The follow up to Bravely Default see our heroes old and new taking on a new foe. Can the sequel live up to the ground work laid out by its predecessor?
As mentioned earlier, Bravely Second: End Layer is a sequel and here we see our heroes get attacked by the new bad man in town, Kaiser Oblivion. As with all evil guys that show up at the start, our heroes couldn’t even touch him, resulting in their behinds getting handed to them and the kidnapping of Pope Agnes, one of the previous game’s protagonists.
After waking up from a coma induced by the attack, it is now up to our young knight Yew Geneolgia to assemble a team capable of saving Pope Agnes and restore peace once again in the land of Luxendarc.
Now for a game like this a story is needed, however I don’t believe it’ll be the main thing you’ll be invested in as it seems pretty basic. It follows the whole brave knight saving the kidnapped princess routine and therefore comes across pretty bland. During your journey, the game tries to fill in the gaps through something called Party Talk. This is completely optional, but basically what it does is allow you to listen in on conversations the characters would be having that you otherwise would not know about. I so far have not found a use for it and with the not so great voice acting, it became more of a pain after a while, however it could contain useful bits of information that could help you out further down the line. It could also be a way to keep the player constantly engaged during the periods of moving around certain areas.
The narrative may not be a whole lot to get into, but what makes Bravely Second: End layer the real deal is its gameplay which we’ll be getting into next.
When I started playing it felt very old school to me. It just gave off that feeling and to an extent, it has exactly that in its gameplay, topped up with more modern innovation in the RPG arena. For instance it follows the safe formula of turn based combat in which you and your opponent take turns to perform moves on each other similar to a chess match. In this case the person with the strongest attack or most health would come out on top; however there are a few other options that you are given which makes battles such as these more tactical.
One gameplay tactic I found interesting was using Default. This allows you to defend against enemy attacks while also earning something called BP or Brave Points. Brave Points can be used to allow a character to land more attacks during a single turn and can prove useful in finishing an enemy off in one go. You can also give up future turns by using more points than you have, however this comes with the consequence of becoming a sitting duck until it resets itself. I found that using the latter tactic is ok for random encounters, but when it comes to a boss, its best to save those BP up.
Another interesting addition to the battle is Agnes Pendant which allows you to communicate and cooperate with players from other worlds. You can register other players you like to play with as friends, summon them in battle and even share abilities. Of course as you are playing so will the others who own the game, so if you want to keep up to date on their abilities and attacks, you can download that data from the menu.
Items can be bought from the shops using PG or by finding treasure chests scattered around the world. Defeating any monster you encounter will also allow you to earn both of these.
A mix of both 2D and 3D graphics makes for an interesting blend to the game. While I’m not too fond of the static 2D you see when it came to the towns, it did help it stand out against other titles in its genre. To an extent it brought about an almost painted visual which was pleasing to the eye. This effect was deepened even further through the use of the 3D function on the 3DS; now I can’t speak for everyone, but even at full strength I still found it pretty comfortable to play with the visuals given that extra little pop.
Bravely Second: End Layer goes beyond the standard turn based RPG and brings with it new innovations that breathe life in to a continuously used game mechanic. I found the Brave aspect really refreshing as it just opens up a whole other possibility when it comes to strategically planning out your battles and I also liked the idea of the game letting you know what level you should be at when tackling an area or dungeon.
I’m not the biggest RPG fan, but I enjoyed playing this one, however if you are, Bravely Second: End Layer is a must have.
