July 9: Bravely Default II

The past few weeks I have been delighted by a new video game I am playing on the Nintendo Switch called Bravely Default II. It is another JRPG (my favorite genre of video games) with four main characters and a job system, which is a unique game format that I've only previously experienced in Final Fantasy games. There are many, many jobs, and after every boss battle I unlock a new job. Jobs include things like Black Mage (who has strong magic attacks), White Mage (who has strong healing abilities), Beastmaster (who can capture monsters in battle and release them later as very strong attacks against other enemies), etc etc. All the jobs are really creative and have a wide variety of skills, and it has been interesting and challenging to figure which character should try out which job, and which jobs go together (each character can have two jobs, so my team is using 8 jobs altogether, and it is definitely a delicate balance to make sure your team has everything it needs to succeed). I am also enjoying the plot and character development, the artwork and music (especially the background music at Wiswald Woods which is just gorgeous). One of the most recent bosses I've fought, Folie the Pictomancer, was super creepy (with a super creepy high pitched nightmarish voice). Her entire vibe was art; she killed people to use their blood as red paint, and mesmerized people in the village to do her bidding and help her create other colors of paint by using a talking painting with glowing eyes that is like something out of a nightmare. It was very well done, and it was delightful defeating her on the first try (unlike almost all the other boss battles where I have died several times). I look forward to many more delightful hours traversing the world of Bravely Default II.

With delight,

♥Jamie