The Bravely Default II Review: Default Edition (No Spoilers)

[@Tomrash]

Missed Opportunity: Should have been the "Don't sweat the details"-Edition of the review.

[@endrise9779]

I believe that Bravely Default II will be one of those games that, while good, will divide the fanbase, since even now I have noticed the game being both loved and hated, with very polarising opinions on everything from the combat system to the story & characters. For me? I loved it, it is what I feel the original game was but solving many of the internal issues of its plot and combat. A detail I noticed here is that monsters, even regular ones, use the default command more often too, which back in the 3DS games only a few did. That alone combined with counters made it much more appealing to mix around and play with jobs. Plus the speed jobs level up in this game makes switching them feel much more rewarding as well. The only thing I do find is that the jobs feel a bit generic. They were far from bad as every single one was nice and refined in what their focus was, but none stood out either too. No Summoner with crazy summons, no charioteer with quad weapon wielding or even weird jobs like Catmancer or Patissier. Ironically, the balance was so good I struggled to have any job I could look at and say "I like this one the most". This game is definitely worth the 70+ hours I pumped into it and I am still ensured i'll pump in more hours later on. The story is amazing, the characters loveable, the gameplay enjoyable. I just feel like it needs that little bit more quality in some areas (the bestiary, favourite job builds from Second, etc.), and it'll be perfect. But if this game sells well, I'm certain we might someday see that return.

[@wilasauraus907]

Couldn’t express my love for this game’s soundtrack any more than the praise you just gave it. Hearing the OST from the first game is actually what got me into the series to begin with, and it’s all been so worth it! Thank goodness for Revo. And awesome review!

[@praisedaura]

It was a little rough getting used to some of the changes and lack of QoL stuff from BS, but the characters grew quickly on me, the battles were a lot more fun, and the music has made me see Revo reach new highs. Fantastic game overall.

[@ImsorryAnakin]

And the graphics are lovely.

[@Lipt0nic]

About the jobs, it really felt gutted to me. If i play the white mage from the first bravely default: At lvl 3, i'll have access to a total of 6 spells and one passive to equip. If i play the one from BD2 i'll have... no passive and 3 spells, all of them being in the original line up. If i want to cure any afflication i won't be able to do so until i reach lvl 8. Let that sink in for a moment: lvl 8 to cure poison, the most basic afflication of them all. Not only that, but 6 spells is already half of what i'll get in total reaching max level of the job in BD2. I'll also have no offensive option in BD2. If i seek some sort of redemption, thinking the spells will become obselete in BD1, it doesn't even work, because it's the same in BD2. There will be no reason to use Raise once i get access to Arise. And there's less spell, but there's also less passive. Yeah, they are more meaningfull than before, but we lost a layer of customisation that BD2 severelly lacks. Some would say that stat buffer are unexciting filler, but in reality, they are good for what they accomplished. I miss having simple option like going for full offense with +ATK% or choosing a more well rounded approach with some hp/resistance. Everything doesn't need to be game changer. And not only the jobs feel less flesh out than before, but with all those simplifications, we lost the smooth progression that the earlier entries had. Having a low to mid level job level felt much more rewarding. I got value from it. Here, until i reach max or close to max level, i really don't get much. Ironically it results in the game feeling much more grindy than before while needing less time to reach those max level. All of this greatly impact the gameplay. The bosses especially suffer. When i died to a boss, it never seemed like i had much room to change things. So i ended brute forcing, or got back to grinding. I never felt like i was clever like i did from the previous games. I know i sound harsh, and i'd lie if i said i didn't enjoy my time with the game but having BD1 and second among my favourite games of the 3DS, i can't help but be disapointed. I wanted it to be more than decent and it just failed to do so in my eyes. Still, a good review, i'm glad some managed to enjoy it more than i did. And looking foward for the brave review. I already got triggered by the little said about the story, so i know it's gonna shake some thoughts on me.

[@ImsorryAnakin]

Closing in on the "Bernard" asterisk. So far this is everything I wanted in a sequel. I will say that I do miss Auto- Battle, but it's a very minor quibble. The ability to speed up battles mostly makes up for it.

[@malpercio123]

If you press start it trap eats your last option which kinda works the same

[@rezahydra]

Plot Twist: I'm using Zerker. **Pierces the Review**

[@PixelStun]

Can't say I agree with you about the story and characters. I find that the plot and writing is worst than Bravely Second. I do hope to see your spoiler review, to see what exactly I missed. (Maybe towards the late game, I skipped many side quests, so I missed out on many character development scenes)

[@Onion_57]

The latter half of all three games has always been the weakest part honestly. I hated the final boss but if we ignore that, it never becomes quite as bad as Bravely Second.

[@katherinewhyte1522]

I love the game, the story is simple and good, and I love the characters.. Is not a Final Fantasy but is good...and the combat is pretty good

[@adrii7186]

Yeah, story sucked for me but if he liked it so much then good for him. I bought this game mostly so the next one has a bigger budget and a better story.

[@joegreen3802]

This was my favorite of the Bravely games

[@likealaddertothesun]

Regarding Jobs, couldn't disagree more. The 30 jobs in Bravely Second were more varied and way more fun and interesting than what we got in Bravely Default II. I felt this game tried to be a reboot of the series, rather than really expanding on content, and it shows with limited the Jobs felt this time around compared to Bravely Second.

[@owo2350]

I definitely think it’s better than Default, but not as good as Second imo. I do love the cast and the world yet there’s still some stuff that needs some more explaining, such as Edna for example. I also think that they had missed an opportunity to have a certain Planeswarden make an appearance as well.

[@odininmeemninido1498]

Exactly! Where my boy at 😓

[@chrisjackson6149]

Ringabel is so incredibly overrated, I have no clue why everyone wants him on everything.

[@odininmeemninido1498]

@@chrisjackson6149 To each their own, I like his character and his design. A planeswarden would also give possible future plot points if they wanted.

[@Syphus.99]

Yayyy I was waiting for your review on the game. And the editing and everything is just...bravely^^ I hope we get an expansion or sequel of sorts for Seth n the gang 🙏🏼

[@Ramsey276one]

2:32 that's why I refer to BD Switch as Second Saga And keep hoping for Bravely Third Bravely FOuRTH!

[@masonwilcox7055]

I really liked the equipment mechanic. It was so different from other RPGs I've played. Being encumbered really effects your stats, causing you to really put a lot of thought into what you equip your characters with. Oh ya, and Edna's battle theme was amazing!!.

[@kyle7447]

I'm hoping you do make op build videos. I remember watching your original ones when bravely default started 😄

[@RedNovaTyrant]

You bet I most certainly will be!

[@kyle7447]

@@RedNovaTyrant I'm excited to see you break the game lol 😁

[@Caterwaulin]

I think that the new combat style for BD2 has one big upside and downside that is apparent to me. The obvious negative I feel is "Brave" and especially "Default" feeling odd and having difficulty in living up to its importance in the first two games. One positive that I really enjoy about the new combat is because you do each character one at a time there is less of the slow down when you chose all characters actions for a turn and where this shines is in allowing you to use the special better, ex. In BD/S I would carefully think out my moves but when I would use a special I felt like I was wasting the time that they were active by still planning, but in BD2 the faster flow allowed me to cycle quicker and chain specials better. I think that both styles have ups and downs and while the positive I showed is nice I think that the original style may be better.

[@Jay-ch5xu]

I really love this game. My only gripe is that the world-building is prolly the weakest out of all the games. In BD, a lot of the world was expanded through the Party Chat and D's Journal, then doubled in B2ND through the party's banters in Yew's Journal (talking about the history of Luxendarc, weapons manufacturing, studying monsters and how they work, lore about the human enemies based on journal, reports, and diaries taken from their corpses). And I loved reading through it that the lack of it in BD2 was disappointing. I'm surprised that a good chunk of the ways in, the events prior to the game are never expanded on by Gloria, which is strange given how critical it is to the current situation. And no one asks about it either. ALSO. Very. Much. Miss Favorites. Switching jobs and abilities over and over gets tiresome after awhile.

[@aureliodeprimus8018]

Yeah, i missed the Journal also the most. Especially the version from Second where everyone gave their opinions on the monsters.

[@kyle7447]

I love the job system so much in jrpg. Also because the game can be speedup the grind is fun. Love this game

[@quatreraberbawinner2628]

I'm really on the fence on this one, I just finished octopath, and I have mixed feelings about that game. I've never played BD, but I enjoyed the demo

[@KVR020]

Just go for it, your in for a ride!

[@TybudX]

I couldn't get myself to slog through all eight different paths just to get to the meat of the game. Someday I might finish it off. Bravely Default doesn't have that particular problem. Might be a spoiler below, I don't know how picky people will be. Your characters have separate character levels from job levels. You aren't forced to re-start the game as level 1 units every time you get a new job unlocked.

[@therealsamtheman]

Play Bravely Second I love it

[@Wlightning25]

I have bought the game but haven’t played it yet. I am almost finished beating the first bravely default and then I’ll play bravely second. I hope to beat this game sometime this year though. Great review

[@codyjames9744]

Great video on this game !

[@adrii7186]

If you can tall me what motivated the villain... ,the MAIN one, to do what they did I'll take back everything I said about this game's story. Otherwise, I'll be in the hospital treating my whiplash. Nice reveiw though. I can see how much time went into it.

[@adrii7186]

@Arginoa I wasn't actually talking about NN in this post but cam see how that might be confusing. Both of them had no real motives to do what they did though. The game just shrugs its shoulder and says, "Because they wanted to".

[@peterhernandez5377]

(Spoiler) You're a big fan of this series - I can relate. After playing through all of the different stories though- I still prefer BD1's story. Granted I love BD2's characters as much as BD1; they're likable, bounce off of each other, and have good backstory to keep things interesting. But . . . Some of these villians are just insufferably flat or uninteresting. By good examples first, I liked Selene and Dag - the idea of the first asterisk holder being a couple of thugs abusing its power for cash is a decent first boss. Dag's design and voice acting was good, Selene's was ok. Prince Castor was pretty good, And I liked Bernard as well. But Wizwald is a good example of when the bosses are really . . . bad. A crazy painter who has mind controlled people into making her some paint material. Annoying voice. Insufferably one track minded. Having a villain not be a sympathetic one is a fresh change of pace, don't get me wrong - but whereas Dag and Selene are pretty much strictly bad guys, Folie is just terrible. It doesn't help that three bosses in a row were basically villains because [MIND CONTROL OVER GUILT], [MIND CONTROL OVER GUILT], and [MIND CONTROL OVER GUILT]. Folie doesn't even really use that scary power during the fight! I would lost my mind if she stole one of your party members to use against you or something to that extent. They've done something similar before! Like when in bravely second Angelo takes out one of your party members and turns them into a ghost for the battle. Folie just kinda sucks, too. Her kit as a boss enemy is very lame. Maybe if she had other asterisk users with her? Imagine if we had bosses themed around magical inquiry, questionable research, or fisticuffs with school faculty... You know, that thing wizwald and wizards. Elvis got done dirty, Wizwald bosses suck. Another deep offender of this? Adam. Flat. Destroy the world to unite under one empire, because war is inevitable! So I will war to make sure no one else does! ... Our main cast's only reaction to this[A reasonable one since THEY are well written] says it all, "Wow Adam you're kind of stupid." Literally all nations are getting along with each other wonderfully, united to fight back against the holograd invasion. Adam is truly counterproductive at best. At least he wasn't too stupid to realize that he lost, and went down with the ship. All of that buildup just to act as a pawn for the real final villain - maybe that's why they felt he didn't need a sensible motive or personality? Whatever - last asterisk secured, time to fight Edna. Edna is the biggest offender. Take a shot every time she says "never forgive, never forget." If your motive is "all humans bad" there's just not alot of places you can go with that. The Night's nexus itself though, just sputtering the same catchphrase over and over again got very annoying very quickly. The TELL don't SHOW is ridiculous - the player is spoonfed context and dialogue is drilled into your head as the party responds "nah bro not all humans." Edna's narrative is just . . . uninteresting. Honestly it would've been so much better if they just cut some dialogue, make Edna's motives more subtle. SHOW them instead. Instead of telling the player why Edna is so angry, SHOWING it would've been more effective. The previous games also did this - Letting you experience the story with the glimpses of the final villain to get a read on their motives and personality, with Airy being my favorite example of this. Compare the screen time of Enda and Airy! Really! It's ridiculous! Even the Orthodox had more screentime than edna - and we get to learn more about them through Edea! Here's an idea: I would've rather had Adelle, your own party member, be the twist villain - seeing what asterisks can drive people to do. She's experienced the fairy racism very directly! And, she wouldn't be a flat villain either - feisty personality and a buisness-like attitude, torn between her alterior motives and having faith that humanity won't self destruct with people like the friends she's made along the way. This also gives her more reason to tag along with Elvis, the guy SEEKING ASTERISKS instead of just "yeah I'm looking for my sister so I thought he'd be good company." They DO make people more evil too, if Prince Castor is any example. That's the ONE thing Edna did good as a villain did right, giving humans asterisks and showing how corrupt they would enact. Just . . . so much missed opportunity. Savalon had the best bosses, narratively speaking. Prince Castor gets you to root out some people for him - thugs competing for influence over citizens. The crystal actually has a positive impact that makes sense, makes for an interesting environment, and it makes sense as to why everyone is trying to compete for it. The twist of him betraying you AFTER fighting along side you is perfect, and even his helping kit foreshadows what he does as a berserker. I know this video is kind of old, but I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on BD2's story. I'm working on developing an rpg myself right now from scratch. Demo is almost ready to release, yet I dread making mistakes like this in the narrative and story. What did they do right? What did they do wrong? If you guys have any insights or good examples for other rpgs even, I really need some inspiration.

[@lategameessays6295]

What they do right: One thing I liked from bd2 and made me prefer their story over the 3ds games was how they managed to show the story instead of tell it like BD/B2nd, yes, there are a few things that weren't show in the actual game, but overall you can go through the story without watching tons of dialogues explaining, this game had not a vampire castle scheme dungeon for loredumps and instead they used journals displayed by the maps so that you can get them and read and *understand* the plot by yourself, basically that's all What they do wrong: Adam, Edna, and endgame, they practically didn't show the story of those villains, make them pretty awful and less memorable by themselves, you already explained what happened with them which I agree, but that's a problem that also suffers the endgame, because when we really need loredump info we didn't get it, making final dungeon and their implications so confunsing for most players, which is a shame, because I consider the 4th wall break gimmick of this game much better than 3ds ones, that had a really big potential of being the biggest revelations of the series, but I guess covid and more problems tainted this game to the point to devs had to explain who is in the cover art in an interview because they could not include it in the game Still bd2 is my favorite Asano game because I liked all of their mechanics, gameplay and the experience, but could be better and if they would fixed that errors, at least a few ones, maybe it would not be so hated currently

[@denysvision]

@@lategameessays6295 and here is where you are wrong, you see both 3ds games did show and tell witch what it makes more believable, BD2 in the other hand does not do that exept for some character witch is bad, the villains in the previous games did show how damage they can do, BD2 just did it in a poor and generig maner, and im sorry but ringabell's journal did a much better of understanding the plot than BD2 did, and the vampier did a lot better of giving answers of important plot instead of locking them behind a book, ringabell's houran does not give you much but it makes it interesing because it makes you put pieces of the puzzle together

[@denysvision]

@@lategameessays6295 and no the 4th wall break of the BD2 did not much better than the 3ds games because one element that they forgot to introduce is build up and execution, Airy been a twist villains was well executed than how the BD2 game handleed it because you needs to aquire the asterics even thow it makes the jobs less interesitn and i disagree complety about the gameplay because it sucks, the gameplay of the 3ds games are much better ui

[@lategameessays6295]

@@denysvision can you elaborate? You are basically saying "this one was better executed in 3ds games" in every topic, but not exactly why, i mean, I don't want to be aggresive but at least I tried to elaborate, idk what do you mean with show don't tell, as far as I know bd1 and second suffered of not having so much cutscenes, so I didn't really care so much for the situations most of the time, bd2 while is still not good at this at least tried to do it, the whole chapter 4 battle against holograd, chapter 3 ending, chapter 5 and 6 endings are good examples of this (tbf bravely second had some cool cutscenes too, but my problems with that game has to do more with the story) also, about the journal thing, is not really that one, most of the bd2 development is hidden by side stories, you can like or dislike this approach, but character and world development is there, and while is not as deep as 3ds games (at least the lore of the world), is so much better explained, bd1 for example needed to essentially revive their characters to give them some development, and most of the time it didn't work because the tedious chapters 5-8 and some of the characters for some reason change directly of personality, especially in chapter 7 and 8 where they need to give a poor excuse to have group asterisk fights (great fights tho) bd2 in a better way manages to develop the asterisk holders correctly, even the dead ones by some post sidequests, and that works mainly because bd2 asterisk approach is more correct in the sense that they are stones that give accumulated knowledge from generations, in bd1 and second we really don't know how yulyana created them and to be an iconic element it doesn't have so many importance for the plot, in bd2 they are the key of everything, And speaking of which the main reason why I think bd2 4th wall break is better than 3ds ones is simply because while cryptic, it makes a lot of more sense with the premise, in bd1 was never clarified about the existence of multiple Ringabels and Airys in the multiverse, neither that the last 4 worlds have their protagonists characters alive, it's a situation that don't really make sense (don't have problems about the scenes in final fight since your friends world possibly did the bad ending), when a player beat ouroboros they saved the multiverse, but what is that last world they must reach? And why they were created? How common is the creation of Ringabels? Especially knowing that he is not supposed to exist? Honestly I would pass these problems normally because plotholes exists innthe 3 games, but what really annoys me is how the whole message of bd1 is not what we are supposed to do to beat the game, "be enough brave to disobey" if we disobey: bad ending, if we obey: good ending, does this makes sense? Then second while manages their message better, the whole multiverse thing is messed up so much more, now the celestials which is supposed to be real people can get into the game? There's more than one Altair and Vega? Why Deneb revived disgusting people like Derosa and don't victims of eternia, like Olivia? And that's just one of the things I don't like about second, but it gets worse. Now Bd2 sets their multiverse by possibilities, everything started when Nexus is sealed by the crystals and they creates their own world (isle of nothingness) they is inmortal because created a book with their memories (the Elvis book) with if they die can simply call their memories to return (because is really a save file, the same we use) the multiverse is mainly people who didn't beat the game or got a bad ending and doomed their world because that, but we can avoid these fates by using our power as player of showing cutscenes recorded in the file to our characters in a past time and then overwriting the nexus save file, making it mortal and defeatable, of course it still has their holes as bd1 but imo overall makes more sense with the concept, and I really love this approach for how logic it is and for how it takes advantage of save file mechanic, instead of a kind of messed up thing from bd1 and a literally nonsense in second, You can dislike bd2, I really don't care, is a very different game after all, but I genuinely think is a really good game on the same level as the other bravely games, of course it still has big flaws, but i feel this game at least here is hated for being different as the other games, as I said I understand that, but i think the comparison make the 3ds games looking like perfect games when they are far from being it and have their big flaws too, and that there were enough reasons to stop luxendarc saga from devs perspective, now if there will be a next game I hope it will be more likable for everyone

[@ve_maiku]

Thank you so much for the great video

[@samuelc6246]

I have the collector's editions of both 3ds games still, and have since changed a lot of my game purchasing and collecting habits, but I recently bought this one physical for 20€ on a sale. I thought I would miss the gorgeous 3d effects, especially in the towns. But at this price, I DO want to play it regardless. The Switch is an RPG BEAST. And I have way too many on backlog already... So it makes zero sense to pay full price for any game just to add it to a backlog, and see the price go down by the time I eventually get to play it. Now I just have a long watchlist and all the time in the world to wait for the prices to drop. But I knew I would one day get this, and 20€ physical was a good deal.

[@ashnate5070]

Just bought the game, I’m so excited to play I’ve been watching reviews and getting all my snacks and movies ready to watch while I play haha

[@JamesBuschell]

They can call the sequel, Bravely Second the Second

[@ve_maiku]

I'm still playing and i'm in chapter 3, but i'm worried about the story and if it's good. Is this only a problem of mine?

[@ve_maiku]

@Arginoa oh, thank you, that's a relief. I hope to continue it soon and enjoy it as well

[@layerp]

The chapter 3 is the chapter which makes you get engaged with the story in my opinion

[@ve_maiku]

@@layerp oh, thank you

[@Phunatic]

I just finished the game myself just now, i sunk over 100 hours only because i did hard mode and went out of my way to really try and 100% the game. I can tell you I really enjoyed the story and the whole experience. I tried not to look at guides and videos so I can find my own ways to win the punishing battles.

[@Alternus.]

I want them to patch for hard Difficulty the boss has more HP like in the 3DS that is what I want. Cuz the Broken builds just destroy them. The super boss is the hardest fight for me and I played in Hard mode

[@randomcompdude]

Galahad is kicking my ass at the moment lol.

[@KVR020]

Really great video! Keep it up dude!

[@mhbarney8499]

Bravely Default is so much better than Octopath...but sadly it isn't getting the attention it deserves.

[@jhon1406]

dude, you did this work on this video. an amazing review !!

[@baimon7116]

You sir made a fantastic review. I agree with almost everything you said. It was fun nodding my head with a big smile throughout the video.

[@bulfi6257]

Great video! I was wandering if you could give me a tip, i just gained the pictomancer class and after the boss fight the game gave me an item (i dont play bd2 in english so i cant tell the name, i can guess something like ring of voices maybe?) however the game doesnt tell me what its use is

[@neobahumuth6]

interesting I found this game to be actually easier than the other 2 bravely games when played on hard mode.

[@Buccio1509]

Awesome review!

[@SanLimone]

I really enjoyed this game but it felt like some bosses were too easy, even on hard once you get certain skill combinations you can melt groups in a couple of turns if not on the first one. (even on the final boss I had to hold down to make it more enjoyable) that said I hope that they'll add some more content later on, even as paid DLC

[@shuichichirocks33]

Can’t wait for the brave edition!!!!

[@johnnyscifi]

Totally!!

[@aladdict727]

Great game. But I did feel like there was a bit of story missing concerning Edna. They never really explained why she switched to hating humans. Also, it’s goddamn annoying when a boss counters EVERYTHING.

[@odininmeemninido1498]

Yeah... I hated that so much... Especially when you're party is already limping along towards the end of the battle

[@therealsamtheman]

- No Bravely Second mechanic - No auto battle - No favourites - No Brave-ing an action on targets - No default button - No base rebuilding - No friends/abilink/friend summoning - Less jobs - No option to disable exp/jp/pg This game is a step backwards, I loved BS.

[@joseedil]

Man, your opinion about the comparison between the Main Group of BD and BD2 is exactly mine but in reverse, I really don't like the pace of the game in the sense I would prefeer some scenes of the latter chapters to happen at the in the first part of the game, I couldn't really connect with the characters in the first part because I felt like 90 percent of the time, things happened around them without them being emmotionally affected and I believe that the writing is actually the main responsable for that.

[@katherinewhyte1522]

Amazing game, I love it!!

[@allister926]

Viewer engagement!

[@elefanamir9087]

I thought the game was pretty easy. A bit of a rough start though

[@joeyjose727]

I’m so glad you enjoy this game, I have issues with it but I hope it does well so that we can get more from the series! If we never get Bravely Third or a BD2 follow up, I desperately need them to switch up the formula a bit more. I get this was kinda a soft reboot, but we can’t deal with the crystals anymore, please no This was the first BD game on Switch, I’m sure we’ll get an even better experience in the future. So overall, I’d give the game a 6 or 7 out of 10 Also my playtime is at 135 hours... I don’t know how people say it’s like 60 hours, but I DID do everything + some grinding, the only thing I didn’t do was the secret boss

[@ForrestFox626]

Dang it, even with you praising the game I still can't bring my self to get this right this minute.

[@louisedelavalliere171]

lmao that intro XD. Yeh

[@hanoi_revolver]

I really hated the 2 demos, i really don't know if i should pick this game up.

[@blvk3]

seriously, the main line of FF is dead after 10 for me the Bravely Default franchise is the shit now

[@denysvision]

im sorry to tell you this but i don't agree with the most of the video, the story and the characters are pretty bland and the charm that artsyle provide this game is gone duo to the plastic look of the game and the uncanny proportions of the characters, the first 2 games are still a lot better

[@cronical246]

Nova: Game's hard Me: Teehee let me just beat these bosses on my first try

[@konstantinos-iliasstrempas4594]

i will buy it at the end of the month it's een on my switch wishlist since 2022

[@dcloud3791]

Give us the spoiler cut 😂

[@horstlichta1807]

How much he gets for this review?

[@jhon1406]

you think square enix is paying people with 2.45k subscribers? lol this is just a bravely fan talking to other bravely fans