It’s a Metroid game that plays like all the other 2-D Metroid games! Like every other game in the series there comes a point where you realize you don’t have to kill any of the enemies and you might as well just run past them, they’re just going to respawn anyways. But unlike the other Metroid game I’ve played there wasn’t much incentive for backtracking through previously explored areas unless you want to get a 100% completion.

Apparently this is a remake of Metroid II from the Gameboy. I finally get to experience the story of the baby metroid that has been alluded to in just about every incarnation after this. The game is mostly about exploring various regions to find a few boss-type aliens and collect their DNA. This opens the next area, then repeat. Yes, it gets repetitive, but each new upgrade makes you feel like you are somehow progressing. It probably goes on just a tad too long and I was so tired of the game by the time the surprise final boss made its appearance. A good game, but not great.

I picked up this 3DS JRPG because of one novel feature: the ability to turn off random encounters. For the most part, I find Japanese RPGs to be fair to middling at best and the constant random battles and grinding everywhere has not endeared me to the genre. Being able to turn them off is a blessing. There’s nothing worse than conquering a dungeon only to have to keep fighting random grunts over and over just to pass through that area again.

Bravely Default does actually have some interesting combat mechanics in which you can bank turns in order to attack in bulk later on. I really didn’t mind the random battles that much as I was leveling up and learning new class skills. That said, there’s a point about halfway through the game where there is a time/multi-verse shift and you are forced to play through everything all over again… and again… and again. I very quickly got tired of it and turned down the difficulty and the encounter rate. A more clever game would have done a better job of making each world reset seem different than the last in some meaningful way, but Bravely Default is not that game.

The story eventually does make a turn and leads to a fairly satisfying ending with a nice, albeit predictable twist. Most of the plot is your standard “stop the evil that is corrupting the world” that feels like it was written for immature 10-year-olds (and Gen Z’ers… but I repeat myself). You’re often forced to read intra-character “party chats” that are just time-wasting filler. Your party’s characters are established in the opening cinematic and never really grow beyond that. But it’s a JRPG, what did I expect? Ultima?