This is where the great soundtrack from Revo from a Japanese music group Sound horizon, composer of the first part of Bravely Default. Among the works, eclecticism prevails, taking into account the proposed circumstances: the exploration mode is accompanied by a memorable, pleasant melody that you never get tired of listening to in a circle, the battles are held to cheerful music using electric guitars and enthusiastic heroic motifs typical of many JRPGs, and the dungeons catch up with anxiety and slight melancholy. The most important thing is that the soundtrack not only does not put pressure on your ears with frequent repetition of the same tracks – you want to listen to some things separately from the game, even if you seem to know them by heart.
The gameplay gives the most positive emotions in Bravely Default 2. Following the precepts of the fathers of the genre, the game world map is divided into several zones: cities, open areas and dungeons, which are not only dungeons and caves themselves, but also other locations, such as houses, desert canyons and ancient ruins. After chatting with the minor characters in the city, typing side quests in the spirit of “take my husband to the archaeologist”, having bought equipment, weapons and all kinds of potions, the heroes set off slowly to explore a bright fantasy world full of monsters and treasure chests. At the end of each storyline, the group finds itself in a dangerous maze with fixed save points and a boss at the end. We should also praise the developers for an almost flawless, intuitive interface that, despite the large amount of information and text, does not look overloaded. You can always easily navigate and find the desired section of the inventory, the equipment screen of a specific character, or quickly view current tasks.
At the moments of encounters with enemies, the game switches to the turn-based combat “wall to wall” mode. The main feature of the local combat system is the presence of special “points of bravery” – Brave Points (abbreviated as BP), which allow your characters to perform several actions in one turn, including standard attacks, as well as the use of items and the use of special skills inherent in the professions of heroes. There is only one way to get “courage points” – by entering a defensive position called Default and skipping a move. Having defended a couple of moves in defense, the character will be able to spend the accumulated BP by unleashing a chain of attacks on the enemy or performing a series of other useful maneuvers. An important strategic point is the ability to borrow BP without wasting time on defense, but it is worth remembering that in this case, after completing the attack, you will have to skip as many moves as you have taken, and all this time the character will be absolutely vulnerable. Thus, you constantly have to choose between a careful defensive tactics and a sharp attack with an open visor, which can both bring you a quick victory and end in an extremely deplorable way.
After successful battles, the general level of the character rises separately from the level of his profession, which can be changed at any time, and no one forbids taking several types of specialty at the same time, placing them in a hierarchy from the main to the secondary ones, thereby creating very unusual combinations. This system is traditional for many JRPGs, offering a set familiar to fans of the genre: white magician, black magician, monk, warrior, thief, bard, gambler, hunter and so on. In total, the game has a little more than two dozen professions that you must open by defeating bosses. Over time, you will be able to pick up a motley squad capable of solving the most difficult tasks.
When starting a new game, you can choose one of three difficulty options – the balance of the middle level is maintained quite well, but sometimes problems arise. If the first few hours pass for you carefree, like a light spring breeze, then suddenly there is a sharp leap in complexity and you meet a boss who can put your whole team to sleep in one move. Thus, the game clearly offers to escape from the main storyline and go to properly pump your level. Even taking into account the very rich tactical possibilities of combat, it is almost impossible to defeat some enemies without preliminary grinding, which, on the one hand, artificially drags out the narrative and is somewhat frustrating, and on the other hand, this can be regarded as an integral feature of the classic examples of the genre, which Bravely Default is trying to be like. 2.
