End-Game Discussion (MASSIVE SPOILERS, obvs)

[metagloria]

Sorry for resurrecting, but I just finished the game, so I feel like chiming in.

1) As for the asterisk bearers and how they are similar/different across chapters: I got the feeling that they knew more in each world. Like, DeRosso and Yulyana obviously seemed to know a lot (everything?) from the get-go, but in the first world, I don't think Braev and the rest of the Eternian command knew everything. Their violence toward the crystalists was genuinely imperial, not just to stop Airy's plan. But their motivations and actions change slightly through the chain of worlds, to the end that in the final world, they're aware that they are fighting only to test/toughen up Edea and company for the big battle.

(Also: this game practically trips over itself emphasizing that things aren't always black and white. Are the crystalists good, and anti-crystalists evil? Or are the anti-crystalists good, and the crystalists evil? The answer: no. Everyone is varying shades of good and evil in each world. The fact that we don't get a definitive resolution is exactly the point.)

2) It is pretty reprehensible how lazy chapters 5-8 are, although the multi-boss battles in the last two chapters make things interesting. I grinded up to 99 as soon as possible in chapter 5 and then just blazed through the rest of the game (I did fight every asterisk bearer each time). Square has a tendency to pad their handheld titles with repetitive gameplay, but this is way beyond anything they've ever done. It's right at the threshold of being enjoyable vs. unbearable. Hopefully they don't pull something like that with Bravely Second. Speaking of which...

3) The Tiz/celestial thing is really nebulous in this game, obviously because that's going to be the subject matter of the sequel. I was very okay with the ending. I actually think they might pull a Star Ocean 3 here... SO3 spoilers where the "celestial realm" is like the real world, and the bajillions of worlds in Bravely Default were many iterations of a simulated world. Yeah, that would feel kind of weird, since there are no indications that BD's world isn't "real", but clearly Tiz's spirit went somewhere outside of BD's world...guess we'll have to wait and see.