It's really been a long time now we've been grappling with Bravely Default 2, new and highly anticipated title published by Square Enix to Nintendo Switch and developed by Claytechworks. The work, like its predecessors, is a turn-based tribute to JRPG of yesteryear, such as final Fantasy e Dragon Quest just to name a couple, but the list goes on and on. It seems strange but for a product that offers this style of play it could be counterproductive to come out in recent years, but not for Bravely Default. Let's take a small step back, so that new players can have a much more complete overview. The saga was born with the first chapter called, in fact, Bravely Default, available in Europe in 2013 and which met with enormous and in some ways almost unexpected success. The approval from the public was the push for the creation of a second chapter, Bravely Second: End Layer, but that didn't have the same hype. For the latter production there was no way out and, although as a whole it turned out to be a product capable of entertaining the player, the epic tones and depth of the battles of its predecessor were not even scratched. Where has all this led us? Exactly where we are today, to tell you about Bravely Default 2 and how, finally, this series begins to shine again with its own light.
A classic incipit that does not age
The story of Bravely Default 2 is of a disarming simplicity, a beginning so obvious and banal that we would not have expected anything different. However this is not what the greatness of the narrative does because, although the spark that ignites the story does not shine with fantasy, it is precisely the fire it unleashes that makes the greatest difference in the world. The protagonist is called Seth, a shipwrecked sailor on a beach. He will soon get to know Elvis, Gloria e Adelle, characters who will accompany you throughout the rest of the adventure. The evil Empire of Holograd wants to conquer the entire kingdom, and to do so it needs the four elemental crystals hidden and protected by the other cities, which obviously do not intend to bow to the will of the bad guys. However, it is not that easy, so your aim as a hero will be not only to save other empires and forge alliances, but also to recover all the crystals and use their immense and sacred power to save the freedom of the peoples.
Telling further about the plot would be doing pretty heavy spoilers, so for the storytelling, we stop here. Behind an almost fairytale style, Bravely Default 2 hides a pitch-black heart, since it will not scruples in showing hatred and pain in some moments of the adventure. Indeed, absolute happiness cannot be expected in a kingdom in crisis, each city hides its skeletons, each person has his own inner demons to defeat. The game analyzes all these aspects and throws them in the face of the player, filtering in some cases the images, but not the impact or the emotional meaning. From this point of view, the entire production shows an enviable writing, with texts and dialogues that will always provide you with all the information you need to learn more about the history, not only of the place, but also of the inhabitants who populate it.
During the adventure, although in some cases the events are quite obvious, we have experienced very special moments, capable of giving us different but still real emotions. The storyline game holds up to the end, and it does it great by giving the user moments of fierce battle, moments of kindness, glimmers of hope, and in some cases even redemption. Not all characters are the same, and here too we have to commend the characterization work done by the developers as they managed to make the characters consistent with themselves from start to finish.
The plot in its entirety works, in some cases it is also very brilliant, however when you start from such an overused opening, it is difficult to shake off some clichés that are regularly repeated in Japanese-style productions. This however does not make all the team work ugly or useless, which anyway has managed to give the production that splash of personality that makes it recognizable within the videogame market.
Taste of nostalgia
Turn-based combat is now a great point of confrontation between RPG fans: there are those who consider it the only real way to identify the role-playing game, those who instead consider it a great and precious legacy of the past , accepting this increasingly marked action variant in today's market. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but nothing detracts from the idea that the play structure of Bravely Default 2 goes against the trend in some respects from the 2021 standards. By virtue of this it must be said that the team managed to find an almost perfect formula to make past and present coexist, wisely balancing all the ingredients and creating an experience capable of both giving strong satisfactions to old RPG fans and bringing new ones closer. The tried and tested system of the Brave and Default series, already explained in detail in our preview, is only the tip of the iceberg of a much deeper game as regards the part of the clashes. The class system, in fact, is the real icing on the cake, able to create that extra variant that can substantially affect the struggles. Each character can equip two classes, with unique and specific abilities. The aim of the game is to make you rotate practically all the available classes, and where focusing on just one is not a wise choice. This leads to always having complex fights from the beginning to the end of the adventure, you can never afford to lower your attention even in the apparently easier clashes. Don't be afraid though, you will almost always be accompanied by supporting actors who in some situations will be more than just support.
Each party member certainly has his affinities, but the nice thing is that this will count relatively: if for example you want Seth to be a magician, you can do it, Bravely Default 2 does not in any way prohibit you from organizing the group as you see fit, rather, always encourages different and varied approaches. Going back to old-school JRPGs, get ready to face too hours and hours of struggles to level up the protagonists. Purists will be able to face these sessions in the most classic way possible, while others will have a couple of shortcuts that the game itself makes available almost immediately. The first is represented by the lures for monsters, which according to the type attracts the attention of specific enemies, triggering battles in particularly intense waves. The second is the new exploration system, which if activated will guarantee the collection of resources for a maximum of 12 hours. However, this feature only works when the console is in standby, so don't expect a particularly powerful plus.
As for true exploration, Bravely Default 2 offers a very classic formula, made up of vast areas to discover with their own biome and specific dungeons. The level design of the latter is quite simplistic, but even the most demanding will find some really high-level ideas and solutions. Obviously there will be rewards for players who will search for the mysteries hidden in these lands, but we will let you discover them for yourself. However, there is a small discordant note, and it is represented by the variety of monsters available. Although the desire to create specific creatures for each habitat is evident, the models in the end did not really turn out to be that varied. Contrary to this, the mission system is well done, which at a certain point will literally overwhelm you. You will constantly have one or more pointers that will show you the way, as well as the always faithful map open on the right; some of the available quests will make you live very deep stories, others will be lighter in tone. Regardless of this, however, you will be mainly concerned with killing monsters, collecting or recovering resources or delivering a particular item.
From a technical point of view the game suffers from some drop in frame rate, but it happened rarely and right during the automatic saves, nothing really substantial or capable of undermining the experience. For the rest everything in the norm, the title makes a beautiful figure both on TV and in portability. Bravely Default 2 amazes from the first moment with bright colors and its graphic style, especially the one used to compose the cities that you will discover during the adventure. To accompany it all a splendid soundtrack, capable of always being spot on in every single moment.
