History YMMV / BravelySecond

* HarsherInHindsight: The Yoko sidequest reveals that despite her happy-go-lucky actitude Edea actually [[spoiler:is a StepfordSmiler through the whole game. After Ringabel left at the end of ''Bravely Default'', she always felt lonely when looking at all the other happy couples in the game despite putting on a smile, and missed him dearly. It has a happy ending when it is shown afterwards that Ringabel never left her side, posing as the Alternis that protected Edea every time she was in danger, [[AwTheyReallyLoveEachOther they embrace and he promises to keep protecting her and eventually return]].]]

** You completed Chapter 4... and abruptly you're stuck in a dead world, with a powerful monster roaming outside, Kaiser Oblivion having fled. [[spoiler: Of course, there IS somewhere he ''can'' be fought and defeated. If only you could start over again...]]

** The finale to the game, which reveals [[spoiler:that you were playing into this game's villain's hands as early as the first game]] and culminates with [[spoiler:the villain almost ''deleting your save data''. Even though Providence may not be as difficult as its predecessor it more than lives up to it in this]].

** Some people think the new soundtrack composed by [[Music/{{Supercell}} Ryo]] is actually pretty good. Others think it's complete trash and will never live up to [[Music/SoundHorizon Revo]]'s composing for ''Bravely Default''. [[TakeAThirdOption A third group]] think the soundtrack is okay overall, just inferior to ''Bravely Default''[='s=].
** There are those who find the story interesting and better compared to the previous game's EndingFatigue, while others are annoyed with the references to Japanese memes in the dialogue, which they think downgrades the story (at least for Japanese-speaking players, as this was more downplayed in the western releases). Some players of all regions also criticize the story because the frequent tent events every time you use a tent are out of place from the main story (mostly being lighthearted cooking scenes). Also, there are players who think that the story is a step down from ''Bravely Default'' due to the happy ending, the chivalry plot in the demo and prologue of the game being fairly generic, and the RomanticPlotTumor to some players, [[TakeAThirdOption though there are players who enjoyed the story in both games as a whole]].
** There are also those who liked the ending for being much happier than the previous and felt the characters [[EarnYourHappyEnding earned it]] while others think that the ending is too cliché and too happy, preferring a BittersweetEnding like the first game.

** In general this game plays up the romantic ties between the protagonists more than the original game did, crossing over into SickeninglySweethearts at times. The only exception is Edea, because she still has feelings for Ringabel, who isn't in the game. [[spoiler:Though they do get a brief moment to reconcile, and Ringabel promises to return]].

* ScrappyMechanic: The sidequests were infamously this in Japan, to the point where Square-Enix had the localization smooth them out. Presented as moral choices between two Asterisk-bearers, you had to side with one and fight the other, obtaining their job. On NewGamePlus, you could re-do the quest and pick the other option to obtain the other Job. The problem was that the first time you chose a path, the game would guilt-trip you for the choice, with Edea doubting whether she made the right decision. In order to get a more optimistic outcome, you have to pick the ''same'' option on NewGamePlus, which would have Edea more sure of her decision... at the cost of [[PermanentlyMissableContent missing one Job permanently]]. In the localization, you'll always get the optimistic outcome, meaning you don't have to choose between story and gameplay to get the good outcome, and don't need multiple playthroughs to see all the content.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The sub scenarios require you to be the deciding vote in arguments and conflicts between asterisk holders. Sometimes the game presents legitimate moral quandaries, but other times one side is clearly a better option than the other instead of being a case of BothSidesHaveAPoint. There's also how defeating an asterisk holder results in receiving their asterisk as well as preventing their plans from succeeding, meaning that there will be times that a job you want to have requires you to side with an opinion you disagree with. The game itself incentives this before starting the battles, showing the pros of each asterisk and telling you to pick the job best suited to your needs, ''not'' the argument.