Review: Brave standard II

Get brave again

For some, the Brave default franchise exists only at the peripheral level.

“We want more old-school JRPGs,” fans exclaimed. “Here are a few,” Square Enix replied. But the scope of projects in the above series, as well as one-off projects such as Lost Sphear, I Am Setsuna, en Oninaki, is lost on some.

Can be Brave default II, with the power of the Switch installation base behind it, will change the narrative.

Brave default II (Nintendo Switch)
Developer: Claytechworks
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: February 26, 2021
MSRP: $ 59.99

Wait, we already have a Brave default II, right? No! It was Brave second: final layer, friend! You know Square Enix will never miss the chance to give us a rogue cryptic title. Confusing, this Brave default persecution is actually described as an independent adventure. So despite the name, you can jump in right away. Like the others, it is very similar to a classic fantasy story. With monks. And giant anime swords.

It is an old kingdom environment, once again with the crystal motif of all power. We even get a memory with memory loss! And he meets helpful people fairly early on and becomes entangled in a crystal-theft plot. There are troops. Oh there are troops! Like a literal mustache villain twisting their facial hair into quick cryptic cuts. On top of that, some classic bizarre voice performances were sprinkled on top. It is at this stage a series of staple foods.

But like past Brave joints, and some semi-recent JRPG work from Square as a whole, there is a lot of passion to be seen. The characters actually seem to care about each other, and their writing shines through, despite some of the earlier clichés. There are so many optional stop-and-chat (more on the system later) that I’m glad I listened as I was able to gain greater personal insight into the cast.

It’s a beautiful game too. Brave has always looked good, especially when it comes to concept art, but now it finally feels with the Switch whether it can fulfill much of the promise. There are some beautiful landscapes on display, with the option to zoom out heavily and take in everyone. The chibi character models and lo-fi “talking heads” tracks are still going to polarize; but because they had never bothered so much about it in the first place, it was easy to acclimatize. The environments are often characters themselves and steal the show.

Mechanical, Brave default II take advantage of all the modern JRPG bells and whistles: save virtually everywhere, the ability to see enemies in the field before a fight begins, quick healing to freshen up your party. It sometimes ranges from streamlined to routes, depending on how much a particular area or set of enemies exceeds its welcoming.

The travel story catalog menu is also extremely useful, constantly pointing you to your next goal to keep you on track. Bread crumb paths are common at this point, but Brave default II goes one step further by offering story context, as well as the chance to look at the screens again if you want to. Alternatively, for whatever reason, you can skip some scenes, and then go back and look at them in the handy travel description menu. In turn, you can speed up the battle series, which is useful for random trash battles. Speaking of.

The battle system ‘bank and spend turns’ that was born in the original version, and it still works. The point is that you can make ‘default’ to save turns if you do not need it (for example, if an ally is not a member, or the enemy is in a defensive position), or is ‘brave’ around four turns in a row and perform four actions. On top of that, you can customize your party and change jobs, which includes a main class and a subclass.

I tried again from before to try out all the combinations, which can be swapped effortlessly at all times. Even very early on, it can be exciting to do something like spend two brave actions investigating / scanning enemies, and then blow four actions with your black cannon from the glass cannon to thwart the entire enemy group once you weakness. In that sense, it is worthwhile to solve even the smallest puzzles. The work system as a whole is fantastic and open, and although it’s going to take a while before you find your complete party groove, it’s fun to get there.

In general, however, this is the main goal. World map sections generally do not have an overwhelming amount of stuff to do (except to cut down shrubs or shrubs for potential low-impact items), and side issue is usually in the variety track ‘MMO kill stuff’ of the early day. There is also a mechanic for a light reconnaissance system where you can steer a ship on a voyage while your system is ready for bonus items, but that’s about it. At least early on it is not as fascinating as, for example, rebuilding the city game in the first place Brave.

It’s quite a lot Brave default II in a neat package. This is more Brave default, which is a more classic JRPG formula, distilled for a modern era. It’s not going to rediscover RPGs as we know it, but this series still has life in it.

_{[This review is based on retail builds of the game provided by the publisher.]}

Brave default II reviewed by Chris Carter