Bravely Default 2 Review - IGN

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When it comes to JRPGs, I enjoy them as JRPG as possible: long, complex, and grindy. Seeing as Bravely Default 2 is about as JRPG as they come in 2021, I'm really into it. Its novel twists on traditional turn-based battle and job systems, the gorgeous watercolor art style of its many locations, and the sheer amount of game that’s crammed into such a tiny Switch cartridge is just what my old-school Final Fantasy-loving brain craves. The amount of grinding that it demands can be a tough hill to climb, but there are plenty of smart features in play that make those long repetitive stretches about as easy as they can be without losing the feeling of accomplishment.

The good news is that if you’re returning to this world after playing Bravely Default and its story followup, Bravely Second: End Layer, you’re in for a familiar treat; the better news is that total newcomers won't be at a loss because the story of Bravely Default 2 is set in the same world but on a different continent, so you don’t need to dust off your 3DS to get caught up on the details. Instead, Bravely Default 2 connects to the original stories in an interesting way that might be a little surprising (though not jaw-dropping) to those invested in them.Either way, Bravely Default 2’s roughly 60-hour story is like a refrigerator magnet poetry set of Square Enix cliches: you control a team of heroes out to save the world from calamity using magic elemental crystals – the group is even called The Heroes of Light, and you’re not just fighting evil, you're fighting the ultimate evil. I'm selling it a little bit short with that summary, because there are a few surprises I really enjoyed that diverge from its otherwise well-trodden JRPG trail, particularly near the end. But if you're picking this up expecting some deep storytelling, I'm here to dash those expectations against the same rocks our main hero's ship crashes into at the start of Bravely Default 2. (You know, where he washes ashore on a land in need of a hero? With only the vaguest recollection of how he got there?) And besides, while it might be a formulaic, light and breezy tale, that’s pretty much just what I want from a classic-style JRPG – especially one with such great gameplay mechanics underneath.

You’re not just fighting evil, you're fighting the ULTIMATE evil.

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The battle and job systems are where I found most of my joy while playing Bravely Default 2, but those don't diverge much from the tried-and-true formulas of the previous games. Remember: the odd name of the series refers to the battle system itself, which lets you either set a character to "Brave" to gain extra moves during your current turn, or "Default" to adopt a defensive stance while you build up extra turns to use with Brave later on. Knowing when to bank and when to let it all loose is crucial to your success in battles, and there is no one-size-fits all strategy right for every fight.

For example, it can be a literal lifesaver when three of your four party members lay defeated on the battlefield: rather than just raise one back with a Phoenix Down and hope they survive to the next round, I could Brave the turns I needed to raise them all at once, but only if I had been smart about banking turns with Default before then. Not only does striking that balance make me rethink tried-and-true turn-based tactics, it saves some battles from becoming frustrating. As is the case in most (maybe all?) JRPGs, certain bosses have moves that would otherwise end your run – but here that’s mitigated by the ability to get multiple party members back in the fight.

Bravely Default’s excellent job system also returns to add another layer of complexity to battles. Unlike a lot of RPGs, where each character is locked into a class from the outset, this job system lets you make them whatever you want, adding onto their abilities and strengths accordingly from each character's base stats. Characters gain job levels outside of normal experience points, and as you level them up you’ll unlock new abilities, including passive ones that can be assigned to that character regardless of their current job. These range from simple things like magical and physical buffs to more game-changing abilities like letting your magic attacks score critical hits as the Red Mage, or even the Monk's bare-knuckle combat ability that turns a character's fists into powerful weapons. Jobs from previous games, like White Mage, Thief, and Freelancer return, but (without spoiling anything) it’s a slight disappointment that there aren't as many jobs as in Bravely Second: End Layer, which had 30.

My inevitable defeat would send me back to excitedly experiment with reorganizing my party.

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There’s a lot of fun to be had in mixing and matching passive abilities with ones only available to a certain job for combos that are greater than the sum of their parts. You can set one of the abilities to guard a teammate when they're low on health, for example, and then add the chance to automatically counter-attack with another passive ability. Granted, there’s a fair amount of trial and error involved; there were a few boss battles where, after a few minutes, I'd realize I'd planned terribly for the task at hand (for example, not having a dark magic job like the Pictomancer equipped against a boss with dark magic weakness). However, my inevitable defeat would send me back to excitedly experiment with reorganizing my party to exploit those weaknesses before trying it again. The auto-save system is really generous, and saved me from having to redo my progress when I walked right into a boss' lair without stopping off at the nearby save-point beforehand. Definitely appreciated.

What We Said About 2013's Bravely Default

"Bravely Default offers a handful of modern twists on what is otherwise a fairly traditional JRPG, albeit one that is exceptionally refined, characterful and well-made. It’s no revolution, and if random encounters and turn-based battles turn you off, you won’t find anything to change your mind here. But fans and open-minded newcomers will enjoy a substantial adventure that proves the JRPG is alive and kicking." - David Evans, posted December 5, 2013

Score: 8

Read the full Bravely Default review

Bravely Default 2’s boss battles are particularly great as well, especially some of the more challenging ones. For the most part, you start off the first half of the campaign finding and fighting bosses who hold items that unlock different jobs. Some of them are extremely tough, too – I spent over an hour fighting one, mostly due to being a bit under-leveled and not having a good loadout equipped going into it. But even if I had gone into it at exactly the right strength, it still would have been a challenge due to the nature of the fight. It almost felt like a puzzle: the boss had several minions who all buffed each other and attacked my party. I'd make serious progress only to have it undone by a healing spell from a minion, one who was in turn protected from attack by the boss' buffs. It was pretty arduous, but the satisfaction of beating the tougher bosses always made the struggle feel worth it.

The satisfaction of beating the tougher bosses always made the struggle feel worth it.

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The bosses aren't just relegated to the main path, either: there are "rare monsters" scattered about the world you can take on as you see fit. They're hyper-powered versions of regular monsters, and the first time I tried my hand at battling one my party was absolutely crushed. The first of these bosses is presented right near the start, but I was about 30 hours into the story (roughly halfway) before I was able to best it.Even beyond that, there are other bosses to fight in Bravely Default 2's many optional sidequests (including a late-game quest with one of the most irritating boss fights I think I've ever experienced, though the frustration it caused was the exception rather than the rule). Both the sidequest bosses and the rare monsters reward you massively with experience, but the equipment they drop isn’t nearly as exciting. As great as the job system is, it sort of unsatisfyingly takes the place of equipment rather than adding another facet of character customization. There is no ultimate sword of everlasting holy light to excitedly discover; there are powerful weapons, that's for sure, but they never feel like they're impacting the way your characters might fight like they do in other RPGs. They're just kind of there because... how else can you fight a monster?

The overwhelming majority of the sidequests are slight variations on fetch quests.

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Another gripe I have with the sidequests is the overwhelming majority of the ones I came across were just slight variations on fetch quests: collect four hides from a certain enemy and bring them back. Find five types of flowers and bring them back. Set out into the wilderness to collect three item types by defeating specific enemies and... bring them back. They're not all like that, but the majority are. However, there are some pretty excellent rewards for some of the side quests, and some of the jobs themselves are unlocked this way, so they’re usually worth putting up with. Make sure to ask around when you're in a town.

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As great as the boss fights are, the dungeons leading up to them aren't nearly as notable. They're all quite pretty, but each one is essentially just a different take on a classic maze-like layout. I found myself getting turned around more than once, but not in a way that ever got frustrating or anything. It was always fairly easy to get myself on the right track, but thinking back after the fact, none of the dungeons have any unique mechanics or obstacles that could make them stand out from each other beyond one being set in a steampunk-inspired magician's laboratory and another being set in crystalline mine, for example.

The overworld and many of the towns you visit are jaw-droppingly beautiful.

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On that note, Bravely Default 2's watercolor visual style is a double edged sword. Its overworld and many of the towns you visit are jaw-droppingly beautiful – the upgrade to the Switch has lost a little of their charm from the tiny worlds of the 3DS, and each location is stunning in HD. Salvalon, the flooded desert city you might recognize from the demo, is an Earth-toned oasis for the eyes, while the ice-encrusted locale of Rimedhal blends blues and greys to exude a gorgeous sense of wintery majesty.

The character and monster design, on the other hand, is less appealing. There's a plastic sheen to everyone and everything in the cutscenes and battles that looks a little off in a way I can't quite put my finger on. I loved the similar character style of the 3DS games, but that look hasn’t translated well for the Switch’s higher resolution and larger screen. As a result, they look out of place among the otherwise gorgeous watercolor backdrops.

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Meanwhile, the voice acting for Bravely Default 2 is great. I have no qualms with it whatsoever, other than the quips made during battles lack variety after just a few hours. You can also swap between English and Japanese at any time you're not in battle, which is a welcome touch. I played the majority of Bravely Default 2 with Japanese voiceover and English subtitles, because I find it easier to read through the text at my own pace when I don't understand the words being spoken. Plus I'm a huge dork.

Back on the Grind

If you're turned off by the thought of grinding experience in a JRPG, then Bravely Default 2 might be a hard sell for you – but for me, a fan of notoriously grindy classics like Final Fantasy 6 and the Dragon Quest DS ports, there was an almost relaxing delight to leveling up my party with battle after battle. (Many years ago I had basically written off my lifelong love affair with JRPGs because I’d lost patience for the grind, but when I started playing JRPGs on handhelds, oh baby did that change.) I spent some of my time with Bravely Default 2 grinding in handheld mode while watching YouTube videos or right before bedtime, making it feel like a positive time-waster rather than time wasted. But if you’re less inclined than I am to enjoy turning off your brain and watching the numbers go up, be warned that grinding is definitely required here.

Be warned: grinding is definitely required here.

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Grinding levels and grinding jobs are two different things, and I quickly developed strategies for doing either one optimally. For levels, I would find the hardest enemies I could stand and just fight a bunch of them. For jobs, the "JP" (or job points) that are tied to advancement don't require you to seek out harder and tougher enemies, so you can grind up your job levels on easier foes instead. (I personally recommend the desert, with bait equipped, and try to battle Wiki-Wikis.) I really like how the JP system isn't tied into difficulty because that made it easier to level up my jobs without feeling like I was risking death by taking on wave after wave of tough foes. By the end I had earned a passive ability that made it even easier, and it still felt fun. In fact, I was so overpowered it felt like I was exacting revenge on all those enemies who had given me such a hard time early on. Take that, stupid Undines and your healing abilities!I ran into a few bosses and dungeons where I was quickly defeated, often because I didn't have the right job leveled-up for the task at hand. Thankfully, Bravely Default 2 gives you abilities that make that easier as you progress. On top of passive abilities like the freelancer's "JP Up," which gives you a boost to your earned job points and the option to turn battle speed up to a ludicrous four times the regular pace returns from the previous games. I got so used to playing at 4X speed that it would feel like time itself had slowed to a crawl whenever I dropped it back down during boss battles. Tools like this don’t eliminate the grind, but they do help ease the time investment leveling will take.

I was really happy to see some sort of community integration carried forward into the Switch era.

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Speaking of quality-of-life features, one of my favorites from the Bravely series on 3DS was the ability to turn up, or off, random monster encounters. I liked having the flexibility of limping back to a town with the encounter rate off, or turning it all the way up to grind even quicker. However, since battles in Bravely Default 2 aren't random (they’re structured more like Dragon Quest with monsters wandering the overworld,) those options are gone. But the good news is you can now easily avoid them if need be – in fact, if you're overpowered, they'll flat-out run away (as more video game enemies should when they see someone out of their league approaching, frankly). And if you do want to grind and fight more enemies, you can use bait to attract certain types to you, even fighting consecutive waves with increasing rewards. As worried as I was about losing out on a feature I really liked from the original games, I'm happy to say the new system works just about as well.

Another helpful system that seems like an attempt to fill the gap that the Switch’s lack of StreetPass has left involves sending a ship off to meet with other players while your system is asleep. You can let the ship sail for a maximum of 12 hours, and when you check on its progress you get a rundown of which other players it met on its journeys and which treasures it discovered. Many of the treasures are XP- or JP-boosting, so it's in your best interest to put your Switch to sleep once in a while. It's not as great as the StreetPass features of the earlier games because there's no way to summon those random strangers to help you out of a pinch, but I was really happy to see some sort of community integration carried forward into the Switch era. And the people you meet on your ocean voyages do eventually matter, but once again, the specifics fall into some spoilery territory.

I also appreciated that you can swap between Easy, Normal, or Hard difficulty at any time if you run up against a tough battle or if grinding becomes so easy it’s boring. You don't even need to back out to the menu and restart, you can just decide "I'm going to take it easy for a while" and flip the setting over at will (not that I, a very manly gamer man, would ever do such a thing). While I stuck with Normal for nearly the entirety of my playthrough and found it to be pretty well balanced, I did test out the Easy against that annoying boss I mentioned earlier and it made a little bit of a difference without reducing it to a total cakewalk. It didn't appear to affect my XP and JP, either – so if you just want to play and enjoy an easier experience, who am I to judge?

Regardless of difficulty, there’s no shortage of things to experience: Bravely Default 2's story, along with stopping to smell the occasional sidequest, took me about 65 hours to complete. It definitely has its ups and downs in that time and the total number of hours is significantly padded by grinding, but it maintains a comforting familiarity throughout, and (avoiding spoilers) the way it all played out at the end left me both smiling and a little surprised. After all of that, I still have plenty more I want to do too, with new bosses and more job-related secrets to uncover that will keep me busy far past the credits (and that’s not even including the New Game+ mode that unlocks after getting there). Like I said, there’s a lot of JRPG here.

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Bravely Default 2 Review - IGN
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