2021 is very interesting for the Nintendo Switch catalog for all the video games that have been announced so far. Only this month has received titles such as Persona 5 Strikers or the exclusive releases of Super Mario 3D World and Ghost ‘n Goblins Resurrection, but they will not be the only ones, because Bravely Default II will be released tomorrow.
Up to two occasions we have talked to you in depth about this new installment of the saga. One when we tested their demo last year and another just a few weeks ago after playing the first few hours. Of course, this time we bring you our final verdict with the analysis that we have carried out and that we invite you to read below.
The journey of the Heroes of Light to save the world from a catastrophe
The first thing we want to highlight in relation to the history of this chapter of the series is that it is not necessary at all to have played the previous titles . It can be completed without any problem if you are newcomers, although the most veteran will feel at home especially with the gameplay, although we will focus on this section later.
Regarding the plot, it will begin when our protagonist, Seth , is sailing with his boat through the sea until it is stranded on a beach due to a strong accident during a storm. Luckily, it doesn’t take long for him to receive the help of a girl named Gloria , who will soon discover that she is actually the princess of Musa .
Gloria is on a mission to travel the continent of Excilan in search of the four crystals of power that must be recovered to prevent a catastrophe from occurring in the world. Of course there will also be villains involved who will complicate the task of our group of heroes as much as possible and who will try to seize these crystals for their own Machiavellian purposes.
Even so, Seth and Gloria will also have the invaluable help of Elvis , a scholar, and Adelle , a mercenary, who will also have their own reasons to embark on this exciting journey and thus become the four Heroes of the Light . All of them will give rise to an argument that the truth is that it engages and is gaining more and more strength as it advances , although it is also true that you do not expect a bombshell at the height of other great productions of this genre.
The truth is that there have been times when certain conversations that the characters have had have dragged on unnecessarily . This has caused that sometimes we have chosen to skip the dialogues fast when we read them instead of waiting for them to do it automatically for the thing of hearing the voices, since the game has been completely localized to English (language by the that we have chosen) and Japanese , with a fairly decent dubbing and subtitles translated into Spanish on which we must admit that once again we have found a formidable job in them.
In any case, the plot in general has seemed interesting to us, it has not boring us at all and it has always made us want to move on. However, the characters have not finished catching us or transmitting as many sensations as other JRPGs, despite having a way of being and very defined behaviors, but we have not finished catching them enough affection to wish they did not leave. never.
A combat system in which the greatness of the game resides
Despite the deficiencies in certain aspects of the plot or its characters, if there is a section that we have loved from beginning to end at all times, it has undoubtedly been the combat system . In general, it continues to be the same that we are used to seeing in the saga, but it continues to maintain that great touch of strategy and think carefully about our decisions so that the confrontations are never a walk.
Basically in battles we will use the system called Bravely Default , hence the name of the title, which is what will grant us additional actions when we activate it. In this way, Bravely will consume some movement points , up to a maximum of four, so that we can make several consecutive attacks, interspersed with the use of some magic or some healing or offensive object. There will be no shortage of moments in which his thing is to quickly finish off the enemies and we can assure you that we have abused this option endlessly with our quartet of characters in order to perform up to a maximum of 16 attacks per turn.
Naturally, this has its counterpart, such as the fact that these action points have to be recovered , so the heroes will remain immobile in place until the counter returns to zero, which can cause you to be sold out for three turns. and receiving blows without stopping if you do not manage to defeat all the adversaries of the pull. For this reason, it is important to know well what is the best time to opt for this tactic , although another method to prevent this from happening is thanks to the Default action .
You could say that it is the way that the characters protect themselves from the impacts of their opponents, but at the same time it is what will add action points each time it is used. Therefore, this is where the strategic touch that we highlighted comes in when having to think carefully when it is better to make a direct and fast attack, it is better to protect yourself or a mixture of both. Of course, choosing to attack without more could be said that it is only appropriate against groups of normal monsters.
Instead, the story changes completely in the battles against the final bosses , because its difficulty increases a bestiality to the point that few JRPGs have made us suffer as much as this one in this type of confrontation. More than anything, because the final bosses have a very high artificial intelligence and will perfectly master the Bravely Default system, apart from being too powerful with their attacks and abilities and counterattacking without stopping, so you will have to use yourself thoroughly if you want to kill them. .
On the other hand, it’s not that the bosses are the only difficult thing about this adventure, because most of the time the battles we have fought have posed a good challenge . At no time have we noticed the feeling of being overrun with our level, unless we dedicate ourselves to farming experience points so as not to break a sweat in each meeting, which we can assure you has happened to us, but we must also recognize that it is appreciated so that the game forces us to constantly strive and never relax .
It should also be noted that at no time will there be random battles, since the enemies will be walking freely around the stage and it will be our decision whether to stand up to them or not. To be sure if it is a good idea or not, the game will reflect this detail in a very nice way, because when they are more powerful they will run after us, while those creatures that we can give a sovereign beating for our level they will run across the map with a few drops of sweat for fear that the octopus will fall on them.
On the other hand, as the adventure progresses, the characters will obtain gadgets called Asterisks , which will give them jobs with which their appearance will change, as well as their statistics and abilities. Among them are the Monk, the Black and White Magician, the Bard and many others that will completely change the way of playing with each character depending on the class that we assign to each one.
This section is where you can see the extreme customization that this installment will present to us, because each job has its own magic and passive abilities . In addition, each of the heroes can be assigned a main job, which is the one they will perform mainly, and a secondary one to unleash the magic or special attacks they have learned, although passive skills can be equipped at any time regardless of the job selected.
So you have to look closely at all these details and constantly test until you can form a sufficiently balanced team , which is very necessary for the matches against the final bosses. Anyway, the group of heroes will sometimes receive the help of other characters who will join the game temporarily and whom we will not be able to control, but they will fight side by side with us and of course an additional pair of hands never hurt. .
When it is not all about advancing in history and fighting battles
Bravely Default II is easy to catch you for a few dozen hours if you only focus on advancing in the main adventure, but another option it offers is to try to complete secondary missions , on which it must be recognized that in most of Cases are too simple and give the impression that they have been put in filler to extend the game even more, because a good handful of them do not contribute anything at all other than to obtain some object or money.
In most of them we will have to act as messengers or fulfill a specific objective . Above all, there was one with which it is clear to you that certain missions are an absolute nuisance to carry out, because one of them asked to bring a plate of food to a character trapped in a dungeon, but then you had to return up to two more times to a city because Things like silverware were missing and I couldn’t eat without them. Was it worth doing so much traveling? No, although at least the reward was good, but we are not sure if it was enough to waste time like that.
At least this has not been the case of all the secondary missions, because there are some, not many, that are interesting because they have their own sequences and at the same time they serve to delve into the stories of the protagonists and other characters. At least these are worth completing them, although they are not essential or you will miss fundamental details of the plot if you skip them. Let’s say they are an addition to expand the argument a little more.
There will be times when we get to hang out with a few side missions at a time. In that sense, the game is quite friendly because it will tell us at all times where to go , something that especially in the most labyrinthine dungeons is very useful, despite the fact that the grace of these games is precisely that each one investigates and gets lost on its own, but we also don’t mind in the absence of a map or minimap to help us figure out where we are. At least in the outside world there is a map to consult it.
Likewise, in the dungeons there will be save points and teleportation points to return to the exit in case we find ourselves in serious trouble and thus rest in tents, so we recommend that you stuff yourself with these items and others that are essential for you , because this JRPG has been one in which objects have always seemed most necessary to us, not like others that you start to accumulate without stopping and you never want to spend them until the final stretch of the game.
In turn, the game also thinks of those who cannot spend many hours at the controls or have it difficult to fight to level up. If it is the case of any, the console can be left in suspension with the game open , which will make the characters take a trip (up to a maximum of 12 hours) in a boat to collect money and all kinds of objects , such as power-ups of experience points or work points. An additional help that never hurts.
It may not be perfect, but Bravely Default II is a magical and wonderful JRPG that cannot be missing from your Nintendo Switch catalog and that, as we already told you in our previous impressions, the launch of games of this type is always appreciated. they are so common for lovers of this genre.
The graphic section will be very familiar to fans of the saga because it is very similar, with those miniature characters and a bit big heads, with exceptional hand-drawn and highly varied settings, the latter being one of the aspects that most we liked. For its part, the soundtrack leaves us with some very catchy songs that we have never tired of listening to over and over again.
The difficulty of Bravely Default II may throw more than one back, but luckily it has different levels of difficulty for those looking for a simpler experience or a real challenge. In our case we opted for the intermediate difficulty and we already tell you that we have suffered a lot more than once. That does not mean that it is a JRPG with which we have had a great time touring the world of Excilan during its dozens of hours, despite not very charismatic characters and tremendously improvable secondary missions.
Bravely Default II
| Platforms | Nintendo switch |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Not |
| Developer | Claytechworks |
| Company | Square enix |
| Launch | February 26, 2021 |
| Price | 59.99 euros |
The best
- The game poses a constant challenge in each of its combats.
- The Bravely Default system is still a hit.
- The depth of character customization.
- Some magical hand-drawn scenes.
Worst
- The protagonists lack some charisma to finish catching.
- Side missions are generally a bit boring.
