When Masashi Takahashi, a producer at Square Enix, started working Bravely Default, he had a very specific audience in mind. Takahashi grew up playing classic turn-based RPGs – he clearly remembers watching his older brother play Final Fantasy III while he was still in kindergarten – and felt that many modern RPGs have become too complex, leaving older players behind.
“They look kind of impenetrable,” he says of modern games. “I thought that if I could make a game that was capable of making [older players] remembering things they liked about games when they were younger and creating a game for that type of audience, that was something that stimulated me. “
The first Bravely Default launched on Nintendo 3DS in 2014, and it was an experience clearly inspired by Final fantasy games, starring a disorganized group of heroes traveling through a fantasy world powered by four magical crystals. Its defining feature was also the reason for having such a strange name: in battle, players could choose to be “brave” or “defaulting” in order to go all-in on an attack or stack chances at a more opportune time. It was followed by Bravely Second: End Layer in 2016, also on 3DS, and next week the series will debut on Nintendo Switch with Bravely Default II.
The sequel takes place in a new fantasy realm and stars a new cast of heroes, but the formula is basically the same. The strange naming convention, says Takahashi, is inspired by other iconic Japanese RPG series. When a new, numbered Final fantasy or Dragon’s mission is released, fans know it will be a whole new adventure. Takahashi wanted the same kind of clean slate for the next Bravely Default.
One difference that more attentive fans may notice, however, is that while the first two games in the franchise were developed by Square Enix and a partner studio called Silicon Studio, Bravely Default II is being run by a relatively new company called Clay Tech Works. However, there is not much disconnect between games, as Clay Tech was founded by some of Silicon’s top employees. “Although the public may hear about Clay Tech Works for the first time with this game, they are people we have been working with for a long time,” said Takahashi.
Coincidentally, Shota Fukebaru, director of Clay Tech, Furthermore started in RPGs with Final Fantasy III At a young age. And both Fukebaru and Takahashi say that Final Fantasy V and its work system – which gave players the ability to customize their fighters, assigning specific roles, and became a key feature in Bravely series – were extremely influential in their careers. “I remember playing that game and thinking, ‘Wow, this is something I want to do someday,’” says Fukebaru. “That’s where that dream originated for me.”
The development of the sequence faced some challenges. Like most studios worldwide, Clay Tech’s team of around 50 people had to adapt to work from home, finding ways to communicate effectively through Zoom meetings. There was also the process of taking a series originally designed for a dual screen device and adapting the interface to work on the switch’s single screen. Of course, however, the change in hardware was beneficial; Takahashi says the team was able to make more detailed characters and a soundtrack that was not limited by the 3DS ‘tiny speakers.
Takahashi also says that the team was able to learn important lessons from each release and apply them to subsequent titles. The original Bravely Default was criticized for having poorly defined characters, for example, something that the developers tried to remedy in the first sequence. And when Bravely Second players complained that the story was a little bit YA, a follow-up called Octopath traveler focused exclusively on adult characters and themes. Finally, while Octopath had an ambitious story with eight different characters – hence the strange title – that meant there was no clearly defined protagonist, something the team intends to fix Bravely Default II.
The new game is also being released at a time when classic JRPGs are undergoing a kind of renaissance. Out of Bravely series, Square Enix’s Tokyo RPG Factory studio has been firmly focused on the genre, while independent creators explore new ideas through games like Undertale. When the creators of the classic series Suikoden crowdfunding a spiritual successor last year was a resounding success. For Takahashi, who has been thinking about gender since the age of five, it is gratifying to see so much renewed appetite.
“I’m really happy about that,” he says. “Of course, I really enjoy making these games – but I also enjoy playing them.”