Review: Bravely Second: End Layer

Three years ago, English-speaking markets saw a minor miracle when Square Enix decided to release Bravely Default, an RPG drawing from the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series, to the English market. Translated from the updated ‘For the Sequel´ version of the original game, the title played to its progenitors’ strengths while also breaking away from them in ways that helped to streamline the experience for players. Three years later, the universe has once again glitched out in order to allow the game’s sequel to arrive on Western shores — Bravely Second: End Layer.

Bravely Second picks up the story two years after the events of Bravely Default, where the world of Luxendarc has experience a period of peace and prosperity after original party members Tiz, Agnes, Edea and Ringabel saved it from calamity. However, trouble is once again brewing and it is up to a somewhat-new band of warriors to take up their swords (and bows, and staves, and… cats) to once again restore the world.

Bravely Second returns to form with many of the excellent gameplay mechanics that made Default such a good ride (as outlined in Shane’s original review). The ‘Brave’ and ‘Default’ mechanics return – allowing you to take an extra turn or bank one for future use, respectively – as does the ‘Bravely Second’ mechanic, allowing you to freeze time and attack at will for a time.

As a point of confusion, this feature didn’t exist in the ORIGINAL Bravely Default but was added in Bravely Default: For the Sequel, meaning English players have already seen it, making its choice as the game’s title seem a little redundant. Also returning are the ability to adjust difficulty on the fly as well as your random encounter rate – allowing you to grind or glide through the game and its many dungeons as you so choose.

Some additional new features have been added, this time around – such as the ‘One More’ mechanic. If you manage to eliminate an entire enemy party in a single turn you are given the option to fight ‘One More’ round of enemies, with a multiplier added to your EXP, cash and Job Points earned. Stacking from a 1.5x multiplier all the way up to 3x, this accelerates your ability to power-level job classes or your party even further – a welcome addition for this reviewer.

Players can also save up to three auto-battle command sets, in addition to simply repeating the last round’s actions. Combine this with the ability to save preset party and ability combinations to toggle between, Bravely Second has made it even easier to play the way you want to, without needing to fiddle around with micro-managing your party for every new type of encounter.

The StreetPass town-building minigame also makes a return, this time to help restore new party member Magnolia’s home base on the Moon. Much like its predecessor, you’ll assign people recruited via StreetPass to help rebuild various facilities in the town, with each unlocking new special moves, resources and items to use in your quest. Sadly this does not include weapons and armour this go around, though given this did gate off some end-game equipment previously, it may be a move for the best.

Given it is set in the same world, Bravely Second will see you revisiting a lot of locations from the first game – assets have definitely been reused in these instances, but an effort has also been made to drive the story through primarily new locations. While you will revisit towns from Default in the course of the story, these visits are usually brief – and in the case of dungeons, they are for the majority used for side-quests and optional content, rather than rehashing old locales entirely for the main plot.

This return to previously visited areas is also addressed within the plot itself, given that the party is split between returning members Tiz and Edea, and newcomers Magnolia and Yew. The former two will often refer to their previous adventure, or highlight how things have changed in the time that has passed. It’s a fun dynamic that helps to both acknowledge returning players, while also providing some exposition and background for any that might have only jumped on for this title.

Bravely Second definitely marks an improvement on the formula of its predecessor. Every new mechanic and tweak to the gameplay is designed to streamline the playing experience into a smooth vehicle for progression, retaining the essence of the traditional ‘JRPG’ while smoothing out the rough edges that haven’t aged as well. At this stage in my RPG-playing career, I’ve grown tired of ‘the grind’, being forced to sit in one spot and repeat the same fight ad nauseum before I’m able to move on with the story.

The combination of the Brave/Default, One More, auto-battle, battle speed, and encounter rate tools all combine to make this far more enjoyable however, and meant that I almost never needed to actually stop and make a point of levelling my characters. Each time I gained a new job asterisk, it was actually appealing to return to an earlier level and quickly level up that job class, as all the fuss had been taken out of the equation.

Overall, this is a solid title that most RPG fans should enjoy. While it’s not brand new from the ground up, there’s more than enough on offer that returning players will find something to enjoy too. Between the new characters, locations and expanded job roster, there’s plenty new to see. New RPG initiates may also find that the streamlined gameplay makes it easier to break into the genre, which is always a welcome thing to keep this type of game alive in the modern market.

Bravely Second: End Layer was reviewed using a promotional code on Nintendo 3DS as provided by the publisher.

Review: Bravely Second: End Layer

The good Solid RPG mechanics without all the tedium. Vibrant characters and world. There is a class called ‘Catmancer’. You fight using cats. ‘Nuff said.	The bad Some reuse of environment elements from Bravely Default. Story draws a lot from Bravely Default. Difficult for newcomers.

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