CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
So the Dark Age of Square Enix continues unabated...
XV's developmental gong show has seen to that.
So the Dark Age of Square Enix continues unabated...
I beat it.
Fuck this shit forever.
Fuck the writer.
Fuck the staff.
Fuck the people involved.
Fuck the people who didn't say "no" to any of this.
Never have I ever seen a game so completely dedicated to burning whatever goodwill it had built up.
I'm going to take the time later to really write it out, but in the meantime, let me put quickly into words what has me so angry about Bravely Default.
The first four chapters of the game are really, really good. There's a great adventure, solid character development, and the gameplay is challenging, but not cheap. There's progression and a building of momentum. Then Chapter 5 happens and the game slams into a wall.
But the thing is, I cannot in any way see a reason for why Chapters 5-8 exist. I mean, what happens there that either one chapter or some simple explanation from key characters couldn't do? The answer is nothing. There are very few, rare new scenes of any actual bearing upon the plot in those chapters. Mostly a couple of visits to the Sage, Ringabel getting his memories back and some harassment of Airy. But then, if Airy had gone evil right in Chapter 5, with the visit to the Sage preceding, and Ringabel explaining it all to Tiz before that, what would change? Nothing. Oh, sure, that noise about fooling you into awakening the Crystals again and again, but that's for the good, really. The villain fools you into it once, doing it 4 more times is beating a dead horse.
What's more irritating is that when Airy DOES finally expose herself, everybody acts surprised, even though we'd known for like, two chapters.
But I mean, SO MUCH of this shit was unnecessary. There were just scene upon scene of reused footage well into chapter 8. The whole time, though, I held out that there'd be an emotional pay out. A big CGI ending like the opening and some happy emotional stuff to leave me content at the end.
The final boss tries to guilt trip the player with "All this violence and trauma and bloodshed is entertaining to you and that's why I keep doing this!" except it isn't entertaining. By that point in the game it's unbearably dull. It's a remark that would've been more meaningful without the nauseating repetition of the game.
Incidentally, and this is THE final confrontation, by the way, they off-handedly bring up that Tiz is apparently being inhabited by a Celestial being. Whether that's the player or a God, I don't know, since the game brings it up at the very last possible second and never discusses it nor has anybody react to it at all. Then the ending happens and you get something unworthy of even FF5 or FF4. You get some bullshit FF3 stuff with two second vignettes of the cast splitting up back in their home world and not seeing each other again. (By the way, the game never bothers to explain why the cast opts to go all the way back to a world full of death and sorrow when they could instead go to the world where their friends and family are alive.) More confusing still is that somehow, in spite of Ringabell going back to your world with you, he appears to also be back in his own world, saving the first iteration of the team.
And then the real nonsense starts. "Guess I'd better give back what I borrowed!" Tiz says, before a light flies out of his body and he rolls over. Then "OH HEY THAT FAIRY FROM THE START WAS AIRY'S SISTER WHO WAS NEVER MENTIONED. BUT IS GOOD. EVEN THOUGH AIRY SAYS SHE WAS BORN OF OUROBOROS. ALSO YOU'RE IN A TANK OF WATER IN THE FUTURE WATCHING SOME GIRL DO KICK FLIPS. TA-DA. So not only does Ringabell's love for Edea never get closure since he apparently goes to a different world, but Tiz's relationships with everyone are mooted twice over with the implication that he was never actually Tiz and now he is awake in an entirely different era.
In conclusion, though, it isn't just that the game repeats itself 5 fucking times. It's that it does it for no reason. There's no point. No significant justification. It's this weird, unnecessary padding and bloat that the game would've been just fine without. Followed by an ending full of stupid baffling nonsense that wasn't hinted at and that ruins everything the game had built up.
I want to like Bravely Default, because the first 4 chapters are great, but I can't because the second half of the game is so awful I'm wondering if it isn't worse than FFXIII.
I beat it.
Fuck this shit forever.
Fuck the writer.
Fuck the staff.
Fuck the people involved.
Fuck the people who didn't say "no" to any of this.
Never have I ever seen a game so completely dedicated to burning whatever goodwill it had built up.
...Wow. That sounds horrible. I mean... wow.
How exactly is the whole "redo dungeons five times" implemented? And by reused footage do you mean they just play cutscenes over and over again as you redo the dungeons?
As per the endingthey dun fucked up
Dunno if it'll change anyone's decision to play or not play BD but thanks to the awesome encounter rate option, you can speed through from chapter 5's beginning to the final dungeon in a couple of hours. In gameplay hours, the first 4 chapters took me around 40 hours I think, the rest of the game maybe 4 or 5.
I agree with almost everything Corvo has been writing about BD, it has a lot of flaws but I still think it's very much worth playing for the first 4 chapters. The plot is nonexistent, but it's still a grand adventure with lots of fun characters and practically a perfected turn-based battle system.
I did genuinely enjoy some of the optional boss encounters in chapter 8, if only because they were challenging (but not stupidly so) and required toying and tinkering with the job and party setups to defeat.
But right, everything about the structure of Chapters 5-8 really bewilders me. It's unnecessary, tedious, and most importantly, not fun at all. "My attitude towards the game probably shifted more rapidly than with any other game" is how I put it at the time. Corvo's thoughts on how the plot resolves are on-point too.How Airy's betrayal is handled particularly doesn't make sense in how her actions are basically literally spelled out to the main characters, but for whatever reason they ignore it
There's still enough to like about the combat mechanics and supporting systems that has me optimistic about Bravely Second - assuming they can avoid some other boneheaded design decisions.
Closing thoughts on Bravely Default: Where the Fairy Flies
Nor was there every any cause to feel dissatisfied with the game's soundtrack. From the bombastic world map theme Land of Light and Shadow, to the pulse pounding boss theme That Person's Name Is, there was never a bad song in the game. I felt, indeed, that there was an excellent variety and complexity to the soundtrack. Songs like Beneath the Hollow Moon could make scenes that perhaps lacked in writing more powerful through their own sincerity. The World of Scattering Flowers remained a personal favorite of mine, as well. The game's soundtrack could be somber, vibrant, thrilling, moving, whimsical and encouraging at any given point in time. The only song I would like to say was in any way bad was "Love in the Crossfire" which, arguably, wasn't supposed to be good at all.
How could no one involved have stood up and put in the effort to prevent these strange and bad choices from happening?
I think that the worst part is that I really just don't know what to think of Bravely Default now. Half of the game is incredible, and the other half frustrates me quite handily.
I was definitely mildly surprised that BD:FtS (/international) didn't change much of the dialogue/events/etc for the better and call it a Final Mix or something. I guess they were ready to move on to Bravely Second at that point. The encounter rate/speed sliders definitely made the game a lot more tolerable in the second half, though.
Excellent write up, Corvo.
Though I have to say, I can tell that you are as confused as you say you are on your feelings towards BD. It's a tough call: How do you classify a game why you loved the first 30 hours but disliked the last 30?
Excellent write up, Corvo.
Though I have to say, I can tell that you are as confused as you say you are on your feelings towards BD. It's a tough call: How do you classify a game why you loved the first 30 hours but disliked the last 30?
Rather simple. The 2nd half of the game basically retreads the same actions over and over again. It's padding in one of the worst ways possible. Game would be more tolerable at 5 maybe 6 chapters with one retread with character awareness. 2 of the characters could have used more development as well.
So yeah BF could have been such a great game if only the writers could have taken their heads out of their arses and don't sacrifice everything for their 'neat' twist and finale.
Just FYI. For those who play QuizUp, they added a Final Fantasy subcategory.
I keep on losing because of fucking Ivalice, I don't know crap about Ivalice and their terminologies are pretty hard to follow.
The Ivalice terminologies are driving me insane, it makes the FFXIII terminologies much more comprehensible.
The Ivalice terminologies are driving me insane, it makes the FFXIII terminologies much more comprehensible.
Oh please, FFXII explains it's terminologies without the need of a datalog if I remember correctly.
And even then it doesn't make the plot confusing. Doesn't make it exciting either though.
Just FYI. For those who play QuizUp, they added a Final Fantasy subcategory.
I keep on losing because of fucking Ivalice, I don't know crap about Ivalice and their terminologies are pretty hard to follow.
FFXII has a huge section of optional lore to read. It's not quite the same as XIII's "plot critical info here in obscure formats" but like, there's all kinds of stuff in the bestiary you won't find out without reading the bestiary. Like how the entire Church of Glabados from FFT is just a heretical cult of the prevailing religion in the time of FFXII.
How the heck is anyone supposed to answer that when no one knows the scarcest details of the HD version
I assume the nature of the question is "would it be okay to play this hand-held game on a console?" and the answer is "I have no idea." I really enjoy Type-0 because it's like Crisis Core expanded into a full game. The game's story is definitely less character driven than Crisis Core's, and while it is also more disjointed, it's still infinitely better than The Third Birthday's. I'm making a point of only drawing comparisons within Tabata's own library because those make the most sense and will help you to have the best idea of what kind of game you're getting.
I have hopes for some alterations of numerous aspects of the game in the transition, but I think Type-0's base format is still a stellar advancement over Crisis Core and The Third Birthday in terms of gameplay. The world of Orience is still one I like a lot, and the game still inspires confidence in FFXV for me.
But as to whether the transition from a hand-held style game to a console one would work, I certainly can't say. At the very least, having a second analogue stick to work your camera will be a big improvement!
I can always rely on Corvo to read my vague posts and elaborate on them so beautifully. Ive been under a rock the last few months, so all I know about FFType-0 HD is that its on PS4X1.
It's true, we know little about the game, but I can't find myself being excited for it because of this strange transition from PSP game to PS4/X1 game. Square must be feeling pretty good about these new consoles, since they are putting out FFXV, KHIII, and FFType-0 HD, on both.
I would suggest seeing how they transition Birth By Sleep from PSP to KH2.5HD as an example, I guess, but I don't know.
A question for anyone who has played FF Type-0 for the PSP. Does the HD version hold any appeal? Honestly I just wanted a spruced up Vita version.
FFXII has a huge section of optional lore to read. It's not quite the same as XIII's "plot critical info here in obscure formats" but like, there's all kinds of stuff in the bestiary you won't find out without reading the bestiary. Like how the entire Church of Glabados from FFT is just a heretical cult of the prevailing religion in the time of FFXII.
It's basically a codex in the style of a WRPG. The gambit system was an inspiration for the first Dragon Age, funny enough.
I like to think of Matsuno as the Japanese Tolkein. Ivalice is one of the richest worlds gaming has.
Yeah, the Silmarillion was full of all kinds of Elf chicks in forest bikinis and high heels.
I think I want to start a yet another FF IX playthrough
I have no idea what it is about that game that makes me love it so much. It has a nice cast of characters but nothing particularly incredible, the story is great but there's a bunch of JRPGs with stories I like more and the battle system is enjoyable but not incredible.
Yet I've finished it so many times I've lost count and I think it's easily my favorite FF game and one of my all time favorites of any game everrrrrr
Yeah, the Silmarillion was full of all kinds of Elf chicks in forest bikinis and high heels.
Yeah, the Silmarillion was full of all kinds of Elf chicks in forest bikinis and high heels.
I'm sure the movie version will have that.