Japan Weekly: Bravely Second Jobs Revealed and Theatrhythm Dragon Quest Reviewed

Finally — this week's Famitsu has made up for the last couple of disappointing releases when it comes to juicy Nintendo news. While we still haven't heard when Bravely Second: End Layer will make it outside of Japan, that hasn't stopped Famitsu from feeding Japanese gamers more and more information on the sequel to one of the 3DS's best role­playing games. Luckily, we've had a read through the four page spread featured in Famitsu this week, along with reviews of Theatrhythm Dragon Quest, Tengami, and Rodea the Sky Soldier.

Fair warning — some light spoilers for Bravely Second: End Layer are below.

Previews

Bravely Second's spread focused on unlockable jobs in the upcoming title. The original title, Bravely Default, had a whopping 23 jobs the four playable characters could switch between, and it appears Bravely Second isn't straying far from its predecessor's tree. Famitsu confirmed at least five jobs in the game, two new and three returning favourites.

First up is the Wizard job. Bravely Default had a half dozen magic jobs, but a Wizard wasn't one of them. Wizards use spirit magic in Bravely Second, and what makes them different from a black or red mage is their special "modification" ability. Modification allows Wizards to manipulate the properties of spells, such as its physical properties or area of effect. This job is unlocked by defeating a black sorceress from the Kingdom of Glanz named Ayame.

The Chariot job is also a new one to the series. Chariots are diverse physical attackers capable of using all types of weapons and come equipped with the ability to use three weapons at once. Yeah — you read that right. Three weapons at once. When players beat Ku Kurin, a half man and half horse sworn to serve Ayame, the job becomes available.

Fans of the Pirate, Swordmaster, and Performer (or Super Star) jobs will rejoice to hear all three return in Bravely Second: End Layer. For those with shoddy memories, Pirates wield axes and lower enemies' defenses, Swordmasters have powerful counterattack abilities, and Performers fill a support or bard type role. In an interesting twist, it appears Bravely Second and its predecessor share the same bosses protecting the Asterisk, which is an item conferred to the player after defeating said boss, which unlocks the job. Hayreddin Barbarossa returns with the Pirate Astrick, as does Nobutsuna Kamiizumi and Praline á la Mode for the Swordsmaster and Performer Asterisk, respectfully.

Of course, there was a bit more non-­job related information floating around in Famitsu. Hold onto your pants because it appears that in Bravely Second: End Layer, players can create stuffed animals of a monster called a Kapukapu, which may or may not be called a Chomper in English — the translation wasn't quite clear. Players do so by participating in a mini­game requiring the cooperation of all four party members. A special currency, called "Kapu" in Japanese, is then used to buy better Kapukapu making equipment or used to exchanged for other currencies. Furthermore, doing well in the mini­game unlocks music, and we all know how good Bravely Default's music was.

Reviews

Are you a fan of Dragon Quest music? Well, Famitsu has some good news. Theatrhythm Dragon Quest, the spiritual sequel to the 3DS's superb Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, received a platinum award from Famitsu this week, which is high praise. All four Famitsu reviewers adored the game's art style, stating "along with characters you know and love and cute graphics, the dazzlingly famous music will carry you to blissful satisfaction." Wow. Maybe this is a good time to note that Japan is obsessed with Dragon Quest, quite a bit more than other countries are. Another reviewer appreciated the game's varied difficulty levels: "I loved how with different difficulty levels, as well as being able to disable features like the Slide Trigger, nearly anybody can play and enjoy the game."

However, not everything is peaches and rainbows with Theatrhythm Dragon Quest. Aiuchi, one of the reviewers, cited certain mechanics were difficult to see at times, adding frustration to an otherwise superb game. Aiuchi suggested that players may get used to the eye strain with time.

Tengami is a game sporting a pop­up book art­style that Nintendo Life reviewed last year. Famitsu needs to step up its game! (Fine, we're being unfair, it arrived in Japan after the West) We digress — Tengami tasks the player with traveling through Japanese fairytales, and for the most part the reviewers enjoyed their time with it. "The game has a great Japanese atmosphere thanks to the graphics and sound," one reviewer noted, "but the characters were a bit small and I was always getting annoyed by the slow movement speed." Another found the GamePad inadequate to play the game with, while another reviewer made liberal use of the hint system to get through the game.

Rodea is a Wii U and 3DS game best described as being similar to NiGHTS into Dreams. It's a flying action game which uses either system's stylus to control the player character. The reviewers said the game required quite a bit to get used to, but "once you get the hang of it the feeling of freedom and exhilaration is amazing." "Fighting against giant enemies and the large scale of everything in the game feels good," another reviewer added. However, the reticle, energy meter, and cursor are all bunched together and make it hard to control, "which is especially bad in the 3DS version."

The game releases outside of Japan next fall.

And that's it for this week's cover of Famitsu. Hopefully, this marks the beginning of more dense Nintendo coverage in Japan's most popular gaming magazine.

What got you most jealous of Japan this week? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

Thank you once again Bill for your wonderful translations!