Originally released in Japan in October 2012 and finally arriving in North America now
about a year and a half later, Bravely Default comes just in time to help rejuvenate the
sub-genre of old-school Japanese RPGs, which many feel has been slowly dying in the West
as of late.
Whether you agree with this particular assessment or not, there's no denying Bravely Default's
old-school pedigree: it was developed by the same Square Enix team that brought us the
similarly retro 2010 DS title Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, and serves as that
game's spiritual successor.
This fact becomes apparent right from the game's onset as players are introduced to
a world called Luxendarc, where balance is kept by four mythical, shimmering crystals,
each one representing one of the four elements that make up all of creation: fire, water,
earth, and wind.
Of course, players arrive in Luxendarc just in time to watch as one of these crystals
loses its light and the world literally starts falling apart.
Yep: Bravely Default is an old-school Final Fantasy title in everything but name.
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
The gaming world -- especially the modern gaming world -- could use more old-school
JRPGs, and Bravely Default fully, thoroughly, and unapologetically wears that mantle with
pride.
If you're not a fan of JRPGs, Bravely Default will be the last title to change your mind
about that, but players in the mood for a long, meaty JRPG they can lose themselves
in will be delighted with this game.
Players are introduced to Bravely Default's four youthful main characters -- farm boy
Tiz Arrior, wind vestal Agnés Oblige, amnesiac rogue Ringabel, and plucky warrior princess
Edea Lee -- very early on in the story, allowing the adventure to get underway quickly and
earnestly.
Don't let their cute, somewhat super-deformed appearances fool you: Bravely Default's world
is a bleak one, where the story is kicked off with the unceremonious deaths of everyone
in Tiz's village, including his family and friends -- and the body count only grows from
there.
I don't want to spoil anything that happens beyond the intro, but some political intrigue
is thrown into the mix later on and a happy ending very often feels just out of reach
for our young heroes.
The weight of the proceedings in Bravely Default is always palpable, and the villains are unrelentingly
and deliciously evil.
Thankfully, an excellent localization keeps players invested in the goings-on and the
genuinely entertaining, endearing, and often humorous interactions between Tiz and his
friends help bring some much-needed levity to the proceedings.
The banter between ladykiller Ringabel and headstrong Edea is particularly enjoyable
in this regard.
Overall, Bravely Default's story is a strong one and its lead characters are likable.
The plot does unfortunately suffer from some pacing issues in the middle of an already
long game, which could test the patience of less devoted players and makes it feel as
though the game could benefit from being a bit shorter.
Thanks to factors like random encounters, level grinding, and sparsely-placed save points,
Japanese RPGs often get a bad rap for being one of the most inconvenient, unfriendly kinds
of games to actually play, a criticism that is not entirely undeserved at times.
Thankfully, old-school though it may be, Bravely Default goes to great lengths to mitigate
or even completely eliminate these factors according to the player's choice.
Extra-tough boss got you down, but you don't feel like grinding?
Kick the difficulty down a notch in the configuration menu and shift the odds in your favor.
Caught deep in a dungeon with tough, high-level enemies with death just around the corner
and no save point in sight?
Set the random encounter rate to zero, safely high-tail it out of there, and save!
JRPG purists may call the inclusion of such options "game-breaking" or "the easy way out,"
but as someone with precious little free gaming time to himself, I call them "convenient"
and absolutely appreciated.
Bravely Default is thoroughly old-school and its default difficulty certainly reflects
that, but these modern accoutrements mean that all JRPG fans can enjoy the game on their
own merits, regardless of how much time they may or may not have to dedicate to it.
Of course, players can also ratchet up the random encounter rate if they specifically
want to grind or increase the already-considerable difficulty level for a super-hardcore challenge
if desired.
Bravely Default is all about player choice.
As stated before, underneath this layer of modern conveniences beats the heart of a deeply
traditional JRPG, with the core gameplay and battle system based on the beloved job system
first introduced in Final Fantasy V and later used in games like the Final Fantasy Tactics
series and The 4 Heroes of Light.
This system lets you assign each of your characters a specific job that confers upon them unique
battle commands and support abilities related to that job; for example, the Black Mage job
starts a character on the path to becoming a magical powerhouse and enables them to cast
elemental attack spells like Fire and Blizzard, while the Knight job beefs up a character's
HP and Defense stats, enabling them to use abilities that focus on protecting their more
frail allies, like the aforementioned Black Mage.
These are just the most basic examples; there are more specialized, exotic jobs too, such
as the Performer, who sings songs that beef up the party's stats, and the Salve-Maker,
who can alter or enhance the effects of items in very specific ways.
The longer characters spend in one job, the more job levels they will gain in that role
through battle, allowing them to learn that job's more advanced, powerful abilities.
The catch is that players can change their characters' jobs at any time, and characters
are able to use both the commands of the job they currently hold as well as another job's
set of battle commands, allowing for countless ways to customize your party to your liking.
For example, you could train Tiz as a White Mage for awhile, gaining enough job levels
to enable him to learn the "White Magic Lv. 3" ability, then switch him to the Thief job
and set White Magic as his secondary job command, effectively turning him into a speedy character
who can ably heal his fellow party members in a pinch.
The possibilities are virtually endless, and with a total of 23 jobs that slowly becomes
available to you as you defeat certain bosses throughout the game (some of them optional),
the amount of character customization in Bravely Default is vast.
But the strategy doesn't stop there.
Bravely Default gets its strange name from each character's ability to either "Default"
or "Brave" in battle, and both commands add another thick layer of strategy to fights.
Defaulting allows a character to "bank" that battle turn -- called a Brave Point -- for
use later on while defending, minimizing any damage taken that turn.
Braving enables a character to use the Brave Points they have banked at any time, allowing
them to take several actions in one round of combat.
You can bank up to three extra Brave Points for each of your characters and use some or
all of them when you wish, and you can even take an advance on Brave Points you haven't
saved up yet -- but doing so will leave Tiz and friends sitting ducks until their Brave
Points are out of the negative.
Enemies have their own Brave Points and will Default and Brave to create their own advantages
as well, and there are several powerful abilities that cost Brave Points to use as well as other
abilities that can affect both your and your enemies' Brave Point values, so in the end,
the level of strategy in Bravely Default really cannot be understated... and make no mistake,
this game expects you to learn it well and create your own advantages.
Regular enemies hit hard and fast even on the default difficulty setting, to say nothing
of the bosses, who can and will wipe you out if you go in expecting to be able to just
mash the "Attack" command and win -- and while the easy difficulty certainly makes things
far more manageable, it's still not a "mash A to win" setting.
There's so much going on and so many options available in Bravely Default from a gameplay
perspective that I couldn't possibly cover it all in detail in this review!
There's the "Bravely Second" mechanic, which lets you use points accumulated while your
3DS is asleep to stop time and use a battle turn whenever you want.
(These points can also be bought with real money in a microtransaction-style attempt
at a cash grab that I'm not too fond of.)
Bravely Default also makes enormous use of the 3DS's popular StreetPass feature, allowing
you to recruit real-life passersby into your game to help rebuild Tiz's destroyed village,
eventually granting you access to shops with high-level equipment.
Also, if you StreetPass someone you have registered in your 3DS friends list, you can "summon"
them for a turn in battle and use whatever move they sent to you.
This game really does have a staggering amount of depth, and that is one of its greatest
strengths.
Bravely Default also succeeds from an audiovisual standpoint.
The music, composed by Japanese musician Revo, is an utter delight and calls to mind the
fantastic 16-bit JRPG soundtracks of yesteryear, with booming, strong melodies composed in
a style somewhere between traditional orchestra and progressive rock that just works, thoroughly
immersing you in the world of Luxendarc and appreciably enhancing the gameplay experience.
The English voice acting is more of a mixed bag; it's mostly quite hammy and overblown,
but not necessarily bad if you don't mind that sort of delivery.
Most players, though, will likely opt for the generally superior Japanese voice track,
which Square Enix should be lauded for including in the game's Western release.
Visually, Bravely Default may not be the most technically impressive game on the 3DS, but
it succeeds on the strength of its art style, which sees the world of Luxendarc brought
to life in lavish detail.
Towns almost look like hand-painted dioramas at times, and though the colors tend be slightly
pallid and washed-out, this actually works in the game's favor by helping to sell Bravely
Default's overall old-school, high-fantasy feel.
Unfortunately, the game's use of stereoscopic 3D isn't particularly inspired and it does
feel like more could have been done in this regard, and you won't really be missing much
if you choose to play with the 3D slider all the way down.
Still, as a fan of the 3DS's stereoscopic 3D, I would have liked to see Square Enix
put in a little more effort here, especially considering all the time and attention that
was so clearly put into the rest of the visual presentation.
With a deeply strategic battle system, virtually endless party customization, gameplay options
galore, enormous StreetPass integration, an engaging story, likable characters, and a
mostly excellent audiovisual presentation, Bravely Default succeeds on all fronts as
a quality JRPG.
While its thoroughly old-school feel and presentation mean that it probably won't win over anyone
who dislikes the genre, Square Enix should be commended for adding some modern accoutrements
to the gameplay that make the game accessible no matter how much time you have to devote
to it.
The story's pacing does falter somewhat in the middle part of the game and it does feel
like a bit more could have been done with the game's graphics despite the fantastic
art style, but these are ultimately minor issues in the face of what is otherwise a
compelling JRPG experience.
We give it four out of five stars.