Greetings and salutations!
Recently, one of our other bloggers, Karina, had started up postings and video game reviews under the title of: "Why These Games are Better than Yours". They deal with games that have already been released, and they are a detailed overview on things that could and have made the games awesome.
Occasionally we also find that the other Ambassadors along with myself are working on reviews of games and the like, however I have not noticed amongst us other things that are too hyped about, or perhaps going into lesser known titles or things that we are excited to play.
For these next few blogs, I'll be focusing on games that I myself am getting hyped to play, whether they are already out, if they are upcoming releases, or I will be adding into my own personal collection on various games and titles. Sometimes I can be pretty slow to play a game, sometimes I can be one of the first people to beat the game. It all depends, but for what it's worth, I invite you all to board the hype train, and let's get rolling!
For anyone who likes the JRPG genre and owns a 3DS, you would mostly be disappointed in the amount of titles that we have available to us. More recently we have more titles such as the Fire Emblem Series, especially with the upcoming IF version in Japan, and going into the potential for other crossover platforms. However more recently, there was a game that brought back everything I loved in a classic JRPG, and more.
Reminiscent of Final Fantasy 3 from way back when, Bravely Default was released for the 3DS on October 11th, 2012. It was in this game that it had adopted the class leveling system, while also progressing through character level, adding in a wide diversity of gameplay without having an excess of characters. We had four main characters, Tiz, Agnes, Ringabell, and Edea, of which you were tasked to go throughout the land purifying crystals to restore balance and peace to the land.
For what it's worth, it's been one of the greatest games that I have played in a while for a handheld system like the 3DS, where I LOVED Final Fantasy 3 and the job class system, but to bring it back to a modern title was fantastic. The gameplay was well balanced, and it offered a wide approach to different situations, but the best part is:
There is a second game coming out.
Bravely Second: End Layer takes place years after the events of Bravely Default. It is there that there are quite a few new characters and quite a few recurring faces, of which I would love to go into extreme detail, however that would prove to unleash a ton of spoilers as well as to what happened at the end of Bravely Default!
Aside from storyline pieces, there is so much to the game especially in regards to the job class system, the paths to take throughout the story, and even more features that were first showcased in the the first iteration, but even more fleshed out in this game.
- There is the ability to be able to have consecutive battles for a chance at greater reward at the cost of greater difficulty.
- There is the ability to rebuild the villages through the touch screen as it was back in the first game as well.
- Side quests will be made easier with the "Barter Sub Scenario System" where you can make decisions and participate in quests surrounding the characters as well.
- There are 30 jobs and over 300 abilities confirmed at the moment as opposed to 23 jobs from the first game!
- And finally the Art and Music are still great!
This game is something I've been excited for ever since I sat down for 80+ hours and beat Bravely Default to it's absolute limit. I had ever class maxed out, I had every character maxed out, I had more than enough equipment and money to do whatever I want, and it got down anyone who streetpassed me could use the ally system to have my Agnes pop out and deal an upwards of 999,999 damage to an enemy using the Angel Light. At the end of the game though, there may or may not have been a special movie depicting that Bravely Second was indeed a thing since Bravely Default was released, and you could access it at any time actually using the Konami Code so..
Bravely Default and Bravely Second were a smash hit that I did not initially know about until a friend (Scott) showed me, but it became a game that I was completely and undeniably fascinated with, from the gameplay and story.
I highly recommend giving Bravely Default a shot, and later on, you can join me and play Bravely Second as well!
General Rundown - Bravely Default:
Gameplay: 8/10
Replay Value: 4/10
Plot Twist: 12/10
Moe Factor: 9/10 (You know who and why if you played the game lol)
Difficulty: 5/10
Time Devoted: 90/10
Overall: 8/10 would play at least once forever
-Nicholas "TAE"
