straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2023-10-01 09:52 am
straightforwardly) wrote2023-10-01 09:52 am
Entry tags:
247 | the continuation of my Bravely Default replay
I’m getting close to the end of chapter four of my Bravely Default replay, though, unfortunately, I’m definitely not going to be able to finish the chapter before the start of the next work week tomorrow, as was my original plan for this week. Specifically, I just defeated Braev, which means that the Vampire Castle Sub-Scenario just opened up.
The Braev fight was pretty easy? (Please keep in mind that I have endgame armor/equipment, lol.) I actually finished the fight without receiving damage, which was pretty cool. Mostly due to my use of the ninja class. I’ve had Edea specced as a Swordmaster/Ninja* for a while—since around the time of the Kamiizumi Sub-Scenario, I think?—and for this boss battle, I changed up Tiz and Ringabel to have access to the ninja class at all. Tiz has mostly been a Ranger/Spell Fencer lately, and I switched that to Ranger/Ninja. Ringabel has been… everything and anything lately, and I wasn’t feeling too attached to leveling whatever job he had on before the boss fight, so I made him a ninja directly. Ninja/Time Mage, I think? Though I’m not 100% on the secondary one. Agnes has been a Valkyrie for my entire game so far—often Valkyrie/White Mage—and I kept her on that. Finally, for Tiz and Ringabel, I gave them all that ability trait where they automatically counter after evading.
Once that was set up, pretty much all I had to do was set up Utsusemi for my three ninja-capable characters, and just time my High Jumps for Agnes (or have Edea use Kairai if I was uncertain if the timing would work out) so that she wasn’t on the field whenever Braev started attacking. I wasn’t aiming at a no damage victory—I was actually startled when I saw the extra JP at the end of the battle—but it was very satisfying to pull off.
*speaking of this, I’m also pleased with my Edea strategy during random enemy encounters. My goal is to sweep everything in one turn, as I don’t actually have the patience for random encounters, but do want the EXP, so I always have everyone max out their Braves. With Edea, I always have her use Kairai (so that all enemies have to attack her) and Utsusemi (so that she can dodge at least one of the attacks heading her way) from her ninja ability, and then also Before Swine (reduces magic damage + counterattack) and Nothing Ventured (reduces physical damage + counterattack) from her Swordsmaster class. It’s so satisfying to see it play out.
Storywise… I don’t remember the full details of the endgame reveals, other than that Airy Lies, and that what the main cast is doing is playing into her plans/is somehow not necessarily a good thing to do. Which does cast an interesting lens on Edea’s interactions with the Eternians, particularly her arguments with her father. On that note, there was a line from Yulyana that caught my attention:
But Mahzer (Edea’s mom) is just… no human talks like that? No human acts like that? Her reaction to her daughter permanently disabling and nearly killing Braev is just?????? Maybe she gets more to her later—I can’t remember—but right now, she feels like a saintly mother figure taken to a truly ridiculous extreme.
I did get some Braev & Alternis feelings during their interactions before the Braev boss battle. “I would have you escape while you still may”, and then Alternis’ sketch of the moment in his journal! It was very sweet, somehow.
Finally, I really liked this Edea character moment in one of theskits party chats. The party is talking about how Ringabel’s journal is running out of predications, and wondering who the writer of the journal is, and they asked Edea if she has any ideas, since the writer of the journal seems to be in love with her. And I just love how she responded? There was just such a calm, mature, steadiness to her reply. No performative flailing embarrassment, but rather a simple, yeah, she knows when someone is in love with her, and she has suspicions about the identity of the journal writer, but the facts don’t fully line up with either of her suspects.
Admittedly, it would be ridiculous if she didn’t see all the clues pointing to Alternis in the journal (I recall that I also figured that it was him when I first played the game), but, on the other hand, as ridiculous as it might be, it’s not farfetched for a jrpg to have a character be that blind. So, I like that she’s noticed that and has her suspicions. And I like how at ease she is with, and how she’s not in denial, about certain people being in love with her. That feels a little unexpected for her character archetype, but I’m glad for it.
Related to the conversation: they also touch on how the writer of the journal had met Agnes and saved Tiz, and something struck me. Any number of people could have met Agnes—that’s not a lead to track down. But all Tiz says is, I always assumed that Owen saved me. Which made me think that, perhaps, on a narrative level, Owen had to die, for the mystery of the journal to be preserved? Maybe I’m forgetting about a detail, though. It occurs to me as I type this that Karl could also know the identity of Tiz’s savior, and he’s very much alive. I’ll have to look into it.
The Braev fight was pretty easy? (Please keep in mind that I have endgame armor/equipment, lol.) I actually finished the fight without receiving damage, which was pretty cool. Mostly due to my use of the ninja class. I’ve had Edea specced as a Swordmaster/Ninja* for a while—since around the time of the Kamiizumi Sub-Scenario, I think?—and for this boss battle, I changed up Tiz and Ringabel to have access to the ninja class at all. Tiz has mostly been a Ranger/Spell Fencer lately, and I switched that to Ranger/Ninja. Ringabel has been… everything and anything lately, and I wasn’t feeling too attached to leveling whatever job he had on before the boss fight, so I made him a ninja directly. Ninja/Time Mage, I think? Though I’m not 100% on the secondary one. Agnes has been a Valkyrie for my entire game so far—often Valkyrie/White Mage—and I kept her on that. Finally, for Tiz and Ringabel, I gave them all that ability trait where they automatically counter after evading.
Once that was set up, pretty much all I had to do was set up Utsusemi for my three ninja-capable characters, and just time my High Jumps for Agnes (or have Edea use Kairai if I was uncertain if the timing would work out) so that she wasn’t on the field whenever Braev started attacking. I wasn’t aiming at a no damage victory—I was actually startled when I saw the extra JP at the end of the battle—but it was very satisfying to pull off.
*speaking of this, I’m also pleased with my Edea strategy during random enemy encounters. My goal is to sweep everything in one turn, as I don’t actually have the patience for random encounters, but do want the EXP, so I always have everyone max out their Braves. With Edea, I always have her use Kairai (so that all enemies have to attack her) and Utsusemi (so that she can dodge at least one of the attacks heading her way) from her ninja ability, and then also Before Swine (reduces magic damage + counterattack) and Nothing Ventured (reduces physical damage + counterattack) from her Swordsmaster class. It’s so satisfying to see it play out.
Storywise… I don’t remember the full details of the endgame reveals, other than that Airy Lies, and that what the main cast is doing is playing into her plans/is somehow not necessarily a good thing to do. Which does cast an interesting lens on Edea’s interactions with the Eternians, particularly her arguments with her father. On that note, there was a line from Yulyana that caught my attention:
Sage Yulyana: Malice is not the only enemy. The road to ruin is oft paved with good intentions.That all being said, Edea’s mom and Yulyana’s actions/words to the party come across as so freaking strange in the context of “what the party is doing is actually not a good thing, though they don’t know it”. Maybe Yulyana had a broader plan that I just don’t remember? (...Did he have anything to do with the world hopping/dimension travel that’s coming up? I can’t remember.)
But Mahzer (Edea’s mom) is just… no human talks like that? No human acts like that? Her reaction to her daughter permanently disabling and nearly killing Braev is just?????? Maybe she gets more to her later—I can’t remember—but right now, she feels like a saintly mother figure taken to a truly ridiculous extreme.
I did get some Braev & Alternis feelings during their interactions before the Braev boss battle. “I would have you escape while you still may”, and then Alternis’ sketch of the moment in his journal! It was very sweet, somehow.
Finally, I really liked this Edea character moment in one of the
Admittedly, it would be ridiculous if she didn’t see all the clues pointing to Alternis in the journal (I recall that I also figured that it was him when I first played the game), but, on the other hand, as ridiculous as it might be, it’s not farfetched for a jrpg to have a character be that blind. So, I like that she’s noticed that and has her suspicions. And I like how at ease she is with, and how she’s not in denial, about certain people being in love with her. That feels a little unexpected for her character archetype, but I’m glad for it.
Related to the conversation: they also touch on how the writer of the journal had met Agnes and saved Tiz, and something struck me. Any number of people could have met Agnes—that’s not a lead to track down. But all Tiz says is, I always assumed that Owen saved me. Which made me think that, perhaps, on a narrative level, Owen had to die, for the mystery of the journal to be preserved? Maybe I’m forgetting about a detail, though. It occurs to me as I type this that Karl could also know the identity of Tiz’s savior, and he’s very much alive. I’ll have to look into it.