Game: Bravely Default
System: 3DS
I have so much to say about this game. This game is all Suretha Thacker's fault. She wanted me to start playing it because it was amazing and due to PLANS I didn't start playing it until it was sold out of stores and impossible to buy. I found it hiding in a corner underneath the counter at a Target. I was surprised to not find it anywhere at AWA. Apparently this game is hard to find. Strange. It is an amazing game though. I love this game because of the movie feel to it. It is very interactive and it really captures your attention. I was instantly hooked. The game is a RPG, turn based game but I've always loved that style. IT MEANS YOU HAVE SPEND 238742423 YEARS BEATING IT.
There is one downfall to this game and that is after you beat the main storyline. I won't spoil it...yes I will...but once you beat all the bosses and basically conclude the main story something happens that forces you to do something EXTREMELY ANNOYING. Not only do you have to do this annoying thing but you have to do it about 5 times. After much grinding and getting through this disappointment you reach the true final boss. All I have to say is GOOD LUCK CUZ YOU'RE MOST LIKELY GOING TO DIE.....like....10000 times. Overall the first half the game is incredible. The second half is....meh. I ended with level 81 having NEVER ONCE changed jobs within the game. I had a Monk, Black Mage, White Mage, and Knight. I will explain more about the second half the game later.
I am not sure how to explain this game in a review because it is so huge and vast. There is an overworld map that you more or less can explore on your own by yourself. The jobs you do and the asterisks you gain are kind of based on your choice of when you want to get them. Some of them go along with the storyline of when you can achieve them but it is such a great amount of game to capture in a review. I'm going to sum it up really quickly first and then I will just go down boss by boss. The majority of the stuff you do in the game is fight bosses.
First off, you have 4 characters in the game. You stick with these four throughout the game until completion. The cool thing about the game is that you can change their jobs to gain different types of abilities and strengths. There are hundreds of variations you can have with all 4 because there are so many jobs and abilities to become. My team consisted of the Monk job being given to Tiz. I had a White Mage being Agnes. I had a Black Mage being Edea. Then I had my Knight be Ringabel. The cool thing about this was the fact that I gave these jobs to them in the beginning of the game. I literally kept them the entire game. Not once did I change their jobs so for me it strengthened my style of progression. It may not be the best style but it worked for me for the most part. Some parts of this game just plain suck though if you have all of the wrong strengths and weaknesses. Grinding is a huge factor in this game so get used to it. It is the only way to strengthen particular jobs and abilities. It is possible to defeat the game at a low level if your jobs and abilities are at a higher level.
It is super difficult to explain this game because you are for the most part carving out your own path. There is no point in talking about the right way to go so I will just go move through the bosses one by one and explain my experience with them. It is a complicated game to review or explain. Just remember that these were the 4 jobs I had assigned to my 4 people through the whole game.
Barras Lehr and Holly White
To be honest I don't even remember how this boss went. She is a white mage and he is a Monk. They were very easy I think but this was way back when the game was trying to teach you stuff. I was super excited at this point in the game because it was 3D and it was like I was watching a movie. The start of this game was freakin awesome and it got me sucked in immediately. I'm going to go with easy boss.
Oh and quick note, you have the ability to set the game on hard or not. You determine how many bad guys you fight as you walk around. The more you fight the more annoying it is to progress through dungeons but it gives you more opportunities to build your stats. I kept it normal most of the game but if I am trekking across the game to an earlier part of the map I'm turning that crap off.
Ominas Crowe
He was a pain but if you do the right stuff he becomes easy. This was an overall pattern I did when I fought every boss was that my White Mage Agnes would be the healer. I kept playing defend with her because she would heal everyone else. My monk was an attacker like my Knight. I kept 2 attackers, one healer, and the black mage was the one who did magic spells and pretty much everything magic. This guy gives you the Black Mage asterisk.
Another side note, each player has the option to Brave or Default. This means you can attack 3 times at once letting him attack you 3 times or you can Default by saving up the amount of attacks you can do. It is very hard to explain because it is so complex but you can save up turns between each player and use up to 4 turns at one attack. Just play it to understand. I can write a whole book on the strategies of how to Brave and Default your attacks. NO TIME MOVING ON.
Knight Argent Heikel
I don't remember him at all. I guess he was easy. He provides you the Knight asterisk.
I'm not mentioning any of the dungeons or towns in this review because there are so many of them. They are cool looking and the developers did an awesome job at designing this game but it is too vast to encapture here. The dungeons are all very similar.
Khint and the Jackal
The dude on the left, the Jackal, gives you the Thief asterisk which makes you capable of stealing crap from enemies in battle. The guy on the right, Khint, is just a dude that was hired to help the highest payer. He is a pain to defeat and he looks awesome but he will give up halfway to defeating him in this battle.
Khint and Khamer Profiteur
You again fight Khint here but with the Profiteur. He is a pain in the ass but once you beat both on this sidequest you get the Merchant asterisk, which I don't remember at all what it does. I do remember Khint being very hard to beat but not too bad.
Orthos
This real boss was an absolute pain in the ass. He is considered a real boss because of the fact that you release one of the crystals after you defeat him. This boss is self explanatory. The fire side is weak to blizzard things and the ice side is weak to fire magic. Obviously this is what you will be attacking with using your magic spells accordingly. Once you defeat one head the other one won't be that difficult. I remember when I fought him I had a lot of trouble with one of the sides. Their special attack kept killing me. I can't remember but he is not easy.
King Khamer and Khint
Yes, you fight Khint again. After beating King Khamer you get the Time Mage asterisk. You also receive the Spell Fencer asterisk by finally beating Khint. I've already mentioned that Khint is no joke when fighting him. You do defeat him here which yields you the asterisk but it felt great killing him finally. I remember dying a few times fighting Khint.
Summoner Mephilia
She was easy. You fought her in Florem and I kicked her ass pretty quickly. This was a quick and easy way to get the Summoner asterisk. Not much else to say about her. She is weak to fire? I kind of discovered that by assuming she is similar to a FLOWER POKEMON which is always weak to fire.
UGH....I have the hardest time ever completing this review. I don't know why. It is such a large game and I've already beaten it. I'm having to go back and remember who I fought, which I don't remember, and then write what I feel about it. The biggest issue about this game is the fact that I started out now grinding with my team and thus the entire experience was nearly impossible. Part of me really feels like I need to replay this whole game and do the review as I play it. Trust me when I say this game is too huge to remember.
I will remind myself that the Red Mage was a bitch.