I've put about three hours into the demo over the last couple of days so far. For the most part, I've been enjoying my time with it. I've maxed out three out of five jobs for each character and seem to have hit the demo's level cap. I last saved in the demo's only dungeon right before engaging what I assume will be a boss. (Likely the guy shown in the latest trailer)
My impressions:
I like how there seems to be more places to explore in the towns. Not that all of them had no exploration whatsoever in previous titles, but there usually wasn't much to it other than shops to buy things and places of interest. I don't want this taken too far in the other direction though; I like exploration, but shoving too much of it into one area really bogs me down. I impulsively want to find EVERYTHING.
Savalon's design itself is pretty stunning. I like a lot of the lighting; at first it seemed a bit harsh, but then I reminded myself that this is pretty normal for a desert environment. I like the shimmer effect from the heat, but I feel like this technically shouldn't be present when you're indoors. The 2.5D effect going here helps make up for the lack of 3D that was present in previous games.
I like how there's more detail to the overworld this time around, and that you can rotate the position of the camera. Cutting grass is pretty mundane, but it's a nice thing to mindlessly do while exploring. It's not like I haven't had plenty of practice with it in the Legend of Zelda series or anything.... 🤫
The two sidequests I've found are basically fetch quests that aren't worth writing home about. Hopefully some with more substance show up in the main game. I know they're capable of better; the job-related side quests in Bravely Second, for example, are very much worth playing through.
I like the character models for the most part, but I do agree that the lighting on shining armor needs toned down a bit.
The playable characters don't seem to have a lot of substance to them compared to previous protagonists in the series, but again, this is a relatively spoiler-free demo. I expect them to expand on their personalities in the main game.
I'm not Scottish, and even I think Elvis's accent is a bit much. XD The rest of the voice cast sounds at least fairly convincing in my book.
Barring the next point, I like the flow of combat. The Brave and Default system is still here and as great as ever. Almost everything else is typical JRPG combat fare. Oh, and normal enemies now abuse the Brave/Default system as well, adding to the challenge.
Why oh WHY did they mix up the turns based on speed? I much prefer setting what everyone will do before the turn starts, not in a disorganized mess as we get to each character.
Enemy models look decent for the most part. Those slavering wolves look starved, and the pig-men dudes look like they can do some damage.
While I like that encounters aren't random, the drawback is that weaker enemies, when trying to grind, run away from you. I feel like there should be a way to customize encounters, ranging from the encounter slider used in previous games to choosing whether encounters are random or not.
They haven't spoiled much with the jobs as most of the ones available appeared in previous games, but it's still fun to play around with the different combinations. The only new one is Vanguard, which is basically this game's Knight class.
Who thought adding weight to equipment was a good idea? I haven't personally had issues with it, but it seems like a wasted, cumbersome idea with no usefulness whatsoever.
The enemy balancing definitely needs work, though the demo does warn the player that it will be difficult. I've managed to avoid TPKs, but I did have a party member downed more than once.
The music isn't anything to write home about, but I'm betting the good tracks are being saved for the final product.
Bravely Default II is definitely a work in progress, but one that I'm still pretty optimistic about. I'll definitely be leaving some feedback when the survey appears in the hopes that they'll make this the best game it can be.
Currently playing: Ys X: Nordics (Switch), SteamWorld Dig 2 (Switch)
Visuals
Amazing. Love the art style- they transitioned perfectly into HD. Game looks incredible on the handheld screen. Absolutely top-notch. Appears to be very close to 720p as I can see crisp details even in tiny characters or when zoomed out. I feel like I’m on an alien planet when I hear people complaining about the visuals. This is as good as it gets for handheld gaming. Muah! Perfecto!
Music
Sounds good to me so far. It’s a demo, not the full game orchestra. If the expectation is the best soundtrack you’ve heard in your life in a demo then I agree it falls short. But if comparing to any other game the music is at least as good if not a little better, and I’m quite sure the full game will have even more amazing music. This is not really a concern or a negative for me.
Difficulty
It’s hard. Or at least, it was hard, until I figured out how to properly utilize the systems. Now I’m doing pretty good. Some fights are harder than others but that’s to be expected. There isn’t any fight that I absolutely couldn’t win, if using proper strategy.
Voice Work
Surprisingly good. Almost shockingly so. I was taking a back because I’m not used to Square Enix paying for decent voice actors in games like this.
Enemies On Map
Love it. Such a needed change for the series. Like Pokémon, The era of random battles is long since passed. It’s time to leave that primitive game design behind, and they have. That’s excellent. And the enemies looks so good on the map and in the world! Well done. Very well done.
Complaints 1 The description text in menus should be able to be toggled. 2 Needs equipment comparisons in shops, and in the Equipment menu. Not just to see if it’s an increase or decrease but to see the actual before and after for stats. 3 Automatic zoom out in towns should take a bit longer to activate, and a button should enable/disable and a button should zoom on command. 4 A “heal all as efficiently as possible” option should be provided outside battles like Dragon Quest. 5 Framerate has some hiccups here and there. Obviously that should be ironed out. 6 Minor pop-in when exiting a town. Not a huge deal but, if they’re asking for areas to improve, that’ll definitely be on my list. 7 Enemies can be a little too dense and too aggressive. I would like to see either the density reduced but keep the same aggression, or see the aggression dialed back a bit while keeping the same density. Or maybe dial both of them back but only slightly so. This isn’t a major tweak that needs to happen here, just a small one. But that small adjustment could have a huge difference. I prefer to kind of choose my battles like Dragon Quest, but have the enemies chase you if you get too close. 8 Difficulty curve is out of wack, at least for the demo. As soon as I enter the dungeon, this was after quite a bit of battling around the area, my entire crew got mopped on the very first bee. It doesn’t feel good to run up against a wall like that so early in the demo. I am confident the main game is much more balanced and they did say the demo was made more difficult, I do hope they take care and ensuring things don’t get too tough.
Original Complaint Now Understood
In town, it seems like the image is waving with the water? It’s almost like the effect they put on the water to wave back-and-forth has spilled over to the entire image... then I realized it’s the heat! Inside the inn there was an optional party conversation you could engage in where they talk about how incredibly hot it is. Now I understand that effect is of the heat! It all makes sense.
Overall
Love it. Definitely some issues that need to be resolved, but even as it stands now I absolutely love it. I’ve written down the areas in which I think it can be improved so that I’m ready for the survey. And of course I’ll be updating it as I play more.
All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans
God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John
@Mince Trails of Cold Steel 3 is the only one being ported because NIS owns the publishing rights for it, while Xseed owns the publishing rights for the prior localized games.
But as others has said, that's the only one that's an issue if you play it first. Bravely Default 2 is set in a different world than the first two games.
And let me add, There’s a demo for Trails of Cold Steel III, with a very thorough story summary for the first two games. I read the entire summary before starting the demo, and to be honest most of the events that happened in the first two games are completely irrelevant. If you want the Birdseye view I can summarize both previous games in one single paragraph and tell you everything you need to know going into the third. Or you can just read the story summary for yourself. It’s 100% adequate for going into Trails of Cold Steel III. I stayed up playing the demo until 2 AM last night and I felt like I had actually played the previous games because I knew the characters already and the events that had happened previously. They did a fantastic job with the story summary.
If you really want to prepare yourself it’s going to take about 30 minutes to read through both games thoroughly. But that’s the great thing about the demo- you can catch up on previous events and get a taste of the game for yourself all before it even releases. That way when the game drops in a few months you’re ready to go. And I have to say the game is fantastic. Definitely not one people should be sleeping on.
All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans
God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John
@Mince Trails of Cold Steel 3 is the only one being ported because NIS owns the publishing rights for it, while Xseed owns the publishing rights for the prior localized games.
But as others has said, that's the only one that's an issue if you play it first. Bravely Default 2 is set in a different world than the first two games.
And let me add, There’s a demo for Trails of Cold Steel III, with a very thorough story summary for the first two games. I read the entire summary before starting the demo, and to be honest most of the events that happened in the first two games are completely irrelevant. If you want the Birdseye view I can summarize both previous games in one single paragraph and tell you everything you need to know going into the third. Or you can just read the story summary for yourself. It’s 100% adequate for going into Trails of Cold Steel III. I stayed up playing the demo until 2 AM last night and I felt like I had actually played the previous games because I knew the characters already and the events that had happened previously. They did a fantastic job with the story summary.
Trust me, I'm a huge fan who has already played all six of the localized Trails games thus far. Cold Steel 3 does set up the groundwork for its own story, but all the plot threads and all the returning character's development are still extensions of what's been established from the prior games. I don't know how much the story summery in CS3 covers, but I will at least say a lot of my enjoyment of CS3 was seeking out some of the more subtle connections it has to the prior games, and how it shows the state of characters from the Sky Trilogy. Even the new characters are tied to prior characters quite strongly.
But that's a conversation that's probably already been brushed upon on its own thread.
Honestly, I forgot this existed, and now I find out there's a demo for it! I'm super excited, especially since I was just thinking the day before the Mini-Direct how great Bravely Default's battle system was, and how refreshing it was to play a traditional Turn-based RPG from someone besides Atlus that didn't feel half-@$$ed. Hopefully I can give it a try later tonight!
My only real negative about this so far is that I don't like the constant switching between different graphical styles. You have the towns that look 1 way, then the world map that looks a 2nd way, then the dungeons that look a third way.
I kinda wish they'd just use 1 graphical style for the whole thing, like Octopath did.
It would be nice if they released the other two bravely games on switch as well. I prefer playing on a tv compared to the little 3ds screen. I also didn't care about the 3d option for the 3ds.
The surveys for the Bravely Default II demo have started going out. They show up as the normal Nintendo evaluation surveys, but it explicitly states that the results will also be sent to Square Enix. Check those inboxes!
Currently playing: Ys X: Nordics (Switch), SteamWorld Dig 2 (Switch)
All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans
God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John
@komodo182
Ya. Didn’t beat the demo though. Maybe that’s the issue? Checked my junk folder too. Nothing.
I remember getting one for Octopath. I complained about one of the voice actors with candor and frankness, perhaps they put me on a do not mail list lol.
Though I doubt it. Out of all the feedback they get with actual profanity and vulgarity and hostility... I doubt my forthrightness even registered as a blip on the Richter scale.
All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans
God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John
Just filled out my BD2 survey, explicitly detailing my complaints about the demo. I hope some pretty big changes are made because that demo was incredibly disappointing.
I downloaded the demo the day after it came out to avoid the initial download rush. I was under the impression that surveys were sent based on time first played, not completion, but perhaps that has changed this time around? I did beat the demo but didn't bother with any of the post-completion extras that I now know about.
Currently playing: Ys X: Nordics (Switch), SteamWorld Dig 2 (Switch)
Seeing enemies on the map is a step back from BD's full customization of random encounters.
Random battles seem wildly unbalanced within a given area. I'm either destroying everything or getting crushed.
The visual style is ugly. An overly aggressive DoF effect makes towns look fairly blurry, and something rubs me the wrong way about the... shininess of enemies in this game. It's hard to describe, but the effect is grotesque.
I was excited when I heard Revo was back to do the music, but nothing in the demo stood out. Massive downgrade musically from the first game's excellent OST.
The change from inputting commands all at once on your round to having enemies and allies acting individually based on speed really ruins the 'default' command, especially for slower characters. The battle system in the first game was almost perfect.
If they're going to make this change, they should have added a turn order indicator. They did not.
Equipment weight was added for whatever reason. Why add this when the first game played fine without this element?
I don't like the characters. Granted, BD games aren't famed for their beloved casts, but this group of people seems generic and forgettable. The only one I remember is Elvis, and that's only because he's an offensively bad stereotype of a Scotsman.
I'm open to S-E improving this game, but it'll need a LOT of work, so I'm not hopeful.
There were also a number of tweaks needed for the UI.
Pretty much the only thing I did like was being able to run into buildings. That was nice.
Loved seeing enemies on the map. Excellent change. It’s a dated mechanic, and I have little interest in playing games in 2020 where I can’t see the enemies on the map.
Love the visual style. One of the closest things to perfection I’ve seen in a visual style to date.
Love equipment weight. It adds a strategic layer of depth, and there’s hardly a game I’ve played where I hated the mechanic, if not downright loved it.
Music seemed fine. Hardly seems fair to judge the epicness of a game’s soundtrack based on a demo. Especially if the music present isn’t actually bad (which, it wasn’t- and if anything I’d say it was actually above average compared to most games, even if not exceptional).,
As for the rest, I’m either neutral or of little opinion on, or havent played enough to form an opinion on. I do agree with the unbalanced battles though. That’s... probably the only thing.
All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans
God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John
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Topic: Bravely Default II (Nintendo Switch)
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