Since we are into the new year, I figured I would take a look back to some of the good games I played last year. Some I reviewed on the site, others I did not. I limited it to games that came out in 2014.
Bravely Default
This is old school RPG goodness. It has a robust class system, even bordering on too many classes. The story isn't too bad, but like others have said, it gets too lazy and repetitive in the last third of the game. Still a solid choice for RPG fans with a 3DS, as you can still get 50+ hours until it takes a dive.
Fairy Fencer F
While not the best game I've played, it was certainly very fun. The combat is based off the Hyperdimension Neptunia games. I started off not liking the characters, but they grew on me. I found myself wanting to play it more and more. It will be coming to PCs later in 2015, and I'm hoping the PS4 sequel comes to the states.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
There's a reason two out of three XGR people choose it as their RPG of the year. It's a great turn based RPG with a lot of humor. There are references to just about everything from the show, so even if you haven't seen them all, there is stuff you will get. It's a fun game, but short, and all RPG fans owe it to themselves to try the game out.
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Easily the best plot in a game from 2014. I got sucked into the story quickly and completely. The game is a fun mix of Phoenix Wright and SAW. The game may be bleak, but it should keep you engaged for the whole ride. Even if the sequel took some missteps, the first Danganronpa is a great game, and easily one of the best I played last year.
Toukiden: Age of Demons
Tecmo Koei's foray into the monster hunting genre is a really solid action game. It has enough similarities to the famous Capcom series, while adding new and welcome additions. I played it for 50 or so hours for my review, and continued to play for 25 more. I'm still not done and I'd love to play more. Japan is getting an enhanced version with more content in the future, and that may come to the US as well. So even though the game is good, and worth your money, you might be better off waiting for the "G" version... or whatever they call it.
Shovel Knight
Probably the zenith of an original game that is obviously inspired by the NES era of games. It's difficult, but fair, and fun to play. It's a great mix of Mario, Ducktales and Castlevania. If you played games on the NES back in the day, make sure to try out Shovel Knight.
There's still more reviews to come in the next year. While my current class will take a lot of time away, I will still be putting up reviews. Coming soon is Funk of Titans, Citizens of Earth and Neptunia ReBirth 2!
Showing posts with label bravely default. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bravely default. Show all posts
Monday, January 12, 2015
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Bravely Default Demo Impressions
The demo for anticipated RPG Bravely Default hit the 3DS e-shop recently. The graphics are very similar to Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light, and it's supposed to be. The characters are super-deformed 3D models, and they look pretty good. The 3D effect in the game is what you would expect. It works fine, but not amazing. The music, however, is good. I especially like the boss music, but it's all good and fits the areas well.
The battle system takes normal, turned-based RPG combat, but adds a twist. The 'default' function is basically the guard, as you will take less damage, however, it also will save the point you get that turn for use in a later turn, so in effect, you can stack your turns by defending. The 'brave' function will use those turns to unleash several actions in one turn. Now you know where the title comes from. Also, you can use brave without using default beforehand, but you will put off your turn until your points equal zero (you get 1 point per turn). It adds some strategy to the mix, since you can try to save your turns until the enemy is open, or send yourself into the negative to end things early.
Borrowing from the best Final Fantasy games, the job system is also in place in Bravely Default. You pick one class to be, and you can choose the action abilities (magic, etc.) from one other unlocked class. You can also equip a few passive abilities that you have learned. Each passive costs a certain amount of points, and your characters have a max of 4 points. There are some really good ones, like 'multitask', which sometimes allows you a second attack if you choose 'attack' that turn. This was amazing on the ninja job, since it can dual wield without penalty, and each hand attacks separately. So, you could have four attacks in one turn, just by picking attack. Combining it with brave... well, that is some good damage. Another useful skill was 'buff up', which increases your attack and defense by 5% per turn, and it stacks up to 50%. This was really useful for boss encounters, since those last enough turns to make the skill worth it.
The demo is basically a series of quests that are taken one at a time. I found that after each one, I needed to grind for a bit to raise my level and afford some better equipment before being able to tackle the next. It reminded me of old-school RPGs, for better or worse. At first, I didn't like that I could only take one quest at a time, but there's less than 10 in the demo, so I understand why. However, the fairy on the menu screen (I didn't catch her name if she gave it) would tell you what the quest is, so you don't have to look it up on a sub menu if you forget. You could complete all of the quests in about 7-8 hours, and I put 9 into it to max out the level (20) and all the job classes for all the characters. That's really substantial for a demo.
The final thing thrown into the demo is a sample of the town building aspect. You get a villager, and they can clear away debris for space to build facilities in your town or build/upgrade a facility. It takes time (during play or sleep mode) to clear it and build the shops, and each villager shortens the time needed. To get more villagers, you have to use street pass. I was able to clear it all and fully upgrade each shop without any other villagers, it just took a few days of sleep mode. I'd much prefer to actually get some more villagers, since they will directly carry over to the full game when it releases.
Bravely Default was a really good demo that let you play the game, but not actually a part from the full version. It lets you experience the town building, battles, quests and some of the job classes. You can put several hours into it, which is great for a demo, and certain milestones (bosses defeated) will unlock items for the full version. If you like job classes in RPGs, or old-school turn based RPGs at all, give the demo a try and have some fun!
The battle system takes normal, turned-based RPG combat, but adds a twist. The 'default' function is basically the guard, as you will take less damage, however, it also will save the point you get that turn for use in a later turn, so in effect, you can stack your turns by defending. The 'brave' function will use those turns to unleash several actions in one turn. Now you know where the title comes from. Also, you can use brave without using default beforehand, but you will put off your turn until your points equal zero (you get 1 point per turn). It adds some strategy to the mix, since you can try to save your turns until the enemy is open, or send yourself into the negative to end things early.
Borrowing from the best Final Fantasy games, the job system is also in place in Bravely Default. You pick one class to be, and you can choose the action abilities (magic, etc.) from one other unlocked class. You can also equip a few passive abilities that you have learned. Each passive costs a certain amount of points, and your characters have a max of 4 points. There are some really good ones, like 'multitask', which sometimes allows you a second attack if you choose 'attack' that turn. This was amazing on the ninja job, since it can dual wield without penalty, and each hand attacks separately. So, you could have four attacks in one turn, just by picking attack. Combining it with brave... well, that is some good damage. Another useful skill was 'buff up', which increases your attack and defense by 5% per turn, and it stacks up to 50%. This was really useful for boss encounters, since those last enough turns to make the skill worth it.
The demo is basically a series of quests that are taken one at a time. I found that after each one, I needed to grind for a bit to raise my level and afford some better equipment before being able to tackle the next. It reminded me of old-school RPGs, for better or worse. At first, I didn't like that I could only take one quest at a time, but there's less than 10 in the demo, so I understand why. However, the fairy on the menu screen (I didn't catch her name if she gave it) would tell you what the quest is, so you don't have to look it up on a sub menu if you forget. You could complete all of the quests in about 7-8 hours, and I put 9 into it to max out the level (20) and all the job classes for all the characters. That's really substantial for a demo.
The final thing thrown into the demo is a sample of the town building aspect. You get a villager, and they can clear away debris for space to build facilities in your town or build/upgrade a facility. It takes time (during play or sleep mode) to clear it and build the shops, and each villager shortens the time needed. To get more villagers, you have to use street pass. I was able to clear it all and fully upgrade each shop without any other villagers, it just took a few days of sleep mode. I'd much prefer to actually get some more villagers, since they will directly carry over to the full game when it releases.
Bravely Default was a really good demo that let you play the game, but not actually a part from the full version. It lets you experience the town building, battles, quests and some of the job classes. You can put several hours into it, which is great for a demo, and certain milestones (bosses defeated) will unlock items for the full version. If you like job classes in RPGs, or old-school turn based RPGs at all, give the demo a try and have some fun!
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