Available just after the announcement of the game Bravely Default II on Nintendo Switch during the Nintendo Live on March 26th 2020, the game demo is really nice! I finally took the time to do it and I really loved it! I found the same sensations than when I played the first opus on 3DS: graphical paste, musical ambiance and voices of the characters in English. A lot of memories came back at once. Let’s talk a little about this demo!
Let’s begin with a few words on the Bravely series
The Bravely Defaults are JRPG type of games that I really love, their combats are very tactical. In a first time you have to equip your character correctly like in any RPG, but you also have to attribute to each of your characters a primary and secondary class. Each character able of course to incarnate each of the classes available in the game. And that is when that I find the game very interesting as there are a lot of different classes that will allow you to create different strategies during your adventure.
To spice things up, the combat system is quite particular. It is based on a storing of action concept: during each turn, you possess a BP (Brave Point) that will allow you to do a certain action as attacking or using an object. If, however you defend yourself, you accumulate BP for the next turn or the one after. Each turn, you can make as many actions as accumulated BP. The monsters work in the same manner, you will have to choose the correct moment to attack them, because if the monster is defending itself, your characters won’t deal a lot of damage.
For the combats, you have a team of four members which you can chose the class. Each of them has a general level that influenced the general characteristics (LP, MP…) and a “class” level that will allow it to assimilate the techniques linked to it (class mastery). Of course, the class you attribute to your characters will also play a role in your stats and give you passive competences that will be quite useful.
I really love this concept that allows you to personalize as much as possible your team and build all kinds of strategies to confront each boss. It is the strategical part omnipresent in the game that really pleases me a lot, because it forces me to constantly review my team, because: depending on your choices the combats can be easy or true headaches.
From then on, as well as following the main quest, you will have at heart to train your team at the best of your abilities in order to be ready to confront any sort of situation. The main scenario of the first game on 3DS really pleased me and had surprised me a bit even though I found the end a bit long.
What is this demo worth?
Honestly, I fell under the charm of this demo and I am very impatient to play to the full version of the game. This demo takes the same combat style as Bravely Default on 3DS: system Bravely/Default (attack storage), the characters’ classes…
At the beginning of the demo, a message signals you that it will be a little more difficult than the beginning of the future game. And it is the case! You will have to quickly get used to it and make insightful choices be it on the classes of your characters or of their gear and the monsters you will have to defeat to win your first levels. As soon as you will have gained a few levels, everything will be easier… Furthermore, you will have taken your team in charge.
The scenario of this demo is relatively short and seems designed so that the players test and discover the combat and class system. So, that is how I went into this demo and I really loved the gameplay. The major difference with the game on 3DS is that this time you choose the actions of the characters and not at the beginning of each turn for every character at once. The combats take as such an even more tactical and reactive dimension. I always love as much evolving each character in the 5 or 6 available classes, discovers their different skin and chose twisted strategies for my combats: it’s really nice.
In fact, the skin of your character depends on its class: some skins will fit better to some characters than others. I have to say that seeing Elvis as a white mage made me smile. But each skin is really nice and very worked on. The characters possess similar traits to the ones in Bravely Default 1, but the skins that they have in function of their class are a little more modern than the ones in my memories.
Concerning the gameplay, there is a lot to take into account and as such need a little adapting to it. The only thing that I could reproach to the gameplay is the too easy confirmation when one presses on the key for a little too long. I confirmed a lot of spells inadvertently and it made me grumpy. Otherwise everything is very fluid and enjoyable.
The graphics take the same style as the 3DS but a little neater and that’s really enjoyable because they are beautiful. They awoke my nostalgia for the first opus of the series. The towns in a paper map on the 3DS stayed and are really detailed. They remind me of the decors of Octopath Traveler (that I still haven’t finished). As for the graphics outside of the towns, there is a very nice evolution: they have some reliefs and the monsters directly appear on top of them (in my memories it wasn’t like that in the first opus). The camera is a little whimsical in certain zones but they are detailed and encourage the exploration and chase of enemies.
The game’s music is also very pleasant: discreet during the exploration phases and catchier during the combat phases. The music during the combats is motivating, making them more dynamic. Likewise, it evolves with the game according to the time of day and the place in which you are.
The voices, available in English and Japan, are also really nice. I played with the English voices on 3DS and the ones on the demo really resemble them, but I would say they have a more ‘adult’ feel to them. The Japanese voices are also really nice.
Conclusion
This demo is very promising! I had loved Bravely Default on 3DS, so I am waiting with impatience for this Bravely Default II on Nintendo Switch. The particular gameplay and the emphasis on the strategy of the combats make it a very good game, but that won’t necessarily be loved by every player. Personally, I complete adhere to the gameplay of this demo and the scenario of the first game on 3DS really pleased me so I am waiting for the complete version that should be out this year.
As I loved the game, I am recommending it to you of course, but do try the demo version before you buy the game to be sure that the combat system is at your convenience.
