Bravely Second: End Layer

Bravely Second: End Layer continues Bravely Default and takes place two years after its conclusion, when the main hero Tiz Arrior is kidnapped and his friends set out to rescue him amid a new threat endangering the world of Luxendarc. The game keeps the basic framework of its predecessor – battles based on the Brave/Default system, which lets players stockpile and save turns for devastating combinations, and a rich job system in which characters change classes and combine their abilities as they please. Besides the four main heroes, side characters met along the journey once again join the party, allowing players to experiment with dozens of combinations of classes and their special skills.

New jobs were added, such as Astrologian and Charioteer, and the game expands its strategic depth with the Sleep Points mechanic, which lets players activate characters' special abilities even outside of battle simply by closing the console. The graphics on the 3DS stay faithful to the previous entry – hand-painted backgrounds combined with 3D character models create a distinctive fairy-tale atmosphere, underscored by music from Revo, the composer known from the band Sound Horizon. The story is darker this time and plays with the theme of repetition and manipulation of characters' memories in a metatextual way, surprising even longtime fans of the series with its experimental fourth entry.

Reviews praised the depth of the combat system and the audiovisual presentation, though the title also drew criticism for some repetitive elements carried over from Bravely Default, such as having to face the same bosses multiple times in a row. The length and generosity of the content were also praised, giving the game dozens of hours of playtime even for players who want to track down every side quest. Bravely Second today ranks among the most ambitious JRPGs of the 3DS's later years and shows that the classic Japanese genre still had something to offer on Nintendo's handheld even as the platform was nearing the end of its life cycle.