Reflecting on Bravely Default
This post will just be me talking about the story of Bravely Default so it will be full of spoilers! Click "read more" to proceed with the post.For a long while I didn't really see whats so great about this game since the story wasn't all that thrilling for the first few chapters. I did stick around since it was mildly interesting, and I knew that there should be something more later on since these games tend to get interesting towards the end.
The game is a bit repetitive quite more than other games and stories. Edea was part of the Eternian forces, and has betrayed them to join Agnes when she realizes that the people who fights for an grew up with are doing horrible things. Since Eternia is the main enemy we face many of Edea's former allies all of which find Edea foolish for siding with Agnes. When we travel to the last crystal which happens to be at Edea's homeland is where we get a bit more information. But only just a bit since Edea's father and Alternis are the only ones to say that reviving the crystals is a big mistake. It was annoying that they didn't say anymore and that the main characters aren't even curious as to why they think that. It isn't until the gang finally revives all the crystals that things start take a turn for the worse.
I was curious when the gang woke up back from where they started at the beginning of the game. I thought it was simply time travel though the gang dismissed that. They decided to go reawaken the crystals again, and again they wake up back to square one. During this time Ringabel is getting headaches and eventually his memories came back to him. Also during this time he gets quite suspicious of this whole ordeal, and question the crys fairy, Airy, that has been with them the whole time. The gang has talked with two immortals who has told them that their actions has been prophesied and that there's a great doom to the world. The gang seeks out advise to one of them who has told them they are in a parallel world and there are many of them. Now parallel worlds is not a strange thing in FF games, but this game makes it a little weird that there are so many of these worlds. So there's many other Tiz, Agnes, Edea, and Ringabel who are going through the same thing though also differently. In some worlds they even died. One of the immortals has a side quest you can do where he offers the gang the option of staying in the world they are at where their counterparts have died, but the people they love and cherish are here where they were lost in their original world. However the gang decides to give it up to complete the journey they set on. This is probably the deepest part of the game.
So now you have to reawaken the crystals again, and go to the next world. You do this for a few times. Yes, its awfully repetitive. Now this game is interesting in the fact that there are two endings. During these rewakenings the crystals you can either destroy the crystals or awaken all of them. Destroying the crystal will give you the shorter ending where you stop Airy's plan, and you end the game by defeating her. Reawaken all the crystals will give you the longer ending. The gang during this time has pretty much figure out what's going on, and stayed silent about it till at last they wake up in the airship they were on instead of the inn. They were excited to know that they finally did it till they realize its not at all the case. Airy finally tells them the truth that she has tricked them and they've been helping her link all the parallel worlds and fulfilled her goal. Apparently she has Agnes awaken the crystals to a mad state which unleashes the pillar of light which they go into in hopes to rid the world of darkness. However the pillar of light is a link to another world, and its the same light that destroyed Tiz's home town Norende. All this time they awaken the crystals in hope to close the chasm that took Norende, but they were doing just the opposite which is quite the twist.
Airy tries to defeat the gang like she had before in another world, but fails. She flees to her lord Ouroboros which linking the worlds has reawoken. The gang goes to defeat Airy and then faces Ouroboros. Having Ouroboros as the final boss is interesting in that its a old mythical creature that symbolizes cycles which the game is really about with having the character do things over and over again. But he also can regenerate himself. Ouroboros in this game is a dark creature who is bored and wanted to invade the celestial world of the gods. Linking the worlds would open up the celestial realm, and it would destroy the worlds and devour them in front of the gang. Oddly enough all the counterparts of the gang in these linked worlds are helping them out by breaking the link to prevent the boss from healing himself. The gang finally defeats him and the game ends with the gang going back to their original world. They pretty much return to how they were before they all met and the last scene is their reunion in Caldisla where Tiz goes the the graveyard and released the celestial being inside him and he collapses. This way of ending it is unsettling. The game has had characters saying there was something special about Tiz but no one questioned it. It seems that the celestial is the faiy who talks to you in the beginning and the end of the game. In the end she reveals herself as Airy's sister. There is a little special cg cutscene that's a preview of the sequel Bravely Second. Its in first person view and you wake up to find yourself in a liquid filled tank being studied by people in a laboratory. Quite the FF7 feels really. Then this laboratory gets practically destroyed by an unknown woman who seem to come to save you. She calls us Tiz so its reassuring to know Tiz ain't dead. Though I can hardly imagine whats next in store for Tiz.
I do look forward to the sequel though. The story is quite like the old FF games so it makes me think it probably be better to give it a FF title. Since it is a 3DS game it probably doesn't fit too well with the FF series. Perhaps the sequel would take the story differently, who knows!
0 comments: