Bravely Default

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?