Bravely Second: End Layer

Bravely Second is a pretty solid throwback Final Fantasy title. You get 30 classes, loads of skills and abilities to acquire, challenges and strategic combat. I got to say I didn't care about the plot much towards the end but I still liked the characters. I found Edea, Yew, and Magnolia very cute.

This is just a massive "Bravely Default" DLC. I am not surprised that used copies have been on sale for ridiculous prices. Gameplay, graphics, characters, locations, enemies, EVERYTHING has been recycled from the first game. They just threw in a couple of new characters and new bosses, but the rest was taken from "Bravely Default" as it is. On top of that, you are tortured by the cringe-worthy writing, uninteresting story and, just like in the first game, the same dialogues and events being repeated all over again. This is something they should have learned from "Bravely Default", but it looks like they just want to torture us. Not only you are forced to battle most bosses multiple times, they even want you to replay half of the main story and all side missions as well!! I am surprised I could play this till the end (over 40 hours).

"Bravely Default" was far from perfect, but at least you could feel its heart, that it was created by RPG lovers for other RPG lovers. They created a beautiful world, backed it up with decent writing, and tried to make the obsolete turn-based battle system less frustrating for new generations. With "Bravely Second", it's clear that no effort was made and that it has been nothing more than an easy way to milk the cow as fast as possible after the relative success of the first game. (4.0/10)

Bravely Second: End Layer almost entirely copies Bravely Default's bag of tricks while tweaking gameplay to facilitate level grinding. The paring down of personal substories for moral choices is one notable change - but for the most part, its runtime is devoted to streamlining and fanservice, with mixed results.

I guess overall I was unimpressed with it, though it did do many things right.

Liked the two new main characters a lot, but didn't care for the plot or the general tone of the game. I'm okay with a game being goofy, but this one just wouldn't stop. I started skipping cutscenes in sidequests about halfway in. The soundtrack was probably my biggest disappointment, but let's be fair, it had big shoes to fill. Every time I thought I liked a song, I realized it was a song from the original. The new job classes were all refreshing and innovative, which surprised me. Some of them felt a little too gimmicky to be useful, though, or like I would have had to specifically build a party from the start expecting to use them. Still, the game at least provides plenty of classes from the original so you can fall back on familiar options. That said, I don't think the game provided enough interesting bosses to really test the skills learned. I felt like I just powered through things and didn't need to experiment much. That's really the only knock I can give the gameplay, as it was otherwise very satisfying.

Like BD, I really enjoyed all the quality of life features in the game. Instant random encounter % switches, turn macros, pig warping, and what have you. All that stuff matters. The game ends suggesting a third one is coming, and if I have the time I might get it, but hopefully whoever is writing the script can balance the goofy with the serious a little better (I thought the first game struck a nice balance).