Bravely Default Series

I think they're probably meant to give off a "Wise old swordmaster" vibe.

Because...

It's...

I dunno. Just makes the Swordmaster/Pirate combo funnier.

Kinda falls flat with names like "Squeaky Wheel" and "Before Swine".

"Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease" and "Casting Pearls Before Swine".

It's an effort to translate the pattern in Japanese, which is that all the moves are half of a 4 character idiom. Er... Wikipedia to the rescue. Visually speaking, all of a Swordmaster's counterattacks are them completing the idiom with their slash. So... it's like the move is called Nothing Ventured, but then the words "Nothing Gained!" appear behind them when it procs.

Thematically, it's setting up only half of the total ability, yet the second half, the counter itself, is inevitable and idiomatic. Ties into the "I knew you'd do that" nature of a counterattacking class.

edited 28th Jul '14 12:48:51 AM by Clarste

I knew those saying, but not the rest of it. Very interesting.

New details explaining what happened to Agnes and the orthodoxy between the games (so, spoilers), also more detailed pics of some of Magnolia's jobs

Dang, that's a bad time for that to happen.

The Performer is called 'Superstar' in Japanese?

Where the heck would giant Venice-like city fit in the mountains of Eternia?

Also I noticed that that the Performer class is called "Superstar" in Japanese. Frankly I had expected it to be called "Idol" or something though.

Not reading that! But that new protagonist looks evil. Anyway, got the four sidequest jobs of Chapter 2. The Red Mage was hell (definitely That One Boss, only one I've died to more than once), the Valkyrie was a cakewalk, the Summoner was manageable and the Ranger was moderately easy.

Brr... The Florem sidequests are one of the creepiest parts of the game, to me.

I'm good with new locations. That world has the Final Fantasy problem of feeling empty, due to having maybe two cities per continent. FFXII takes place in only two countries of a continent, and feels more densely populated, as worlds go.

De Rosa is quite possibly the hardest Asterisk boss. Maybe the Salve-Maker is nastier.

Pity really, since they're easily the slimiest of the lot.

Huh, haven't posted in this thread yet, even though I've been playing the game on and off all summer.

I'm at the start of Chapter 4 right now, taking some time to do a little job grinding (generally I grind in large chunks when I'm in the mood to do so and turn off random encounters otherwise). I've discovered the utter awesomeness of Ninjas with Swordmaster's Multitask, especially with Sword Magic. Idk how long using those two ability slots for it will be viable, but for now I think it's a lot of fun. Transcience/Utsuemi is great too. Ninja was definitely worth the wait after spending so much time waiting to be rid of that little shit Egil (who I kind of wanted to drop into a volcano).

I don't remember deRosa being particularly troublesome, though I had some pretty powerful Norende-rebuilding gear and since Agnes and Ringabel had white magic, it was pretty easy to manage damage.

As a bonus, even though giving Edea a Rebuff Locket does not prevent her from starting charmed, deRosa kept trying to re-charm her, which thanks to said item, was just a waste of a turn for him.

If you want Utsusemi to be even more awesome, dip into Red Mage for a few levels to learn Turn Tables, which will give you 1 BP every time you dodge.

Yep, Utsusemi + Transience + Turn Tables lets you cheese almost any boss that relies entirely on physical attacks. Just have everyone brave once and Utsusemi and then attack and then hit auto-battle.

Red Mage is just a really good class to dip into. Mostly for the BP-boosting powers. Revenge is a nice bonus, and using Restore BP right can break the game in half.

Has anyone mentioned the vocalized versions of each character's theme? Because they are awesome!

So I got a question. How exactly does Sword Magic work? Does it add damage, or just change the element? and if so, what's the point of higher level elemental magic?

Re: Turn Tables: Already ahead of you. Got Turn Tables and Tiz and Edea (my main physical damage dealers, usually) and it is wonderful. Although BP stopped being a huge problem for boss fights once I got Performer and could toss out One More For You when needed.

edited 28th Jul '14 10:40:37 PM by Serenitas

I think Sword magic does both, It increases the damage while aspecting the blade

edited 28th Jul '14 10:42:09 PM by MorningStar1337

I think low level stuff just adds the element, but higher tier spells add a damage boost as well.

Bad news, Revo isn't returning for the sequel.

Who?

The guy who made the first game's music.

edited 29th Jul '14 11:49:42 AM by MJTrooper