I'm shaking things up with a new feature where I review Demos of games that have peaked my interest. The first of which is Bravely Default the upcoming RPG from Square Enix for the Nintendo 3DS. This free demo basically has you run around completing quests, most of which are collect x amount of items from enemies or killing bosses. This is supposedly in the same vein as the DS game Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (I think that's what it's called?) and I have to say I am definitely addicted.
The gameplay is turn based where you assign your characters a move. The system of leveling and progressing revolves around the classic Job System where you can change jobs on the fly. For the purposes of this demo, 8 classes are at your disposal from Ninja, Knight, Black Mage etc. Each class comes with unique abilities and once you master it to a comfortable point, you can then mix and match abilities with jobs.
 |
| How a Battle looks. |
The main drive towards this game lies in the title itself. In battle you have an option to Brave or Default. Brave lets you stack moves to do multiple actions in one turn. Each action costs BP which recharges after each turn up to a maximum of 3 (or so the demo limits) and you cannot do anything when the BP is in the negative zone. Default allows you to sacrifice a turn to gain more BP, in addition, you have an increased defense to oncoming attacks. During some bosses I enjoyed defaulting 3 times to gather maximum BP then unleash 4-5 moves for one character on my turn.
Bravely Default also utilizes StreetPass where you can gather friends to help you out in battles and summon them. For this demo you are tasked with fixing a nearby village with shops you can level up for more weapons and armor. As you complete quests and the village you are awarded items which carry over into the full game.
 |
| Your village. |
Should you give this a look?
Yes! If you're a fan of RPG's this should definitely hold your attention. The battle system is very addicting as well as a robust job class system!
