This review contains spoilers
It's obvious this game learned from the reception of the past game. While a loop does occur again in this game, it's only done once, and in a much less tedious way. In fact it's done in a way that continues the series rare yet utterly brilliant, fourth wall breaking moments (you get a couple more of those).
We get a whole bunch of new classes to get excited about and test. For a while I didn't unlock any old jobs (other than Freelancer which is still the starting one), so I assumed they were just replaced, especially as many of the new ones seemed to directly compete with Bravely Default's jobs - Bishop is an obvious White Mage for example. However all but like 5 jobs from the last game return, and while some of those do have an equivalent in the new list, there's a couple that don't. I can't think of any jobs that play like the Salve-Maker for example.
The way these old jobs were implemented was my favourite part. The devs must have known that players wouldn't find as much fun in unlocking old classes they've played to death before, so they turn them into side quests, which already makes them optional. But going further than that, each side quest makes you go through the choice of 2 jobs from the past game, given in the form of a moral dilemma involving the characters who were originally fought for those jobs in the first place. I love this because there are times when you might think "Well morally I agree with this person... But I prefer this class, so that'd mean I'd have to disagree with my morals to get it". Of course you can get every class in the game, but you only get the option to redo the quests for the second choice much later with the time loop. Come to think of it, I have no idea what'd happen if you chose the same option each time to get the same class... Maybe the other would be missed forever?
Luckily the replay of the side of these quests skips the majority of the set-up, since our characters already know what's going on. You generally just go to the dungeon, meet up with the characters and Edea explains she already knows everything and you make your choice. I did notice the replay with the murder mystery was very weird, as our characters were still completely surprised at the killers reveal, despite them already knowing this. It seems they just play the same "resolution" cutscene for the given choices regardless of whether it's pre-loop or post-loop, which is fine for most of them, but that just makes this one a bit of a standout. A very minor one though.
It's not just jobs, you'll experience both new and old locations and enemies too. Even the party is made up of 50% new and 50% old characters. Though the plot itself, and the main villains are all unique to the game.
Also this game continues Japanese media's fetish with food. Almost every other cutscene is just about food.
We get a whole bunch of new classes to get excited about and test. For a while I didn't unlock any old jobs (other than Freelancer which is still the starting one), so I assumed they were just replaced, especially as many of the new ones seemed to directly compete with Bravely Default's jobs - Bishop is an obvious White Mage for example. However all but like 5 jobs from the last game return, and while some of those do have an equivalent in the new list, there's a couple that don't. I can't think of any jobs that play like the Salve-Maker for example.
The way these old jobs were implemented was my favourite part. The devs must have known that players wouldn't find as much fun in unlocking old classes they've played to death before, so they turn them into side quests, which already makes them optional. But going further than that, each side quest makes you go through the choice of 2 jobs from the past game, given in the form of a moral dilemma involving the characters who were originally fought for those jobs in the first place. I love this because there are times when you might think "Well morally I agree with this person... But I prefer this class, so that'd mean I'd have to disagree with my morals to get it". Of course you can get every class in the game, but you only get the option to redo the quests for the second choice much later with the time loop. Come to think of it, I have no idea what'd happen if you chose the same option each time to get the same class... Maybe the other would be missed forever?
Luckily the replay of the side of these quests skips the majority of the set-up, since our characters already know what's going on. You generally just go to the dungeon, meet up with the characters and Edea explains she already knows everything and you make your choice. I did notice the replay with the murder mystery was very weird, as our characters were still completely surprised at the killers reveal, despite them already knowing this. It seems they just play the same "resolution" cutscene for the given choices regardless of whether it's pre-loop or post-loop, which is fine for most of them, but that just makes this one a bit of a standout. A very minor one though.
It's not just jobs, you'll experience both new and old locations and enemies too. Even the party is made up of 50% new and 50% old characters. Though the plot itself, and the main villains are all unique to the game.
Also this game continues Japanese media's fetish with food. Almost every other cutscene is just about food.