How does one capture the attention of the modern day RPG-gamer? Do you try and think up crazy new battle systems? Do you lean on a story full of twists, turns, romance and drama? Do you make the game completely open ended and let the player roam aimlessly? Or, do you dare to return to the basics? **Four heroes on a quest to save the Crystals of Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. The most complicated choices are which jobs will your heroes take on.** Make the wrong choice these days and it could spell your development team's final fantasy game. Do you pour all your resources into coming up with the next big thing, do you safely mimic all other modern role-playing games that are popular currently or do you bravely return to the default fantasy story and worlds we've seen dozens of times before? I think you know the answer by now!
I still haven't tried the demo.
The amazing thing is: The demo, although brilliant and a self-contained adventure unto itself, it only uses certain assets of the actual game. The town which serves as your base of operations is IN the main game, but the geography that surrounds it in the demo is wildly different. You'll encounter different enemies and bosses in the demo than in the real game. The tower and cave you explore in the demo have different interiors than in the actual game. The demo has a quest system where you fulfill the wishes of the people in the town; this seems to be entirely ABSENT from the actual game. The overall attitude of the people in the town is different than in the full game; there are different buildings to enter in the demo than in the full. Rebuilding the village of Norende in the demo is on a fraction of the scale it is in the full game. Long story short, the developers created something very different for the demo than the real game itself! You don't just play the first half-hour of the game; what you play is entirely unique and serves almost as a side-story, fan-fiction parallel to the events of the real thing. The battle system is mostly intact, but simplified for the demo. The job-system has only a small handfull of choices, which get different skills and are master-able much quicker in the demo. You get gameplay bonuses for the real game by completing quests and milestones in the demo. These include items and some equipment, plus you keep the people you recruited to Norende via Street Pass, but that's it! The demo is a unique mini-game unto itself and I find that to be AWESOME!!
I'm gonna get this out of the way right now: If you loved classic Final Fantasy games **meaning prior to 7 but possibly including 9** that had Job systems and simpler battle mechanics, you are going to LOVE Bravely Default! All the classic Jobs are there: Knight, Monk, Thief, Black Mage, White Mage, Red Mage, Ninja, Time Mage and Summoner. The crazy Jobs are there: Performer (Bard), Merchant, Vampire and Pirate, as well as many others. Here's a few of them in pics; of course they have their multiple levels and slew of skills and abilities that go along with them!
Although the game --DOES-- have almost a simple "Attack, Defend, Magic, Item" structure to it, it is more complicated in the way it is executed. I am going to attempt to explain it, but I know I am going to make it sound more confusing than it really is. Here goes nothin'!
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The Battle System is based on a Risk/Reward system of Brave/Default usage. Each action takes typically ONE Brave Point to execute. You typically gain ONE Brave Point back after your turn ends. Here's what your choices look like at the Battle menu:
- Attack
- Ability
- Brave
- Default
- Summon
- Item
- Special
- Run
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"Attack" is what it sounds like: You attack with your equipped weapon! "Default" may as well be "Defend" as choosing it does two things: (1)Your character takes less damage for that turn and (2)You earn an additional Brave Point for not acting. You can stack up to 3 Brave Points at once. "Ability" lets you choose amongst your various Job Skills. You can equip two Job Skill Sets per character at a time. One is the Job you are currently doing, the second can be any other Job you have levelled previously. Mixing and matching those gets to be A LOT of fun! Choosing "Ability" may let you cast a White Mage "Cure" spell for example or a Freelancer "Examine" skill to discover the weaknesses of your foes! "Summon" is --NOT-- what you think it is! Through "Summon" you can call one of your Friend's characters to battle to fight for you for a turn. They can be any job, any level, have any skill your friend sends your way... Very handy! "Item" needs no explanation; it is what it is! It uses one BP (Brave Point!) "Special" is kinda, well, special... Fulfilling certain conditions, unleashes Special Attacks based on the Weapons assigned to your characters. Using Default three times in a row may activate a Special; Using 4 Items in a row may activate another. These use one BP as well... "Run" again needs no explanation.
So? "What's the gimmick?" you may ask... Sounds almost standard by description, no? Well, yes and no! This might as well be Final Fantasy 3 if we left it at that, but the "Brave Points" are where things get kinda cool. You can Default a few times to get up to 3 Brave Points at once, each character has his or her own set of Brave Points. This means your party members could move up to three additional times (4 in total) per round if they stored up BP ---OR--- they can simply choose "Brave" from the menu, from the start, again, up to three times, and set your BP into the NEGATIVE numbers (up to -3!). Again, So? There's the Risk: You can't move that character until his or her BP returns at least to 0! They would have to sit out three rounds, in effect! Is it worth the risk? Can you beat your enemies in one round by doing this? Mis-judge and your members or entire party could be sitting ducks!
All of this takes what could be a typical, standard "default" JRPG battle system and turns it on its ear! Save or Spend BP? Play it safe and play like an average FF game? Or, do you bravely risk it all and use your BP to have one character (1)Use a Phoenix Down to revive a fallen character then (2)Heal the entire party then (3)Cast Blizzard on the enemy Cait Sith, finally (4)Summon in your friend's Tiz Monk to use a "Moonbeam" strike Special Attack for an additional 648 points of damage on your foes... The combinations are endless and crazy and make this game a TON of fun to play!
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More to come!
Needs more small font. 
Awesome thread.
Although all of this may sound kinda complicated, in execution the game plays like an awesome remake of Final Fantasy(s) 1-3 & 5. All of these games focused more on Jobs and Crystals, than they did on plot and story. They tended to be simpler and gave more freedom to the players to choose their roles and focus on battles. Although this is ENTIRELY unconfirmed, I believe Bravely Default takes place in the same universe as the Final Fantasy games, but millenia in the future. Certain references mention an "Age of Mythology" where creatures from Final Fantasy existed **Bombs, as well as others** and the same Jobs, Spells, Weapons and Items, etc. exist in both series. Just listen to the Battle Music alone and its hard to imagine these games NOT being related to one another!
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Just as each Final Fantasy tried some things a little differently, so does Bravely Default. It adds to the classic FF formula "Social" aspects that wouldn't have been possible before. For example, Tiz is tasked by the King with the rebuilding of Norende. Many classic RPG's had side-missions where you restored Fairy Villages, or gathered NPC's to populate towns or home bases. Norende is that side-mission in Default. Using the "Street Pass" feature of the 3DS, the more people you encounter playing the game, the more people you get to populate Norende. Don't worry if you aren't the sociable or outdoorsie type. Just playing online and updating your data will search and register people to your game, adding the benefits of the Street Pass features, slowly but surely. You can also register your regular friends who are playing online, without having to be in close proximity to one another!
The more people you have assigned to your Norende, the faster it rebuilds. Shops are built, territory is recovered and upgrades are processed faster the more people you have in your town. Shops provide you with the ability to purchase Items, Weapons and Equipment on the field if you encounter a Red-Capped Adventurer. There are other stores that sell Accessories, usable battle items such as Zeus' Wrath, Components for Salves and even Upgrades to add customizable effects to your Special Weapon attacks such as Fire damage, Water Damage, additional Damage to Insects or Beasts, Magic Point Recovery, Attack Percentage Increases, Blind Afflictions, etc, etc, etc... For as accessible as the game can be if you want to play it simply, it is also insanely DEEP and customizable --IF-- you want it to be! Norende and the Social aspects of the game are completely OPTIONAL, but are there for you to explore at your whim! AWESOME!!
Word of Warning, though: Some of the friends you make can turn out to be your worst enemies too! They can send Nemeses to your Norende which can be fought if you are strong enough to gain unique items and/or experience; don't be surprised, though, if a Level 99 Beelzebub invades your town and stays there, waiting to take you down! More risk and reward! Devious!
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As far as I know, you don't get to walk around in Norende, all you see is the map depicted above. You manage the different stores and tasks via the touch screen. You make your purchases through the Adventurer you meet in the towns, dungeons and fields. You automatically receive the components of the Specials as you Upgrade the shops that produce them. You occasionally get gifts from the people that reside there, in the form of Potions, Ethers, Teleport Crystals and Battle Items, etc. The little Beastie Icons are the Nemeses! Again, you never --NEED-- to pay that much attention to this if you don't want to, but if you want access to the more exotic Specials, Weapons and Items that may not be sold in the regular game's stores, it's there if you choose to partake. I, for one, cannot resist!
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You know what makes a great game even better? The ability to play it the way --YOU-- want to play it! Yeah, I love my classic JRPGs but there were certain things I --HATED-- about them too! You're in that dungeon and you just want to go to bed. You know there's an area where you can set up a Tent, Rest and Save your game probably just ahead, but two steps and BATTLE! Ugh! Fight! I won! Great! Two steps and BATTLE! Noooo! Fight! I won. Finally! Two steps aaand BATTLE! FUCK! GOD DAMN IT ! ! ! I just want to get to the Save Spot!! FIGHT. I won! Good! RUN!! Three steps... BATTLE!! MOTHER FUCKER!! I HATE THIS FUCKIN' GAME ! ! !
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Yeah. Inevitably there was some tedium involved. What if you could turn battles OFF entirely whenever you wanted to? You could leisurely stroll about the entire dungeon collecting Treasures before getting to the Boss. Is the Boss too hard? What if you could turn the Difficulty up or down at any time? Yeah. You guessed it, Bravely Default lets you tinker with all that and more. Turn enemy encounters Up, Down or Off. Set the Difficulty Level higher or lower at any time. Careful though! Fight too few battles and you may find yourself unprepared for the Dungeon's Boss! Turn that difficulty down and you may not get those drops or the experience and/or job points to push you to the next level. Are you a glutton for punishment and enjoy your games as hard as you can make them? Toggle on or off Experience Points, Job Points or Earned Pg (Money). Thank God someone finally thought of all this! There are times I want to battle as much as possible to build my characters and there are times I just don't want to be bothered. Bravely Default has thought of that! There's even a Pause and multiple speeds of Fast-Forward for the battles if you are THAT impatient! C'mon now! How cool is that?!
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You know what's also cool? MICRO-TRANSACTIONS! There's something I never thought I would say! Pressing "Start" while in battle activates "Bravely Second" mode. This allows you to freeze --ANY BATTLE-- at --ANY TIME-- and take --FREE SHOTS-- at your enemies or even --BOSSES-- ! ! ! In this mode, your BP are replaced with SP, or Sleep Points. These determine how many moves you can make while in this state. You can store up to 3 of these Sleep Points. Sleep Points are either earned by leaving the game in Sleep Mode **8 hours = 1 Sleep Point!** --OR-- if you are incredibly lazy or impatient you can actually purchase Sleep Point Potions, using --REAL MONEY-- at any time in an in-game menu! Again, to be clear, this is --COMPLETELY OPTIONAL-- and never needs to be done should you not want to resort to this. It's just another way the developers went out of their way to make this game as flexible and accessible as possible and that translates to ENJOYMENT!
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**Bravely Second in Action!**
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Fun-Fact: "Bravely Second" is also the name of the sequel to this game, already WELL under way!! Square-Enix is dedicated to making the Bravely series an annual thing! If the quality remains the same, I have no problem with this!!
Might as well just wait for the second one.
Finally finished the demo yesterday. Does anyone know if the people you've met on the demo via Spotpass will carry over to the main game?
Oops! Yes, they will!
Oh good. I've got a horde working and slaving for me, and I would feel very bad if I had to give that group their freedom and have to recruit from scratch.
I've finally finished everything in the demo and will now begin the actual game. 
Can't wait for some impressions! It's one of the best JRPGs I've played in a long, long while. I haven't added to this topic lately, not out of a lack of things to say, but because there's sooo much... I wouldn't even know where to begin!
It Takes a Special Game to Make Me This Obsessive, Bravely Default
"I'm fifty-two hours into my first play-through of Bravely Default: Where the Fairy Flies. All four of my characters are level 99, each has all 24 of the game's jobs mastered. I've not maxed-out levels and jobs in a Final Fantasy game in... ever." -- Mike Fahey
Darkness falls across the land. The seas have rotted. The winds have stopped and the village of Norende has been swallowed by the Earth. Wind Vestal, Agnes Oblige, has a fateful encounter with Tiz, the last survivor of Norende, as she sets out to find the state of the world and learn how to cleanse the Wind Crystal. The two are shortly joined by amnesiac, Ringabel, and the turn-coat, Eternian Knight, Edea. These Four Heroes of Light band together to save their dying world. The Eternian Sky Knights are opposed to the old ways of Crystal Worship and will do whatever it takes to stop the heroes from succeeding. This is where the story begins...