If you're looking to pour hours into a solid, fairly linear JRPG, then look no further. Bravely Default has what you need.
It sports a classic job based system, but with a twist of being largely customizable. You can equip one Job as a main, then add in the abilities of any other Jobs you have acquired to make your ultimate team.
The combat is turn based, like plenty of other RPGs, but spruced up with the brave and default additions, among other features. Choosing Brave grants your characters more actions per turn, but at the cost of not being able to act until they return to a positive number of battle points. Choosing Default is like defending in any other RPG, but you gain a battle point to use at another time. It adds a little more strategic value to how you plan your battles, and freshens up the whole experience.
The Story starts off as something completely cliché, especially coming from Square. The land has been plunged into turmoil as the Four Crystals have been engulfed in darkness. Each corresponding with an element, the earth is being torn asunder, the seas are becoming poisonous, volcanoes are erupting, and the wind has ceased. While the major plot point is to awaken these crystals, it seems something darker is lurking in the shadows. There is much more to this tale than originally revealed.
The Characters are almost archetypically as far from each other as possible, yet they come together by unconventional means. They all have their own agenda, yet are drawn together by fate, and whisked away on this grand adventure.
The Visuals are like something straight out of a story book, and the 3D effects are neither overbearing, nor underwhelming. The landscapes are beautiful and the cities and towns are all unique and well designed. The character models are a little bit of a weak point for the overall score, as they are a bit basic. Even so, they seem to fit the setting well, and don't bring the game down in my opinion.
The Music is certainly something to rival the Final Fantasy soundtracks (I'd be disappointed otherwise, coming from Square Enix.) However, variance in dungeons is something that lacks. While all the tracks are lovely on the ears, hearing the same songs in the same type of dungeons tends to leave one wanting a little more.
There is also a town-building mini-game that you gain access to quite early into the game, which rewards the player with access to rarer items, and things not bought anywhere else in the game. The building is all done in real time, and is enhanced with streetpass. If you find that you have no one you can streetpass, fear not, as you can connect to the internet and bring in people from all over the world who own the game.
Bravely Default is a game that takes the original style of JRPGs and brings it up to a completely new level. It builds off of just about everything that has been successful in the past, and gives it a much more modern feel. Overall, I think this game is absolutely fantastic, and if you find a copy of this (fairly) hard-to-come-by title, secure it! 5 Stars, 10/10, the whole shebang.