Bravely Default

 3DS
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 693 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 557 out of 693
  2. Mixed: 81 out of 693
  3. Negative: 55 out of 693
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  1. vodkaffee
    Dec 12, 2019
    8
    The job and battle systems are great, the music is amazing, also this games has so many new ideas i never saw on an jrpg, like change your ultimate attack names and send it to help friends online, which actually ties to the plot really well, the bad thing is the voice acting and dialogue are not great, the story is very good but the game makes it SO repetitive, this game could be half asThe job and battle systems are great, the music is amazing, also this games has so many new ideas i never saw on an jrpg, like change your ultimate attack names and send it to help friends online, which actually ties to the plot really well, the bad thing is the voice acting and dialogue are not great, the story is very good but the game makes it SO repetitive, this game could be half as long and it would be better; a
    Also the use of music in battle and how you can combo it with other ultis with huge speed to get a lot of advantage is crazy and loved the idea.
    I would say is a must play but dont expect a minblowing story, let's say is like Final Fantasy 5.    … Expand
  2. Poochingus
    Nov 14, 2019
    8
    Rarely does a game I've never heard of make me a diehard fan. I cannot say how much of a hidden gem this was when I first played it. I bought a physical copy and a few months later everyone discovered how great it was, and being out of print, people turned heads and wondered why that was.

    I'll tell you why. Solid gameplay, beautiful design, excellent story. Gameplay of this game is    Rarely does a game I've never heard of make me a diehard fan. I cannot say how much of a hidden gem this was when I first played it. I bought a physical copy and a few months later everyone discovered how great it was, and being out of print, people turned heads and wondered why that was.

    I'll tell you why. Solid gameplay, beautiful design, excellent story.

    Gameplay of this game is amazing. It is just the old jobs system, but mixing and matching aspects makes it fun, as well as the simple yet exciting brave/default mechanic. Store up extra turns to attack on a character by defaulting which is just a fancy way to say, block this turn. Next turn that character has an extra turn to take, meaning they can attack twice. That is what braving is. When you use brave, you use an extra turn. However you can brave to go into debt for several turns. Meaning that if you don't defeat the enemy and your whole party goes 2 turns into debt with brave, you will be helpless for 3 turns in a row! It truly becomes a resource of its own, with many classes and abilites giving you extra turns, or costing you an extra turn for a more powerful attack. Enemies can also use this mechanic, so watch out!

    The art is charming, like a hand painted set from a fairytale. The character designs are a sort of chibi design to make up for the 3DS and its lack of horsepower, and doing so increases the charm of this game somehow, while keeping game performance at the same time.

    Rough around the edges yes, this game wasn't expected to be anything special. But the solid classic final fantasy combat mixed with what is honestly the best story I've seen out of square to date(I really can't say much lest I spoil it). This game is a sleeper hit. Sadly though it does have more filler than it should, and could easily give you more than enough play time without it(My first save file clocked in at almost 90 hours). The value is here for the price.

    It is polished for the most part overall, and has a shocking amount of voice over for a 3DS game. Sadly the audio of voices is compressed somewhat to make it fit, but the performances of the actors is top tier save for the memeable "mrgrgr" moments....that...that isn't how onomatopoeias work love...

    Music is top tier too. Whereas some games have nice, but ultimately forgettable music, bravely default tunes are catchy and emotionally engaging.

    So go out and play this game if you are an RPG fan, you will have a blast!    … Expand
  3. BeeSting1
    Jan 1, 2021
    8
    A lot of grinding, but deep job system.

    Good - the shop was done very well. I could easily see which items were equipped, directly compare their stats easily allowing me to conclude which items have been obsolete, without having to exit shop and pull up a menu. This is probably the best shop menu I've encountered. - the voice acting is great, but because the characters are so    A lot of grinding, but deep job system.

    Good

    - the shop was done very well. I could easily see which items were equipped, directly compare their stats easily allowing me to conclude which items have been obsolete, without having to exit shop and pull up a menu. This is probably the best shop menu I've encountered.

    - the voice acting is great, but because the characters are so chibi, it'a a bit hard to take the more serious dialogue serious.

    - speeding up battle is nice.

    - Being able to adjust encounter rate is very nice. Adjusting difficulty at any time is useful too.

    - being able to use a heal (treat) even after blind is nice.

    - the camera angle is actually very well placed. I can see across various rooms in dungeons, saving me time exploring dead ends. The auto zoom out during no inputs also helps

    - the background is like a big water painting. Pretty cool.

    - a fast way back out of the dungeon at the end is a very good inclusion, since there's no shop or healing station before the dungeon boss

    - auto play is nice

    - the jobs and abilities learned give a vast amount of ways to battle

    - being able to go back at any time during command selection is convenient

    - the game remembering my last command selection between battles is very convenient. Makes grinding very fluent

    - the new item section is really convenient for checking item details right after I picked it up without having to rummage through all the items for it

    - voice acting is great

    - hitting left and right in analog to see status effects of enemy and ally parties is very convenient

    - the little clue guess who killer of the commander was interesting.

    - the JP requirements for jobs at later levels we're sets very well. Such that I couldn't grind random encounters in a short time to gain the levels and acquire do really good abilities. this kind of forced me to progress in the story, and fights bosses to get the big JP boost

    - its satisfying figuring out my own job combinations and beating tough bosses

    - this is an interesting story about the grey area between right and wrong. And the impossibility of trying to make everyone happy. There is no ideal world where no one suffers. Where one person gains, another loses.

    - the party's growing uncertainty in their own beliefs stirs questions of my own and makes me want to find out the other side of the story. The side that doesn't want the crystal awakened

    - being able to equip new weapon and armor during battles is cool

    - after having accomplished my jobs set up and attained all the abilities I want, it's a good feeling applying it in tough battles and seeing it work.

    - at first I was very skeptical about having to reawaken the crystals again. But having airy explain the ritual again it hinted at the potential option 2 continue hitting x to break the crystal, which is pretty interesting and unexpected. To me, breaking the crystals was a way to end the game earlier, for those who do not want to grind the same battles again. But at the same time by triggering the finale, I missed out on the whole multiple worlds lore. It's an unfortunate dilemma.

    - the story is really interesting once the multiple world story arc begins, but the game played becomes completely repetitive and stagnant because the same enemies are rehashed only with more HP and higher attack power. I wanted to continue so that I could progressed in the story but I did not want to grind the same enemies over and over again. Had the game introduced new enemies, new areas, and new scenarios in the other worlds then I would have been inclined to continue with the game since it would be fresh and not a repetitive grind. But unfortunately every area is virtually the same, only with different wild encounters and some different cutscene triggers. - airy being evil was an unexpected twist. Didn't expect the whole crystal awakening was a bad thing either. The game did mask it as a righteous ritual really well. Further disguising her was her cute and cheery look and attitude. Plus her presence on the bottom screen. - I also like how the game gave me a lot chances to stop hitting x during the ritual. - the game made me question what it had made me initially believed. It made me trust the crystal orthodoxy, then turned the table. - I like how there are hints of airy being not gemuine, where she slips up and focuses on awakening crystals over even agnes - I think by the time I reached chapter 7, the developers probably assumed that I knew airy was evil and likely also assumed the player just wanted to go on to more chapters out of curiosity. Even the cutscenes are just rehashed Bad - wish there was an auto attack all, if I selected 4 braves. Against random enemies I usually just use all brave and mash attack. If there was an auto select option, it woulda saved me time    … Expand
  4. MisterCrux2
    Oct 10, 2021
    8
    I was really disappointed from Bravely Default they told me it was the heir of Final Fantasy it is, but is the heir of the very firsts Final Fantasies, not the heir of Final Fantasy VI, and those games aged orribly. This game really looks like it was born old, the story is really boring it has quite good dialogues but what happens is so basic and derivative, it's all a we have toI was really disappointed from Bravely Default they told me it was the heir of Final Fantasy it is, but is the heir of the very firsts Final Fantasies, not the heir of Final Fantasy VI, and those games aged orribly. This game really looks like it was born old, the story is really boring it has quite good dialogues but what happens is so basic and derivative, it's all a we have to purificate the crystal so we go to that city, but to purificate the crystal we need the dress so we go talking to the sage to know where it is, he says the item is in the cave, than we go to the cave. Everything is so classic and seen already, the best part are the optional dialogues but they're never really fun or deep. And this continues until near the end in the last part there's a plot twist that makes the story slightly interesting that was the only part that made me actually feel like I wanted to know how it continues, even if that plot twist wasn't really well played. Also I really appreciated that Ringabel in the last part becomes serious before he was so annoying, he couldn't end a phrase without making moves on the girls, it was so repetitive to see him doing that every single time. The game also has a couple of plot holes, the greater one is having Edea betraying the army and his father at the beginning, how is possible that a girl that was always told that the vestal is an enemy that would cause great pain to the world if her mission is fulfilled suddenly decides to betray her side and her father only because her collegue wasn't acting fine? Also in the last part there's something you can do to change the course of the events be smart and find out how to reach that final. Anyway what the game gains in the story in the last part is lost in the gameplay that becomes incredibly boring and repetitive. I also expected great things from the battle system, it looked very strategic, but it turned to be extremely basic and simple I imagined one had to use brave and default strategically, but in practice the best strategy is always making the characters attack four time when they can and let another character save bp so he could heal the others if there's need. It would have been a lot better if you could know before if the opponent was going to brave or default than you could decide strategically what to do and you wouldn' mess with the frustration of attacking four times an enemy who defaulted.
    Also the battle can become boring because they're so long and you have to press a lot of buttons to tell them what to do every turn. The boss battles especially are very long boss have tons of hp. Luckly there's an auto battle option where the characters repeat the last action you chose, but observing that the autobattle is able to win most of the fights just show how repetitive and no strategic the battle system is. I appreciated how the subquest are, they don't have a vast variety but they're near always quite well written and they give you jobs as a reward. Also the world is well done, the world map remembers the one of the old Final Fantasies and it isn't linear, but probably it was possible to do better, on the other side the dungeons are very simple they have a boring level design, sometimes they have very basic puzzles. The thing I enjoyed the most from this game is the art style it's really nice and enjoyable    … Expand
  5. attemptatreason
    Mar 4, 2022
    8
    I got the not true ending, which I'm satisfied with. I know you get the true ending by listening to Airy but it was too painful to know i'm falling into a trap. Otherwise, this game is fantastic. It has a pretty straightforward system for dialogue with full voice acting and movement around the map. I think the map design was amazing, I loved Florum and Anchiem, felt really unique and theI got the not true ending, which I'm satisfied with. I know you get the true ending by listening to Airy but it was too painful to know i'm falling into a trap. Otherwise, this game is fantastic. It has a pretty straightforward system for dialogue with full voice acting and movement around the map. I think the map design was amazing, I loved Florum and Anchiem, felt really unique and the themes/plot was integrated in the map design such as the citizens turning the cog wheels and the whole town was about cogs. It had a really strong core - good turn based, classes with a unique system (such as stat changes based on class and equip ranks) and the abilities. Somewhere along the lines the game becomes obnoxiously difficult at random places - with the main story line being easy AF - for example, Ch 7 Crowne was literally 2x harder than the final boss. I would have liked to see the sub quests LATER ON explored more - such as the vampire castle, what are these dragons and why am I killing them? The location and markings for the dragon were so cool and exploring for them was awesome but what are they? Also, I thought the amount of times I would end up at a crystal awakening it, going to the pillar of light and repeating I was going to go crazy... Not to mention hearing the same dialogue and awakening things. Opening knocked it out of the park ~prior to the vampire castle 9.1/10; 5-10 hours after that and after doing a few new worlds 8.5/10. Overall with the ending and slow pace and repetitive endings 8.1/ 10.… Expand
  6. poker909
    Feb 16, 2014
    7
    In every battle there is a button asking you to spend real world money on in-game items like your playing some free Korean mmorpg. Why does no one else see this as a major issue? I already bought the game, but it still wants more of my money, this is a huge flaw for me.
    Other than that the game lives up to the hype, and is a must play for jrpg fans. The brave/default battle system    In every battle there is a button asking you to spend real world money on in-game items like your playing some free Korean mmorpg. Why does no one else see this as a major issue? I already bought the game, but it still wants more of my money, this is a huge flaw for me.
    Other than that the game lives up to the hype, and is a must play for jrpg fans. The brave/default battle system works, but you do end up inputting a ton of commands for battles that take a couple seconds to execute, which only stands out because everything else is so streamlined. The story is good with dark and serious themes, but the light hearted overtone puts a limit on how emotionally attached you will become with the characters.    … Expand
  7. PuckMan
    Feb 26, 2014
    7
    Bravely Default has a turn based combat system of great depth. There's probably a little bit too much level grinding in it but it is satisfying when you feel your attacks becoming more powerful and your able to steam roll enemies which had previously been problematic.

    Then random battles are there for a reason. So you can experiment with different job classes and tactics and to try out    Bravely Default has a turn based combat system of great depth. There's probably a little bit too much level grinding in it but it is satisfying when you feel your attacks becoming more powerful and your able to steam roll enemies which had previously been problematic.

    Then random battles are there for a reason. So you can experiment with different job classes and tactics and to try out new equipment and magic. But there isn't enough content to go round and the ground hog day final chapters are extremely repetitive as you repeat yourself over and over and over and over again.

    Characters are so-so and the story is not worth mentioning. The street-pass features are pointless. Great presentation, graphics and music.

    Overall a highly polished turn based RPG with derivative story and not enough content for it's deep combat system.    … Expand
  8. TheRavingTimes
    Feb 9, 2014
    7
    Bravely Default is a game that can be praised for taking the elements of a classic Final Fantasy title and install a brand new twist. The plot and characters feel like something straight from the SNES Final Fantasy titles with a more modern atmosphere and more fleshed out characters. Possibly one of the biggest selling point of this game is the gameplay which incorporates a simple yetBravely Default is a game that can be praised for taking the elements of a classic Final Fantasy title and install a brand new twist. The plot and characters feel like something straight from the SNES Final Fantasy titles with a more modern atmosphere and more fleshed out characters. Possibly one of the biggest selling point of this game is the gameplay which incorporates a simple yet innovated idea with bravely to allow characters to use multiple actions (so you can revive a character and then use cure to heal them all in one turn) and default which allows the characters to defend and stock up on BP (so you can use bravery without losing any turns). The music is another selling point though to be fair, Final Fantasy is known for its amazing music ever since its NES days and Bravely Default's music is nothing short to the greatness of past Final Fantasy titles. The game falls apart when voice acting and graphics comes into play. Though most of the main characters are good, some of the voice acting and dialogue for some of the characters are just unbearable or their voice feels mangled in some way. The graphics though charming feels weak compared to other 3DS titles. Despite its faults, I'd recommend Bravery Default to any RPG fan. Though Final Fantasy X is coming out on the Vita, the originality of Bravery Default, charms, and use of classic elements that were once common in the Final Fantasy series hold more value then the HD remake.… Expand
  9. danech10
    May 16, 2014
    7
    A great experience for about the first 12-15 hours or so, then it gets real boring real fast. The plot devolves into generic RPG fare, the characters start to get on your nerves, and the amount of backtracking put in place to pad out the game's length begins to rear its ugly head as well.

    There's tons of innovative little stuff in the game like Norende and abilink, and the battle system    A great experience for about the first 12-15 hours or so, then it gets real boring real fast. The plot devolves into generic RPG fare, the characters start to get on your nerves, and the amount of backtracking put in place to pad out the game's length begins to rear its ugly head as well.

    There's tons of innovative little stuff in the game like Norende and abilink, and the battle system (on normal difficulty) provides a nice puzzle at each of the boss fights, although most of the grunts can be taken care of in one turn.

    If you don't mind doing a lot of grinding between long stretches of absolutely nothing happening in the plot, then you probably won't mind. If you're the type of player that enjoys leveling up all the job classes fully, then you'll find plenty of opportunity for just that.

    But if you're looking for an interesting story told at a good pace to keep you engaged, you'll be a bit disappointed with BD.    … Expand
  10. bearbishop
    May 2, 2014
    7
    This game was fun. Maybe a little too easy on normal once you understand brave system and get some of the better jobs. Now I'm on chapter 5: yesterday's scenery and I'm like WTF. Why on earth would I want to fight almost all of the bosses in the game again 3 Times? I mean sure put that **** in the game for the people who WANT to do it, don't force everyone to do it just to get theThis game was fun. Maybe a little too easy on normal once you understand brave system and get some of the better jobs. Now I'm on chapter 5: yesterday's scenery and I'm like WTF. Why on earth would I want to fight almost all of the bosses in the game again 3 Times? I mean sure put that **** in the game for the people who WANT to do it, don't force everyone to do it just to get the cinematic ending. They really just took what is honestly a game that would take about 45-55 hours to complete and bumped it up to more like 65-75. The other problem is the latter parts of the first part of the game are way too **** easy so I didn't even do any random encounters in chapter 4 so now I'm all under level and the damn bosses only dish out JP in chapter 5. I know I could fix all this, but seriously I was expecting the ending to be badass like FF3 where you just level up a little, collect the best gear, and go own the crystal tower. I just feel a little ripped off, because I would have been excited to finish the game if they had made a proper ending, but now I'm thinking of just playing DQ 6 instead.… Expand
  11. Johnnyfaye-Hero
    Apr 1, 2015
    7
    A flawed Master piece: Bravely Default is a wonderful game that has a great turned based battle structure that allows you to manipulate the flow of the game by speeding up or slowing down the random encounter of monster. The game also has an amazing hand drawn background with the 3DS graphics the game looks stunning and also has an interesting story line and ideas but seems to drop offA flawed Master piece: Bravely Default is a wonderful game that has a great turned based battle structure that allows you to manipulate the flow of the game by speeding up or slowing down the random encounter of monster. The game also has an amazing hand drawn background with the 3DS graphics the game looks stunning and also has an interesting story line and ideas but seems to drop off quickly. Around half way the game just story of stops and rewinds , which at first is very interesting, but the game literally makes you do the exact same thing over again. It would possibly be a 10 if it wasn't for the fact that the game literally just stops and makes you do everything over again, same posses, same levels, everything with a few different conversations thrown in. Everything else about the game is fantastic, Bravely is a wonderful hand drawn game with few major mistakes thrown in. Some people find these flaws too much and stop playing it. I guess this would be the same as the ending of Windwaker where you have to go find the 8 pieces at the end. It seems tacked on, it seems like a weak attempt to extend the game. This means that Bravely Default is a good game instead of a classic...… Expand
  12. Reace14
    Feb 7, 2015
    7
    Half of the game is repeated... not once, not twice... but over and over and over again. It's a cheap and lazy way of extending the game's play time. A HUGE flaw in an otherwise decent JRPG with a mediocre story but excellent class and ability system. The battle system and gear selection force a little more strategy into boss fights than I am accustomed to in JRPGs, and was one of theHalf of the game is repeated... not once, not twice... but over and over and over again. It's a cheap and lazy way of extending the game's play time. A HUGE flaw in an otherwise decent JRPG with a mediocre story but excellent class and ability system. The battle system and gear selection force a little more strategy into boss fights than I am accustomed to in JRPGs, and was one of the bright spots in an otherwise typical game. Learning the strategies for each boss was a lot of fun... even if they weren't exactly difficult. Only once or twice did my entire team wipe. Even the few times I did lose and reload from the last checkpoint, it was a simple matter of changing up gearjobsabilities to adjust to a new strategy. I would have scored it higher had I not had to replay certain parts of the game multiple times! Ridiculous.… Expand
  13. Dreonas
    Oct 4, 2017
    7
    I am not a fan of JRPGs or regular RPGs at all, but I must admit that I enjoyed a little bit this game; in fact, it is the first SquareEnix game that I finish.

    The battle mechanics were fine, the jobs were useful and versatile, the artwork was cool and the soundtrack was almost a masterpiece. The bosses were quite a challenge, but after the "deja vu sequence", they were boring. The    I am not a fan of JRPGs or regular RPGs at all, but I must admit that I enjoyed a little bit this game; in fact, it is the first SquareEnix game that I finish.

    The battle mechanics were fine, the jobs were useful and versatile, the artwork was cool and the soundtrack was almost a masterpiece. The bosses were quite a challenge, but after the "deja vu sequence", they were boring. The english dub was awful, so I recommend to play it with the original japanese voices.

    Maybe one of the main reasons why this game has many mixed and negatives reviews is for the way the plot unfolds. The beginning was mysterious, charming and amazing, but the other half is repetitive. Enjoying this game relies 100% in choosing "the right path", while taking the other one feels like a penitence in the purgatory. Perhaps punishing the players that way wasn't the best idea.    … Expand
  14. Da3_who_knows
    Jul 4, 2018
    7
    To be honest I have only finished this game from the third try. At first I found it too difficult. It was my first game of this kind so I was a bit confused in the beginning. However there is a big big problem with this game. Whose idea it was to make gamers do same things over and over again? Not once not twice but freaking 6-7 times! This game mechanics was the most repulsive thing aboutTo be honest I have only finished this game from the third try. At first I found it too difficult. It was my first game of this kind so I was a bit confused in the beginning. However there is a big big problem with this game. Whose idea it was to make gamers do same things over and over again? Not once not twice but freaking 6-7 times! This game mechanics was the most repulsive thing about this game. I liked the music and game design a lot. A LOT. this was one of the things that made me wanna finish this game. I read many reviews saying that many gamers did not like the characters in this game. Well that is just unacceptable! (inside joke). In my opinion they were decent. I really liked many of them and reading the dialogs and watching their relationship developing was another thing that kept me going. So If you are a fan of JRPG and all do not hesitate go and check this game out. As for the others... well... good luck and may the force and determination be with you.… Expand
  15. Galix
    Apr 27, 2020
    7
    Un jrpg que contiene todos los elementos que cualquiera buscaría en un juego de este tipo pero con algunos lastres que hacen que no sea para todo el mundo.

    Lo bueno: - Sistema de combate dinámico y divertido. - Gran variedad de trabajos que ofrece al jugador un amplio arsenal de posibilidades. - Banda sonora muy buena y en general muy buen apartado artístico. Lo malo: - La    Un jrpg que contiene todos los elementos que cualquiera buscaría en un juego de este tipo pero con algunos lastres que hacen que no sea para todo el mundo.

    Lo bueno:
    - Sistema de combate dinámico y divertido.
    - Gran variedad de trabajos que ofrece al jugador un amplio arsenal de posibilidades.
    - Banda sonora muy buena y en general muy buen apartado artístico.

    Lo malo:
    - La historia es un sinsentido.
    - Tras el capítulo 4 el juego se basa en repetir los combates contra los mismos jefes una y otra vez, siendo la mayoría combates opcionales. Si los haces te llevará horas, probablemente acabes cansado de los jefes y no obtendrás ninguna recompensa (no dan experiencia ni objetos especialmente relevantes). Si no los haces verás como te pasas la mitad de los capítulos del juego en cuestión de minutos.
    - Siguiendo con el apartado anterior, los capítulos 7 y 8 parecen estar de relleno. La historia no avanza lo más mínimo y lo único interesante son los combates opcionales contra grupos de jefes, los cuales son peleas muy duras y, nuevamente, sin ninguna recompensa. Me parece una forma terriblemente artificial de alargar la duración de un juego.    … Expand
  16. Thumaz
    Apr 24, 2023
    7
    I love final fantasy, i've played almost all of them, when i saw this game i thought i would like it, and i did for like 3/5 of the game. The jobs are fun to mess around, soundtrack and art direction are absolutely amazing and the story is nice at first. But then the difficulty spikes, and spikes a lot and the game becomes too grindy for me, even in normal difficulty (i've started on hardI love final fantasy, i've played almost all of them, when i saw this game i thought i would like it, and i did for like 3/5 of the game. The jobs are fun to mess around, soundtrack and art direction are absolutely amazing and the story is nice at first. But then the difficulty spikes, and spikes a lot and the game becomes too grindy for me, even in normal difficulty (i've started on hard you see) and im being almost killed by random trash enemies on chapter 4, the balance team really messed up on this one.… Expand
  17. Ayreos
    Feb 8, 2014
    6
    The game's visuals are great. The soundtrack, a masterpiece. The gameplay is engrossing, but highly repetitive. To complete random battles without crippling yourself you will have perform anywhere from 16 to 64 commands in a single turn. After a short while, it gets repetitive. Repetitive are also all the dungeons of the game. The Job system is the star of the gameplay, but if you playedThe game's visuals are great. The soundtrack, a masterpiece. The gameplay is engrossing, but highly repetitive. To complete random battles without crippling yourself you will have perform anywhere from 16 to 64 commands in a single turn. After a short while, it gets repetitive. Repetitive are also all the dungeons of the game. The Job system is the star of the gameplay, but if you played FF3, FF5 or their derivatives, this is just more of the same. Bosses will often perform the same 2-4 moves in order, being almost impossible to defeat for the wrong combination of jobs, but extremely easy for the right one, which doesn't really allow for any emergent gameplay, despite the jobs' apparent potential for it.

    Finally, the rating is only 6 because story is to me the most important part of an RPG. Bravely Default tries to include higher depth and coherence than the usual JRPG fare, but fails to introduce any new structure to the game, which is an unforgivable flaw. Each dungeon concludes with a boss or event. If you are walking somewhere and there is a cave nearby, be assured that's your next story destination. There are 4 crystals and 4 continents, plus you can guess the order in which you will visit them from the very beginning. The game is, in short, extremely linear. While the plot tries to throw twists and mysteries at you, you will see everything coming long before it happens. The characters themselves are pure stereotypes. As a final blow, the endgame is already famously jarring and repetitive, involving forced grinding through the same content multiple times for a good ending.
    Notably, though, the english voice acting is remarkable. You will probably still hate Agnés.    … Expand
  18. dingdong
    Feb 16, 2015
    6
    When I first picked up the game and played through the first half of the story, I thought this would be an easy 9/10 review. It *almost* reminds me of the good ol' JRPG days, with great character building and tweaking (see FF job systems), and pretty decent story, too. But that all ended for me once I hit the half-way point of the story. I don't want to spoil anything but the second halfWhen I first picked up the game and played through the first half of the story, I thought this would be an easy 9/10 review. It *almost* reminds me of the good ol' JRPG days, with great character building and tweaking (see FF job systems), and pretty decent story, too. But that all ended for me once I hit the half-way point of the story. I don't want to spoil anything but the second half of the game is such an utter disappointment - incredibly repetitive with zero incentive to the story - to really keep plowing through. Bummer.… Expand
  19. Kayido
    Mar 7, 2014
    6
    The game have fantastic graphics and designs , have good songs + music and atmosphere.

    The game bear alot of similarities with the final fantasy series, it is a nice comeback to old rpg. It have many classes and options for combat and you can match any skills you want to create your ideal character. The story is a bit shallow and cliché , could have been better. The combat system    The game have fantastic graphics and designs , have good songs + music and atmosphere.

    The game bear alot of similarities with the final fantasy series, it is a nice comeback to old rpg. It have many classes and options for combat and you can match any skills you want to create your ideal character.

    The story is a bit shallow and cliché , could have been better.

    The combat system even with all its option and classes is not that good also , i could say pointless ... All you have to do is use all your bravery of each characters, use it on simple attacks , press auto (y) and you can kill anything except bosses in one round before they can act. What is the point in having so many classes ans skills if all you have to do is auto attack and win ?

    What i found pretty nice is the option to control how many monsters you encounter , so if you wish to grind some exp, just put the option to + 100% encounter. If you dont want pesty monsters ? No problem , downgrade it to 0% !    … Expand
  20. Laku
    Dec 6, 2013
    6
    I played through the whole japanese version of the game a while ago and it's a mediocre game masked in run-of-the-mill final fantasy combat. If you've played any final fantasy before this game doesn't have much to offer, just more the the same. It's not a horrible game just don't expect anything original.
  21. SylaxSYN
    Apr 17, 2014
    6
    Though this game is quite fun with great audio and visuals, halfway through it becomes a nightmare and it soils said fun/audio/visual. That halfway mark not only turns the already dull story into a festering wound of nonsensical stupidity, but it also turns all the good things about the game against you. Grinding is one thing, that's to be expected with rpgs, but the monotonousThough this game is quite fun with great audio and visuals, halfway through it becomes a nightmare and it soils said fun/audio/visual. That halfway mark not only turns the already dull story into a festering wound of nonsensical stupidity, but it also turns all the good things about the game against you. Grinding is one thing, that's to be expected with rpgs, but the monotonous repetition that it forces you into becomes too much to handle. There's actually 2 endings that people reference, the generally accepted ending (end of chapter 4) or the final end after the game goes downhill (end of chapter 8). And the most insulting part of it all. You can actually beat the hidden boss(and any other boss for that matter) in 1 single attack. So if you want a good game, stop at the end of chapter 4, it's only misery from then on.… Expand
  22. midway23
    Dec 10, 2014
    6
    While the art style and new interesting take on the battle system make "Bravley Default" stand out from other JRPG's, its gameplay mechanics still feel incredibly outdated by today's standards. While some fun can be found, the absence of a decent story and the inclusion of near terrible voice acting, makes me question if this game was really worth going through.
  23. edwartexe
    Mar 11, 2015
    6
    the game is okay but it serves many problems in its story. there are quite some plot holes and the main characters are plain and one dimensional, they just dont get enough focus. only ringabel gets decent development but its mostly due to one of the bosses. in this game almost every single human boss is more interesting than the 4 mc ( which is specialy jarring due to Tiz, the playerthe game is okay but it serves many problems in its story. there are quite some plot holes and the main characters are plain and one dimensional, they just dont get enough focus. only ringabel gets decent development but its mostly due to one of the bosses. in this game almost every single human boss is more interesting than the 4 mc ( which is specialy jarring due to Tiz, the player character, being absolutley un-nessesary... if he was not there the story would be the same). the twist was not that great ... surprizing but shallow in the end because the main bad guy has no real motive for being evil ... it just is evil for the sake of being evil and not in an interesting way.
    the gameplay is great. its the only good reason why to play this game, its combat system is deep and strategy plays a bigger role than grinding. tons of choises and posible playstyles are there. however this is an rpg from the FF serie and when the gameplay is better than its story it somehow feels cheap. but whats more cheap is the fact that after ch.4 half of the game consists on backtracking and killing the same bosses over and over for no justifiable reason other than making the game longer... they didnt even bother to change their attack patterns so they become pushovers by the time you fight them again ... and again and again.
    summary: the combat system is great and an example of great turn based combar, but the story is bad and so are the character developments. i dont really consider it worthy of so much praise its been given    … Expand
  24. Reagan0
    Jan 1, 2016
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Yes, you've heard it a million times, the battle system of Bravely Default is to die for. It's a very strong spin on an archaic but arguably timeless RPG system. Not only do you have the emblematic Brave and Default features, but you also have Special moves, which play a unique minute-and-a-half battle theme for each character and give them bonuses until that theme ends. There's also a feature that lets you pause time and fire out a single move at once. The game is also a low-key city-builder (or village-builder) that lets you rebuild a town that is destroyed at the beginning of the game, all the while providing you cool pluses for doing so.

    On top of this, the art style of this game is wonderful and diverse. It's definitely a game you can play in 3D, at least as well as you can on the 3DS. You can see the grooves and the texture to the mountains and the buildings, which look hand-colored. There's profoundly amazing work on this game's art.

    On the other hand, THE SECOND HALF IS AWFUL.

    So, if it was better localized and the plot wasn't so vapid and repetitive, I'm sure I would like this game a lot more. Granted, I'm more on the casual end, but let's just say during the second half you might never want to play this game again. The ending is so convoluted and contrived. It makes Kingdom Hearts flip the damn table. (credit to Kingdom Hearts: at least they keep the whole story in one piece, and actually do it well).

    The game spends the first four chapters exploring different sections of the world that are easy to digest and explore over time. They each have their own world to them, and at the end you fight a certain boss.

    During the beginning of the second half, you have explored the entire map. You have to go back to each world and do a certain part of the story over again, then fight those certain bosses over again. Then, you do it again. And again. AND AGAIN.

    Maybe I played it wrong by rushing through the game. But then again, why is there even a wrong way to play it? The moral of the game, and they tell you this at every critical moment so it's not quite a spoiler, is this: Always question things. The ending of this game did not answer many of the questions I had. Questions like, why do you want me to buy Bravely Second points with real-life money? Isn't that pointless if the game has an end? Isn't that actually a horrible game mechanic that ruins the experience? Also, if I am supposed to question things, why do you throw a cop-out ending at me when I finally break the chain and destroy a crystal? Furthermore on destroying crystals, why didn't you give me the option to do that from the very beginning? Why did you give me training wheels and cap it immediately upon "Stop! That's it!" then take that away later on? How was I supposed to catch on with that cap preventing me from doing it every time until it became practical to the game's development? Speaking of things from the very beginning, if you're going to give me a means of exploring the entire world at the very beginning, then why do you just throw cutscenes at me telling me to go back whenever I'm just exploring and having fun with your world? And why do you expect me to be satisfied with an ending that is freaking ridiculous as this one? The theme of worlds constantly eating one another like the Greek Ouroboros symbol is cool, just like the rest of the game's art, but the script doesn't add up even a little! So many things happen at once that don't even fit together well! The entire game is explained with random explosions of exposition, and then it's all just thrown at you at once at the very end over a VERY monotonous boss chain! And that fairy MUST have said something other than "Thanks for stopping my sister's evil plan" in the original Japanese game. That is such a cop-out line. Why does the messenger of hell have a sister? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!?! And if Tiz actually died in the eruption at Norende and the only reason, why does Bravely Second feature him? Is this some other world? Because the way you made me fight THE SAME FOUR BOSSES FOUR TIMES IN A ROW WITHOUT A HINT OF DIFFERENCE MAKES ME NOT WANT TO EXPLORE ANY MORE **** WORLDS ANETRUIANEITUYAIUTENHRI

    Sorry, sorry. I do really like the battle system of this game, and it drives it through a very cool game, up until the second half, which throws everything likeable about it out the window by making you fight the same bosses over and over again ad nauseum. I don't like that at all. It makes me profoundly frustrated just thinking about it because this game could've been so much better. This was supposed to be the game that would modernize this archaic genre and give it entirely new characteristics, like art and modern mechanics and 3D, and it just ruined so much inspiration at the end. At this point, "6" is a generous rating. You'd better be careful, game. Otherwise I might grow wings and start counting down to this review's Ouroboros-like destruction.    … Expand
  25. Inryoku
    May 1, 2014
    5
    This game is really fantastic in a lot of ways, like its nice to look at artstyle, the lovable characters, the good combat system with a nice twist and a interesting story. But after playing it for 50+ hours I'm done with it completely before even getting close to the ending because of repetition being a part of the story.... There is nothing worse in video games than having to do the sameThis game is really fantastic in a lot of ways, like its nice to look at artstyle, the lovable characters, the good combat system with a nice twist and a interesting story. But after playing it for 50+ hours I'm done with it completely before even getting close to the ending because of repetition being a part of the story.... There is nothing worse in video games than having to do the same stuff over and over and over again but unfortunately this is what the player is doing for the majority of the game. The Street Pass is completely useless if you're living somewhere with no Bravely Default players around making a rather big part of the game unbeatable. At least everybody can adjust the difficulty depending on what the person wants from this game by making it either pathetically easy or a grind fest for the hardcore gamers with too much time at their hands. If you're looking for an engaging experience from beginning to end you'll be sorely disappointed. I can only recommend this game to people who don't mind seeing the same stuff over and over again.… Expand
  26. kasparius
    Jul 17, 2014
    5
    I'm giving it 5/10, because the customizable battle system is absolutely wonderful and the graphics are great for 3DS, the streetpass town progression was a great idea, however it ceases being of any use after a few hours in the game, and that's really too bad.

    However this is where it ends, the story is absolutely bare bones and the characters have zero charisma and the humor is    I'm giving it 5/10, because the customizable battle system is absolutely wonderful and the graphics are great for 3DS, the streetpass town progression was a great idea, however it ceases being of any use after a few hours in the game, and that's really too bad.

    However this is where it ends, the story is absolutely bare bones and the characters have zero charisma and the humor is abysmal and offensively dumb. A very disappointing game, if they re-use the battle system within a good game, I would love to tackle it. As it stands after about 8 hours of the game, I decided that it just was not worth my time.    … Expand
  27. var_stark
    Feb 23, 2016
    5
    As many said, this game is beautifully crafted, it is a new hope for turn based rpg, cool combat system, amazing bso, classes leveling... it lacks some exploration though. but the main problem for me is the second half of the game, instead of closing the narrative arch, or maybe just trying to swell the plot and explain the few important plot holes they decided to enlarge the life of theAs many said, this game is beautifully crafted, it is a new hope for turn based rpg, cool combat system, amazing bso, classes leveling... it lacks some exploration though. but the main problem for me is the second half of the game, instead of closing the narrative arch, or maybe just trying to swell the plot and explain the few important plot holes they decided to enlarge the life of the game by just repeating the main story with a few side quests, the worst thing is that the characters doesn't even try to do something about it they just do the same things until you complete all the bosses once again. It is obviously a lazy way to extend the game time, and it's annoying cause you just can't simply skip everything and go straight to the end, you have at least to re-kill the main bosses. Dude, i did it once, and it was hard, why do i have to do it all over again? did i do something wrong? why are you punishing me? that's not how a game should work, if i wanted to repeat the game i would simply restart the game and start all over again just for fun, but like this, it really looks like a punishment " Congratulations, you got to the end, but the bad guy won, so now YOU just have to do everything again, but harder this time" please no.… Expand
  28. moothemagiccow
    Feb 8, 2016
    5
    Almost a great game. If you stop playing at the end of Chapter 4, you've basically completed the game.
    The story is kind of dumb, the dialogue is terrible, the voice acting could be better, but the game itself? It's incredibly fun. Leveling up, getting new classes, learning skills and fighting bosses using the brave/default battle system is challenging and rewarding.
    But at the halfway    Almost a great game. If you stop playing at the end of Chapter 4, you've basically completed the game.
    The story is kind of dumb, the dialogue is terrible, the voice acting could be better, but the game itself? It's incredibly fun. Leveling up, getting new classes, learning skills and fighting bosses using the brave/default battle system is challenging and rewarding.
    But at the halfway point, you're asked to literally repeat the game's main goals. Then once more. And again. And you just want it all to stop. And all the challenge of fighting the same bosses becomes routine. Dull. Annoying. It's like being given a sports car on the condition that you only use it to deliver mail.    … Expand
  29. phyzx
    Dec 22, 2020
    5
    I was so excited to play this game. It had everything I kinda wanted in a jrpg. In many ways it was 10/10 for me. But I honestly can't ignore how bad the last half of the game was. I don't ever write reviews but I honestly regret buying this game because of how bad and pointless the story got. This is the first game that I really disagree with the general consensus on. It does have a goodI was so excited to play this game. It had everything I kinda wanted in a jrpg. In many ways it was 10/10 for me. But I honestly can't ignore how bad the last half of the game was. I don't ever write reviews but I honestly regret buying this game because of how bad and pointless the story got. This is the first game that I really disagree with the general consensus on. It does have a good list of pros, but it gets repetitive and lazy. If you haven't bought this game yet...I think you should spoil the story for yourself before you decide to buy it.… Expand
  30. Ophenix
    Aug 31, 2015
    4
    This game isn't worthy of the 8.5 it has imo.
    The graphics is stunning and the battle system is cute but the plot is so horrible it pained me to play it.
    The characters are so one dimensional they boarder at satire. It isn't funny but it keeps trying and the princess, the second party member you get, is the most lazily written POS I've seen in a long long time. Vanille from FF13? She's    This game isn't worthy of the 8.5 it has imo.
    The graphics is stunning and the battle system is cute but the plot is so horrible it pained me to play it.
    The characters are so one dimensional they boarder at satire. It isn't funny but it keeps trying and the princess, the second party member you get, is the most lazily written POS I've seen in a long long time.
    Vanille from FF13? She's worse. She makes no sense and keeps harping on about nothing with a voice that makes you want to throw your 3DS out the window.
    I couldn't get past the 4th or 5th city, it was just THAT bad.
    If you need something to play on a flight or just don't care about the plot at all you can give this a try, otherwise pass.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best 3DS Game of 2014
3
#3 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2014
3
#3 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 67 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 64 out of 67
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 67
  3. Negative: 0 out of 67
  1. Quarter to Three
    Apr 14, 2014
    100
    It sounds like a lot, and it is, but not in an overwhelming way but in a fantastic, three in the morning, I can’t stop playing this game kind of way. When it all comes together and you destroy a boss that gave you troubles just a few job levels ago, it feels great.
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  2. GameCritics
    Apr 8, 2014
    70
    It's got a lovely fresh coat of paint, but underneath that Bravely Default is the same old thing.
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  3. Level7.nu
    Feb 16, 2014
    90
    Bravely Deafult is the best game from Square-Enix in a long time and a must for fans of classic Final Fantasy. The battle and work system, as well as the history and the graphics is natural progresses of a gamemaking many deemed nostalgic.
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