Bravely Default

Bravely Default is a role-playing video game which features a party of four characters navigating the fantasy world of Luxendarc. Navigation in towns, dungeons, and the world map environments are presented in an angled, third-person overhead view: the character remains still, the camera zooms out to a distant view. These environments are displayed on the top screen of the Nintendo 3DS system, while the bottom screen displays maps of environments, party stats and other information such as item menus. On the world map, a day-night cycle alters the types of enemies present, and after a certain point in the story an airship can be used to speed up travel and access previously inaccessible areas. In towns, players can interact with non-playable characters (NPCs), purchase items or magic at specialized shops, buy or sell weapons and equipment at an armory, or rest at an inn to restore health points (HP) and magic points (MP). In all environments, the party can find chests containing items, weapons or equipment. During certain points, a Party Chat option appears, giving players the option of initiating conversations between the party members.[2] During exploration, standard enemies appear through random encounters: outside battle, the encounter rate can be adjusted from high to nothing. The game features multiple difficulty levels, which can be adjusted freely outside battle.[2][3]

Outside the main campaign, the game uses networking features powered by the 3DS's StreetPass functionality. A central element is the campaign to reconstruct the village of Norende, destroyed at the beginning of the game. The village is constructed on new ground after obstacles are removed and an area is prepared. The reconstruction incorporates social game elements: friends encountered by the player through StreetPass and online invites become the village's residents, and their efforts are used to create various buildings including houses and shops. The amount of time a project takes to complete depends on the number of friends assigned to it, taking anywhere from days to weeks. Increasing the number of people speeds up the towns' reconstruction. As the reconstruction progresses, the player is awarded with new items and equipment. Individual buildings will gain experience points, granting access to higher-tier rewards, and players have the option of adjusting the types of items rewarded. Special randomly generated optional bosses, known as Nemeses, will appear in the region. Defeating them yields special rewards.[2][4]

Battle system

Screenshot of a battle in Bravely Default, showing the party fighting an enemy group. The battle is shown on the upper screen, while the party's command menu is shown below.

Battles come in two types: random encounters with standard enemies, and staged boss battles. The battle system revolves around turn-based combat: each side is allowed to perform an action or multiple actions, with each character having independent movements and commands: these actions include attacking with the equipped weapon, using magic, or using an item. The party also has the option to escape from most battles. Two new options to the battle system are the Brave and Default options. Brave Points (BP) dictate the number of actions a character or enemy can take within a turn, along with being needed for the execution of certain abilities. Party members can utilize BP down into negative figures, enabling up to four actions within a single turn. When the BP gauge is into negative figures, they must wait for the BP counter to reach zero before they can act again. BP are naturally recovered once per turn. Alternately, any party member can Default, which reduces the damage taken by enemy strikes and accumulates BP.[2][3][5] An additional power is "Bravely Second", an ability which freezes time for the enemy, allowing a party member to move four times in a single turn with no cost. Bravely Second requires Sleep Points, or SP, a currency which is either replenished while the Nintendo 3DS is in sleep mode or through buying regenerative SP Drinks through microtransactions. Battle speed during combat can be sped up or returned to normal at the player's discretion.[2][5]

Tied into the battle system is a Job system: beginning with the Freelancer, the party can gain additional Jobs by obtaining gems called "asterisks" from defeated human bosses. Twenty-four Jobs can be found in the game, ranging from the agile Valkyrie to White and Black Mages that respectively specialize in healing and fighting magic. Each Job has different strengths and weaknesses in battle. Outside battle, characters can be assigned any available Job. In addition to the skills of the equipped Job, the skills of a second Job can be learned, allowing for free customization of parties and the mixing of Job abilities in battle.[2][3][5] After obtaining the Summoner Job, characters can use summoned monsters to launch attacks that deal high damage on all enemies. Friend characters can also be summoned from other players' games: the more a friend summon is used, the more effective their actions become.[2][6] Descriptions of defeated enemies, along with story recaps and descriptions of locations, weapons, and Jobs are included in an item called D's Journal.[2]

Within certain conditions, characters can perform Special Moves, customizable powerful moves tied to Jobs: after a Special Move is performed, the entire party is granted buffs for a limited period. This period is represented with a specific tune that plays over normal battle music. Various elements can be added to Special Moves, such as granting elemental properties, launching status ailments at enemies, recovering HP and MP, and temporary status ailment immunity to the party. The customization of Special Moves is directly tied to the creation of specialist shops during the reconstruction of Norende.[2][4] Experience points acquired at the end of a battle enable characters and their assigned Jobs to level up, unlocking new abilities and boosting character stats such as available HP and MP. Bonuses are gained if the party fulfilled certain conditions. Job abilities and levels can be borrowed from online friends, in a feature called Abilink. Any Job can be borrowed from available players regardless of their current level.[2]

Bravely Default is set in the world of Luxendarc, which is kept in balance by four elemental crystals which are protected and venerated by the global religion known as the Crystal Orthodoxy. One day, the crystals are consumed by darkness and the world is thrown into chaos with numerous calamities. Agnès Oblige, vestal of the Wind Crystal, escapes while the rest of the temple's worshipers perish to protect her. At the same time, a great chasm opens up beneath the village of Norende, killing all of its inhabitants except a young shepherd named Tiz Arrior. When he returns to the chasm hoping to find other survivors, he meets Agnès and her cryst-fairy companion Airy. The three are then attacked by forces from the hostile Duchy of Eternia, who seek to prevent Agnès from awakening the crystals. After defeating the soldiers, Tiz decides to travel with Agnès as her protector. They return to Caldisla, where they are also joined by Ringabel, an amnesiac vagabond who holds a book predicting future events, and Edea Lee, an Eternian soldier who becomes disillusioned and defects after her commanding officer commits war crimes. The party travels to the Temple of the Wind Crystal first where Airy instructs Agnès on how to awaken the crystals through prayer. The party visits three of the four temples and awaken each of the crystals from darkness, being confronted by the forces of Eternia as they proceed. During their journey, the group is aided by the ancient Sage Yulyana and observed by the immortal Lord DeRosso. The party eventually reaches Eternia, the home of the Earth Crystal, and are forced to defeat the Duchy's leader, Edea's father Braev Lee in battle. A column of light then appears in the ocean in the South East near the desert land of Ancheim once the Earth Crystal is awakened. Airy instructs the others to take her to the Holy Pillar of Light. After the group fend off Edea's close friend Dark Knight Alternis Dim, whose face is identical to Ringabel's, Airy's ritual is completed and the party is blinded by the bright light surrounding them and blacks out.

The group awakens and they find themselves back in the Kingdom of Caldisla where the game started. They quickly learn that Airy's ritual had instead sent them into a parallel world, with Airy unsure of how any of it actually happened. They also start to notice a change in the pattern on Airy's wings which originally resembled the number 5 and now resembles the number 4. They resolve to reawaken the crystals as they have been corrupted again, not knowing what else to do, and the process is repeated multiple times; in each of the five worlds the group travel through. They find and awaken the corrupted crystals, Airy performs her ritual in the Holy Pillar of light, they are thrown into a new parallel world, and the pattern on Airy's wings continues to count down towards 0 with each new world. In each world, they find variations on the situations they encountered in their own world, and gradually learn several truths about themselves and their adversaries. Nearly all of the Eternian elite they face were taken in by Braev out of compassion as they were rejected by the Orthodoxy, and Yulyana and DeRosso are revealed to be Braev's allies and key figures in cleansing the Orthodoxy of its corruption. During the group's travels, both Yulyana and DeRosso give subtle warnings to Tiz and Agnès about Airy's true intentions with Yulyana adding that they should "Have the courage to think and act on their own. And have the courage to disobey". Ringabel, revealed to be a version of Alternis Dim who got dragged into the original group's Luxendarc, slowly regains his memories of pursuing the party of his world before witnessing them being killed by Airy after she turned into a monster. In truth, Airy has been manipulating the party and Agnès to not just awaken the crystals, but to send their power out of control in order to link all of the parallel worlds to enable her master, the demon Ouroboros, to reach and conquer the Celestial Realm. By this point, even the game hints at Airy's true intentions; on the title screen after selecting a save file, most of the letters in the game's sub-title, Flying Fairy/Where the Fairy Flies, vanishes from the screen, eerily leaving behind the message Lying Airy/Airy Lies.

Depending on the player's actions, two different routes could play out. In the normal route, triggered if Agnès chooses to destroy one of the crystals in their awakening after figuring out Airy's scheme ("Have the courage to think and act on your own, and have the courage to disobey."), Airy attacks them in a fit of rage. The group then pursues her to the Dark Aurora, a realm of darkness near the chasm, and defeat her; her final words claim Ouroboros is still a threat to the world. In the canonical true route, should the player awaken the crystals across four different worlds, Airy reveals herself and is defeated by the party. She then retreats to the Great Chasm which now has been shrouded in an eerie fog. The group goes to Yulyana and DeRosso, who reveal a message left by an "angel", a version of Agnès from another world who was betrayed by Airy; the two have been planning for Ouroboros' arrival, and the group resolves to stop the demon. They travel to the Dark Aurora over the Great Chasm and catch up with Airy, who is granted her ultimate form by her master. Despite this, the party defeats Airy, who is then devoured by Ouroboros. After revealing that Tiz is being kept alive by a being from the Celestial Realm, Ouroboros attacks, and DeRosso sacrifices himself to restrain the demon's regeneration. The party are temporarily stopped when Ouroboros begins consuming worlds to regain strength, but alternate versions of them break the links formed by Ouroboros, giving the party a chance to destroy him. Once defeated, the links to the other worlds through the Great Chasm begins to close. Before the path between worlds closes, they return to their own world.

In the epilogue, Agnès and Edea return to their respective groups to better relations between the reformed Orthodoxy and the Duchy; Ringabel returns to his own world and reclaims his identity as Alternis Dim; Tiz is rendered comatose after going to Caldisla's graveyard and releasing the Celestial Being within him. In a special video teasing the second game Bravely Second: End Layer, Tiz wakes in a life support tank in Eternia before being rescued from captivity by the mysterious Magnolia Arch.

According to producer Tomoya Asano, Bravely Default began development as a sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (2009), and would have been part of the Final Fantasy franchise.[7] After completing The 4 Heroes of Light, Asano considered what he wanted to do next. Despite having the option to developing something within Square Enix's core franchises, he wanted to do something new, establishing a new brand.[8] During this initial phase, the original development team reached out to Silicon Studio, whose previous work was mostly related to development middleware. Silicon Studio developed a well-received demo for the project and were assigned to develop the game. Despite moving away from the Final Fantasy series, it retained a battle system and world setting in common with many Final Fantasy games. According to Asano, this was both a leftover of the project's original form and a conscious choice to give players from the Final Fantasy series a sense of comfortable familiarity.[7][9] In later responses to fan questions, Asano confirmed that he designed the Final Fantasy-style story so players would have little trouble entering the world. The story-telling and gameplay was heavily influenced by western video games and television series. Asano described the result as a "Japanese RPG with American content thrown in".[10] The main challenge for the team was making Bravely Default a traditional RPG without overloading it with nostalgic elements. Despite this, as the team were fans of both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, nostalgic features were added for genre veterans and be appreciated by newcomers.[11] Asano wanted to bring together what he considered the three core elements of RPGs (battles, growth, and connection) in Bravely Default. An important element was creating a casual experience that anyone could enjoy, even if they had never played an RPG.[8]

During development, the team decided to cater for the core Japanese RPG fanbase, as they did not believe the game viable for Western release at the time.[12] At the early stages of development, Bravely Default was going to be an action role-playing game, a genre Silicon Studio had previously worked on with 3D Dot Game Heroes. After developing a prototype build and putting it before Asano, it was decided to make the battle system a traditional turn-based model.[9] The interdependent "Brave" and "Default" mechanics underwent changes during the development process. Initially, Asano envisioned a system akin to the Tension stat used in the Dragon Quest series, but designer Kensuke Nakahara wanted something more exciting for players. He was also annoyed that the majority of bosses in both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy got two or more actions per turn while player characters only got one each.[11][13] After some consideration, Nakahara decided on a system where characters could bank points by not taking actions during a turn for later use, or create loan points to act multiple times in a current turn.[13] The concept of "D's Journal", which would offer players deeper insights into the world and characters of Bravely Default, was inspired by a similar system from Higurashi When They Cry.[13] During the late stages of the game's development, the team had to make several last-minute tweaks and changes to ensure the game delivered the best possible performance.[14] Due to the game's chosen mechanics, balancing the game became a major part of later development.[8]

The core concept of Bravely Default was defined by Asano as "everyone can play", as he wanted to bring positive elements from the growing social game market into Bravely Default.[8] The social gameplay was made up of three different elements: the ability to employ StreetPass friends to help reconstruct Norende, the ability to summon friends' characters into battle as a summon, and the "Abilink" option which allowed players to borrow each other's job levels.[15] The initial versions of these functions were not as elaborate as they would become in the final product. Norende Village was initially displayed on a single screen, but at a suggestion from Asano it was enlarged so players needed to slide the display around. The summoning option was initially going to be a simple display of the summoned character, but it was decided to make the summoning sequence more elaborate. The summoning text initially shared fonts with other elements, but as Asano wanted it to have more impact, a more florid font was used. This styling was influenced by a sequence featuring Japanese idol group AKB48 in an unspecified television drama.[14] The usage of StreetPass was incorporated to differentiate Bravely Default from other RPGs of the time, forming part of Asano's wish to create something new.[8] A notable feature included in the game were augmented reality (AR) movies. The AR movies were developed using a software development kit provided by Nintendo and implemented into the game by Silicon Studio.[9] A unique gimmick included in the game was using the platform's camera to project the player's image into an area of the arena during the final boss battle.[16]

The game's music was composed by Revo, the leader of Japanese musical group Sound Horizon. Asano contacted Revo concerning a collaboration as he had listened to his 2004 album Chronicle 2nd. During his work, Revo was able to see the game's ROM, then discuss the game's vision and development goals with Asano. While the initially-agreed track number was between 20 and 30, the number of tracks almost doubled during production as Revo saw situations that needed their own music. Revo aimed for a nostalgic musical style, referencing the music and atmosphere of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the SaGa series.[17] During recording, tracks were given descriptive working titles, such as "Scene of Normal Battle" or "Song of Asterisk Holder Warfare". Multiple battle songs were created for the game, each having a faster tempo depending on the escalating battle situation.[14] Revo's recording sessions were closely linked with the creation of the game's sound source, so the music would fit onto the 3DS' limited storage space without losing too much of its quality. Once the music was recorded, a sound environment was created so that it could be heard clearly through the 3DS system's speakers. While there were concerns about the 3DS cartridge's storage space limitations, these ultimately proved to be minimal.[13]

Bravely Default was first announced in September 2011 under its original Japanese title as part of Nintendo's 2012 lineup for the 3DS, alongside titles such as Monster Hunter 4 and Fire Emblem Awakening.[23] Between February and September 2012, five different demos were released through Nintendo eShop. The first demo featured Agnès and demonstrated character control.[24] The second, released in March, featured the character Tiz and town exploration.[25][26] The third demo, released in June, showcased the battle system and introduced Edea.[27] The fourth demo, released in August, featured the character Ringabel and demonstrated the job and character customization systems.[28] The fifth and final demo, released in September, included features from all the previous demos and included elements such as Friend Summons, and the Abilink and Norende reconstruction social elements. With the release of the fifth demo, the sale of the other demos was discontinued.[29] The demos were developed alongside the main game as stand-alone experiences taken from several points within the game. They also ended up providing the team with feedback for gameplay adjustments.[13] Each demo included an AR movie featuring one of the main cast.[9]

Bravely Default released on October 11, 2012. It was published by Square Enix. Along with the standard edition, Square Enix created a collector's edition for exclusive sale through their online store. The collector's edition featured an AR poster, a first print copy of the game's soundtrack, an artbook, and a themed 3DS protective case.[30] Downloadable content in the form of additional character costumes were made available both through promotional codes and post-release content.[31] An updated edition of the game, titled Bravely Default: For the Sequel,[lower-alpha 2] was announced in August 2013 in Weekly Shōnen Jump for a release on December 5 that year.[32] For the Sequel was stated to have over a hundred different improvements and adjustments: these included additional save slots, additional difficulty levels, auto saving options, the addition of new subevent scenes, new gameplay elements such as the "Bravely Second" ability, and subtitles in multiple languages. Many of these alterations were based on questionnaires sent out by the company after the original version's release. According to staff, For the Sequel was intended as a "trial version" for its sequel, already in development after the success of Bravely Default.[33]

The story was met with positive reviews. Famitsu was highly positive about the story, although the reviewers did not go into specifics.[52] Edge Magazine called the narrative "rich and detailed", enjoying the twists put on the present genre tropes and the darker narrative elements despite the experience being undermined by the writing quality.[49] Andrew Fitch of Electronic Gaming Monthly found the story and characters enjoyable, and in some cases "stellar",[50] while Ben Moore of GameTrailers noted the story's aversion to take risks despite interesting twists, and found that it was bogged down by advanced foreshadowing of major plot twists.[53] Game Informer's Jeff Marchiafava found the game's story and characters to be "rife with clichés", and called the dialogue "excessively wordy" despite the late-game developments improving on both aspects.[53] Simon Parkin, writing for Eurogamer, found the story less "unusual" than other aspects, but praised its willingness to send itself up and enjoyed Hayashi's subtle subversion of genre tropes.[51] GameSpot's John Robertson was fairly negative, saying that it started out poorly and never managed to throw off that initial impression.[3] David Evans of IGN praised the characters for their strength, but found that the story's pacing struggled at times.[5] Danielle Riendeau of Polygon, despite finding many characters appealing, called the story "more like a pastiche of tropes than its own unique take [on the genre]".[56] Chandra Nair of Official Nintendo Magazine called story and character development "extremely impressive",[55] while Bradly Halestorm of Hardcore Gamer found the story to be solid and the main cast enjoyable.[57] Alex Fuller of RPGamer found the main cast quite enjoyable, praising their Party Chat interactions, and enjoyed the story despite its initial overly straightforward premise.[58]

The gameplay was praised overall. The Edge reviewer greatly enjoyed the deceptively simple Brave and Default mechanics despite a run time they described as "bloated".[49] Fitch likewise enjoyed the gameplay mechanics, but found the social elements to be less successful despite not actively irritating him.[50] Moore praised the battle system and implementation of the Job system, although the latter necessitated grinding to unlock its full value. He also praised the ability to adjust encounter rates and battle speed, and positively noted the social features as engaging secondary activities.[54] Marchiafava found that the battle and Job systems held up throughout the entire game, and like Moore found the social systems enjoyable.[53] Nair was positive about the depth and strategy the gameplay opened up, despite criticizing the number of options increasing the amount of time spent in battle.[55] Both Evans and Robertson praised the battle system and general gameplay, with Robertson calling the former innovative within the genre.[3][5] Riendeau found that the battle system's depth and quality gave her feelings of elation when she successfully killed opponents, but also saw the need to grind for experience emerging during the later stages of the game negatively impacted the experience.[56] Parkin referred to the Brave and Default mechanics as the game's "central - and brilliant - conceit".[51] Fuller, while finding the microtransactions a "waste of money", he greatly enjoyed the battle mechanics and multiple user-friendly features.[58] Halestorm shared the positive opinions of other reviewers on the battle system, alongside praising the game's amount and quality of content.[57] Many reviewers positively compared the gameplay and style to earlier Final Fantasy games.[49][50][52][54][57] Multiple Western reviewers commented negatively on the repetitive late-game section.[50][53][54]

The graphics and presentation garnered mixed opinions. Famitsu praised the game's graphics, while Edge admired the art style and monster design, and was glad that the hardware limitations faced by The 4 Heroes of Light were not present in Bravely Default.[49][52] Marchiafava called the graphics "beautiful" and praised the soundtrack, though called the English voice acting "hit or miss".[53] Fuller was less impressed by the visuals, but found the music to be excellent .[58] Halestorm, while he did not think the graphics were the best to be found on the 3DS, praised their stylized appearance and the well-executed 3D effect, and called the soundtrack "downright hypnotizing".[57] Nair praised the game's audio despite little variety in the musical score, and called its visuals "gorgeous".[55] Evens praised the character art for its "simple and striking" appearance, and its stylized background artwork.[5] Riendeau commented that the game's aesthetic kept her invested when the story failed to do so.[56] Parkin referred to the background artwork as "like nothing else".[51] Robertson referred to the game's art style as "striking and engaging".[3]

The game's success, which went against Square Enix's presumptions due to the title's identity as a traditional role-playing game, prompted them to reconsider their game making strategy, which up to that point had been geared towards developing titles tailored for Western markets rather than focusing on the Japanese market.[72] According to the developers, none of them believed that the game would be released overseas, and were overwhelmed by the positive fan feedback they had received.[12] A manga titled Bravely Default: Flying Fairy began serialization online through Famitsu.[73] Two compilation volumes were released in 2015 and 2016 respectively.[74][75] Two supplementary books, released under the title Bravely Default: The Pocketbook of R,[lower-alpha 3] were released in December 2013.[76][77] In addition to this, two drama CDs containing supplementary stories were released through 2013 and 2014.[78][79] Music from the game was featured Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as DLC.[80]

A browser game spin-off titled Bravely Default: Praying Brage,[lower-alpha 4] began an open beta on November 11, 2012. Developed by NHN Hangame, Praying Brage takes place 200 years after the original game, and includes a new cast of characters aligned to four forces themed after Luxendarc's elemental crystals.[81][82][83] Another spin-off, Bravely Archive: D's Report, was released for mobile devices on January 22, 2015.[84] Like Praying Brage, it was set far in the future, followed an alternate scenario stemming from the events of Bravely Default, and featured characters from Praying Brage.[85] By August of that year, D's Report had reached over four million downloads.[86] A sequel was confirmed as being in development as early as 2013.[33] The new game, Bravely Second: End Layer, was officially announced in December 2013.[87] It released in Japan in 2015 and overseas in 2016.[88][89] In an interview with Japanese magazine Dengeki, Asano said that he would ideally like to release a new Bravely game every year.[90] Following the second game's release, Asano would partner with Square Enix producer Masashi Takahashi and the studio Acquire to develop a new traditional role-playing game that reconsidered their expectations after witnessing the reception to the Bravely series.[91] This game, which would become Octopath Traveler, was announced in January 2017 and initially released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch in July 2018.

A third entry in the Bravely series, Bravely Default II, was announced at The Game Awards 2019 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.[92] Two years prior to the game's announcement on Christmas Day 2017, character designer Akihiko Yoshida posted an image on Twitter of Edea holding a pair of Joy-Con controllers. Additionally after Octopath Traveler sold over 1 million copies, the occasion was celebrated with another illustration on Twitter, with the pose assumed by the eight party members strongly resembling Airy from the first game.[93] Asano stated that the reason for the game's title, Bravely Default II, was due to his belief that Bravely Second did not live up to fans' expectations, and its critical and commercial under-performance made it difficult for the team to continue on the series.[94] Similar to how numbered sequels function in the Final Fantasy franchise, this new installment takes place in a new world separate from the previous games with a brand new cast of characters. The game was released worldwide on February 26, 2021.

• List of Square Enix video game franchises

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• Official website (in Japanese)
  • Official website for Bravely Default: For The Sequel (in Japanese)
• Official North American website