Bravely Default was born to hark back to the JRPGs of yore. The genre made it big with globe-trotting adventures where slow and steady turn-based battles gave us ample time to think through each battle decision. Then came the Active Time Battle system, which speeds up the slog of traditional turn-based combat. The newer system seems better-suited to our need of twice-a-minute news feed refreshes and hot-take tweets. While Bravely Default 2 sounds like the perfect answer to those wanting a traditional take with a hint of something new, the new RPG embraces the past without stopping to understand why the systems it attempts to emulate fell out of fashion in the first place. Like its predecessor, Bravely Default 2 offers a unique spin on combat on top of a generic RPG story. As soon as the game begins, our seafaring hero is marooned on a beach after being saved by a talking crystal as he unconsciously floats through the ocean. At that moment, we’re only an amnesia cliché away from a hat t...
Strategic Brave/Default system; Useful jobs; Bosses are hard but fair; Enjoyable voice acting;
Reused music; Boring visuals; Bland gameplay loop;