I just want to yell at the people writing Bravely Default 2's story. Specifically, what I want to yell is "YOU KNOW COMIC RELIEF IS A THING RIGHT?! YOU'RE NOT TOO GOOD TO ADD IN SOME JOKES OR SOMETHING! SHEESH!"
Like, in a longform story like you'd see in a JRPG, you'd expect pretty frequent changes in style, tempo, pace, ambiance, theme, whatever just don't keep the same feeling going for too long or everything starts to blend together. This is normally done by adding in comic relief, just some jokes or ribbing, just something to cut the mood, so the Viewer or Player can laugh and smile for a second before we go back into the serious shit. Bravely Default 2's writers decided that they don't need shit like that, they can just have the player progress through a continually escalating series of tragedies one after the other, with all the characters' input being very sober and rational dialogue as it all unfolds in front of them.
And while I appreciate all the voice acting, couldn't they, you know, have done a better job? There's all these big dramatic scenes, and people are supposed to be angry and distraught, but I'm just not being moved by any of it. Legit feels like amateur hour actors half-assedly reading the lines to a 2nd-rate play sometimes.
It's just upsetting because the Bravely Default series' hallmark is taking the cliched RPG-storylines and tropes, and just playing them straight harder than anyone else in the market. I want Bravely Default to succeed as an IP, but it's very hard to see it continuing if the best it can do is this underwhelming. Being good is good, being bad is atleast memorable, but being unremarkable is completely lethal to any game or series.