Bravely Default II

 Switch
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 317 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 230 out of 317
  2. Mixed: 46 out of 317
  3. Negative: 41 out of 317
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  1. shado474
    May 12, 2023
    5
    A battling system that's promising, but surrounded by many many flaws in optimization.

    Loading times are frequent and a bit too long for that kind of game, especially during repeated enemy encounters. The menu is slow and the animations are often choppy. Regular battles can take a while when one strong enemy is present, but the reward is very small in the end. Boss battles are that    A battling system that's promising, but surrounded by many many flaws in optimization.

    Loading times are frequent and a bit too long for that kind of game, especially during repeated enemy encounters. The menu is slow and the animations are often choppy. Regular battles can take a while when one strong enemy is present, but the reward is very small in the end. Boss battles are that typical HP tank with occasional big spikes of damage input. This is where the "brave" system gets bad imo. It happens too often that bosses just take down the whole team with a series of 5-7 strong attacks at once. I generally like challenge, but that sort of 180 turn-around after an already 20-minute painful fight is very frustrating when it happens multiple times in a row.

    Overall not the worst game although I mostly listen the bad here, but definitely not something I would recommend. It is very tedious and the story isn't great.    … Expand
  2. Trunks252
    May 8, 2023
    5
    This is my first time playing a Bravely game, and I have to say I am somewhat disappointed.

    Visuals: Great environments and animations. Servicable character and monster designs. Audio: The music was unintrusive but also uninspired. Many tracks just seemed to copy Final Fantasy. I found the English voice acting to be a mixed bag. Some characters sounded absolutely atrocious, or grated    This is my first time playing a Bravely game, and I have to say I am somewhat disappointed.

    Visuals: Great environments and animations. Servicable character and monster designs.

    Audio: The music was unintrusive but also uninspired. Many tracks just seemed to copy Final Fantasy. I found the English voice acting to be a mixed bag. Some characters sounded absolutely atrocious, or grated on my nerves so bad I had to switch to Japanese.

    Story: Boring, to be honest. I found myself skipping most scenes after act 1, and eventually stopped playing altogether after starting act 4. Characters are mostly shallow and have little charm. There were a few cool scenes here and there. I could have put up with this story if I had liked the gameplay more.

    Gameplay: This is where the problems really got to me. Despite liking the combat mechanics, I had many issues with the job system and exploration. The abilities are extremely unbalanced, to the point where I only needed to spam 5 or 6 abilities every battle (despite having dozens available per character). Even during bosses, I would just need to use the same Body Slam and Pressure Point repeatedly while healing. Very little strategy.

    There are also gameplay mechanics that are just missing entirely. Things such as a mini map in dungeons, side quest tracking, and other small inconvieniences really add up to make things annoying. Some gameplay features are simply there to be restrictive, such as the equipment weight system. I would much rather be given bonuses for using the correct equipment, rather than feel restricted. Positive reinforcement over negative kinda thing.

    The game also expects you to grind, often needing you to battle even after clearing dungeons or completing all optional side quests to be strong enough to progress. It all adds up to just feel monotonous and unneccessary.

    To be fair, many people may like this game, and I'm fine with that. But I've played much better JRPGs. I got maybe 40 hrs in before I quit, so there is some merit here. But I can't recommend paying full price. Buy it $30 or less.    … Expand
  3. Dragoduval
    Jan 23, 2023
    10
    Pretty much the best RPG that i played in years, so i recommend this game easily for anyone who love grinding just like me.

    Seriously we need more RPG's with well though story and gameplay instead of rushed crap.
  4. rrafemi
    Dec 27, 2022
    5
    existe una brecha demasiado grande entre personajes y jefes de zona, aún tengas las armas y armaduras más potentes disponibles en ese momento. Farmear niveles no soluciona esa diferencia. Reducir su potencia y defensa tampoco supone una diferencia palpable

    Los combates están muy, pero que muy descompensados. Los enemigos de campo son fáciles y huyen de ti porque eres demasiado fuerte,    existe una brecha demasiado grande entre personajes y jefes de zona, aún tengas las armas y armaduras más potentes disponibles en ese momento. Farmear niveles no soluciona esa diferencia. Reducir su potencia y defensa tampoco supone una diferencia palpable

    Los combates están muy, pero que muy descompensados. Los enemigos de campo son fáciles y huyen de ti porque eres demasiado fuerte, pero llegas a un jefe y prácticamente no tienes opciones, ni siquiera en el modo fácil. Arruina por completo la experiencia de juego.

    Los jefes obviamente deben ser fuertes, pero en este juego la dificultad está muy descompensada.    … Expand
  5. Spencerperior
    Dec 19, 2022
    7
    a good game. i could recommend. very long, complicated job system. everything works reasonably well
  6. mglandenberg
    Nov 16, 2022
    7
    Gutes Spiel. Viel RPG für sein Geld. Viele Jobs zum ausprobieren und skillen. Am Ende aber doch zu viele Jobs . Man verliert schnell die Übersicht. Auch wirkt die Story am Ende etwas gestreckt. Aber doch ein gutes Spiel. Etwas Grind gehört natürlich dazu. Ich habe in 60 Stunden aber kaum Langeweile gehabt. Der Endboss fällt gefühlt zu einfach aus
  7. Sterrewiggelary
    Nov 12, 2022
    5
    It feels like this game was made by a team who'd heard of Bravely Default, but never actually played it.
    The music, however, is exceptional.
  8. MrTusks
    Oct 25, 2022
    3
    Why does every encounter have to feel like a final boss fight? I don't have that kind of time anymore.
  9. Edea
    Oct 18, 2022
    5
    The story is boring and the characters lack charisma
    As has been pointed out in many other reviews, the various accents used in the English dub distract from the experience... what were they thinking?!
    I don't understand the reasoning behind the removal of dungeon maps... thought the sequel boasts all kinds of QoL improvements?
    I'd rather play the 1st game any day
  10. pacomantu
    Sep 11, 2022
    9
    Muy buen JRPG. Muchas horas de entretenimiento. Lo mejor que tiene es el combate y la gran variedad de trabajos para los personajes. Hay múltiples formas de combinar habilidades para conseguir la victoria. Artísticamente es muy bueno también, incluyendo música. El único punto mejorable es la historia, que tampoco se puede decir que sea mala o que esté mal contada. Recomendable.
  11. CaptainCharisma
    Jul 29, 2022
    9
    I am not a big fan of JRPG games but this was great fun for me - the twist in turn based battles made it a lot more engaging and more unpredictable. There is character, humour and the voice acting gives the game plenty of life. This is how JRPG games should be, I will be keeping an eye on the next game.
  12. beardedbeagle
    Jul 1, 2022
    8
    I would like to start by saying JRPGs are possibly my least favorite genre of games. However the music, the setting, and the voice acting are what kept me in the game throughout. However, I find the turn based fighting to be repetitive but fun. Overall I would say it is definitely worth checking out!
  13. Drill-Arm
    Jun 24, 2022
    10
    Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! Orcs!
  14. Jofe
    Apr 30, 2022
    2
    Bad script, bad writing, completely uninteresting characters from start to finish. Lore has no substance. The game is a game-design failure.
  15. Ragnar_san
    Apr 16, 2022
    10
    Es un juego muy bueno, no hagáis caso a determinados análisis que no se han jugado ni la mitad de la historia. El juego tiene giros que yo al menos no vi venir y agradecí.
  16. Yakuboto
    Feb 27, 2021
    9
    Oh i miss some oldschool jrpg and this one is awesome Just pure old fashion gameplay
    Love every Detail ! Artstyle, Characters everything !
  17. Reed618
    Feb 13, 2022
    10
    I really enjoyed Bravely Default 2. It's such a fun throwback to older ps1 era turn based rpgs. It has a fun combat system, excellent range of jobs and a great pace.

    There are issues sure, like the story isn't going to blow you away and the art style isn't fantastic but this was just a lot of fun to play. In a year of huge jrpgs this smaller title ended up being my favorite surprisingly.
  18. kems
    Jan 17, 2022
    9
    This is the first game of the series I play, I've done everything after 110+hrs.
    This game is amazing for classic JRPG lovers, and completionists.
    Pros: - The story is just a classic RPG story. The heroes of light searching for 4 crystals to save the world. It has some good moments and extra endings which I like, but overall it's just a standard story. Some characters are kind of    This is the first game of the series I play, I've done everything after 110+hrs.
    This game is amazing for classic JRPG lovers, and completionists.

    Pros:
    - The story is just a classic RPG story. The heroes of light searching for 4 crystals to save the world. It has some good moments and extra endings which I like, but overall it's just a standard story. Some characters are kind of likeable, but the graphic style didn't help me to connect with most of them.

    - Has a really good use of its resources. You really need to use inns, tents, stats buff and debuffs, healing items, and try different classes to get more abilities. The whole game I had plenty of money, but in the endgame you need to spend a lot to get some items. Is so common in other RPGs that you have a lot of elements that you never use and this game does pretty well in this aspect.

    - Battle system is one of the strongest points. It has some major coincidences with octopath traveler which I think is a bit better, but both are enjoyable. While you master it, random encounters become less difficult, but boss battles are always challenging. It's a difficult game where for the most difficult fights you need the correct gear, jobs and abilities synergy, while you do the correct actions in battle if you don't want your ass whipped. It feels really nice to have a game where difficulty goes beyond your characters level.

    - I never really grinded, at least for me while doing the main story + most side content was enough to have a challenging but affordable boss fight most of times.

    - Jobs system is for me the strongest point of the game. I'm not really a fan of jobs system and I try to avoid RPGs with this system, but this is so good implemented. You need to constantly change between jobs if you want to get your full potential, get different active and passive skills which are crucial to different bosses and you have to constantly change them depending on your needs.

    - The game is huge. I'm not talking about map itself, but the content. There's always new dungeons to explore if you want to do the side content, and while you fear the game is near to its ending, it gives you new content and more things to do. Even after the ending (but without previous advice, I just discovered the game could continue because after finishing I wanted to kill the strongest optional boss).

    - Japanese dub is a must on JRPG, I'm so glad we have that option.

    Cons:

    - At first I hated the artistic direction. While graphics overall are nice, I hate the character design. After some time I got a bit used to it, but I really hate most chibi 3D human characters.

    - By far the biggest flaw is the performance. Is the first time in my life I play a game so badly optimised for a console, it feels like I'm trying to play a PC game without the recommended specs to run it. Frame drops and freezes happen so often on the animations and transitions, but the worst part that broke the entire experience, is that it happens in menus or battles. Is very common to press A to select an action and the game freezes and keeps pressing A repeatedly, leading you to do "random" actions and lose your turn, wich can be terrible in boss fights.

    - Another complain, is for people like me whom like to complete everything, is that the sidequests are terrible. The quest log is so poor and the quests are mostly go from A to B, return to A to be sent to C, then return to A to go to D. Those quests are not really long, but they felt like it. And you have to do some quests to unlock new ones. There are some really good quests of exploring new areas or fighting bosses, but overall it's mediocre and most rewards sucks.

    - Camera at times is frustrating in the overworld, specially while you're trying to corner groups of enemies for consecutive fights.

    - Dungeons sometimes feels too much labyrinthic. It's OK to have something different from straight corridors that we are used to, and have no minimap to make it more challenging, but after a certain point I felt dungeons were more complicated that they really needed to, even though I liked it at the first 3/4 of the game.

    - Lack of information in some aspects. For example we have a huge encyclopedia of items and monsters which I never looked at, but a couple of times I wanted to know info about some status ailments or items effects and there is no such info (in spanish version at least, there are some items/status that I had no idea what they produced. If I had no experience in RPG, it'd be even worst).

    - Music is not remarkable. For an RPG I expect OST to be above average. This was OK, there are no bad themes but no memorable themes either, at most some battle themes were good.

    Conclusion:
    A very underrated and challenging game which classic JRPG lovers will most probably like a lot. While it's not the best switch JRPG, it's a very recommended one. Some major flaws hindrance the experience, but overall is a enjoyable game.    … Expand
  19. Rodionglu
    Jan 2, 2022
    10
    I enjoy the story and gameplay of this game. I would recommend getting this game.
  20. ExplosiveBolts
    Dec 26, 2021
    0
    Horribly boring story, gives you zero motivation to care about anything that's going on. Overall bad character design and voice acting. The FFV-esque Job system is absolutely not enough to save this game. I wish I could get a refund.
  21. RhythmBlue
    Dec 21, 2021
    7
    i remember really enjoying the game and liking thinking about character attributes and battle strategy

    i recommend the japanese voice acting and english text settings for english monolingual people in general

    visuals: 4/10
    audibles: 7/10
    interaction: 7/10
  22. Wheatar
    Dec 19, 2021
    0
    Game is unplayable. While the art, story, pacing, and class systems are a 5 at best, the amount of grinding is absurd, and the boss battles are not able to be completed without large time investments killing “rare mobs for hours” in between each boss. The bravely series games have always been lazy, but this is a stain upon the entire jrpg genre. Avoid this game, avoid this series.
  23. D_Games
    Oct 15, 2021
    9
    I was hooked in the opening hours and continued an uplifted feeling well into the end game. I sincerely loved this game and have sense went back to buy the previous entries in the series!
  24. Benjy5045
    Sep 27, 2021
    9
    I honestly really love this game. When I first saw it I was not interested because the designs are kiddie looking Idk just didn’t look appealing but for some reason I took a chance and I’m glad I did. Very very good game with a wholesome story and those characters will grow on you very well made game! If you own a switch you need to own this game perfect in portable as well!
  25. Anb
    Sep 19, 2021
    5
    Generic, uninspiring story filled with stupid characters lacking depth or humor. Poorly running, worse looking game than 3DS original series. Unappealing change in visual design ruined pastel look that 3ds games had.

    It shows that BD2 was made by different team. The only thing that they have managed to replicate is core battlejobs mechanic, which is rather good. Everything else in this    Generic, uninspiring story filled with stupid characters lacking depth or humor. Poorly running, worse looking game than 3DS original series. Unappealing change in visual design ruined pastel look that 3ds games had.

    It shows that BD2 was made by different team. The only thing that they have managed to replicate is core battlejobs mechanic, which is rather good. Everything else in this sequel is noticeably worse than in BDBS.    … Expand
  26. Dadpops
    Aug 31, 2021
    2
    Probably one of the more disappointing games I have played in a long time.

    Performance - Awful. Stuttering and lagging constantly through the game while everytime you move, the screen blurs so much it looks like your playing in a sauna and can't defog the screen. Voice Acting - If you go with the Japanese, then very good and enjoyable. If you go with the English, oh my god make it    Probably one of the more disappointing games I have played in a long time.

    Performance - Awful. Stuttering and lagging constantly through the game while everytime you move, the screen blurs so much it looks like your playing in a sauna and can't defog the screen.

    Voice Acting - If you go with the Japanese, then very good and enjoyable. If you go with the English, oh my god make it stop. So many terrible performances by the English VAs especially Adam. One of the worst, if not the worst VA I have heard in a game.

    Gameplay - The only reason I even put up with this game. I love job systems and this game, yet again, delivers on the joy of making as many kinds of teams as you would like an levelling them up to unlock their full potential. Switching to inidividual turns instead of team turns has slowed the pace down and made it feel odd, but you forget about it soon enough.

    Graphics - The city art is killer and so incredibly well done. The models for the characters are really bad though and how they contrast so much kills it for me. They look like shiny, rubbery, lifeless dolls. Wish they had gone with a different style for the characters but whatever. Also, the open world would look cool if you could even see it while moving.

    Story - I honestly cant even remember. This is one of the few JRPGs that I put down before I could finish. Felt like a chore playing this and at a certain point I just asked myself 'what's the point' and stopped. Will never pick this back up.    … Expand
  27. Vidinu
    Aug 22, 2021
    6
    Gorgeous graphics game with lovely music. The combat and job system is quite fun. The downside is that the story is somewhat simple, it has a lot of spam and boring dungeons and it becomes very repetitive at the end.
  28. scriabin
    Jul 17, 2021
    4
    I rarely write negative reviews, but this might be the most disappointing game I've ever played. I LOVED the original on 3DS and was hoping for something similar.

    This game was a huge letdown both in terms of story and in terms of gameplay mechanics. Gameplay: the boss fights are ridiculous, almost like a puzzle game that doesn't mesh with the rest of the gameplay. The experience    I rarely write negative reviews, but this might be the most disappointing game I've ever played. I LOVED the original on 3DS and was hoping for something similar.

    This game was a huge letdown both in terms of story and in terms of gameplay mechanics.

    Gameplay: the boss fights are ridiculous, almost like a puzzle game that doesn't mesh with the rest of the gameplay. The experience of fighting weak enemies along the way in no way prepares you for the extreme "strategizing" the the bosses require. Because of the limited information we are given about said bosses, we are apparently just supposed to try a million things out until something sticks. Given that an average boss fight can last for an hour if you haven't yet figured out "the trick," this trial and error process is incredibly time-consuming. Fine for gamers who don't have social and professional commitments away from their consoles, but for the rest of us, we have only so many hours we can put into a game, and the idea of spending HOURS randomly trying out strategies to beat bosses is a huge waste of limited leisure time.

    Usually, when I encounter this sort of thing in a game, I'll give it my best try for a bit and then switch to "easy" mode so that I can just get on with the game and story. In BD2, "easy mode" is still punishingly hard, requiring hours upon hours of either grinding or randomly trying out new strategies on each boss. The latter would be more forgivable if you could change classes/equipment mid-figh to speed up the "testing" processt. At least that would be more honest about what the game is asking the player to do: try random techniques until something starts to stick. Instead, you have to completely settle your jobs/equipment before each attempt, which again can result in hours of wasted time trying to guess the magic number. No worries if you have 40 hours a week to play games, but not all of us do.

    Generally, when a game is just too hard for casual players, they go online and ask the strategy guides to just give the darn answer to each boss "puzzle." In BD2, these solutions tend to be woefully stupid. For example, the first "final boss" at the end of Chapter 5 (the first of two bland "fake" endings) - can ultimately be taken down with a few contagion bombs. Just get the Salve-Maker Job and buy some ingredients from any local store, and you can deplete said boss of all MP relatively quickly. She just floats there for the rest of the fight, lamely shaking her wings trying to cast magic that never comes. Cheap and unsatisfying—the kind of thing that you would only come upon by trial and error. And yet without this trick, expect your party to get wiped out an HOUR into the fight when the boss suddenly starts spamming you with party-kill spells. At this point, it becomes a story issue as well. Because honestly, wouldn't this boss realize that she didn't have any MP left and... I don't know, try something else? Or run away? Nope, she just keeps wiggling her wings lamely for the rest of the battle, which by the way still lasted the better part of 30 minutes because she had such a ridiculous number of hit points. It stops feeling like a fight. It feels meaningless.

    Same with the final "final" boss at the end of chapter 7 - the "trick" is just using the ranger's paralyze ability and then you get to spend 20 minutes just slowly hacking away at her mountain of hit points while she is helpless to respond. It's not challenging, it's cheap. And it's not particularly fun.

    And don't even get me started on the side quests. Carry a lunch from the town to the ruins. Oops forgot the fork, gotta go back to the town. Oops forgot the drink, got go back to the town. Oops, another inane thing, gotta go back to the town. Is running back and forth 4 times between a town and a dungeon supposed to be fun? I found myself asking the "supposed to be fun?" question far too many times playing this game.

    I continued to slog through this mess because I wanted to believe the story was going somewhere. After investing 40 hours, you want to see it through, and you want to believe that it will be worth it to do so.. BD2 has its moments, for sure, but not enough of them. (spoiler alert for the original) I found the story in the first game quite compelling, when the entire quest was turned on its head and the cutest sweetest character turned out to be a genocidal maniac—disturbing stuff, a compelling portrait of betrayal in the midst of a story about friendship. In BD2, I kept waiting to the twist, but it never came. There's basically zero character development. Everyone ends up exactly the same as when they started. By the end, the story has devolved into a series of platitudes about friendship and choosing to do the right thing. It would have meant a lot more if these characters ever had to actually make difficult decisions or change their perspective.

    72 hours gone. All in all, a terrible investment.    … Expand
  29. Afenger
    Jul 10, 2021
    9
    A nota da imprensa é bem injusta, o game cumpre muito bem com o que propõe, um belo rpg com a assinatura da square, belas composições, mas não chega q superar o título original de 3ds. Mas é uma boa pedida, ainda mais por ser um exclusivo de Switch.
  30. roastbird
    Jul 3, 2021
    5
    Compatr to the first generation, it is less fun and more boring.

    It is lack for every part.

    2 doesn't have a music tune that is memorable Character design is bad. Graphic bad.

    Gameplay is the same, jobs are actually more interesting, I have to admit that.

    Story so far is terrible...
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Awards & Rankings

15
#15 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 111 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 80 out of 111
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 111
  3. Negative: 2 out of 111
  1. CD-Action
    Oct 12, 2021
    85
    I wanted to both scold Bravely Default II for its many flaws and kiss it for some stellar moments when it shone like a diamond. At the end of the day the latter decisively outweighed the former. The game boasts one of the best combat systems I’ve seen in jRPGs, towns that are a work of art, and a breathtaking soundtrack. If you like the genre, there’s a chance you’ll fall in love with Bravely Default II. [04/2021, p.48]
  2. GameByte
    Jun 1, 2021
    60
    There is so much potential here that doesn’t quite reach the mark, and it’s quite mind boggling as to why some of these problems exist when they didn’t in their previous work. However, with that incredibly addictive gameplay alone, along with the plethora of side-content, I can see traditional Final Fantasy fans having a lot of fun here, even if it’s a bit of a shallow adventure. Now that this engine has proven it’s worth in terms of gameplay, I am very excited for their next project if they have more time to spare in the writing room.
    Read full review
  3. Nintendo Force Magazine
    May 17, 2021
    90
    Bravely Default II is one of the Switch's best RPGs, and that's not small praise for an RPG on a system that's already home to some of the genre's best. [Issue #52 – May/June 2021, p. 69]
See all critic reviews »