Topic: Bravely Default II (Nintendo Switch)

So I just watched a preview for the game, and it kind of looked a bit rough. Maybe it was just the recording messing up, since the other footage I've seen, and the trailers look good. However, on the one video I watched, the textures for the towns in the overworld kind of look a bit rough, and the game has aliasing issues around the character models and such. It's weird though, since I don't remember the demo looking that way. However, the graphics don't really matter much if the rest of the game is good I guess.

I don't know if I should link the video, since it's from a different news outlet for video games.

So the game got it's final trailer yesterday. Honestly, I don't know if I want to watch it or not, since I'm scared that it'll end up spoiling a lot of the story itself. Mainly because final trailers.. usually do that.

People think that they put the final boss in the newest TV spot. I didn't watch it, so I don't know, and I don't really want to know.. but why would they do that?

I don't think most people are highly neurotic about seeing an in-game boss for a couple of seconds out of fear of spoiling the sanctity of their first playthrough or whatever.

In general, if you're that sensitive to spoilers, it's probably best to just avoid trailers outright.

@Ralizah I mean, if it's the final boss, then that could spoil a lot about it in a story based game.

@VoidofLight If it's a character, then yeah, but oftentimes it's a generic looking monster. For example, seeing Ouroboros from the first game wouldn't spoil a damn thing. Just looks like a final boss.

Showing footage of the Airy boss fight from the first game would be downright criminal, though, given how central that twist is to the story.

True.. but eh, I'm just mostly warning those who weren't aware. I personally am trying to avoid spoilers for stuff.

77 on Metacritic, and it'll probably go down further.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/bravely-default-ii

It appears the only "negative" review so far is from The Telegraph (2/5 stars). I'd like to see what all the reviewer disagreed with, but there's unfortunately a paywall. Gotta stick with the flavor text on MC.

@Ralizah
Why do you think it'll go down further?

I mean, it might, but why?

Not that I think it matters. It got a smattering of great reviews. Just getting pulled down by a few unreasonably low ones.

In statistics, we categorize those as outliers and remove them from the data set. Or, an alternative approach would be to calculate a median score rather than a weighted mean score, since median is robust against outliers.

In any case, having played the recent demo I'm convinced the game is as good as I'd hoped (and no "play through the game a second time" shenanigans either). Reviews are more of a formality at this point.

@JaxonH Just an observation. Games almost always creep a few points lower before the final score stabilizes a week or two after release, once the slower outlets get their reviews in.

Anyway, the demo should be sufficient for people to judge whether they want the game or not. It makes a few controversial changes from the original, but otherwise sticks to its card and doesn't go for a blowout experience. Mario games do that all the time and score way higher, but difficult, grindy, highly technical, and/or niche experiences are just less likely to appeal to critics. There's a reason the GOTY is an action-adventure title almost every time, and it's not because action-adventure games are an inherently superior genre. They're easy to consume and provide more easy stimulation than a game like this would.

Critic reviews are largely pointless in a world filled with gameplay footage and universal user impressions. And especially with a game like this where the final demo broadly reflects the sort of experience you're going to get with the full game.

@Ralizah
I usually read one review just to get a feel for any glaring flaws I'm unaware of, but aside from that, gameplay vids are how I judge a game. Or a demo if a game has one.

I'm 30 minutes in, and so far the voice acting isn't that bad. Some of the character models look a bit odd, but they'll grow on me eventually. The one thing that really stands out to me however is the game's music. It's really really good, despite being the starting area.

I've just finished the first boss battle. It sure feels like the first game, but with some improvements. I love that random encounters are gone!

The character models aren't that bad, I find them expressive enough. And the voice acting is OK! The music is great, love the victory theme!

So far, it feels solid.

So far I'm enjoying it

About 2 hours in, and loving it. Very comfortable like all the 90’s turn based RPG’s like Suikoden, FInal Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

Also I really appreciate British voices- they just seem more believable to me. I get the feeling that some outside the UK may not, but in an early conversation with a NPC the way she expressed the phrase “Oh Dear” made me laugh out loud.

Good to see positivism in here If everything goes well, I may have the game tomorrow.

@MrGawain Yeah, I don't get reviews that say "It's distracting". Everything feels natural, and the voices aren't that bad. There's some times where a line doesn't sound completely right, but that's not all the time.

I watched IGN's NVC episode yesterday, and one of the guys was giving his take on Bravely Default 2. He actually put 65 hrs into the game and beat it.

He loved it. He said it played mind games like the first one did. And there was a point toward the end he basically covered his eyes and just pressed the button while holding his breath over what would happen.

It sounds fantastic. His only nitpick was the sidequests. Said those were pretty lame. Basically just fetch Quests. But some of them led to new jobs. So if you talk to someone with a mark over their head and you get a cutscene, it's probably a side quest you want to take. As a general rule of thumb.

He also said his strategy was basically fight enemies in a Dungeon until they run away from you, and then do 2 more levels for good measure. He said that left him in pretty decent shape for the bosses. Some were still hard, and he said one was infuriating to the point he lowered difficulty to Easy just to beat the boss quick, but that aside it didn't feel impossibly hard or anything.