There's a good handful of games this year that proved if you know exactly where to take influence from, you can capitalise on that in a totally valuable and enjoyable way, without worrying about being wholly original or genre-defining. One such title that's unapologetically an old school Final Fantasy-style JRPG, is Bravely Default, also by Square Enix - proving they can still deliver stat-boosting thrills by the bucketload when necessary. Helping to reign in the hardcore gamers into buying a 3DS alongside those who go to Nintendo for some more first-party childhood nostalgia box-tickers, Default is a supremely polished turn-based battler that wears its influences and intent on its sleeve, giving you a heap of options to streamline the processes that occasionally put some people off playing for too long. Sick of being attacked at random when out in the field, or waiting for lengthy summon animations to finish? Simply reduce the amount or speed at which they happen - although you'll level up and indulge in less, it can make for a more comfortable experience. It's little things like this that address century-long complaints with the genre, allowing for a more customisable framework that the tried n' true JRPG stylings can nestle comfortably within. Topping things off nicely is a back n' forth battle system that lets you pick whether to align with being 'brave' or 'default', the former meaning you can get an extra hit in at the cost of stacking your opponents attacks on their turn - something that appeals to the gambler in everyone who ponders whether or not they can steal victory out from their opponent by circumventing what's coming up at the last minute. BD is Square Enix's best effort in years, it's just a shame its slight PR push was dwarfed by the bigger home console releases doing the rounds across the year.
