Bravely Default

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1, StreetPass Supported

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Review:

Bravely Default is a Turn-Based JRPG released on Nintendo 3DS in 2014. Set in a medieval fantasy world, this game follows the story of four central characters each driven by their own motivations to try to reverse the corruption of elemental gems that threatens their world.

As you might be able to tell from that premise, there is a lot about this game that is a quaint throwback to classics of the JRPG genre. The central heroes are even referred to as Warriors of Light. As such, this story doesn’t come across as particularly original at first, even though the quality of the writing itself is fairly good and the voice acting is decent, but this lack of originality can be somewhat forgiven because it’s clearly trying to capture that nostalgic feeling, and it does so very well. And thankfully, eventually this game’s story does do some interesting things that help it to stand out a bit more, though I won’t spoil any of that here.

The graphics here are very good, using stylized chibi-style characters in a world that takes storybook-style art and renders it in three dimensions, an effect that does a wonderful job capturing that mix of modern and nostalgic that this game is going for. This is backed by a really lovely orchestral soundtrack, though having previously reviewed Bravely Default II, I don’t think the original game’s music is nearly as good as its latest successor.

As for the gameplay, Bravely Default takes traditional Turn-Based JRPG mechanics and adds an additional element of strategy to them with its “brave/default” system that lets players store turns for later use or borrow them against successive rounds, allowing players to time an all-out assault for the most opportune time. Combine this with a deep and rewarding job class system, and you have a lot of leeway to build up your party as you see fit, as well as plenty of ways to approach combat.

One other element that deserves mention here is how this game makes heavy use of StreetPass – you can share builds of your characters to support others who come across them, and you can likewise make use of theirs to support you. There’s also a minor town-building element here where the real-time wait mechanic of the game can be eased through the use of StreetPass. Of course, as I write this in 2022, the usefulness of StreetPass isn’t what it once was, but it is here.

However, while I can’t very well hold it against this game that some of its features are too outdated to use through no fault of its own, or that its latest sequel has a better presentation, one element that does seem like it could have been done better here is the pacing – your character progression in the game just feels too slow, which makes the grindy elements of the game feel a tad too grindy for my tastes.

However, in the grand scheme of things this is a minor complaint, and overall Bravely Default is an absolutely wonderful JRPG, and fans of the genre who own a Nintendo 3DS should absolutely consider this game a must-have, especially if they’re nostalgic about classic JRPGs and wanting something modern that still feels like the old greats. That’s exactly what this game aims to do, and it succeeds at that brilliantly.

tl;dr – Bravely Default is a Turn-Based JRPG that does a wonderful job mixing nostalgic old-school sensibilities with more modern mechanics and presentation, including a great job class system and the signature “Brave/Default” system that lets you lend or borrow actions to and from later turns. It’s not quite as good as its Nintendo Switch successor, and the pacing is a bit on the slow and grindy side, but overall this is a wonderful entry in the genre that any fan of JRPGs should definitely want in their collection.

Grade: B+

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