Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

[Classic]

I have Ringabel, the character who's got a slight edge in dex and agility, as a thief. He is level 65, the thief job level is 12. When he's got haste and enjoying a weakness bonus, his godspeed strike will meet or break the damage cap. Even though he's wearing a thief's glove, and the only agility boosting gear he has is the red hat (+5 agi).

[Bongo Bill]

Amateur hour. If you're going with Mimic shenanigans, there's no better choice than the final Performer song, My Hero. Use this to negate the drawback of Slow World, spam Drain Sword-boosted Rage like it's going out of style, drop a Rampart every turn, have permanent Enigma and Fairy's Ward, or whatever you please.

[sei]

My goodness, it's full of stars.

[Rico]

However, the way EXP (and JP) yields are balanced against the requirements to advance make it difficult to level so high that you obviate the need for strategy against plotline bosses.

Very pleased with how well that holds up through the game, and especially later (with the exception of highjinks jump) you can still lose fights using some of the more "broken" class combos. Silicon Studios appears to really know what they're doing.

[Classic]

What?
THE JP per BATTLE LIMIT IS ONLY 999!?

[Classic]

You know, I think this game almost, but not quite recaptures that "O shit" feeling you got at the midpoint of FF6.
That's assuming, of course, you didn't have any spoilers.
Like it's a twist you can see coming... But it's probably more fun to go in as blind as possible.

[Rico]

Does a good job of foreshadowing enough to let you think you guessed a twist but then takes it in a different direction without feeling cheaty.

[Classic]

Now I'm just how do I want to muck about with the timestream/alternate reality this time!?

It's almost paralyzing.
But in that good sort of way.

And I continue to feel dumb for my earlier grinding, because there's almost no reason to try and (JP) grind until you have access to Vampire Castle in Chapter 4.

[Mothra]

Ffffff this game is going to make me buy a 3DS, isn't it.

Edit: Oh wait NOPE turns out it costs 185 dang fool dollars n / m

[Classic]

Holy shit metal slime.
Where the fuck have you been grinding out job points?

Edit:
So, saving yourself a little bit of JP grinding headache involves snagging the JP Up support skill.
It gives you an extra fifth of JP. Which, you know, is nice, since you'll want to get that tenth level anyway (eventually) to snag the apex freelancer skill.
I made one of my characters rush the skill, because I figured it'd make me friends through ablinking (the, I have friends, so I don't have to grind (as much) feature).

I also feel like I've under-valued the merchant class, and should probably have used one whenever I wasn't fighting bosses (which give no pg).

EDIT EDIT:
Yo, if MegaTen4;Etrian Odyssey 4; Fire Emblem; etc. etc. couldn't sell you on this JRPG holy grail with a superfluous 3D effect, I'm not sure that one more solid experience is going to make the system for you.
Maybe the last straw in the dyke, but...
...
What the fuck was that metaphor?

[Classic]

Spoilers for late Chapter 4:
So in Chapter 5 I've been doing all of the sidequests before tackling all of the main quests. Did anyone do them in a different order, so that we can compare notes?

The first thing I did though, obviously, was to ice all the people I count as being directly or potentially responsible for the deaths of NPCs. Like that Qada asshole. Fuck him.

[Metal Slime]

Auto Battle + Outside Eternia Central Command from Chapter 4 onwards. That's where the JP gains get good. I admit I really power grinded the last day or two up to level 80ish. Also when you get a chance to go ahead and do the naughty thing half way through Chapter 6 (you'll know what it is), do it since there's no downside to doing so if you've figured out what's going on storywise at that point. It will get even more trivial once you unlock Conjurer and can use Obliterate to just end battles immediately with the low level stuff ala Earthbound short of an ambush. Also I've been guiltily using Easy Difficulty for random grind battles and repeat battles that have no change in strategy except BIGGER NUMBERS.

[Bongo Bill]

Ffffff this game is going to make me buy a 3DS, isn't it.

Edit: Oh wait NOPE turns out it costs 185 dang fool dollars n / m

Amazingly, it looks like a 3DS XL is cheaper than the regular kind these days, but you could always get a 2DS, which was specifically invented to be cheaper.

[Mothra]

Oh god it doesn't even bend

[Bongo Bill]

Hinges cost extra.

[beatbandito]

I'm just starting out Chapter one now. All I really have to say is as fun as the plot is, it's kind of dumb that you can immediately spot villains because they're wearing the outfit of a job you're going to get.

[pacobird]

It is probably better that you think so.

[Rico]

I'd gone as far as custom accessories for earlier bosses, but the last asterisk made me go to a custom party setup, and damn did it feel good to chump that fight.

Also, really want to play around with blue mage but you get it so damn late and unlocking spells and augh

[Classic]

It's a blue mage that can do all sorts if gnilley shit on top of blue magic though. Like, battle thirst: a skill that trades MP for a high chance of robbing a mook of BP. You can lock down enemy foe compositions through stillness abuse.
You can also learn blue magic through Stillness.

It's crazy.

[Bongo Bill]

I'd gone as far as custom accessories for earlier bosses, but the last asterisk made me go to a custom party setup, and damn did it feel good to chump that fight.

Also, really want to play around with blue mage but you get it so damn late and unlocking spells and augh

Chapter 4 isn't that late. You'll get plenty of time to play around with it - but make sure to get White Wind before you proceed to chapter 5, because otherwise it'll be much rarer to get.

If that's not enough for you, New Game+ has many very granular options.