PapaGarv

I don't think I've ever heard that scream before. The only thing I could think of was the classic "seeeegaaaa" but I was confused why anyone would call it that. Then the dog screaming at the end made me laugh pretty hard. So unexpected for me.

This actually made me kinda interested in picking up the game. But what I really want is a whole show done in this style.

@johnedwin That's not how reviews work. It would be silly for everyone to give the game a 9 just because the average rating is a 9. Let people have their own opinions (including yourself).

The great thing about opinions is that they can be unique for each person. If you disagree with someone about what they say in a review, then you just have different tastes. Go find a reviewer with similar tastes as you if you want to know if you'll like a game before you play it.

BTW, I'd say that xenoblade 3 does deserve a 10. Best game I've played all year. I couldn't put it down. It was truly fantastic.

@Brydontk I'm hoping the trainers still have some indication that you haven't fought them yet. Like, still have the "!" pop up over their head when they see you (or all the time). Easy solution. But, I'm not expecting anything like that. Pokemon games always leave out tons of QOL features they desperately need.

@Wilforce No prob. I actually just replayed BD earlier this year to see if I was misremembering how good it was, and I came to the conclusion that I wasn't. Honestly cemented my distaste for BD II even further. Oh well. I'm glad some people were able to enjoy it, but it's just not for me. Thanks for not flipping out over our disagreement like a lot of people tend to do these days.

(Edit: PART 2/2)
@Wilforce The point is, it feels like the new team wanted to change things without any good reason. Like they started twisting too many knobs at the same time in their attempt at creating something "unique" (which I use loosely in reference to this bastardization of old BD and every single JRPG that exists with ATB (which is a lot)) instead of staying faithful to what the previous team built and fixing a single thing at a time if there were real issues. There's an overabundance of JRPGs with ATB-like systems (or even just straight action). Bravely Default was such a refreshing change of pace for going back to a more traditional design philosophy. That's a core aspect of its identity, and part of what makes it so unique in the modern age. The end result of all these changes is a series at war with its past. The simple yet deep combat system that focused on Brave and Default for altering turn economy, the whole gimmick of the series, has been convoluted by haphazard additions and poor design decisions that fundamentally change the feel and usefulness of those once integral mechanics. The move away from traditional round-based battles to ATB is contradictory to the very reason the series was created. In short, it doesn't feel like Bravely Default.

TL;DR - the Bravely series is fundamentally about turn economy. BD II throws the previously established core mechanics of turn economy out the window, resulting in a combat system that doesn't feel like Bravely Default. Longer/better summary in the last paragraph.

(Edit: PART 1/2)
@Wilforce It all comes down to turn economy, which is what the entire series is based on (it's literally the name of the game). There's 2 big differences that ruin it for me (and plenty of smaller changes, like getting rid of random encounters and all the sliders for exp/jp/pg/encounter rate, and many more I won't list). Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who absolutely adored the combat in the 3DS games. BD might be my favorite JRPG (either that or Golden Sun 1&2)

My first issue is that combat in BD II is much more reactive - you don't plan your moves in advance for everyone. Instead, you pick what you want a character to do when they get their action. Not inherently bad on its own, but it could've been handled better. It especially makes Default feel a lot less good to use. Two obvious issues: you no longer get to Default at the start of an encounter, and you don't have to think about whether the enemy will default on their turn. This results in a minor loss in strategy overall. But more importantly, half of the game's namesake (tbf, the less important half) has been altered (or rather, its context).

My second issue, and this is the big one, is the pseudo-ATB system (I know, I know, it's not all that "active" but waiting around for a meter to fill up isn't exactly "active" either. This system is still basically ATB, just with "wait mode" turned on and the bars move a lot faster. So don't complain about me calling it that). I really dislike that every character and enemy no longer get the same number of actions (in fact, I think ATB in general is kinda bad for this reason). It makes it more confusing and unpredictable than it needs to be. The bars they added help a little bit, but the game really needs a proper timeline like Octopath Traveler or FFX. It also makes coordinating a full-team strategy more cumbersome, whereas BD/BS allowed and encouraged coming up with a wide variety of crazy team strategies. The typical argument in favor of this change is that it's done "for the sake of balance" because some jobs would be OP if they got to go as often as other jobs. But I think that's a poor argument because the job should be changed in that case. The previous games had plenty of room for balancing jobs/moves, such as costing BP to use a certain move (which is very much in-line with the design of BD and is the correct way to make a job act less often or use a move more sparingly), or just tone down the damage/accuracy/duration/etc (not saying balance was always achieved in BD/BS, but it certainly could have been without overhauling the system). Different actions having different delays is also part of why the above ATB-like system is annoying/unpredictable, but I think I've talked about it enough.

BD III? NO THANK YOU!!! After they completely ruined the combat in BD II, I have no interest in the series continuing. But if they port the 3DS games or make a "Bravely Third" with the same combat as BD/BS, I'm in.

It's about time! I've been waiting for a physical release for way too long. Glad I never gave in and bought it digitally.

I'm usually pretty excited for new pokemon games, but I just can't get into this one. Every time they show more I get less interested in it. I really don't get the overwhelmingly positive comments. It just looks bad to me. I hope that everyone who is excited has a great time with it, but I'm not planning to pick it up any time close to launch.

And this trailer looks like an intern put it together on short notice. It has no flow. It has to be one of the worst trailers I've ever seen.

Kinda cool from a technical perspective, but I'd never use it. The gamecube controller is perfect, so why would I ever want to use anything else, especially on a gamecube?

@FishyS The shop in Dirtmouth has some items that will help you not get lost. If you buy the quill, then every time you sit at a bench you'll automatically update the map to show where you've been (filling in the rooms with solid color) as well as adding any new rooms you've visited. And if you buy and equip the Wayward Compass charm, you'll be able to see exactly where you are on the map.

No super monkey ball???

Question 8 is wrong. The answer is 17. Even not counting the New Play Control games, the answer is 15. You forgot about the "Classic NES Series" Metroid released on the GBA. That's an officially released, full retail-only game.