Bravely Default

la vie est trop courte pour avoir envie de rester plus de 10 heures avec des personnages insupportables et archétypaux (l'innocence casse-couille d'agnès, le grand coeur mou de tiz et ringabel, en entier, intolérable), qui te rejouent sans grâce des poncifs qu'on aurait voulu voir enterrés avec la snes (les cristaux des éléments sont corrompus, va faire le tour du monde pour les sauver) au milieu d'un monde sans vie qui n'a que sa jolie DA pour faire oublier sa banalité ambiante, et ses donjons à la con aux mêmes couloirs où se rejouent sans cesse les mêmes combats que tu passes en avance rapide par réflexe, avec ces allers-retours sans fins, où on te dit "non, n'allons pas là pour l'instant" comme si tu avais cinq ans, et à quoi bon se taper des heures d'un truc pareil, je ferai des sudokus, j'aurais moins l'impression d'être une machine, bonne à appuyer sur attaquer et à essayer de penser aux meilleurs jobs que je pourrais choisir pour ces héros que je méprise dans une quête infinie.

et ça continue et ça continue. jamais putain jamais.

quand je joue à bravely default,
j'ai l'impression que je déteste les rpg,
j'ai l'impression que je déteste les jeux vidéo,
j'ai l'impression que je gâche absolument mon temps.

quelle putain d'horreur.

Bravely Default presented a medley of Final Fantasy V's job class system, Dragon Quest's grindy progression, Tales' Skits, and a lush visual style and soundtrack in a work that actually felt like a step-up in quality for JRPGs. Its deep combat system features self-turn manipulating mechanics (Brave/Default, reminiscent of Xenosaga: Episode II's build & release combat) that reconfigure basic JRPG battle concepts to its own means, enhanced by a long list of job classes and skills altering it in various ways. While the characters are pretty tropey by themselves, the wonderful story moments, long-winded character building and meta twists compensate greatly. However, the story's back half devolves into repetition and superfluous boss-fights, that at least act more like engaging party-customization challenges than relevant, coherent story moments. More than just being polished and entertaining, Bravely Default is a textbook case on how to update the recipes of the past.

I would not have been disappointed if Square-Enix had called this 'Final Fantasy 15,' but alas. Bravely Default is the game a lot of us veteran fans were looking for: 2D, turn-based Final Fantasy style game with a more developed version of the battle system seen in previous FF games. Between that and the excellent soundtrack, BD works well. The improvements made to the game from its original release, chief among them the ability to select encounter frequency and game difficulty at will, polish things further. BD's greatest flaw, the one that kept me from getting fully invested and ranking this higher, is that the second half of the game involves a time loop that you have to actually play through several times, and it literally just has the same bosses and content X times in a row. It's one of the worst moments of padding I have ever seen in a video game, and it really did sour the experience. Nonetheless, Bravely Default is a must-own for fans of JRPGs. You will probably have a good time; just don't be surprised when the game makes this awful decision later on.