

While the brave and default commands remain unchanged, enemies and characters now perform one-by-one, instead of as an ensemble as was the case in the previous games, creating much more fluid and intense battles. With that said, the flexibility of the game’s combat system does make up for these seemingly arbitrary decisions. Given how much time is spent levelling up your characters, mastering the wide range of job classes, and adventuring through forests, dungeons, swamps and more, it’s a pity that the attention to detail here is sorely lacking. And while you can attach accessories to your characters to remove experience gains from battles, it’s not as simple as switching it off in the settings menu. This makes it much more difficult to encounter the same types of enemy with the temporary effects from monster food. However, dungeons tend to be unimaginatively built as long corridors, combined with large dead spaces or circular mazes. This change would have been easy enough for players to adapt to if the game’s dungeons or overworld were designed in such a way that enabled them to do just this. In Bravely Default II, players are required to purchase ward lights to avoid enemy encounters and are reliant on ‘monster food’ obtained through adventuring (rather than bought in city stores) to chain consecutive battles together. The beauty of Bravely Second’s visible enemy encounter rate percentage adjuster meant that players could freely choose how many – or how little – enemies to fight and string those battles together to easily grind levels. This rigid play style can be an issue in areas where the player usually has more freedom to explore, often when levelling up characters.

While Bravely Default and Bravely Second gave players an easy way to adjust the game’s parameters, so they could experience the game in a flexible way, Bravely Default II feels like it is shoehorning players into a specific subset of rules. On the one hand, the wide variety of job classes and abilities opens up the game to electrifying and strategic boss battles, yet on the other it sets itself up for failure with technical glitches (including one problematic system crash) during cutscenes or battles, and a less-than-favourable user interface from overlaid menu text.
#Bravely default 2 elvis series#
Rather bizarrely, the series feels like it has taken one step forward and two steps back.

It’s a shame, then, that the gameplay feels less refined than that of its predecessors. The English voice acting is excellent and distinguishes each kingdom with its own dialect and quirks.Īside from one dour chapter in Savalon, as mentioned in our preview, Bravely Default II’s story is certainly engaging, setting the right tone and pace throughout the game. And although the voice acting was initially hampered by remote working issues due to the ongoing pandemic, there are no qualms with its quality. While you’ll grow to adore Elvis and Adelle (as with Ringabel and Edea in Bravely Default and Magnolia in Bravely Second) in both the main storyline and side quests, you’ll also build affinity with husband-and-wife mage duo Roddy and Lily, alongside the baby dragon Gwilym and guardian Martha. Perhaps it’s this intensity, combined with its chilling storyline, that makes it easy to feel compassion for the game’s characters. In Bravely Default II, war isn’t just coming, it’s on the doorstep.įrom the moment Bravely Default II begins, there is a real sense of urgency captured in the storyline. This deception has caused innocent women and children to be slaughtered at the hands of misguided religion, has driven mages to madness for artistic merit and has shown how political affairs can quickly turn into acts of murderous revenge. Between the royal ramparts of Halcyonia to the snow-tipped mountains of Rimedhal, the people of each kingdom are suffering. Yet there’s a foul stench hanging in the air caused by death, destruction and malevolence, which can be felt in each of the five kingdoms of Excillant. Featuring Seth, Gloria, Elvis and Adelle, the four Heroes of Light set out on a quest to reunite the elemental crystals after they were taken by force at the hands of the Holograd Empire.
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With an engaging storyline and a charming watercolour 3D diorama-esque art style, Bravely Default II may be less refined than its predecessors but it remains an enjoyable adventure for those looking to scratch a JRPG itch.ĭeveloped by Claytechworks and published by Square Enix, Bravely Default II delivers an intriguing new story arc that’s full of sorrow, hardships and cruel manipulation. Follow the Heroes of Light as they journey through the kingdoms of Excillant in Bravely Default II, whereby the fate of the world rests in the balance of four elemental crystals.
