Recent reviews by ianbits

Not a massively deep game or anything, you're probably not going to get more than 8 to 10 hours of fun out of it, but if you can get a group together those 8 to 10 hours are going to be a blast. Just a simple, fun party game where you screw with your friends. Highly recommend.

I've beaten the full game on Switch 2, and I wanted to try it again after playing through the BD1 remaster so I bought it on PC for the increased frame rate and mod support.

It's really apparent going back to back how Bravely Default 2 just doesn't have the charm and heart of its predecessor. It feels soulless, it lost so much of the goofiness that defined the first two titles. Now things just feel generic to a wild degree, not helped by the visuals being far less unique, The original felt like an awesome throwback to the PSX days of RPGs, to stuff like Final Fantasy IX. This just feels like anyone could have made it, it doesn't feel special. The combat is worse, the art style is less consistent and distinct, the writing is worse, it's just a disappointing game all around. If you're desperate for a JRPG you might enjoy it, but

This is the stupidest s*** I've ever played

Just fantastic. Absurdist comedy side missions mixed with a narrative that starts slow, but hits you with that emotional conclusion. Kuroda's best performance as Kiryu. One of the better games in the series.

Mixed review for the first two episodes. Writing is meh, couple of good spots but it's superhero writing through and through - campy, goofy and kind of cringe. The decision to cast Youtubers in somewhat major roles is kind of baffling, they sound so out of place next to professional voice actors. Gameplay is very minimal but it's fine, think of it like a visual novel more than anything.

Animation and visuals are amazing, best part of the game by far and honestly almost good enough to carry the experience. Fun atmosphere and tone. There's the bones of something decent here if the writing was better, maybe it'll improve in future episodes. As of now I'd pass.

telling people ahead of time that your game is going to run like ass doesn't excuse your game running like ass

I'm enjoying the game, but I've had 10 or so crashes including during long puzzle sections without autosaves. Pretty inexcusable

Solid game. Charming characters, goofy and light-hearted (but not too over the top) tone, unique gameplay where missions feel like actual war campaigns you have to plan ahead to beat, and refreshingly challenging compared to most SRPGs.

Difficulty can be a bit too punishing at times for bosses and the translation has some issues. It's mostly alright but there's typos and mistakes that makes me think parts were machine translated.

Very solid 7/10 sort of game, you can probably beat it in a weekend too.

I just don't like the writing. It seems markedly worse than the first. I'm struggling to care about any of the characters, they all lean way too hard into their tropes. It reminds me of something like Fire Emblem Fates in that regard. Maybe it gets better, but I'm 6 hours in and I just can't get into it.

Some pacing issues in the first half (and chapter 8 is kind of a pointless waste of time) and like most time travel stories you need to turn your brain off a bit and not overthink the science, but definitely hits you emotionally with the ending and has some really likable characters. The core appeal is making you want to navigate through the confusion to find a happy ending for the characters as you slowly and slowly start thinking it might be impossible. Not perfect as a story, but more than good enough to hook you after the slow start.

Keep in mind that the true end is EXTREMELY easily missable so I highly recommend using the Kiri Kiri Basara guide for it as it's spoiler free.

I also went in this as generally a visual novel newbie, having played 13 Sentinels, Danganronpa, and AI Somnium, but compared to those it's strictly a novel, no interaction or point and click stuff. Just a story punctuated by solid art and some soul-destroying music.