Bravely Second: End Layer

Traditional where it needs to be, and wildly humorous when it wants to, this is the perfect follow up to the spectacularly successful original title.

Where Bravely Default excelled, Bravely Second repeats that success and leaves us with a heartwarming tale. One of the greatest 3DS titles to date and surely the crème de la crème of modern JRPG titles.

Bravely Second: End Layer is inextricably tied to its predecessor but still manages to be a fun, cute, old-school styled RPG.

Bravely Second is an old school roleplaying game, done in a modern way.

Bravely Second is a worthy sequel to a fantastic game and fans of the series will be very pleased.

Along the +50 hours of my adventure I found myself playing the longest DLC ever, not a sequel or a new game.

By trying to optimize it, the brave/default system inadvertently lays bare the arbitrariness structuring the player’s relation to the game, the role one ostensibly plays becoming repeatable and, indeed, automatable in yet another striking parallel to the looming “new economy.”

An absolutely excellent sequel. I love sequels that are more of the same, but full of quality of life improvements.

The combat mechanics and job system are refined a bit from the first game. It's overall a decent game but dragged down with really bizarre dialogue between the characters. The writers couldn't decide if they were writing unfunny cheesy comedy or a serious story, as the script constantly shifts gears between them. I still played the game all the way through and had a mostly enjoyable time, but the game could have been better.

Let me start by saying that the first Bravely Default is one of my favorite games of all time- The characters, the story, the art, the unique battle system- It was a beautiful game and a must-play for JRPG fans. I was ecstatic when I heard there was going to be a sequel, especially since I only played the first game 8 months ago so I didn't have to wait too long! HOWEVER, as many have already said, Bravely Second is a big disappointment to fans of the first game. While the overall gameplay and battle system is greatly improved, the story and characters were... not. They re-use dungeons from the first game, floor for floor, which is a bit lazy. But that isn't the biggest issue. Oh no. No, the biggest issue with this game can be summarized with two names: Yew and Magnolia. In theory they are both fine characters (Magnolia more so than Yew), but their dialogue is just atrociously cringeworthy. I honestly want to chuck my system across the room every time Yew spouts "FOR THE GRAVY!" Really translation team? Really? In general he's just kind of irritating and as others have already said, he and Magnolia just seem to try way too hard. Luckily, the return of Edea and Tiz help to soften the cringe by still remaining themselves and being fun and loveable characters just as they were in the first game. However, it just makes the player miss Ringabel all the more. With a game like Bravely Default, which, being a Square game, is VERY dialogue and character heavy, poor dialogue and obnoxious characters can really make it hard to play. They take away from the charm the first game had, sadly. The story is also not as compelling at the first game. The first game's story felt much more urgent, more unique. The game overall had a good amount of comedic charm and 'darkness' as well, but this game seems to utterly lack the dark elements or dire situations of the first. It does not tug at your heartstrings or have you gripping at your system at the drama. If anything it has you rolling your eyes at the constant "FOR THE GRAVY" quotes and really awkward and not very well done romance between Yew and Magnolia. It also has you wishing you could open up that damned gate back to Ringabel's world, dump Magnolia and Yew in it, and drag Ringabel back with you so the three of you can go save Anges undisturbed by the seemingly pre-pubescent lovebirds. While the battles and overall gameplay are much improved, there is one HUGE problem with them: It is now INCREDIBLY easy to level up WAY overlevel very, very fast. By chapter 3 my characters were already around level 50-60 and the bosses were never a challenge at all. I usually beat them in about one turn, which took a lot of the fun out of the game. Veterans of the first game should consider turning random encounters down to low at all times to avoid this. That said, if you really just need more Bravely in your life like I did, then it's still a worthwhile game. Just note that the story will not captivate you as the first one did.

This is $40 DLC for Bravely Default. The towns are the same. The dungeons are the same. The graphics are the same. The gameplay is the same. The characters are still basically the same. The only thing that is different is the story. Unfortunately, that story is so dull and tedious that I started skipping every cutscene and bit of dialogue after chapter 3. And even then, it recycles many elements from the previous game. One big change to the game is a system that lets you get experience and job points faster, and fight without pressing a button. You can sit there and spin the joystick in a circle while occupied with something else and your levels will skyrocket. This is about as entertaining as the main story. Apart from the ten or so new jobs, which are not that impressive, you get the chance to earn every job from the previous game in a series of sidequests. Frankly, they're usually not worth it. For example, the White and Black mage were replaced with new jobs that cast better spells for less MP, but you can still get the old classes if you want. In the sidequest, you're given a fairly brief story where you have to jog around and eventually given a dilemma represented by two characters. Whatever choice you personally agree with will probably result in you getting the wrong job. This kind of recycling is not limited to content from the previous game. You will end up fighting the same (new) bosses multiple times, often returning to earlier locations to do so. The pacing is also pretty bad. By the time a second (small) slew of jobs are introduced, you will have a perfect, balanced team - no need to try out a new class. The game already felt like a slog by the time I was halfway finished, but beyond that, it got astoundingly repetitive. It's missing the challenge and tactics of the first game, but kept the awfulness of playing the same parts over and over.

In the first game to beat it you had to play through the same map and the same bosses at least 4 times which gets repetitive and boring extremely quickly. In End layer you once again get to play through THE EXACT SAME MAP only reskined in some places. As with the first game the first time you play through the map its fun and the story/gameplay is good. Sadly the game has the same pay to win feature as the first game and also forces you to grind beginning at chapter 5 everywhere that youve been before again with just a harder boss at the end with no new story. Almost replayed the game an additional time when it didn't make it clear i had to hit select during a particular cuteness to progress the story and you could be trapped into replaying the entire 4 chapters again for nothing. pros: -good game play mechanics -has voice acting -Decent storyline cons: -lot of grinding for no reason -gets repetitive -terrible map design -game is balanced around pay to win/ an 8 hour charge system that makes certain classes unviable without -lots of wait time for item stuff that adds nothing ie chompcraft which is a poor mans cookie clicker