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Nonny's Nonsensical Notes
My Journal. Usually just my usual Video Game Reviews and what not.
N.V.G.R. #26: Bravely Default Where the Fairy Flies
I know how stupid the title may sound, but hear me out. This is one of the best games for the 3DS right now along with Fire Emblem: Awakening and Link Between Worlds.

The story takes place in Luxendarc, a world where nature is controlled by the four crystals of the elements. One day the crystals are consumed by darkness leading to widespread global ruins. We meet our four main protagonist, first is Tiz a boy whose village and entire family was swallowed by a giant chasm. Then there is Angés, the Vestal of Wind and priestess of the Wind Crystal. Next is Ringabel, an amnesiac man who holds the mysterious D Journal which has the power to predict future events. Finally there's Edea, a former member of the Eternia Sky Knights before their conduct caused her to defect and ally with Tiz's party. With the guidance of Agnés' cryst-fairy Airy, the four set out to purify all four crystals to restore the world to its former state.

The story itself is a standard RPG one, but there are pretty significant plot twists that set it apart from the "let's save the world by doing this one great task" stereotypes of RPGs. It's not an amazing, but it's solid and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of detail they put into the game. Sidequests are also pretty fun as well, adding additional side stories and some which explains more of the deeper lore of the game. However, I will make note that the game basically has two unnecessary chapters which made little difference to the story as they were almost exactly the same or the sidequest that made those chapters unique should have been the focus of those chapters. From an 8 chapter game, they could have gotten rid of one entire chapter and still had the same ending.

The combat system is pretty much a standard Final Fantasy-esque system with standard attacks and abilities, most of which costs MP to utilize such as magic spells and special attacks. Each weapon of the game has a special move that requires you to have the characters perform certain actions such as killing a certain quota of enemies or cast white magic a certain amount, up to a level 3 special which requires one to complete a certain level in the Norende village feature. These are particularly devastating moves that can be the difference between life and death. However the Brave and Default functions are the highlight of the battle system. You can have your units Default, causing them to guard for a turn and most importantly store up Brave Points. Default a few turns then unleash multiple actions in a single turn using Brave. Each Brave point allows another action in the same turn with a maximum of 3 to store. Alternatively you can force a brave even with 0 BP, but this will put you into negative BP, forcing your character to remain defenseless for a few turns. The system works well for your characters if they're White Mages, allowing you to save up BP to do significant healing when you really need to or perhaps have a turn of massive damage utilizing Spellblade spells to load your weapon with magical properties then unleash a huge barrage of attacks. Either way, it's a tactical system that really makes the battles fun. Oh, and of course your enemies can brave and default as well.

The game boasts several other features including the reconstruction of Norende, allowing you to buy items from save points in the middle of a dungeon. Also it will unlock special items, weapons, armor, and outfits for your characters. The second function is the job/class system, allowing you to change all four of the characters into one of 24 classes once you've earned them by defeating their asterisk master. During the main storyline, you will acquire 10 of the classes while the other 14 will require you to play through sidequests. A few are certainly worth getting ASAP, while others can be earned for fun or for certain skills they have. Lastly is the Bravely Second function. For every 8 hours your 3DS is in sleep mode with Bravely Default on, you will accumulate an SP point. Bravely Second allows you to stop time during any point in battle and then unleash a full turn of action against your enemies. While this is a "good" function, I made it through the entire game without using it once. If you cannot wait 8 hours of sleep mode, you can buy these points using real cash, but generally that's not worth it.

The soundtrack is amazing. A few tracks stand out such as Windswept Day and Slyvan Tranquility. There's even a vocal song in the game,the Love in the Crossfire. However the highlight of the soundtrack is easily the battle music. The asterisk battle theme, the standard battle them, and of course the final boss fight theme is gorgeous. I in particular can't stop listening to the beautiful final fight theme.

Nonny's Rating: 8/10. The story is good, the battles are fun, and the jobs really forces you to explore a bit and find the right job and weapon for each character. I cannot say if this is a must have, but it's certainly worth trying out if you're looking for a good RPG for your 3DS.

Nonny's Tips: Edea and Tiz are your physical units, Agnés and Ringabel are your magical units. Keep this in mind when you're considering what jobs to make them explore first.

Of the sidequest jobs, the one's to definitely secure would be the Spellfencer, Summoner, Summoner, Red Mage, Performer, Ninja, and Swordmaster. Vampire and Conjurer are also important to grab, but more so for the story and lore added from their sidequests. The 10 Jobs you get during the main story is also worth having someone spend time in.





 
 
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