POSTED 17/2/14


BRAVELY DEFAULT

Square Enix/Nintendo
3DS

There just aren’t enough RPGs about mortagees defying bank managers.

There still aren’t, for despite its title Bravely Default has nothing to do with refusing to pay off your home loan.

Instead, the somewhat curious title of this turn-based JRPG - one which very much harks back to the olden days of, erm, the 1980s and ’90s - is based upon the fighting mechanic within. Rather than just going the biff, waiting for a retort, going the biff again then waiting for a retort once more, you’ve the option of ‘Brave’, whereby you take future turns in advance to get all defeatational, or ‘Default’, whereby you sit a turn out in order to go the multiple whappity in future. Or, of course, you can pre-program auto-grind functionalities to cope with the incessant battles that you’ll mosey across.

That’s between the astounding abundance of textual interludes, all beautifully – if often cheesily - voiced, and looking resplendent in their hand-drawn meets Ghibli-like cutesy gorgeousness. Seriously, we do hope that you like reading. Lots.

If so, you’re in for a treat as your eventual gender-balanced party of four – Agnès and Airy fairy pal, bumpkin type Tiz, ex-enemy chick Edea and bookworm Radiohead fan-bloke Ringabel - set off to do something relating to the firing-up of magic crystals that’ve gone on the fritz, leaving the world in looming gloominess mode.

As well as your typical big map exploration, BD’s stuffed with side quests, 24 job classes (hmm, could this be the answer to Australia’s impending employment crisis?) and even utilises StreetPass for stuff like battle assistance and to suck passers-by into going all construction worker for you.

Definitely more Square than Enix, any fan of classic NES/SNES/PSX RPGs like Final Fantasy will almost certainly fall for Bravely Default. Just don’t get so hooked that you forget to pay your mortgage.

CLICK THIS!



CLICK THIS!