Bravely Default: Flying Fairy

In an attempt to commit again to my writing habit, I've decided to get back on reviewing games I haven't even finished. Glad to be back after a long break and what an interesting turn of events it is to get back to JRPGs after a while. This time I am reviewing what accurately seems to me to be a 4 Heroes of Light spin-off or rather a fabricated Final Fantasy game with a different title

Bravely Default puts you in the shoes of Agnes Oblige, a crystal protector who gathers her party to save the world from darkness and reawakening the four crystals in the world. Very typical of a Final Fantasy game and probably the only thing I need to understand from the layers of seemingly complex dialogue and story in my perspective.

When I say it felt like a Final Fantasy, I mean it in every sense. Your party members gain jobs through certain story quests and sidequests that they can level up and mix jobs just like the job system in Final Fantasy V. Traversing dungeons and the world map is as interesting as it can get and probably the most charming thing about it. Its graphics are very attractive, colorful and reminiscent of old Final Fantasy games. 

Combat is the most unique thing about it and though it wasn't convincing for me, I enjoyed it eventually even though in some points I switched the difficulty to Easy. Bravely Default allows the player to customize their game in the way they want to play whether you want random battles to be as frequent or less, whether you want the difficulty high or low and how fast the battle flow is and leave your party members' moves on Auto. It retains the same spells and status ailments from Final Fantasy plus a few other new ones. You can also summon friends to fight for you by connecting on your wi-fi and using a friend's limit break or special move, you can also register your own moves for other people. Not to mention the brave system on it where you can store up to 4 moves in a row per character which equals to 16 moves per turn for your allies. Despite all the previously mentioned, you still might face difficult battles, the game doesn't hold your hand, a feature I accurately recall from 4 Heroes of Light where I was struggling to beat the final boss only to find out the job called Merchant could actually kick ass by paying money. Luckily, the class returns in this game.

Traversing the dungeons is what's worth it in this game. It's great to get back to the root of RPGs, opening treasure chests and reaching to the end of the dungeon only to fight a difficult boss with your MP draining and figuring out a strategy to beat him without wasting your items. The most criticized aspect of Bravely Default are the monotonous tasks to do late game to get the true ending but I haven't even reached halfway through the game. However, knowing myself, I'll be impatient enough to check it out on Youtube.

All in all, Bravely Default gives hope to revisit traditional RPG experiences that I've missed and hopefully I get to experience more from the on their sequel Bravely Second. You can find it available on the 3DS, I've been Ahmed, see you on my next review.