Bravely Default II

It does blow
For a franchise known initially for breaking expectations, deconstructing the "save four gems of the world, " and highlighting character development. This game plays its characters and the plot very straightforwardly to the point that it has lost all of its perceived identity and just becoming a bland J-RPG that can't stack up to the big-name franchises or even the ones compared to the 90s.
The villains in this set suffer from the most unbearably annoying and puke-worthy stereotypes. The "main" villain is just your typical boring invincible villain who you can't beat the first time and has an absurd plot armour till around the endgame instead; his character is just "I want all power to rule all nations", a shtick that shows how low level and care was put into these characters.
Then there is the 2nd main antagonist that takes the reins, and she is insufferably bad and blatant. Although there are clues or suggestions that this antagonist was corrupted and had her ideologies twisted, this has never led to anything outside of an anti-climatic death.
The main characters are also bland, with Sir Sloan and the last team being unironically more interesting than the main cast.
I will say that I liked Elvin and Adelle as characters and their plot despite being of different races if only cause this duo was the only part I was interested in.
Seth is your typical bland character with spiky hair which you can change his name to our own.......yet he speaks and contributes somewhat significantly to the story.
Gloria is the worst of this; simply put, she is not a unique character, and there are a bunch of other stories that involve around "fighting your fate." that have been developed better and with bigger payoffs.

Even the other significant characters in the plot are just wrong. The primary villain assemblage of the first antagonist only gets properly introduced and killed off in the same chapter. This is especially bad for the phantom assassin, who, despite showing remarkable depth, nothing comes out of it.

Gameplay-wise, the system has not been updated over time, and later chapters show how much it is a pain to grind correctly. For example, when auto-attacking, all characters are forced to attack one enemy at a time, so you are forced to attack enemies who might have immunities to the attack you have, and there is no option to adjust where your party AI attacks, so you are forced to fast forward the party and mad push the buttons to keep the attacks going. This is such poor game design.

This also leads to Chapter 1 in Hard Mode, where it is such a significant roadblock that overcoming this finally allows you to play the game properly.

This game is so dull and bad that I haven't even bothered trying to fight the secret boss of this game. This game is a time-sink that is worth too much effort.

I'm tired of typing this crap

A decent old-school RPG. Even though graphics got slightly better, the dialogues and cutscenes are as bare as they used to be on Nintendo 3DS, with just characters pasted onto a background image and minimal movements. While the writing itself is not as bad as “Bravely Second”, the story is definitely the worst in the series so far. While being very generic at the beginning, it gets dangerously close to ripping off “Final Fantasy X” during the second half. Character and costume design also felt quite uninspired. The new team clearly tried its best to imitate the style of the original, but I wish they just brought back the old designers and writers.

The gameplay remains mostly unchanged. Boss fights are more challenging and fun, even though tedious grinding becomes mandatory in the last couple of chapters. Side quests are again not the funniest around, but they can be skipped altogether as they come with ridiculous rewards. A new card game in the veins of Triple Triad and Tetra Master has also been added. It’s very basic and has no influence on the rest of the game, but it can be relaxing to play in between chapters.

Bravely Default II is proof that that execution trumps inspiration. I've played many a JRPG and this game has all the classical tropes. Yet here I am: I cleared the main game, diving into post-game and having fun.

Yes, you're looking for four crystals, one for each of Aristotle's elements. You know the ones. Yes, you'll control a party of four heroes of light. Yes, you'll save the world. Sorry for spoiling the story of EVERY SINGLE JRPG EVER.

So why am I having fun? I'd say this is because the combat and the job systems are just so perfect. There is nothing stellar about it, really. There's just no flaw to speak of. The job system really does encourage experimenting by not tying itself to stat progression. The brave system brings in a pinch of planning and risk to the good old turn based system. The abilities are varied enough that characters may successfully (and should) play different roles such as DPS, tank, utility and healer.

The game often feels more generous than any other titles in the genre. Yet it presents more challenge than most others. The result is a sense of power and potential which is so essential for this sort of game to really work.

Again, one can argue that the story is just an unengaging arrangement of tropes. I wish Final Fantasy IV or VI had combat that was half as satisfying.

Still, for the nostalgic JRPG player, even the jaded one, Bravely Default II manages to be both comfy and refreshing. Would recommend.