First Round's On Me.
I've finished Bravely Default II! Here's my rambling up to the end.
That was a great scene between Seth and Gloria on the beach; it seems strange that it's completely missable!
Also easily missable: the scene between Elvis and Adelle in Wiswald! I love that Elvis genuinely has no idea why Seth felt awkward about intruding. Romance doesn't cross his radar; everyone's his friend!
Aww, Adelle says she's proud to call us all her friends! It's nice to see that sincerity from her, given that she's usually very insincere in her dynamic with Elvis.
Gloria says she'll miss their travels, and Adelle goes 'Then why don't we set out on another journey just as soon as we're done?' and Elvis goes 'Aye, why the heck not?', and I am extremely, extremely charmed by this. They don't want to stop travelling together! Friendship!!
I love RPG parties going 'you know, being together like this is great; we should stay together once we've finished saving the world!' and I'd like to see more of it. It's just nice to see a group of fire-forged friends committing to each other in that way.
Was the mysterious fourth member of the original heroes Edna? I was beginning to suspect so, and then we had that scene where the others were talking to the fourth member and she wasn't visible, which makes me suspect very strongly that she was Edna. (Or possibly Adelle?) (I WAS ENTIRELY WRONG ABOUT THIS. Could have been interesting, though!)
Goddammit, I was really hoping restoring the power of the Crystals wouldn't entail sacrificing Gloria's life. Love Elvis's 'What've you done, lassie?', though. It doesn't get a lot of focus, but I think Elvis and Gloria's relationship is the intra-party dynamic I'm most interested in.
I'm also impressed by Gloria keeping the sacrifice a secret all this time and then just going ahead and doing it; I thought the others would find out beforehand and try to find a way to prevent it!
I know from
aestivalis's posts that there must be more to the game than this, but, wow, this game is dedicated to making you think the credits rolling here is the actual end of the game. If I didn't already know there was more game to come, I might have made an entry complaining about the abrupt ending, not actually realising it hadn't been the end.
Elvis, did you bang Lady Esmerelda? I'm getting the strange sense that you may have banged Lady Esmerelda.
Elvis: Adelle, I need you to know that I-
Adelle: I know you do, stupid.
I can't help reading this as Adelle cutting him off so, if Elvis isn't going to say he loves her, at least she's free to believe that's what he was going to say. Because, I'll be honest, 'Elvis is in love with Adelle' is, if intended, by no means apparent. Adelle's into him, without question, but Elvis is just friends as hell with everyone! Possibly he was in love with Lady Emma; possibly he just really admired her. It's hard for me to believe he's in love with anyone else.
Yes, I just said he may have banged Lady Esmerelda. That was a diplomatic move, obviously.
How was I supposed to realise that I was meant to go to Sir Sloan's grave and fight his ghost? Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Internet. (Sir Sloan continues to be rad as hell, even posthumously.)
Seth saying 'I hope Sir Sloan was impressed' after the fight was extremely cute.
I love the explanation that the Night's Nexus is always able to come back and battle you again because she has a save file. Very Undertale.
The party members don't seem surprised by the fact the Night's Nexus's memories have been erased! They're going, 'I think that's done it,' suggesting they did something. Is saving something the characters canonically do in-game? How??
'They need my help. And that's the only reason I need to help them.' Awww, Elvis.
Gloria jumping into Seth's arms is very cute.
I'm pleased it ends on an illustration of the four of them together!
And that's Bravely Default II! It took me eighty-eight hours of gameplay to hit the final credits.
I'm glad
aestivalis and
lassarina persuaded me to give this game a chance! I've had a good time. The battles were challenging, but that's a strength of the game; they encourage playing around with the versatile, interesting battle system. They weren't hard enough to be frustrating, which was my biggest concern.
I'm also delighted by how much the party members like and care about each other. It makes me a little sad when I finish an RPG without feeling the party members have really bonded (this was an issue I had with Final Fantasy XII), so I'm glad Bravely Default II left me feeling confident that these characters will stay friends for life.
That was a great scene between Seth and Gloria on the beach; it seems strange that it's completely missable!
Also easily missable: the scene between Elvis and Adelle in Wiswald! I love that Elvis genuinely has no idea why Seth felt awkward about intruding. Romance doesn't cross his radar; everyone's his friend!
Aww, Adelle says she's proud to call us all her friends! It's nice to see that sincerity from her, given that she's usually very insincere in her dynamic with Elvis.
Gloria says she'll miss their travels, and Adelle goes 'Then why don't we set out on another journey just as soon as we're done?' and Elvis goes 'Aye, why the heck not?', and I am extremely, extremely charmed by this. They don't want to stop travelling together! Friendship!!
I love RPG parties going 'you know, being together like this is great; we should stay together once we've finished saving the world!' and I'd like to see more of it. It's just nice to see a group of fire-forged friends committing to each other in that way.
Was the mysterious fourth member of the original heroes Edna? I was beginning to suspect so, and then we had that scene where the others were talking to the fourth member and she wasn't visible, which makes me suspect very strongly that she was Edna. (Or possibly Adelle?) (I WAS ENTIRELY WRONG ABOUT THIS. Could have been interesting, though!)
Goddammit, I was really hoping restoring the power of the Crystals wouldn't entail sacrificing Gloria's life. Love Elvis's 'What've you done, lassie?', though. It doesn't get a lot of focus, but I think Elvis and Gloria's relationship is the intra-party dynamic I'm most interested in.
I'm also impressed by Gloria keeping the sacrifice a secret all this time and then just going ahead and doing it; I thought the others would find out beforehand and try to find a way to prevent it!
I know from
aestivalis's posts that there must be more to the game than this, but, wow, this game is dedicated to making you think the credits rolling here is the actual end of the game. If I didn't already know there was more game to come, I might have made an entry complaining about the abrupt ending, not actually realising it hadn't been the end.
Elvis, did you bang Lady Esmerelda? I'm getting the strange sense that you may have banged Lady Esmerelda.
Elvis: Adelle, I need you to know that I-
Adelle: I know you do, stupid.
I can't help reading this as Adelle cutting him off so, if Elvis isn't going to say he loves her, at least she's free to believe that's what he was going to say. Because, I'll be honest, 'Elvis is in love with Adelle' is, if intended, by no means apparent. Adelle's into him, without question, but Elvis is just friends as hell with everyone! Possibly he was in love with Lady Emma; possibly he just really admired her. It's hard for me to believe he's in love with anyone else.
Yes, I just said he may have banged Lady Esmerelda. That was a diplomatic move, obviously.
How was I supposed to realise that I was meant to go to Sir Sloan's grave and fight his ghost? Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Internet. (Sir Sloan continues to be rad as hell, even posthumously.)
Seth saying 'I hope Sir Sloan was impressed' after the fight was extremely cute.
I love the explanation that the Night's Nexus is always able to come back and battle you again because she has a save file. Very Undertale.
The party members don't seem surprised by the fact the Night's Nexus's memories have been erased! They're going, 'I think that's done it,' suggesting they did something. Is saving something the characters canonically do in-game? How??
'They need my help. And that's the only reason I need to help them.' Awww, Elvis.
Gloria jumping into Seth's arms is very cute.
I'm pleased it ends on an illustration of the four of them together!
And that's Bravely Default II! It took me eighty-eight hours of gameplay to hit the final credits.
I'm glad
aestivalis and
lassarina persuaded me to give this game a chance! I've had a good time. The battles were challenging, but that's a strength of the game; they encourage playing around with the versatile, interesting battle system. They weren't hard enough to be frustrating, which was my biggest concern.
I'm also delighted by how much the party members like and care about each other. It makes me a little sad when I finish an RPG without feeling the party members have really bonded (this was an issue I had with Final Fantasy XII), so I'm glad Bravely Default II left me feeling confident that these characters will stay friends for life.