Bravely Default looks like the RPG we've all been waiting for

[lestatdark]

RolStoppable said:

lestatdark said:

Actually Love Spell increases your whole party's P.Atk by 25% per use, so using it twice nets you the 150%, unless you're talking about a whole different buff which I've yet to see.

I'm using a party of Knight, W.Mage, B.Mage and Swordmaster, pretty basic JPRG party, with W.Mage having performer as sub and Swordmaster with Valkyrie, which i'm gonna switch to a Knight with Valkyrie to test those ultra-damaging Two-Handed Jumps. 

Things are pretty rough on the forest, enemies multiplying their numbers can really destroy your party on Hard. Until I have access to B.Mage level 3 spell, I'll have to take things pretty slowly. 

Yes, I am talking about Buff Up (that's really its name). It's passive, so it just takes some time until it stacks to max level and it stays there as long as the party member doesn't die. It also raises four stats at once, so there is a significant benefit. Just takes ten turns until it has reached full force, that's its only drawback.

I deactivated random battles in the forest, because a bit of grinding elsewhere didn't really improve matters. And that was on normal difficulty. The equipment in the demo is capped and the job levels are capped too. You really hit a wall and the only thing left is to raise your normal level (which is capped too, by the way), but that does hardly anything. So yeah, I didn't bother with random encounters in the forest and the ruins, because it just wasn't fun. Took care of the quests there and called it a day. I am not even sure what kind of random enemies appear in the ruins!

As for Freelancer's Late Bloomer ability, that's only going to be useful once you've put a lot of time into the game. Looks like there are 25 jobs in the full game, so that's a 25% bonus for all stats once you've mastered all jobs. In the demo it's not worth all that much, because your base stats are low to begin with and you can't get more than a 9% bonus. I've mastered all jobs and maxed my regular level to 20, but I have yet to find the seventh play bonus. Let me know if you find it.

From what I've been reading over at gamefaqs, the last completion bonus is probably tied with the town completion, so that might take a while. Buff up is rather nice, have it for Agnes and she really wreacks havoc as a B.Mage once it gets going. 

Probably gonna have to make a Tiz Knight with the Performer's Catch Me and both Agnes and Ringabel as B.Mages with Buff Up and constantly Default until their buffs are maxed. That's the only way i'll probably put a serious dent to Minotaur's HP.

I don't even want to think how much HP the next boss has.