Topic: Bravely Default II (Nintendo Switch)

@Mince Trails of Cold Steel 3 is the only one being ported because NIS owns the publishing rights for it, while Xseed owns the publishing rights for the prior localized games.

But as others has said, that's the only one that's an issue if you play it first. Bravely Default 2 is set in a different world than the first two games.

Beat the demo this morning. Bravely Second and Octopath Traveler had fantastic demos so I was kind of hyping myself up. I wouldn't say it's bad per say but it's pretty rough.

The demo warns you about the difficulty. They made it intentionally harder. Probably to encourage character customization and increasing length. I think it succeeded in both. I had fun buying equipment and setting jobs and skills. And I never buy equipment in RPGs because most of the time there's literally no point if you just want to beat the game. Every RPG has so much loot that you never need to buy weapons yourself.

Anyway, I died 2 or 3 times in the 3 hours I played. Once against the first group of enemies. I encountered 3 bunnies and 2 pigs(?) and didn't expect them to hit quite that hard. I was one or two hits away from winning when my party was wiped out. I also died once against the boss. I'm not sure if I died somewhere else or not. I didn't grind per say but I only ran once from battle. The amount of enemy spawns is really high. Probably something they've also increased for the demo.

The visuals are lacking as well. Bravely Default on 3DS looked beautiful for the system and had one of the best uses of 3D. The towns looked really nice. I can't say the same for the new game. The town looks pretty good but far from perfect. The overworld and dungeon are just plain ugly. The main hero models bother me a bit as well though it may just be the lack of animation. Enemy models look better. I spent all my time in handheld mode so I don't know if the game looks any better on TV.

I'm also with Ralizah in that the music doesn't stand out so far. I like the music but it's not on the level I expected it to be. Bit of a shame since Bravely Default introduced me into Revo's music and I love all the other stuff he's done with his bands. I'm sure there will be bangers too but I'm bit afraid at the moment. I also feel the need to share the Bravely Default live concert any time I talk about BD's music. If you've never seen it, listen to the town music at the very least (second video). They've added lyrics to the songs which in my opinion just makes them even more awesome as the singers are all very talented.

Still excited for the game but I won't be surprised if they decide to push it back to 2021. That's honestly what I expected them to do even before playing the demo.

I've put about three hours into the demo over the last couple of days so far. For the most part, I've been enjoying my time with it. I've maxed out three out of five jobs for each character and seem to have hit the demo's level cap. I last saved in the demo's only dungeon right before engaging what I assume will be a boss. (Likely the guy shown in the latest trailer)

My impressions:

• I like how there seems to be more places to explore in the towns. Not that all of them had no exploration whatsoever in previous titles, but there usually wasn't much to it other than shops to buy things and places of interest. I don't want this taken too far in the other direction though; I like exploration, but shoving too much of it into one area really bogs me down. I impulsively want to find EVERYTHING.
• Savalon's design itself is pretty stunning. I like a lot of the lighting; at first it seemed a bit harsh, but then I reminded myself that this is pretty normal for a desert environment. I like the shimmer effect from the heat, but I feel like this technically shouldn't be present when you're indoors. The 2.5D effect going here helps make up for the lack of 3D that was present in previous games.
• I like how there's more detail to the overworld this time around, and that you can rotate the position of the camera. Cutting grass is pretty mundane, but it's a nice thing to mindlessly do while exploring. It's not like I haven't had plenty of practice with it in the Legend of Zelda series or anything.... 🤫
• The two sidequests I've found are basically fetch quests that aren't worth writing home about. Hopefully some with more substance show up in the main game. I know they're capable of better; the job-related side quests in Bravely Second, for example, are very much worth playing through.
• I like the character models for the most part, but I do agree that the lighting on shining armor needs toned down a bit.
• The playable characters don't seem to have a lot of substance to them compared to previous protagonists in the series, but again, this is a relatively spoiler-free demo. I expect them to expand on their personalities in the main game.
• I'm not Scottish, and even I think Elvis's accent is a bit much. XD The rest of the voice cast sounds at least fairly convincing in my book.
• Barring the next point, I like the flow of combat. The Brave and Default system is still here and as great as ever. Almost everything else is typical JRPG combat fare. Oh, and normal enemies now abuse the Brave/Default system as well, adding to the challenge.
• Why oh WHY did they mix up the turns based on speed? I much prefer setting what everyone will do before the turn starts, not in a disorganized mess as we get to each character.
• Enemy models look decent for the most part. Those slavering wolves look starved, and the pig-men dudes look like they can do some damage.
• While I like that encounters aren't random, the drawback is that weaker enemies, when trying to grind, run away from you. I feel like there should be a way to customize encounters, ranging from the encounter slider used in previous games to choosing whether encounters are random or not.
• They haven't spoiled much with the jobs as most of the ones available appeared in previous games, but it's still fun to play around with the different combinations. The only new one is Vanguard, which is basically this game's Knight class.
• Who thought adding weight to equipment was a good idea? I haven't personally had issues with it, but it seems like a wasted, cumbersome idea with no usefulness whatsoever.
• The enemy balancing definitely needs work, though the demo does warn the player that it will be difficult. I've managed to avoid TPKs, but I did have a party member downed more than once.
• The music isn't anything to write home about, but I'm betting the good tracks are being saved for the final product.

Bravely Default II is definitely a work in progress, but one that I'm still pretty optimistic about. I'll definitely be leaving some feedback when the survey appears in the hopes that they'll make this the best game it can be.

Loving this game so far.

Visuals
Amazing. Love the art style- they transitioned perfectly into HD. Game looks incredible on the handheld screen. Absolutely top-notch. Appears to be very close to 720p as I can see crisp details even in tiny characters or when zoomed out. I feel like I’m on an alien planet when I hear people complaining about the visuals. This is as good as it gets for handheld gaming. Muah! Perfecto!

Music
Sounds good to me so far. It’s a demo, not the full game orchestra. If the expectation is the best soundtrack you’ve heard in your life in a demo then I agree it falls short. But if comparing to any other game the music is at least as good if not a little better, and I’m quite sure the full game will have even more amazing music. This is not really a concern or a negative for me.

Difficulty
It’s hard. Or at least, it was hard, until I figured out how to properly utilize the systems. Now I’m doing pretty good. Some fights are harder than others but that’s to be expected. There isn’t any fight that I absolutely couldn’t win, if using proper strategy.

Voice Work
Surprisingly good. Almost shockingly so. I was taking a back because I’m not used to Square Enix paying for decent voice actors in games like this.

Enemies On Map
Love it. Such a needed change for the series. Like Pokémon, The era of random battles is long since passed. It’s time to leave that primitive game design behind, and they have. That’s excellent. And the enemies looks so good on the map and in the world! Well done. Very well done.

Complaints
1 The description text in menus should be able to be toggled.
2 Needs equipment comparisons in shops, and in the Equipment menu. Not just to see if it’s an increase or decrease but to see the actual before and after for stats.
3 Automatic zoom out in towns should take a bit longer to activate, and a button should enable/disable and a button should zoom on command.
4 A “heal all as efficiently as possible” option should be provided outside battles like Dragon Quest.
5 Framerate has some hiccups here and there. Obviously that should be ironed out.
6 Minor pop-in when exiting a town. Not a huge deal but, if they’re asking for areas to improve, that’ll definitely be on my list.
7 Enemies can be a little too dense and too aggressive. I would like to see either the density reduced but keep the same aggression, or see the aggression dialed back a bit while keeping the same density. Or maybe dial both of them back but only slightly so. This isn’t a major tweak that needs to happen here, just a small one. But that small adjustment could have a huge difference. I prefer to kind of choose my battles like Dragon Quest, but have the enemies chase you if you get too close.
8 Difficulty curve is out of wack, at least for the demo. As soon as I enter the dungeon, this was after quite a bit of battling around the area, my entire crew got mopped on the very first bee. It doesn’t feel good to run up against a wall like that so early in the demo. I am confident the main game is much more balanced and they did say the demo was made more difficult, I do hope they take care and ensuring things don’t get too tough.

Original Complaint Now Understood
In town, it seems like the image is waving with the water? It’s almost like the effect they put on the water to wave back-and-forth has spilled over to the entire image... then I realized it’s the heat! Inside the inn there was an optional party conversation you could engage in where they talk about how incredibly hot it is. Now I understand that effect is of the heat! It all makes sense.

Overall
Love it. Definitely some issues that need to be resolved, but even as it stands now I absolutely love it. I’ve written down the areas in which I think it can be improved so that I’m ready for the survey. And of course I’ll be updating it as I play more.

And let me add, There’s a demo for Trails of Cold Steel III, with a very thorough story summary for the first two games. I read the entire summary before starting the demo, and to be honest most of the events that happened in the first two games are completely irrelevant. If you want the Birdseye view I can summarize both previous games in one single paragraph and tell you everything you need to know going into the third. Or you can just read the story summary for yourself. It’s 100% adequate for going into Trails of Cold Steel III. I stayed up playing the demo until 2 AM last night and I felt like I had actually played the previous games because I knew the characters already and the events that had happened previously. They did a fantastic job with the story summary.

If you really want to prepare yourself it’s going to take about 30 minutes to read through both games thoroughly. But that’s the great thing about the demo- you can catch up on previous events and get a taste of the game for yourself all before it even releases. That way when the game drops in a few months you’re ready to go. And I have to say the game is fantastic. Definitely not one people should be sleeping on.

@JaxonH thanks

I will eventually play the full series 1-3. Im a little ocd when it comes to the story and having time to be fully immersed in it. And games that long in a series can be a little discouraging. Although that said I have a few rpg I would like to play first I cannot wait for my preorder of persona 5royal then octopath traveler will be a replay.

Also tales of zestiria/berseria I recently bought in a sale for ps4.

It good to know they did the recap very well, its sometimes the little thing like that and a in game story so far journal, that makes games like this a little better.

Trust me, I'm a huge fan who has already played all six of the localized Trails games thus far. Cold Steel 3 does set up the groundwork for its own story, but all the plot threads and all the returning character's development are still extensions of what's been established from the prior games. I don't know how much the story summery in CS3 covers, but I will at least say a lot of my enjoyment of CS3 was seeking out some of the more subtle connections it has to the prior games, and how it shows the state of characters from the Sky Trilogy. Even the new characters are tied to prior characters quite strongly.

But that's a conversation that's probably already been brushed upon on its own thread.

@Seacliff I think I know what you mean, after seeing the later chapters and ending of xenoblade chronicles 2, I will be replaying the remaster from a new perspective.

@Seacliff completly standalone games but woth connections that make a replay of the first worth it.

To the point, they could have got the formula right by not releasing 1 before 2!?
For xenoblades that is. If you've not played them? There worth it but a little too long

@Mince I really didn't like Xenoblade 2, but I have messed around with 1 on the 3DS a bit and plan to get it once it releases on Switch.

@Seacliff 1 and 2 are very similar if you didn't like 2 I cant imagine you would enjoy 1. Its a more ‘grownup’ story but thats about it.

Honestly, I forgot this existed, and now I find out there's a demo for it! I'm super excited, especially since I was just thinking the day before the Mini-Direct how great Bravely Default's battle system was, and how refreshing it was to play a traditional Turn-based RPG from someone besides Atlus that didn't feel half-@$$ed. Hopefully I can give it a try later tonight!

I am unreasonably hyped about this game, the demo is so good. Been working to finish the 3ds game now...

My only real negative about this so far is that I don't like the constant switching between different graphical styles. You have the towns that look 1 way, then the world map that looks a 2nd way, then the dungeons that look a third way.

I kinda wish they'd just use 1 graphical style for the whole thing, like Octopath did.

It would be nice if they released the other two bravely games on switch as well. I prefer playing on a tv compared to the little 3ds screen. I also didn't care about the 3d option for the 3ds.

@komodo182

I bet they never got all that 2D art done in HD. It would be cheaper for them to just have it done at the 3DS resolution.

The surveys for the Bravely Default II demo have started going out. They show up as the normal Nintendo evaluation surveys, but it explicitly states that the results will also be sent to Square Enix. Check those inboxes!

Still haven’t gotten any demo survey. Hmm.

@JaxonH I got it. Maybe its based on when you downloaded the demo. Did you download it the first day it came out?

@komodo182
Ya. Didn’t beat the demo though. Maybe that’s the issue? Checked my junk folder too. Nothing.

I remember getting one for Octopath. I complained about one of the voice actors with candor and frankness, perhaps they put me on a do not mail list lol.

Though I doubt it. Out of all the feedback they get with actual profanity and vulgarity and hostility... I doubt my forthrightness even registered as a blip on the Richter scale.