I had to stop playing this cause it's so frustrating to me. It's an undeniably beautiful game and I really appreciate the obvious attention to detail that went into it, but god does it take forever to go anywhere. I got about 12 hours in before I realized that it's just not what I'm looking for. It feels like it's juggling entirely too much at once-- why is 13 stories necessary? I'm sure that those who've finished the game could argue that "everyone is important," but IMO the game does a really poor job of making things feel that way. It's as though a third of the characters could be removed and my understanding and appreciation for the world and story would be exactly the same. It was also kinda shocking to me that after 12 whole hours there wasn't a single scene that really sold me on it being a worthwhile experience. The story felt like a never-ending foreplay that only serves to introduce more plot elements and mysteries at you before they're all answered in the final hours. Maybe I'll come back to this one but I just have no desire to play it instead of other games or visual novels that provide lots of quality from the start

Dropped this some 40-ish hours in because fuck finishing things, right?
The first bravely default, while a traditional and rather generic turn-based JRPG, is excused by being the first entry in the series and still having things like a fantastic soundtrack and loveable characters.
Bravely second is a far more experimental game, with a wildly different approach to the narrative.
Bravely default 2 is literally just the first game again but without the cool meta stuff, good writing, or SOUL. What a fucking disappointment. Should've been the Ringabel game.