Well, I didn't expect that. So you wanna play
it that way, game? Well, bring it on; I'm game!
Crappy puns aside, I actually did expect the (in)famous plot twist that
takes place at the beginning of the fifth chapter. Since I'm too curious for my
own good and tend to routinely ignore spoiler alerts, I've known for quite some
time that Bravely Default forces the player to replay the main quest
four times in a row before finally gracing them with a much-deserved ending.
And to be honest, I'm quite glad I knew about that particular structure
beforehand, because it allowed me to brace myself for it and get used to the
idea. I'm not sure I would have taken these forced reiterated loops so
good-naturedly if I had been totally ignorant about the matter—how knows, that
may even have compelled me to give up on the game entirely.
Although I fully expected these forced loops, I didn't expect them to take the
particular form of a boss rush; that, for me, was the real surprise
rolled up in chapter 5. I quickly overcame my surprise to rejoice at the
prospect of playing that fifth chapter and the ones following, because I happen
to love boss rushes. And thus I enthusiastically threw myself into the
deed, determined to purge these boss pests from the world map as many times as
necessary.
This actually feels like a refreshing new start after the trudge I endured in
chapter 4. The Eternia arc was a major pain that packed up annoying enemies, a
claustrophobic and hard to navigate landscape and a smaller number of exciting
Job sidequests than the other arcs. Level-grinding was made tedious by the
narrow areas and the resistant foes; and although I managed to raise all my
party members' Jobs to Lv. 9 before heading for the Pillar of Light, the task
was far from being a walk in the park. Fortunately, this is all over now, and I
have the whole world map and dozens of boss fights to level-grind senselessly.
Joy and delight! It goes without saying that I'm firmly planning to take down
every single boss available, including the complimentary ones related to Job
sidequests. I have no idea if this is mandatory and/or if I will reap benefits
from it, but a boss rush is a boss rush and I want to leave no stone unturned
and no boss unbeaten.
Plot twist aside, I'm progressing smoothly and enjoying my run to the
fullest. I now have 40 hours of play under my belt and my party members boast a
hefty Lv. 70—blame this on the mountain of level-grinding I undertook to raise
their Jobs. And talking about Jobs, I've done a bit of reorganizing in the
matter: Tiz, Agnès and Ringabel are still Monk, White Mage and Black Mage
respectively, but Edea is now a Templar, which is basically a stronger version
of the Knight. Their current secondary Job Command are Acrobatics for Edea,
Hunting for Tiz, Summoning for Agnès and Vampirism for Ringabel, and the
combination of these secondary commands with their fixed Job Commands is quite
stellar indeed. I also attributed the "Absorb P. damage" Support
Ability from the Vampire Job to everyone and it's working miracles in
battles—recovering HP when party members endure blows, what more could an RPG
player ask for? Lovingly creating my ultimate specialized party through
level-grinding and ability-combining is as fun as ever, and I can only hope
that the ultimate Job to unearth will bring even more amazing skills.
With that, dear fellow gamers, I'll see you in a couple of boss rushes. Brace
yourself, you foul bosses, here I come! Thanks for reading, and be my guest
anytime!
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