gekigengar gargant III!!! (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aestivalis) wrote2021-03-09 10:43 am
aestivalis) wrote2021-03-09 10:43 am
from a distance they look like flowers
I am still playing Bravely Default II! Once again I will keep any explicit spoilers behind a cut, but I am going to talk about some general stuff from the game first so watch out for that! I am currently playing through Chapter 3, and have just returned from visiting the Jaws of Judgement.
✦ I am largely moving away from my "history repeating across worlds" theory, expect in-so-far as this is kind of always happening with Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy-adjacent games. That being said, I do have some other theories kicking around! Gloria has a destiny that she isn't disclosing, which almost definitely means she's fated to sacrifice herself :(
My big theory right now, though, is that Adelle is a fairy. At first I thought it was a bit of a joke theory, just like 'oh, I hope Adelle's one' when we first arrived in Rimedhal and they talked about fairies being able to disguise themselves as humans and conceal their wings and whatever. But since then I feel like some stuff has slipped into place? She knows the Lord of Dragons personally! She's always made little quips about wanting to keep her air of mystery! And more than once she's made 'humans are ____' statements that you can totally read as an outsider looking in. IS ADELLE A FAIRY??? I do not know. But I think I might headcanon her as a fairy unless I'm explicitly shown otherwise.
✦ I liked the guest characters in Chapter Two quite a lot, and I'm not generally a 'cute animal mascot' type person so I wasn't overly fussed about Gwilym when he first appeared. But then I witnessed him in battle and actually I love him so much and if anyone or anything ever takes him away from me I will kill everyone involved and then myself? I am going to quit playing the game when Gwilym stops accompanying us. I need baby dragon for all.
✦ I still really like this party, and I'm surprised to see quite a lot of people saying they're just not as charming as the original Bravely Default cast. Charming as who? Tiz? Bloody Ringading? Nah, man. Agnes and Edea were good, and Tiz was completely inoffensive. But there isn't a single bad party member in BDII. Seth is Tiz but just a tiny bit rounder as a character (albeit lacking a dead baby brother tragedy, which I guess could be taken for depth on Tiz's part if. that's your metric for such things). Gloria and Adelle and Elvis are all wonderful, and I really believe they've all had whole ass lives before the game began. I don't quite mean to say that the Bravely Default cast is bad, or that II is definitely better. But I definitely have a preference, and I'm a bit surprised how many people seem to lean really hard in the opposite direction!
✦ JOB CLASSES WANT THEM ALL, WANT... ALL JOB CLASSES... I've also seen people say they don't like the battle system in this game as much as they did in the original titles, and it makes me realise I haven't played the originals in quite a while because I can hardly tell any difference at all? I love this game and how it plays, my only regret right now is that I seem to be overleveled and I'm not sure how to get out of that rut. I want to keep getting JP for my new Asterisks, but I don't really want any more standard EXP? But I keep hitting new locations and finding the enemies there are already running away from me, which is a shame. I'm not sure I want to commit to Hard Mode, though...
✦ Managed to beat a few of the extra difficult overworld monsters! There are some who are still WAY out of my league, but every time I've gone back and defeated a previously undefeatable monster? Heck yeah that feeling, heck yeah heck yeah heck yeah.
✦ The entire storyline surrounding Mona was pretty good in that sort of harrowing JRPG way. I'm glad they were willing to go there and stay there re: the awful grief that surrounds the sudden loss of a child. It's nice for Lily and Roddy that they seem to be trying again, although I know that couples who lose a child often aren't able to maintain their relationship afterwards. They seem like good people, I hope they can make it work :C
Seth being able to see Mona feels like a good nod to his Actual Death Experience at the start of the game, and I appreciated it for that! So it felt a bit weird when Gloria experienced almost the same exact thing during the Salve Maker quest line, right down to the private 'thank you' from the deceased. Felt a lot less impactful when they pulled the same card twice, oops.
✦ I am constantly and forever wild for stupid JRPG religion and politics, so the awfulness going on in Rimedhal is absolutely my jam and I could cheerfully write plenty of fanfiction about the place just so long as the story ideas hit me. Gotta see how the rest of the chapter pans out first though, I think! Also, I wish I knew who voiced Bishop Helio because he sounds mad familiar and I just can't place it at all. I get, like... Maester Mika vibes, almost? But I don't know if that's just the religious imagery getting in my head or if there's anything to that comparison!
✦ Back to Job Classes again! Seth is my speed/utility character, focusing on classes like Ranger, Thief and Beastmaster. That said, I've just given him Spirit Master for lack of other immediately compelling options. Not sure how long he'll stay with it. Gloria is my tank, and she tanks for days. Vanguard, Shieldmaster, Barbarian, and she'll be going for Swordmaster next so she can start throwing counters into the mix as well. Elvis is my primary mage, all done with White, Black and Red. He's currently running Dragoon though, because some of those passives should be pretty complimentary to his magic-wielding kit. And Adelle unfortunately has kind of been my misc slot, though perhaps I should call her the support slot? She has mastered Pictomancer, after all, and is a decent way into Bard. She's on Salve Maker right now, which would also lend to being a support role. I GUESS YOU'RE MY SUPPORT BUFFER/DEBUFFER, ADELLE.
Not saying Salve Maker is the best job class, but I am saying that Salve Maker Gloria is so cute I almost threw all my plans out the window just so she could live that life until the end of days. When I grow up I want to be Salve Maker Gloria.
I have almost fifty hours on this game and I don't think I'm at all close to being done with it! Between visiting old towns to check for sidequests and just loving every moment I'm in the world, I've been pouring hours in to this title. And I'm so happy!! I'm so so happy with this stupid adorable actually-kinda-dark-as-heck game. Another update soon, no doubt!
✦ I am largely moving away from my "history repeating across worlds" theory, expect in-so-far as this is kind of always happening with Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy-adjacent games. That being said, I do have some other theories kicking around! Gloria has a destiny that she isn't disclosing, which almost definitely means she's fated to sacrifice herself :(
My big theory right now, though, is that Adelle is a fairy. At first I thought it was a bit of a joke theory, just like 'oh, I hope Adelle's one' when we first arrived in Rimedhal and they talked about fairies being able to disguise themselves as humans and conceal their wings and whatever. But since then I feel like some stuff has slipped into place? She knows the Lord of Dragons personally! She's always made little quips about wanting to keep her air of mystery! And more than once she's made 'humans are ____' statements that you can totally read as an outsider looking in. IS ADELLE A FAIRY??? I do not know. But I think I might headcanon her as a fairy unless I'm explicitly shown otherwise.
✦ I liked the guest characters in Chapter Two quite a lot, and I'm not generally a 'cute animal mascot' type person so I wasn't overly fussed about Gwilym when he first appeared. But then I witnessed him in battle and actually I love him so much and if anyone or anything ever takes him away from me I will kill everyone involved and then myself? I am going to quit playing the game when Gwilym stops accompanying us. I need baby dragon for all.
✦ I still really like this party, and I'm surprised to see quite a lot of people saying they're just not as charming as the original Bravely Default cast. Charming as who? Tiz? Bloody Ringading? Nah, man. Agnes and Edea were good, and Tiz was completely inoffensive. But there isn't a single bad party member in BDII. Seth is Tiz but just a tiny bit rounder as a character (albeit lacking a dead baby brother tragedy, which I guess could be taken for depth on Tiz's part if. that's your metric for such things). Gloria and Adelle and Elvis are all wonderful, and I really believe they've all had whole ass lives before the game began. I don't quite mean to say that the Bravely Default cast is bad, or that II is definitely better. But I definitely have a preference, and I'm a bit surprised how many people seem to lean really hard in the opposite direction!
✦ JOB CLASSES WANT THEM ALL, WANT... ALL JOB CLASSES... I've also seen people say they don't like the battle system in this game as much as they did in the original titles, and it makes me realise I haven't played the originals in quite a while because I can hardly tell any difference at all? I love this game and how it plays, my only regret right now is that I seem to be overleveled and I'm not sure how to get out of that rut. I want to keep getting JP for my new Asterisks, but I don't really want any more standard EXP? But I keep hitting new locations and finding the enemies there are already running away from me, which is a shame. I'm not sure I want to commit to Hard Mode, though...
✦ Managed to beat a few of the extra difficult overworld monsters! There are some who are still WAY out of my league, but every time I've gone back and defeated a previously undefeatable monster? Heck yeah that feeling, heck yeah heck yeah heck yeah.
✦ The entire storyline surrounding Mona was pretty good in that sort of harrowing JRPG way. I'm glad they were willing to go there and stay there re: the awful grief that surrounds the sudden loss of a child. It's nice for Lily and Roddy that they seem to be trying again, although I know that couples who lose a child often aren't able to maintain their relationship afterwards. They seem like good people, I hope they can make it work :C
Seth being able to see Mona feels like a good nod to his Actual Death Experience at the start of the game, and I appreciated it for that! So it felt a bit weird when Gloria experienced almost the same exact thing during the Salve Maker quest line, right down to the private 'thank you' from the deceased. Felt a lot less impactful when they pulled the same card twice, oops.
✦ I am constantly and forever wild for stupid JRPG religion and politics, so the awfulness going on in Rimedhal is absolutely my jam and I could cheerfully write plenty of fanfiction about the place just so long as the story ideas hit me. Gotta see how the rest of the chapter pans out first though, I think! Also, I wish I knew who voiced Bishop Helio because he sounds mad familiar and I just can't place it at all. I get, like... Maester Mika vibes, almost? But I don't know if that's just the religious imagery getting in my head or if there's anything to that comparison!
✦ Back to Job Classes again! Seth is my speed/utility character, focusing on classes like Ranger, Thief and Beastmaster. That said, I've just given him Spirit Master for lack of other immediately compelling options. Not sure how long he'll stay with it. Gloria is my tank, and she tanks for days. Vanguard, Shieldmaster, Barbarian, and she'll be going for Swordmaster next so she can start throwing counters into the mix as well. Elvis is my primary mage, all done with White, Black and Red. He's currently running Dragoon though, because some of those passives should be pretty complimentary to his magic-wielding kit. And Adelle unfortunately has kind of been my misc slot, though perhaps I should call her the support slot? She has mastered Pictomancer, after all, and is a decent way into Bard. She's on Salve Maker right now, which would also lend to being a support role. I GUESS YOU'RE MY SUPPORT BUFFER/DEBUFFER, ADELLE.
Not saying Salve Maker is the best job class, but I am saying that Salve Maker Gloria is so cute I almost threw all my plans out the window just so she could live that life until the end of days. When I grow up I want to be Salve Maker Gloria.
I have almost fifty hours on this game and I don't think I'm at all close to being done with it! Between visiting old towns to check for sidequests and just loving every moment I'm in the world, I've been pouring hours in to this title. And I'm so happy!! I'm so so happy with this stupid adorable actually-kinda-dark-as-heck game. Another update soon, no doubt!
no subject
In reference to your Bishop Helio query, I have discovered that BDII just lists all its voice actors at the end, no roles declared. So I investigated all of the male-sounding names on IMDB and discovered that if any of them have done previous video game voice work, it's generally been for Assassin's Creed, Ni no Kuni and Dragon Age, aka nothing we have particularly played.
HOWEVER, the vast majority of them have been on British TV before! I saw Holby City, East Enders, Downton Abbey and Casualty, as well as stuff like The Crown, The Bill and Midsomer Murders (yay) so it may just be that his voice was one of a myriad you may have overheard in the early 2010's. Who can say.
no subject
BUT AH, ANOTHER BUNCH OF BRIT TELEVISION ACTORS, HUH. It definitely has that sound to it as a game. Apparently Elvis's VA is an actual Scotsman which is delightful! But Bishop Helio himself remains a mystery...
no subject
no subject
As to the rest of it, the world and the music and the characters all evoke the same easy joy in me that the original Bravely Default did. I just want to play it all the time! Every time I quit to make myself do something (anything) else with my day, my mind instantly wanders right back to "but what if I just kept playing instead?"
It's a hard life.