Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Away Game Special: Bravely Default demonstrates innovation

Bravely Default has interested me since I first saw its teaser trailer in a Nintendo Direct video. This video was from months ago and I now, at last, have the game's demo (and will pick up the full title after I've unlocked all of the transferable bonuses). What I really want to write about here is the game's titular battle commands: "Brave" or "Default."

To my slight disappointment this system is incredibly simple. Along with the standard turn-based RPG commands, the game adds one that lets you store turns (Default) and one that lets you use stored and/or future turns (Brave). The game keeps tracks of stored and used future turns with a number referred to as BP.

In offering these commands, the game makes this BP into another kind of MP. An important distinction, however, is that BP is set to zero at the start of each battle. Also, if a character's BP falls below zero, then that character can't move until their BP is zero or more. It's a system that creates possibilities like giant special techniques or bosses that require unique strategies. Not to mention the fact that enemies also have BP. Though naming your game after these commands doesn't make for a very compelling English title.

Title aside, turning turns themselves into a combat consumable has made for some challenging battles. In the demo (on the "Normal" difficulty setting) the monsters outmatch your party to the point where Braving and Defaulting are helpful, verging on necessary. Though since levels are something that don't transfer to the full game, enemy difficulty might just be a way to deter meaningless grinding.

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