The original Bravely Default games were the pinnacle of turn-based RPGs on the Nintendo 3DS, and hopes to do the same on the Nintendo Switch. While both Bravely Default and Bravely Second contained many of the same characters, in an interview with Famitsu, bot Tomoya Asano and producer Masashi Takahashi sat down with Famitsu to talk about Bravely Default II.
Note: This translation was done by Oni Dino of Nintendo Everything.
Takahashi: For Bravely Default II, we’re kind of going back to our roots. And in order to have the players who are experiencing this as their first Bravely game enjoy it to the fullest extent, we need to completely refresh the world and the characters. So we gave it a lot of thought: what kind of title would convey that this is a brand-new story with brand-new characters, and moreover, this is a completely new entry in the Bravely series?
By simply adding a “II” to the title.
Takahashi: We considered going with patterns established in Bravely Archive and Bravely Default: Fairy’s Effect, but they didn’t make it feel like a new entry created for home consoles. So ultimately we settled on an easily understood numbering system to plainly convey that this is a new entry – more importantly, this is a game that players with zero knowledge of the series can enjoy.
Asano: Speaking of which, when explaining our plans for the game internally, I would often say, “This is not Bravely Third, this is Bravely: Automata.” (Laughs)
It’s said that including old characters was considered, but it was cut out so not to alienate new players and to make it more accessible. Regardless of this fact, Bravely Default II may give Xenoblade a run for its money as the best RPG on the Nintendo Switch this year, especially considering how incredibly good the first two were. Not only that, but the art style is absolutely adorable.