soul inside him. It got me intrigued. Then nothing came out of it. Like I said before though, I really liked the Airy's wings thing, and the "airy lies" in the title screen after finishing.
Ringabel and Edea were fantastic, Tiz and Agnes boring. The music was awesome, the sights and art incredible.
In the end, gameplay was obviously the best part of the game. As far as turn-based JRPGs go, this was gameplay-wise the best I've played in a loong time. It was just super slick and the amount of customizability was awesome.
So yeah, solid 8 I'd say. Will get the sequel day one if it ever comes out in Europe, but won't probably be as excited about it as I was about this one.
Deadpandas
Member
What was it you didn't like about the early chapters? The main reason I enjoyed them was the battle system, getting new jobs, new abilities and trying them out. As soon as the progression of the game stopped around chapter 5, that's when it stopped being fun.
The story was utter crap throughout, but I'm not really much of a story person in general
By default all the sound options ingame are set to 8 out of 10. You can also set the 3DS sound settings from Surround to Stereo, which increases the volume too.
But in general the volume of the 3DS XL is pretty low and there is not much you can do about it.
Steve McQueen
Member
Thanks for the tip regarding stereo! Gonna try that asap. Really love the music..would be great if I could play this om my 5.1 set
Your avatar...you must be into RPG's...can you recommend some good RPG's on 3DS and Vita?
slaughterking
Member
I was super turned off by the story. Ni no Kuni and Tales of Xillia already left a bad taste in my mouth as far as this years JRPG stories go, but Bravely Default somehow managed to be even worse than both. I sort of appreciated the innocent nature of it, but that only lasted for maybe five hours. After that I really started to dread every cutscene I had to sit through. It was just so incredibly shiftless.
And while I agree that the battle system is very solid, it stopped being rewarding once I realized I don't have much use for most jobs. I collected and trained them for the sake of it, but there was little payoff during the battles. Especially when I fast forward through 95% of them anyway.
The game was also just too linear. It looks gorgeous, but it pretty much was entirely made of of very non-interactive backdrops. The cities only have the same four shops every time + one story-related room and the dungeons, while short and sweet, are ultimately boring and empty. The world map could have very well just been a menu, too. There was a complete lack of exploration.
For me the game really only excelled with its great look and music. Playing it and following its narrative was not very rewarding to say the least.
I´m actually kinda glad the game will just keep on. I binged on it for the last couple of days pretty hard and starting to feel a bit burned out, but now is a good time to take a break for a while and then continue with it here and there.
I always wanted an RPG that I can play for weeks and months in short bursts, I just love the art style and the battle mechanics, I skipped through most of the story bits because I´m not interested in RPG stories in general, so I don´t mind cheap story filler at all as long as it means I get to fight more bosses. I must kinda suck for people who like their games like a well-rounded piece of art like a good book or movie, but that´s something I cared for less and less over the years.
I also barely touched many of my jobs, didn´t do a lot with Norende or look into that whole special attack business, so there´s still a ton of stuff for me to do, so I`m glad I get to face more bosses.
This being said, the only RPG style I really liked were the Etrian Odyssey games because they were just purely about the game mechanics with some fancy art on top.
On the other hand, I´ve learned to NEVER keep playing as soon as I start feeling even the slightest bit of tedium, and rather take a break and do something else. There´s no way I force myself to keep playing as if I have to make some imaginary deadline, but then again, I never had a backlog of any sort and thus never in a rush to finish a game. I never finished a single Etrian game except the IV and still really enjoyed them a lot. As soon as I feel like I´m done with a game, I just drop it like that, finished or not, with absolutely no regrets.
...
There´s one gripe I have, though: The music, while generally being quite good, just gets repeated WAY too often, especially the dungeon and cave tunes. I was also pretty disappointed that there is only one normal battle music so far (Etrian Odyssey games usually have two or three during the course of the game, getting increasingly more awesome). After a couple of hours I just turned the music off, thankfully the sound effects are really satisfying. The dungeons themselves felt also very bland, reminded me a lot of the randomly generated ones in Persona 3 (which I absolutely hated), very uninspired and especially sticking out compared to the gorgeous and imaginative town designs.
Another thing that kinda bothered me was that so many places have such incredibly good looking environments, but most of the boss battles take place in a generic blue void arena. The random battles always reflect the part of the world you´re in, I don´t why the boss battle arena has to be so bland. (The crystal boss battles, in contrast, look very good with the environment around them.)
By the way, it seems that the game is selling rather well in Germany - on Amazon.de the game just shot up in price to 69€ this morning, while it is now back to 57€ (mainly because another seller has some more copies now). For comparison, the game costed the usualy 44€ when it was released.
I always wanted an RPG that I can play for weeks and months in short bursts, I just love the art style and the battle mechanics, I skipped through most of the story bits because I´m not interested in RPG stories in general, so I don´t mind cheap story filler at all as long as it means I get to fight more bosses. I must kinda suck for people who like their games like a well-rounded piece of art like a good book or movie, but that´s something I cared for less and less over the years.
I also barely touched many of my jobs, didn´t do a lot with Norende or look into that whole special attack business, so there´s still a ton of stuff for me to do, so I`m glad I get to face more bosses.
This being said, the only RPG style I really liked were the Etrian Odyssey games because they were just purely about the game mechanics with some fancy art on top.
On the other hand, I´ve learned to NEVER keep playing as soon as I start feeling even the slightest bit of tedium, and rather take a break and do something else. There´s no way I force myself to keep playing as if I have to make some imaginary deadline, but then again, I never had a backlog of any sort and thus never in a rush to finish a game. I never finished a single Etrian game except the IV and still really enjoyed them a lot. As soon as I feel like I´m done with a game, I just drop it like that, finished or not, with absolutely no regrets.
...
There´s one gripe I have, though: The music, while generally being quite good, just gets repeated WAY too often, especially the dungeon and cave tunes. I was also pretty disappointed that there is only one normal battle music so far (Etrian Odyssey games usually have two or three during the course of the game, getting increasingly more awesome). After a couple of hours I just turned the music off, thankfully the sound effects are really satisfying. The dungeons themselves felt also very bland, reminded me a lot of the randomly generated ones in Persona 3 (which I absolutely hated), very uninspired and especially sticking out compared to the gorgeous and imaginative town designs.
Another thing that kinda bothered me was that so many places have such incredibly good looking environments, but most of the boss battles take place in a generic blue void arena. The random battles always reflect the part of the world you´re in, I don´t why the boss battle arena has to be so bland. (The crystal boss battles, in contrast, look very good with the environment around them.)
By the way, it seems that the game is selling rather well in Germany - on Amazon.de the game just shot up in price to 69€ this morning, while it is now back to 57€ (mainly because another seller has some more copies now). For comparison, the game costed the usualy 44€ when it was released.
Gormless Noodle
Member
I got it and I would say no if you want to use it for yourself. The soundtrack is a mini OST actually and only contains select numbers. The figurine doesn't look like the art, but is a bit of unfortunate adaptation of the CG scenes it seems, so that doesn't look too good imo. Then there's the artbook and AC cards and I don't find those worth the asking price either.
On the other hand, I do think it will have collectors value in the future so if you keep everything in tact it may just be worth something in a few years, but that's a big if as per usual.
The game itself at least is terrific though imo.
Thanks for the tip regarding stereo! Gonna try that asap. Really love the music..would be great if I could play this om my 5.1 set
Your avatar...you must be into RPG's...can you recommend some good RPG's on 3DS and Vita?
Pokemon X/Y are pretty good, so is Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate if you have the time and persistence to grasp the combat system. Etrian Odyssey IV is worth a shot if you like old fashioned dungeon crawlers.
One of the more exciting RPGs, SMT IV, has yet to get a release date in Europe, so you might want to keep an eye on that one too.
As for the Vita I can't give a good recommendation since I don't own that device, but Persona 4 Golden is an easy choice and Dragon's Crown and Soul Sacrifice are supposedly good too.
VitaGaf can give you a better and more elaborate list though.
Chapter 3 boss:
I'm currently stuck on the 3 Automatons, my party gets wiped as soon as they buff themselves. I might try and bruteforce the win later by using Crescent Moon on every Character and hope they'll just die, unless someone got a better advice.
Deadpandas
Member
Although I did quite enjoy the first half, I still agree with everything you said. Collecting and trying out the new jobs was fun, but a lot of them were not very useful and just felt like they were there for the sake of it.
The battle system, while good, only really came into its own during the boss fights and you could just auto battle your way through most random encounters (or disable them completely, thank God). Dungeons and the world map were pretty boring and definitely could have been fleshed out more.
Looking back at it now..there is quite a few glaring problems with the game, but I still kinda enjoyed the 25 or so hours I got out of the first half and hope they put more effort into the sequel. Quality over quantity
Thanks for the tip regarding stereo! Gonna try that asap. Really love the music..would be great if I could play this om my 5.1 set
Your avatar...you must be into RPG's...can you recommend some good RPG's on 3DS and Vita?
Dig into their predecessors' libraries. Persona 3 Portable, Radiant Historia, Trails in the Sky, Valkyria Chronicles 2 and Oath in Felghana (it was on sale for $7.50 a couple of weeks ago, there's a new Ys out now) are pretty straightforward games. And Oath has some of my favorite music in a JRPG.
Glass Rebel
Member
Well, the Uetsumi + Turn Tables strategy worked. Badass.
Hah, so it was my luck that the first enemies were 2 Cerberus then. Maybe it's my OCD talking but I prefer to play the game as vanilla as possible, I pretty much only tinker with the encounter rate when I'm grinding, I rather run away from every single battle in a new dungeon than turn them off
But it turns out the castle is not so bad after all, aside from the Cerberus the other enemies are pretty manageable, they still hit like a truck but I usually manage to kill them in the first turn.
Steve McQueen
Member
Great! Thanks Will keep my eye on SMT IV!
@ jgmo870: noticed your reply too late, Thank you _O_
Elaugaufein
Member
There is one bonus side quest that spans Chapter 5 & 6 ( ). And the side quest for
the final job
Elaugaufein
Member
There's a Japanese list here , I just use Chromes translate but Google Translate should work fine if you don't use Chrome: http://www33.atwiki.jp/bdff/pages/54.html
I'm in chapter 6 now, didn't notice any bonus sidequest apart from
all bosses from before
Elaugaufein
Member
so that's the chapter 6 bonus? but what's the bonus spanning chapter 5-6?
Elaugaufein
Member
There's a link to it in the spoiler text next to it. It's in Japanese though but Chrome/Google Translate is good enough to get the gist. I haven't finished it yet, but as far as I can tell its just some back story bonus. Concerning
Edea, Kamiizumi and Braev and Mazher
-Quick google translate-
I didnt kil him again in chapter 5 so thats why a probably missed it, will try this when i get to ch5 on new game+.
Just defeated the 3 Automatons in chapter 3 on hard, I feel my party is really balanced at the moment.
Using Tiz as Valkyrie/Spell Fencer, Ringabell as Thief/Ranger, Agnes Redmage/Whitemage
and Edea Redmage/Blackmage.
The secondary jobs are all job lvl9 and the primary ones are the ones I'm currently leveling.
I started the game on hard and didn't turn it down until now and hopefully I don't have to.
The game is at points really unforgiving but I didn't had to grind for an extended amount,yet.
Sadly, Abilinking and Friend-Summons are WAY WAY too overpowered, I tried Summon out on the Thief boss and almost one-shotted him, felt like cheating to me so I restarted and had a fair and hard fight again.
Edit: What is the average partylevel in chapter 3 at the automatons for everyone? I want to know if I'm maybe a tad overleveled at character level 34.
Using Tiz as Valkyrie/Spell Fencer, Ringabell as Thief/Ranger, Agnes Redmage/Whitemage
and Edea Redmage/Blackmage.
The secondary jobs are all job lvl9 and the primary ones are the ones I'm currently leveling.
I started the game on hard and didn't turn it down until now and hopefully I don't have to.
The game is at points really unforgiving but I didn't had to grind for an extended amount,yet.
Sadly, Abilinking and Friend-Summons are WAY WAY too overpowered, I tried Summon out on the Thief boss and almost one-shotted him, felt like cheating to me so I restarted and had a fair and hard fight again.
Edit: What is the average partylevel in chapter 3 at the automatons for everyone? I want to know if I'm maybe a tad overleveled at character level 34.
Elaugaufein
Member
Friend Summoning has gotten kind of whack in the last week since we've all progressed through the game. Abi-link largely isn't too bad, since a large amount of a classes power comes from it's job level and Abilink doesn't increase that, though there are a handful of Abilink abilities that are completely broken in their own right though (like the Utsusemi + Turn Tables + Transcience combo) .
Elaugaufein
Member
Buff yourself / debuff it/ status it while the shield is up. When the shield is down watch out for Energy Burst it's really powerful.
My party is getting carried by angelic ward at the moment, IMO a bit too strong for 1 cost support, in the fight with the automatons my redmages almost didn't take any damage from rocket punch with angelic ward + generated BP through revenge.
I really like the different support combinations.
Eh, I wouldn't call them "way overpowered". You can tell that the developers tried to counteract by giving the bosses a lot more HP as the game progresses. Of course, if you save up ten summons for one boss and use them all, it's not much of a challenge.
But one or two can make things fun. I tend to use them towards the end of the fight when I've figured out a viable strategy and just want to end it in a flashy way.
D
Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
I just love these location overviews
And this is as far as I've played yet, but I'm finished with Zelda now, so should be picking up speed, yeay!
edit: lol, some weird thing happened in that miiverse post btw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAC_UqFIhZCqBQ
Well, in my example of the thief boss my characters did maybe 800-1000dmg with their special, the friend summon did 6k dmg.
And I don't think they gave bosses overly much HP, at least not where I'm right now.
Yes, pardon me, I actually wanted to specify "from ch. 3 onwards". I actually had the same experience as you in the beginning chapters and was a bit wary of using summons as a result.
But as I said, I like the feature now that I can use it responsibly without breaking the game.
Edit: Usually, I try to figure out a strategy, then I dwindle down his health to maybe 20.000 and then I summon once or twice, only to finish him off myself with all the buffs I got from summoning. I find it pretty fun.
I am clearly doing something wrong here. My specials had way less damage. I mean way less. Like 300 or so. my characters are now Lv. 24, and I am just finishing chapter 1. Clearly I should invest in stronger gear (or customise the specials maybe)
Nah, sorry about that I didn't had the exact numbers at hand, I just wanted to demonstrate the gap I experienced through Friend Summon.
I probably did about the same damage as you, 800-1k was a bit exaggerated.
Ah, on the internet everything is always bigger, longer and uncut.
;-)
Thanks for the reassurance, I thought I was way off.
Thanks for the reassurance, I thought I was way off.
Steal Fulmen shards near Ancheim, use a salve maker to combine them during the battle. It pierces his shield and deals 2250 dmg, 3375 if you have Attack item up support ability.
Thanks for the tips, I ended up killing it on the following attempt. Wish I'd know about those shards though, would have made life easier.
e: How effective are status effects in general? Random battles are typically too short meanwhile I've never managed to land a status on a boss.
e: How effective are status effects in general? Random battles are typically too short meanwhile I've never managed to land a status on a boss.
How long is this roughly? I'm not a 100% guy, just a normal playthough kind of taking my time guy. The usually reliable howlongtobeat.com seems to suggest either 23 hours or 93 hours which is a fairly generous range unless the second guy was learning Japanese at the same time.
Maybe something like 35-40 hours? My playthrough took 48 hours, but I grinded for hours.
DarkoMaledictus
Tier Whore
Damn went to the estore expecting to download this today... not being released until feb in the us... :_ _ _ (
petethepanda
Member
So the game's story isn't all that good? I've found lately (due to a lack of both patience and time) that I can only really get into JRPGs if I'm actually engaged by the story and characters.
*hug*
My impression based solely on unspoiled hearsay:
it starts very straightforward, not unlike old school FFs, but over time the story and characters subvert expectations in a lot of ways
It has less (a lot less) to do with any plot twists and more with the lack of "15 ITEMS ONLY INCLUDING WEAPONS, EQUIPMENT, SPELLS AND HEALING ITEMS", "WHAT, YOU WANTED TO CHOOSE A TARGET FOR THAT? TOUGH LUCK." and "WHOOPS, NOT THE RIGHT STUFF FOR THE BOSS? HOPE YOU LIKE RUNNING THROUGH THE ENTIRE DUNGEON AGAIN!".