So I went into this game with pretty mild expectations and I came out extremely surprised. For a little backstory; I picked this up right after finishing BD1 and was a good bit disappointed in that game, but I still felt like I wanted to give the series a second chance. Not wanting to play a game that's a direct sequel to BD1 I decided to skip Bravely Second and jump into this. I'll refrain from constantly comparing the two as I feel like that's unfair to either. With all that said let's just jump into this.

Firstly, I'll start off with the story. It starts with the typical Final Fantasy "Characters must visit the four elemental crystals throughout the world" trope we've seen before.(mind you this isn't a bad a thing.) Now I'll be honest, premise aside I wasn't expecting much in this area for the game. But this is where I was kind of blown away. While the story never does anything super groundbreaking with the basic concept, there's enough twist and turns that I would go as far to say this is my favorite use of this premise. Even more so than FF5, which is a game I adore!! The pacing also really benefits from it, as for each crystal, your in that town the entire time while trying to retrieve it. This allows each new area and town you visit to all get enough time to develop and feel like their own unique places. Without saying much, the second half of the game does change things up and has some minor pacing issues but nothing to ruin it. Needless to say I was hooked on the plot the entire way and a lot of the later scenes made me really emotional. Overall despite the simplicity, the story is really good and made me cry, clap, shout kino, and even made me anxious...and honestly that's all anyone wants from an RPG!


Next, while we're on story I should mention the characters. They're also good!! Great even!! The main character himself does suffer from being a blank state. I get the feeling he might have been a silent protag at one point in development.(which I'll admit, might have worked out better.) But he still works as someone the player can project on to while also still having some good moments himself. The other characters are all really nice though for this kind of RPG! I think by themselves they're alright but its the party's dynamic that makes them shine. Some of my favorite moments were the party chats(Little optional conversations between story events, think Tales Of skits). Each of the others do have a pretty simple but defined arcs throughout the game that I found myself really caring for them all by the end.(Adelle best girl btw) There's also a bunch of side and minor characters I really liked, namely Anihal and Gladys. Hell, one of the (many)moments that had me crying was involving a side character!
I would also wanna take a moment to mention the villains to. While a few of them a tad generic and just there to "fill their role" in the story, some of them really surprised me. Again, nothing ground breaking but they do a good job of making you hate them, and a couple are even sympathetic. All in all, I can assure you that you won't come out of this game feeling nothing character(or story) wise. I know I'll be thinking about it for awhile, more than I anticipated!

Next, I just wanna mention the music. God the music in this game is so good! The battle theme's especially are such a step up from BD1 its kinda insane. Each one is such a bop and just gets me pumping! Revo out did himself. The town themes are also all really relaxing and fit perfectly for each area. Then there's the story music. A bunch of scenes in the plot were elevated by the music alone and that just shows how good the OST is. I will say the dungeon themes are a tad...white noisey, but only by comparison. Overall one of the best soundtracks for an RPG.(Again, those battle themes are bangers!)

Continuing, I'll mention the visuals a bit. The game looks fucking gorgeous. Like on god. The art style does itself so many favors and a lot of times i would just zoom out in a town and take in all the details. Just a really pretty game. Double so for all the menus. It has this campy "adventure" vibe going on with those that I really fuck with. The characters models and battle animations are also super well done! A lot of the attacks are just cool to watch and give that "oomph" the makes the gameplay so exciting.

And lastly, let's talk about that gamplay....ITS FUCKING AMAZING. Saving the "best" for last, this is a job based rpg and your probably wondering how those are. Well fear not, they're great!! I would go as far and say the job balance and customization beats FF5 for me. Ya i fucking said it. This game is the best job based rpg I've played. There's so many fun and different combos to try and every time I unlocked a new job I instantly started coming up with ways to use it in my party comp.
As for the battle system itself, I. Fucking. Love. It. It uses a mix of standard Turn Based and ATB that just feels so nice. It compliments the Brave/Default mechanic much better than BD1. Planning turns out in battle just gave me such a rush. The equipment system won't be for everyone; it uses a weight based system which i know some people wouldn't like. but personally I loved it. Getting to a new shop was always so exciting as I knew I would spend the next 30 minutes to an hour planning out each character's armor and accessory set up. There's a lot of variety in the latter's regard that I really just loved messing with. Difficult wise, its pretty perfect. I never felt like a fight was unwinnable cuz of a "bad party" like in BD1. And even the super bosses felt like they were strategy based rather than cheese based strats. Legit if you think I'm crazy for anything else in this review trust me on this one; this is unironic one of the best rpgs from a gameplay standpoint ever made. The DQ11 of ATB and job based gameplay, if you will.

Closing thoughts; I love this fucking game. Just writing this review and thinking back on my time with it is making me smile. It does a lot of little things right and not much wrong and it all adds up to an experience I think I really needed in my life right now. If you made it this far into my rambling than thank you!! I hope you enjoyed my gushing over a silly RPG. :)