Topic: Bravely Second: End Layer (3DS) Hands-on Preview

[MegaByte]

A Second Layer refines that of the first. But now you can "bust some Ba'als."

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/hands-on-preview/41842/bravely-second-end-layer-3ds-hands-on-preview

Bravely Second is the follow up to Bravely Default. Taking place two and a half years after the first game, the original’s Agnes is now the leader the Crystal Othodoxy religious organization, but peace is short-lived as she’s been kidnapped by Kaiser Oblivion. Tiz returns, as well as Edea. They’re joined by Yu Geneolgia, bodyguard for Agnès, and Magnolia Arch, a demon hunter from the moon.

Like the original, Bravely Second is gorgeous. The art is intricate, particularly the 2D character drawings, as well as the citiscapes, which look like interactive illustrations. Each character has his or her own outfit for each job class, and the variety of costumes is extensive. The music is suitably epic, composed by one of my favorites, Ryo of Supercell. Both main characters and many NPCs are fully voiced, and everyone has a ton of personality, offering plenty (maybe too much) commentary about their situations. Magnolia sometimes slips into her native language, French (incidentally, it was English in the Japanese version).

Bravely Second brings back its unique Brave/Default turn system, in which you can queue up multiple attacks in a single turn at the expense of waiting multiple turns for your next go. The system is easy to navigate through once you get used to it, though there are a lot of menus for all of the different moves you can perform, but thankfully, you can speed up battle animations at will. In addition, at any time on the overworld, you can adjust both the encounter rate of the random battles. Going in the opposite direction, Bravely Second adds an optional “Consecutive Chance” system that allows you to replay more difficult versions of the same battle to gain better rewards.

Showing its Final Fantasy V roots, the game is heavily job-focused, and while a number of jobs return from the original, new jobs, such as the Catmancer and Time Mage combine to form 30 jobs in total. We saw the Catmancer in action, which acts as a Blue Mage of sorts, able to take on abilities of animals similar to the Vampire class of the previous game. The Wizard class can create spells that perform different styles of the same attack. The Bishop’s attacks get stronger when used in succession, while the Astrologian increases elemental abilities. The Fencer can change stances to modify stats, and the Charioteer can equip three or later four weapons at the same time. The Charioteer can throw weapons as a heavier attack and retrieve them at the end of battle. Each character can take one job and one extra skill type, which can add powerful buffs to various moves. You can save sets of configurations to make switching much less cumbersome.

In the demo, Nintendo showed off the infamous Ba’al in a fierce battle. But the leadup to the battle was a lighthearted conversation, typical for the game, packed with a bunch of ball jokes (e.g. Magnolia is a Ba’al Buster). I guess it would break all the ball jokes, but when referencing mythological dieties (as Square-Enix often does), it bothers me that they’re using a less-traditional pronunciation.

The game is utterly packed with content. The main game, spanning Luxendarc, is expected to take dozens of hours to complete -- which could be good or bad, after seeing how the previous game’s later content was executed. And peppered throughout are tons of subquests. Additionally, a number of extras are included such as a U’s journal (replacing D’s journal), which serves as a bestiary and glossary for completionists. A separate minigame involves rebuilding Magnolia’s hometown on the moon, mimicking the reconstruction of the village in the first game.

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Bravely Second continues the long journey of the original, while adding a ton of customization options and gameplay tweaks that are consequential, but relatively uncomplicated. The game arrives in North America on April 15.