Tuesday 20 May 2014

Dropped: Bravely Default

(i wrote this on March 30th, i never posted it cause i was still on the fence)

*grumbles* I hate that I feel this way.
I was so excited about this game.
The art was so pretty.... and the music was so good.

Please understand that i'm not trying to be that person... the one that only likes niche crap and anything popular just doesn't seem as good.
I like what I like and dislike what I dislike and i do not expect anyone to agree with me.
this is 100% my opinion and i'm actually willing to concede that i may be 'wrong' if someone can give me a different perspective or "if you don't like it by this point it's not for you but give it a shot".

I cannot get into this game.
At all.
I have tried, I try to play a little when I can stomach it.
but in the end there is one thing i can't look past. I am not having fun when playing this game.
The art is still lovely.
The music is still pretty damn fantastic.
The combat was fun until i realized i could brave multiple times on each character (and for things with more health i could just default until i could brave multiple times) 
but it's just a chore to actually play.
I think it comes down to two main things.

The story is..... well so far it's probably one of the tropiest cliched run into the ground plot i have ever seen in one RPG... most of what i have played feels like "go to the exclamation mark... not cause you have a reason that makes sense but because the plot says so" and every other time it's just your standard "get the elemental mcguffins cause it'll save the world"
And the other thing is i don't care about any of the characters.
Anges is really annoying and quite frankly very rude when she doesn't get her way.
Tiz is pretty blank slate since let's face it he is the audience avatar, this has the double edge of him being bland.
Ringabell is funny at first but wow does his gimmick get old... the plot convenience book doesn't help either.
and Edea is interesting as far as a character who is finally seeing the world for what it is but again... she was way too easily swayed by emotions and her gimmick gets old pretty quick too. "omg you are the daughter of the enemy... how can we trust you?" yeah we established this... a few times... so?

But then i look at all the other review sites and i see nothing less then 8
I think number scores are silly (cause lets face it, everything out of 10 is really just between 5-10 anyways) but that being said i really do not feel this deserves an 8.... maybe a 6 (on a scale where 1 is unplayable, 5 is average and 10 is perfect) for the things it does well... but the story, the characters and the game play really drag it down for me.
I keep seeing the the combat is nuanced... I saw how many random battles i could beat with Edea, alone, on the first turn.
the answer was almost all of them... the only ones that ended up going to ringabel where ones with 3+ monsters... and even then Agnes and Tiz almost never got to attack.
I am lv 45 on the third chapter and i have read that there are 10-12 chapters (true end and extra dungeon)

But thats why i am writing this...
i need to ask, does the game change? does the story get better after the elemental crystal backtrack all over the place crap is done?
do the characters get more interesting or do they continue to be the same with this artificial "i have changed because the plot deems i should change and not cause i've shown any way that i have changed."
Does the combat get better?
DO the enviromental traps continue to be as obnoxious as they are or does that improve? (maybe i'm just the only one who HATES Enviromental traps in turn based games... doesn't bug me in action games)

(okay now it's May 20th..)

So i have heard a lot of people talking about the second half... and how horrible and stupid it is.

considering the game centers around killing off all the characters it can get away with i figured maybe it just went too far.... maybe it had a plot element that was so offensive it soured the experience.

No it was far worse.

NOW... disclaimer: i am only on chapter 3 (i wont be going any further)  i have not personally experienced the second half of the game so I can't stand behind my opinion as strongly as normal... but i can explain WHY what they do would piss me right off.

So I guess spoilers? maybe
In chapter 5 you have to awaken the crystals again
then in chapter 6 you need to do something new.... by awakening the crystals again.
but it's okay cause in chapter 7 you have to awaken the crystals again so at least it has that...
but then in chapter 8 you have to awaken the crystals again... and that apparently sours the experience.

Now apparently you have to fight the same monsters but some things change but i can't comment on that cause again... didn't play it.

But i can tell you a completely unrelated story.

In Ys Origin you have a choice of 3 characters.
Each story is slightly different but essentially you play the same game 3 times which minor differences. Same bosses (for the most part) same plot elements (from different perspectives) and same puzzles (with minor changes)
I love Ys.
I love Ys Origin.
but the fact that i HAVE to replay the game 3 times made me pretty annoyed.
every time i had to do the water area i wanted to put the game down and just give up. This is a game i thoroughly enjoyed.
A game i would claim to love.... but the fact that it need to be replayed 3 times puts in near the middle of my fav Ys games list.... if i just played as one of the three it may have been higher up.
but yeah this is a game i liked.

I didn't have fun with Bravely default... what i played was a chore.... why would i want to do the same thing 5 times.... the dungeons didn't even have that great of a design (from what I played) why on earth would i wanna play it 5 times?! like... even if it had only been 3 times... that would have been better but 5??
yeah just... wow... who thought that was a good idea? why not come up with a better story for the second half? like.... oh no the crystals were actually the problem all along... we need to destroy them to bring back balance.... that actually would have been okay... yes it would have meant doing it all again a second time but that is better then 5 times. they imply that the fairy is not really to be trusted but from the sound of that maybe they don't go anywhere with that? i don't know... i didn't play it.

i'm sure if you like the game... it's fun, i know a lot of people really enjoyed it. Apparently i am not one of those people.

and i'm not saying the game is bad, it isn't... it's actually pretty innovated in some regards but if you don't like it by the end of chapter 1.... that may not change...

(i have watched the ending)
ok... if i can call the games ending with only having played a little of it.... that isn't good. 

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