Bravely Second

[Ike]

Mine shipped from the Nintendo Store yesterday.

 

The battle chaining system is really good, great for grinding, more RPGs should do that.

 

And here's the AR card that works for the special movie, couldn't find it on the Nintendo UK website.

 

 

Again another cool feature that more games should use.

 

Brought my 3DS with me to work and I have the game working on rebuilding Magnoilas home town, while the 3DS is tucked in my desk.

 

Have you got Street Passes for this already or are you building everything with 1 person?

Edited February 24, 2016 by Ike

[Hero-of-Time]

Have you got Street Passes for this already or are you building everything with 1 person?

 

1 person, although I mentioned earlier I managed to get another person from a McDonalds relay this morning. I guess he had also played the demo or something.

 

EDIT: I was going to try and get the rest of the bonuses tonight but Shopto have delivered early.

 

 

Time to start the main adventure!

[peterl0]

Perhaps it is time for me to switch back to shopto then.....

[Hero-of-Time]

Put around 3 hours into it last night and managed to get my full team assembled, leveled up to level 10, unlocked a few new jobs and finished the prologue. Love it!

 

The opening scene after the prologue is hype as hell. It was like watching the opening to an anime series, with J-Pop/J-Rock music blasting out while all the characters do crazy stuff. Fantastic.

 

So far, the writing and characters have all been hilarious. There were a few moments were I was sitting loling away to myself. Like the first game, it seems to be very well written and translated.

 

In finishing the prologue this also unlocked all the battle options, such as automatic battle and increasing the encounter rate, so this will allow me to do some quick level grinding while i'm on my lunch break.

 

I've got 7 villagers working away in Magnolias village at the moment. Like I was doing in the demo, I have the 3DS in sleep mode in the car, which should net me some good results by the time I finish work.

 

@peterl0 Just a quick heads up. The game MASSIVELY spoils what happens in the original game. It gives away all of the big plot points and the ending. Just a warning if you ever wanted to play the first game. I don't suppose it matters, as you have this game on the way to you already.

[Blade]

I didn't play the first one. Was it decent?

[Hero-of-Time]

I didn't play the first one. Was it decent?

 

First half was fantastic but then they massively cocked up the second half of the game.

 

The battle systems and amount of options in these games are fantastic, though. Being able to change encounter rates, difficulty and automatic battles at any point makes for such a streamlined and enjoyable experience.

[peterl0]

Thanks. I have pretty much decided that I want to skip the first game - the mention of the second half slog put me off. The RFN guys even bought it back up again on this weeks show. So spoilers will probably actually be beneficial as it will fill in the plot gaps.

 

@Blade I am led to believe that the first game is indeed a good JRPG with very useful modern conveniences (Speeding up battles, auto battles, changing the encounter rate) but is somewhat let down by a very grindy latter part of the game. I am a bit unsure exactly what that entails though. The first game was more like version 1.5 as it took in improvements suggested by Japanese players after they had played it.

 

Edit: Too slow!

[Hero-of-Time]

Here's what happened in the second half of the original game.

 

You end up in some kind of time loop that essentially has you playing through the first dungeons/areas of the game another several times over. While you are obviously more powered up than you were the first time around, and you can turn off the encounter rates off and go straight to the bosses, the whole thing was an absolute chore. It killed any momentum the game had and also screamed of filler.

 

This inclusion annoyed a hell of a lot of people and may cause some to actually skip the sequel. I know there were a lot of people on Gamefaqs and Gaf who essentially gave up on the game once the time loop thing happened.

 

[peterl0]

Wow - enforced new game plus.

[Debug Mode]

Nothing will be revealed post enforced new game plus in my post here so don't worry about reading the rest of this post! But yeah, I played Second last year and it was very hard to keep my yap shut when people asked if there was any repetitive stuff in the new game.

 

Honestly, it's no where near as bad as the first game, and you're soon going to find that out.

 

 

I'll be back once a few people have completed the game so we can speculate things and shit There are some very interesting revelations in the game plus a potential plot hole that only applies to the American and European audiences and I'll elaborate on that in a spoiler post at a later date.

[MindFreak]

Just won this game in a competition so I'll have to play the demo soon. Does the demo explain the battle system or does it suppose that you've played the original?

 

Looking really much forward to playing this, it looks immense. Unfortunately, due to work and university studies I don't have that much time and I'm still playing Fire Emblem Awakening, so I'll probably not be playing this before summer.

[peterl0]

After the weekend I am about 12 hours in and enjoying the game a lot. For anyone considering picking this up, I would definitely play the demo before the main game.

 

I was staggered to find out about the betrayal so soon after the start of the game. The game gives a really good feeling of making Yew seem alone at the start.

 

 

The game feels quite hard still. I am using a lot of potions to keep alive in most of the dungeons and there are a lot of creatures that cast status changing effects so early in the game! I wonder if I am missing something - enemies seem to hit very hard - despite me having the best armour that can be bought from the shop. I still don't default enough probably - but I feel that if I did the damage would be spread out over two turns rather than one.

 

One of the things about this game and Final Fantasy games that I hate with a passion is status change effects that last outside of battle. I think Xenoblade series does this better with effects dropping after the battle is completed.

 

It means that I spend most of the dungeon either blind or under silence whilst I don't know how long it is - saving my cure items to fight the boss.

 

To answer @Glen\-i 's post from the last page and you should be golden.

[Hero-of-Time]

After the weekend I am about 12 hours in and enjoying the game a lot. For anyone considering picking this up, I would definitely play the demo before the main game.

 

I was staggered to find out about the betrayal so soon after the start of the game. The game gives a really good feeling of making Yew seem alone at the start.

 

 

 

I was gutted.

 

I loved Janne in the demo and at the start. Having him betray you was a big kick in the nuts.

 

 

Status effects shouldn't be that much of an issue. Just have someone learn the heal/cure spells and you're golden. I'm not sure if there's one for the silence status effect, though.

[peterl0]

Yeah that might be it. I still have everyone on freelancer, which for some reason I am trying to max out. (Which is probably where the thing I am missing is.)

 

Yes. I wonder if, based on the early movie, they will be redeemed and back in your party somehow. Otherwise it is quite a lot of effort for the bait and switch.

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by peterl0

[Hero-of-Time]

Yeah that might be it. I still have everyone on freelancer, which for some reason I am trying to max out. (Which is probably where the thing I am missing is.)

 

Yeah, the max level of the jobs is a lot higher than what it was in the demo. I would get a job to around level 5 and then switch them to something else, otherwise you will be severely lacking in certain skills. It's only worth maxing job sets out once you have a decent grinding area.

[peterl0]

I think I still suck at this game. Was trying to beat a boss last night but it took 1/3 of my hit points off every other turn with a massive attack. In the end I bailed from the boss and ground 6 levels (and a new job for each character) out on the spot to beat it. (It still wasn't a walkover.)

 

Just as well the experience multiplier makes grinding so much more pleasant.

 

@Debug Mode do you know anything about the supposed rumour that there are no 'bad' endings for the choices you make in the game (EU version)? I have only had to make the first decision, thus far...

 

I chose to fight the red mage, because I wanted his job. The villagers got their water supply. It seems like the bad ending for this might have been to go the other route and have the new energy research blow up a town.

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by peterl0

[Ike]

Made much progress on this @Hero\-of\-Time?

 

I'm aiming to finish the demo off first, which took a bit of a back seat lately, especially with Pokemon coming out, but I picked it up again last night trying to complete the bestiary but I still can't beat those monsters that give the high EXP (can't remember their names).

[Hero-of-Time]

Made much progress on this @Hero\-of\-Time?

 

I'm aiming to finish the demo off first, which took a bit of a back seat lately, especially with Pokemon coming out, but I picked it up again last night trying to complete the bestiary but I still can't beat those monsters that give the high EXP (can't remember their names).

 

I got sidetracked with a bunch of other games. Now that those are done though I will be heading back to this.

 

Yeah, they can be tricky. They remind me of the Metal Slimes in DQ.

[Debug Mode]

@Debug Mode do you know anything about the supposed rumour that there are no 'bad' endings for the choices you make in the game (EU version)? I have only had to make the first decision, thus far...

 

As far as I'm aware, there is no bad ending for the game at all. Just make sure you do all the side quests and you're good to get the ending.

 

The only way I could think of a bad ending occurring is if you don't complete a certain side quest that appears late into the game, and to be honest, I feel sorry for any one who doesn't do that particular side quest because holy shit it's fucking awesome.

[peterl0]

Cheers. I was actually referring to the ending of the side quests themselves - hard to be specific because I am avoiding spoilers.

 

The suggestion was that if you chose the wrong side in some side quests that someone could die (characters from the sidequests I think) and that these 'bad consequences' had been removed from the localised version.

[Glen-i]

I've started playing this as well. Chapter 3 now. Battle System's still an utter joy to play.

 

The Bosses are still the star of the show, each one always has a certain gimmick to it, which keeps each boss fight feeling fresh. (Well, except for the returning asterisk holders from Bravely Default, but that's to be expected)

[peterl0]

I am at the end of chapter 2, stuck on:

 

The Patissier - his guards are so powerful they kill my characters after a couple of turns. I keep killing them but they keep coming back meaning I damage the Patissier only occasionally.

 

 

 

Any hints?

[Glen-i]

I am at the end of chapter 2, stuck on:

 

The Patissier - his guards are so powerful they kill my characters after a couple of turns. I keep killing them but they keep coming back meaning I damage the Patissier only occasionally.

 

 

 

Any hints?

 

Yeah, this was a tricky boss.

 

Once I realised that he could call for reinforcements, I decided to test if he could do it whenever he liked. Turns out he could only do it when you kill both of the guards. So kill the one closest to the screen, she can give the others a boost in BP, and that can be disastrous! I'm afraid you're just gonna have to leave the other one alone for the most part.

 

You'll have a way easier time if you can blind the remaining guard. To do this, add a Blind status effect to your special moves and use one on her. She'll be almost useless after that, so you can focus on Angelo.

If you have it, set your Specials to be activated with the "Default" option. You should be guarding and building your BP to 3 instead of attacking every turn anyway.

Oh, and make sure your healer can use the Staff Special, it's great for replenishing HP and MP when you're in a pinch! But do note it won't replenish the MP of your Ghosty pal.

 

If you manage to blind the guard, the rest of the fight is a cakewalk (Sorry...). Angelo by himself is pretty pathetic, as he's an enfeebler and his attacks really lack punch, just be careful of him inflicting you with charm. You can stop this by equipping Lockets, which you can buy from Hartschild (They're very pricey though). If you've been opening every chest, you should have one by now. Which you should equip on your healer, so you don't accidentally give him health back.

If that's not an option, remember you can get rid of charm by attacking whoever's got it. As long as you have shields on everyone (Which you should), you won't be at risk of killing anyone by accident.

 

And remember, whoever you choose to get Ghosted, make sure they're proficient in magic, otherwise, they won't be helping much.

 

Good Luck!

[peterl0]

Thanks, some useful tips. I think I may have missed some aspects of the game......

 

How do I put blind on a special move? I had a special move at one point earlier in the game on Yew, but not since. Not sure when it went away.

What's the staff special and how do you get it?

 

I have a locket and plenty of money - based on grinding to try and beat him to no avail. I don't have shield on everyone though - love those two handed weapons.

 

I suspect killing one of the two guards but not the other might well be the key to beating him.

 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I am at the end of chapter 2, stuck on:

 

The Patissier - his guards are so powerful they kill my characters after a couple of turns. I keep killing them but they keep coming back meaning I damage the Patissier only occasionally.

 

 

 

Any hints?

 

I would offer some advice but I usually use zero tactics in JRPGs. I spend time grinding and then just steamroll my way to victory. This way of playing proves super useful in these games due to how easy/automatic you can level up. Glorious!