Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster Evaluation (Swap 2)

In 2013 (!), Sq. Enix launched a recreation in Japan for the 3DS known as Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, which (after a modest replace) finally obtained a Western launch as simply Bravely Default. On the time, the corporate had been focusing improvement assets far more closely on video games it believed would attraction extra strongly to Western audiences, and the builders had been shocked when followers responded with overwhelming positivity to a launch that they anticipated to flop abroad. Now {that a} handful of direct and non secular sequels have since been made, Sq. Enix returns to the place all of it started with Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster. Although not precisely a complete overhaul, this remaster stands as a stable refresh of this JRPG basic.

Bravely Default takes place on the planet of Luxendarc, which sits getting ready to chaos because the 4 elemental crystals that preserve steadiness have been consumed by a mysterious darkness. You start the journey as a boy named Tiz, whose whole village was destroyed within the devastating cataclysm that adopted the crystals falling to darkness, and shortly pair up with Agnes and her cutesy flying fairy companion. As a member of the crystal orthodoxy, Agnes shares that she’s on a mission to cleanse the darkness from the crystals and restore steadiness to the land, kicking off a quest to avoid wasting the world whereas evading seize from the forces of the Eternian Duchy.

What begins as a somewhat rote JRPG plot slowly turns into one thing far more attention-grabbing with the introduction of sure controversial plot twists later within the recreation. Suffice it to say, the story isn’t what it initially seems to be, and whereas the execution of these controversial plot components might have maybe been finished higher, I respect how the builders sought to upend expectations. It’s, on the very least, a memorable plot, which is excess of many ‘inoffensive’ JRPGs can say.

Gameplay in Bravely Default attracts heavy inspiration from the basic period of Closing Fantasy, however with a splash of contemporary polish and tweaks to make issues circulation extra easily. Working example, enemy encounters are nonetheless random once you’re out in dungeons or the overworld, however you’ll be able to simply alter the encounter fee on a variable scale to both double the norm if you wish to go all out whereas grinding or to zero if you happen to simply need to discover with out being interrupted each jiffy by one other gang of mooks.

The blueprint is acquainted in that you simply nonetheless discover an overworld, battle enemies in turn-based fight, develop your occasion, and delve into dungeons for loot and boss fights, but the builders clearly thought of how they might modernise sure features of the loop.

The fight system is arguably probably the most lauded side of Bravely Default, largely as a result of enjoyable and inventive manner that it approaches taking part in with the economic system of a normal turn-based battle system. On any character’s flip, you’ll be able to select to ‘Courageous’ to borrow as much as three further turns (and thus three further actions) out of your character’s future self to utilise proper now, however doing so will create a deficit by which that character then spends as much as three turns fully idle and open to any enemy retaliation.

On the opposite finish, the usual ‘defend’ choice is changed with the ‘Default’ command, by which your character defends and shops an additional flip motion that may then be spent later by way of Defaulting.

In apply, this results in a dynamic battle system that rewards cautious planning and technique as you cautiously weave between urgent the assault and falling again on defence. A random encounter with a pack of low-level goons could be simply wiped in a single flip by having each character Courageous and go all-in on the offensive earlier than your foes even get an opportunity to reply.

In the meantime the opening minutes of a boss combat could also be finest navigated by having your designated healer Default for the primary few turns to replenish on further actions to make use of later for when the entire occasion will get broken by a robust AoE assault. I appreciated the elevated company that this fight system affords, because it results in far more attention-grabbing battles with mightier foes as you fastidiously steadiness the turns that every character shops and spends.

One other standout function right here is the Job system, which shortly offers you fairly a bit of fabric to work with for teambuilding. As you progress the story and full aspect content material, you’ll gather ‘asterisks’ that every grant you a brand new Job that brings with it a novel mix of latest instructions, assist skills, tools aptitude, and stat allocations. Every occasion member can independently stage every of the Jobs, rising their proficiency and unlocking extra highly effective skills as they progress.

However the true attention-grabbing bit is available in once you realise which you could successfully equip a secondary job to a personality, permitting them to combine the abilities and skills between jobs that they’ve gained proficiency in.

For instance, the Spiritmaster has a capability that diminishes injury output, however bolsters restoration magic. Pair this with the restoration magic casts of a White Mage, and you’ll have a chosen healer who can punch fairly a bit above their weight when it comes to the heals they’ll put out.

The Job system was clearly designed for gamers to seek out exploitable synergies like this to abuse, and pairing this with the leeway that the courageous and default system affords results in fight that repeatedly feels contemporary as you discover new methods to ‘break’ the sport.

As a re-release of a decade-old recreation, each one of the best and worst a part of Bravely Default HD might be that not a complete lot has modified about it. Except for issues just like the anticipated visible bumps and a few cute new minigames that use the Swap 2’s mouse mode, that is virtually precisely the identical recreation that you would play in your 3DS all these years in the past.

On one hand, it speaks to its timeless high quality that there wasn’t a complete lot the builders felt they wanted to alter—it was an awesome recreation again then and it’s nonetheless an awesome recreation now. On the opposite, there’s a lingering feeling that extra might’ve been finished to make this remaster extra of a definitive model, maybe by way of the inclusion of one thing like the additional aspect story or epilogue Monolith Smooth has added to its current Xenoblade remasters.

Even so, these minigames are sort of cool, and so they do a very good job of demonstrating a number of the Swap 2 mouse controls’ potentialities. The primary, Luxencheer Rhythm Catch, acts as a rhythm recreation by which you management two cursors (one in every hand) that you simply manoeuvre across the display to catch beats as they pop up. The opposite one, Ringabel’s Panic Cruise, locations you behind the sophisticated controls of the airship and challenges you to juggle a number of duties as you steer the ship, restore occasional injury to numerous elements, and alter issues just like the AC and radio in accordance with occasion member requests.

Each minigames jogged my memory a little bit of the sort of aspect content material that you simply’d discover in most fashionable mainline Kirby video games—they’re enjoyable, bite-size distractions that provide up a pleasant palate cleanser from the bottom recreation. They clearly aren’t the primary draw and there’s a somewhat restricted quantity of content material to discover right here, however in addition they have extra depth than chances are you’ll initially assume and take a good period of time to grasp every thing.

Plus, they aren’t completely remoted from the primary recreation—though you’ll be able to initially leap into the minigames from the title display, progress within the marketing campaign finally results in you unlocking new content material in every one. And when you’ve handed a sure level within the story, your efficiency in these minigames is rewarded with forex you should use to purchase particular tools and objects.

Visually, Bravely Default HD does a modest job of updating the memorable visuals of the unique, though that is hardly an enormous overhaul. All the pieces runs at a easy body fee and the bite-sized worlds look nice in HD, significantly the richly detailed, painterly look of many cities and dungeons. But it’s additionally clear that the identical squat and simplistic character fashions from the unique launch had been reused right here, and so they can look a bit primary when blown up on the large display of even the Swap 2 handheld display.

Bravely Default HD is not an unsightly recreation, however it’s additionally removed from a showcase of the added energy of the brand new Swap 2, and we are able to’t assist however marvel why a model of this remaster couldn’t have been produced for the unique Swap.

Conclusion

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster is a stable replace of one in every of Sq.’s best fashionable turn-based RPGs. Its mixture of a versatile job system, dynamic fight, and unexpectedly attention-grabbing story makes for an journey that no followers of the JRPG style will need to miss out on, particularly any such followers that loved Staff Asano’s newer work on the Octopath Traveler duology.

That in thoughts, there isn’t actually something new on this remaster that justifies the value of a double dip—if you happen to already put a number of time into this one on the 3DS again within the day, I’d warning you to first contemplate simply how badly you need to spend your cash on what in the end quantities to little greater than a pleasant visible bump. All the identical, Bravely Default was and nonetheless is a good RPG; if you happen to haven’t had the prospect to present this one a shot but, this port is a good way to see what the fuss is about.