Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

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Thad
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Thad » Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:44 pm

Makes sense. Wasn't sure whether that was just a mechanism to pad the demo or not.

What about class balance? Does it manage to pull off FF5's "no bad party" perfection, or is it more like what I saw in the demo (if you don't have someone who can cast Cure and Poisona, shit's going to start getting really expensive really fast)?

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sei
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby sei » Sat Jun 07, 2014 1:13 am

Some of the later boss encounters serve as puzzles to check whether or not you figured out which class has a way of dealing with their shit. You are not going to have a good time trying to beat the game with 4 WHMs using no subjob, if that's what you're asking.
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Bongo Bill
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Bongo Bill » Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:05 am

Also, the demo uses MMO-style fetch quests that are completely absent from the main game, which also includes the option to reduce or disable random encounters (I can't remember if that feature is in the demo). The difficulty curve of the main game at low levels is more modern as well. Additionally, the mechanics in the demo are slightly changed; not only are the ability lists for the demo job altered, the stronger abilities tend to take more than one ability slot in the full game.

There are no bad jobs, and in fact I'd say it's got better job balance than FF5, but some of them are fairly self-contained while others rely on inter-class synergy to draw out their full potential. You'll want a well-rounded party simply because different situations call for different strategies, and experimentation is cheap. To answer your more specific question... White Magic is the most straightforward and earliest source of healing, but there are plenty of others, including some reusable items.

Optional content near the end of the game is built around the assumption that you're using powerful combos; it even suggests a few of them by having boss fights that use the same broken strategies against you. If I remember correctly, the demo lets you combine the Ninja ability that makes you automatically avoid one physical attack (Utsusemi), the other Ninja ability that makes you automatically counterattack when you dodge (Transience), and the Red Mage ability that gives you an extra BP when you dodge (Turn Tables). In the main game, that's the sort of thing that late-game boss fights will assume you've figured out how to do.
...but is it art?

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby beatbandito » Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:34 am

On a QoL note: I don't know if the demo doesn't include it, but it certainly doesn't highlight the fact that there's an 'auto' feature that reuses the last turn's actions for each character and the ability to speed or slow animation times in battle.

Both make any fluff encounters a joke even before some late game options if you don't just choose to turn off encounters completely.
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Mothra
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Mothra » Sat Jun 07, 2014 5:33 pm

Okay, held out on getting a 3DS till that Groupon deal Thad posted a while back for the 100 buck refurbished non-XL unit. Just came in the mail along with Bravely D.

So far I'm in love with the art style. 3D itself is waaaay nicer than I was expecting. I'm generally happy with the cast, but I haven't made it anywhere yet, so we'll see. Love the music.

Going into this well aware that it goes to shit in chapter 5, and maybe into chapter 6, before becoming pretty decent again in 7. Hopefully that'll help steel me against the horrors that await.

Also this is probably going to be mighty helpful:

Bongo Bill wrote:It is always best to advance rather than grind until you reach chapter 4. Chapter 4 has a convenient auto-grinding spot, but even then chapter 5 has several that are twice as good, and in chapter 6 you get a job with an ability that has no purpose but to destroy random encounters effortlessly.

Some auto grinding setup tips:
Chapter 3: Use Blessed Shields against the undead enemies in Grapp Keep.
Chapter 4: Have a Salve-Maker combine Phlogiston with Phlogiston (both can be bought in Norende) against enemies you can fight in the daytime south of Eternia City.
Chapter 5: Use group-target fire attacks in the enemies in the vicinity of Florem.
Chapter 6: Get Conjurer to job level 9 to unlock Obliterate, then encounter the same enemies in the same spot as chapter 5.
Final Chapter: After entering either of the two Final Chapters, speak to Lord DeRosso to unlock the first nine levels of Dimension's Hasp. Use Obliterate on enemies on levels 5 and 6.

I went through and added everyone's 3DS code, so when you get a sec, add mine as well! It is:

1779 1742 3857

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Mothra » Sun Jun 08, 2014 2:28 pm

Classic I just used your level 70 demigod against a goblin, eradicating him and his family from life and time for seven generations.

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Esperath » Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:04 pm

Hahaha, TEEN GIRL SQUAD is the best.

CHEERLEADER!
WHAT'S HER FACE
and THE UGLY ONE
pisa katto

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pisa katto

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Mothra
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Mothra » Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:00 am

Is it worth it to grind Freelancer all the way to JP Up? 3500 JP is.... a lot of JP.

Also: City Of Nothin' But Floozies has somehow been the worst city yet :/

Delightful Ringabel-centric cutscenes help, though!

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Smiler » Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:30 am

From what I've heard the game just vomits JP on you later, and if you're only in chapter 2 you shouldn't worry about it too much.

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Classic » Wed Aug 20, 2014 11:47 am

Smiler wrote:From what I've heard the game just vomits JP on you later, and if you're only in chapter 2 you shouldn't worry about it too much.

This, the gains of JP that you'll earn "naturally" advancing to these lands of plenty is very near 3500 anyway.

Chapter 4 has some adequate spots to grind JP, and is the point where JP returns start to slow down unless you're in areas designed for JP grinding.

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Bongo Bill
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Bongo Bill » Thu Aug 21, 2014 2:37 am

Don't grind past job level 10 until you reach chapter 5. In fact, probably don't grind past job level 9 until reaching chapter 5. And defer maxing out every job on everybody until you have maxed out the final job on one person.
...but is it art?

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Mothra
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Mothra » Mon Sep 08, 2014 12:19 am

I am not alone in thinking Edea is easily the best character in the game, right? I mean, she's the actual hero here.

Just reached the Shieldbearers city and I still cannot figure out if my pirate companion is a gigantic talking rat or a really stylized human.

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Mothra
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Mothra » Mon Sep 08, 2014 12:27 am

Seriously I looked around online and nobody knows what Zatz is supposed to be:

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Bongo Bill
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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Bongo Bill » Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:25 am

He's just a scrawny dude. And, yeah, Edea is the best of the four.
...but is it art?

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Mothra » Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:09 am

One of you ultra-powerful, all-powerful demigods just unfriended me on Bravely D and I am up shit creek here without that ablink.

whyyy

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Mothra » Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:13 am

Oh wait, maybe it's because my wireless is down? I feel like it isn't, cause Classic and two RL friends are still ablinked.

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Mothra » Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:20 pm

Okay Lady Duke managed to fill in for the missing Mii and now everything's hunky dorey.

I finished the single most obnoxious fetch quest of the game to get the Bard class. Holy shit that was bad. Strongly starting to suspect that this is secretly a badgame™.

The shieldbearers sent me on a mission to save children from working themselves to death in a swordbearer mine. Glad they're really keeping this conflict deep and nuanced and interesting.

Oh here's the next boss - a hideously overweight poison alchemist who absolutely everyone, including his teammates, loathes as a monster. He start chuckling to himself about poisoning his own troops when I step up to fight him.

Weeeeeeeee~

Does this game become good again at any point or should I have jumped ship on this a long time ago?

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Thad » Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:40 pm

Tangential, but: there's a loathsome captain of the guard in Last Story who has this laugh that, after the first few times, I realized is what Kefka would sound like if he'd had a human voice instead of a synthesized one.

There's a bit at the end, during the big invasion scene, where a soldier dies and has a pretty good speech about dying trying to protect the homeland. I thought when I saw it that it was the captain of the guard and they'd done this nice job of setting him up as a nasty character and then showing, in the end, that he's got some shading, that he isn't all bad after all.

But then the captain shows up again in the ending (or the postgame maybe?) and I realized that nope, the dying soldier must not have been him after all, I was mistaken.

On the one hand, it feels like a missed opportunity. On the other, Last Story was definitely a game that they left open for sequels and further worldbuilding, so I expect they intended to use that captain again.

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Rico » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:22 pm

Mothra wrote:Does this game become good again at any point or should I have jumped ship on this a long time ago?
Sounds like it might not be for you. It's just an old-school RPG with some reasonably-good modern QoL improvements.

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Re: Bravely Default: Silicon Studio is 90s Era Squaresoft?

Postby Classic » Wed Mar 25, 2015 4:14 pm

You're at the part where if you're not interested in breaking the game for its own sake, stuff is going to become hard to get excited about.
I kind of stalled somewhere in chapter 6.

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