‘Bravely Default’ sequel serves up more surprises
Innovation is hard to come by with Japanese role-playing games. It’s a genre that remains stubbornly fixed with its turn-based battles and class systems. Developers have tried to add action elements to gameplay or introduced new progression systems with mixed success.
So when a studio comes across a wrinkle that nudges the genre forward, it becomes a feature to celebrate. With the “Bravely Default” series, the innovation was so important that it’s in the title. The series came up with the Brave and Default systems, which is a gambit mechanic for turnbased combat. Players can be “brave” and use up future actions to frontload an attack or they can “default,” which allows them to defend and bank a turn for later.
The concept was a hit and it did so well that Square Enix turned it into a series. “Bravely Default II,” helmed by Claytechworks, carries over the hallmark battle system but introduces a new cast and story. It mostly takes place on a continent with five kingdoms — Halcyonia, Savalon, Wiswald, Rimedhal and Holograd. A sixth kingdom called Musa was destroyed and its elemental crystals were stolen.
The story so far …
The campaign focuses on Musa’s Princess Gloria, who is trying to recover the lost treasures. She meets the male lead, whom players can name, and two others: Adelle and Elvis. Together the foursome embark on an adventure to gather the Wind, Water, Earth and Fire Crystals, which are at the heart of internal conflicts inside several kingdoms.
In traditional JRPG style, the squad travels to each kingdom and solves problems there while also uncovering the backstory behind each of the heroes. Despite its cutesy character design and bright colors, “Bravely Default II” is a dark tale. Players will come across piles of dead bodies, religious fanaticism and political murder. It’s a strange contrast for a game whose stars look like living Precious Moments figurines.
As far as structure goes, the first three chapters are linear and episodic but “Bravely Default II” opens up in the later chapters as Gloria’s Heroes of Light crew have to hop around helping other kingdoms and fight a bigger threat. Players also have extra content with side quests and party chats that offer more depth to the narrative and characters. The only issue is that many of the tasks are mundane fetch quests or jobs to eliminate certain monsters.
Although that part of the game can be disappointing, the combat and character progression are top-notch. “Bravely Default II” is JRPG that revels in the flexibility of its systems. The ability to use up to four actions or save them creates a fascinating dynamic where players can go all in to eliminate foes or save turns in order to rescue a party from being wiped out.
Crafting the characters
Layered on top of this is a job system built upon the concepts of artifacts called Asterisks. Over the course of the campaign, players will defeat foes and gain these relics that open up jobs. Players then have to level up these jobs to gain more powerful spells, abilities or attacks. Players can choose two jobs and up to five passive abilities from ones they have leveled up.
The beauty in the system lies in finding the best combinations of each. “Bravely Default II” gives players who love to theory craft plenty to work with.
The game creates engrossing opportunities to create parties that synergize the different abilities, and players can test them out against rare bosses or tougher foes.
With the characters being equal blank slates, it’s up to the players to figure out the roles for each member of the party. With 20 jobs to choose from, players have plenty of combinations to experiment with and master. “Bravely Default II” will test players’ mastery and knowledge of these vocations because the final bosses are tough.
The only problem is that the game forces players to do a fair amount of grinding to reach these lofty goals. The party can sometimes enter a conflict underpowered and players will have to level up and boost their jobs to take on the adversaries. Elsewhere, some job skills are key to fighting the difficult battles, and players will need to level them up to stand a chance.
Claytech works tries to mitigate this with an online-compatible system where players use a ship to gather valuable items when they aren’t playing. It’s a slow process and it can be a slog, but “Bravely Default 2” is rewarding for those who figure out its intricacies.
It’s a 60-plus-hour JRPG that requires more strategy than its peers and one that manages to keep players engaged with its darker story. It also shows that the genre still has ways to surprise players when it offers systems of effortless depth and appealing complexity.