When I first played this game in 2019, I enjoyed it a lot. But, I didn't see how special this series was until earlier last year when I played Bravely Second and this year Bravely Default 2.
The obvious qualities of this game is the combat, Team Asano crafted one of the best turn based combat systems in any game I've played. The amount of depth and variety the combat has to offer is astounding. And the boss fights actually force you to use variety, so you are forced to take advantage of the complexity. No grinding is ever needed if you have a proper strategy. Getting my ass kicked by a boss fight then spending a while theory crafting different builds and strategies until I figure out the best strategy feels so good. And the fact that Bravely Default 2s combat is even better is whats crazy. There are some dominant strategies like Stillness but this game is a tool box free to experiment with how you wish.
The art style is beautiful, not just for a 3DS game, but in general. The fact that I think this game looks way better than Bravely Default 2 A SWITCH GAME shows how fantastic the art direction was for this game. Revo created one of the best gaming soundtracks I've ever heard, the music is genuinely a masterpiece.
Finally the story, I love it. This game has Ringabel my guy. Of course the cast is amazing. The game's greatest use of story is how it incorporates the player itself and their feelings into the theming of the game. I wont go into spoilers, but all I'll say is one of the big themes of Bravely Default series is for the player to persevere with the party even if every action you take feels futile or meaningless. I also love the twist villain because the game uses your expectations against you to pull the rug from under you.
There is one big flaw with this game sadly, as you've all probably heard. Chapter 5-8 is basically recycles content. Now, narrative wise, this is genius, I cant explain because of spoilers but the act of "repeating the cycle" and the feeling of "futility" comes in again. But at the end of the day, repeating the same content gets boring, it fitting the story is irrelevant to this. Bravely Default 2 did a similar idea much better.
Overall, would I recommend this RPG to anyone like how I would, Persona 5? No, I can fully admit this game isn't for everyone, but for me, it's one of the goats.
The obvious qualities of this game is the combat, Team Asano crafted one of the best turn based combat systems in any game I've played. The amount of depth and variety the combat has to offer is astounding. And the boss fights actually force you to use variety, so you are forced to take advantage of the complexity. No grinding is ever needed if you have a proper strategy. Getting my ass kicked by a boss fight then spending a while theory crafting different builds and strategies until I figure out the best strategy feels so good. And the fact that Bravely Default 2s combat is even better is whats crazy. There are some dominant strategies like Stillness but this game is a tool box free to experiment with how you wish.
The art style is beautiful, not just for a 3DS game, but in general. The fact that I think this game looks way better than Bravely Default 2 A SWITCH GAME shows how fantastic the art direction was for this game. Revo created one of the best gaming soundtracks I've ever heard, the music is genuinely a masterpiece.
Finally the story, I love it. This game has Ringabel my guy. Of course the cast is amazing. The game's greatest use of story is how it incorporates the player itself and their feelings into the theming of the game. I wont go into spoilers, but all I'll say is one of the big themes of Bravely Default series is for the player to persevere with the party even if every action you take feels futile or meaningless. I also love the twist villain because the game uses your expectations against you to pull the rug from under you.
There is one big flaw with this game sadly, as you've all probably heard. Chapter 5-8 is basically recycles content. Now, narrative wise, this is genius, I cant explain because of spoilers but the act of "repeating the cycle" and the feeling of "futility" comes in again. But at the end of the day, repeating the same content gets boring, it fitting the story is irrelevant to this. Bravely Default 2 did a similar idea much better.
Overall, would I recommend this RPG to anyone like how I would, Persona 5? No, I can fully admit this game isn't for everyone, but for me, it's one of the goats.