Topic: Bravely Default II (Nintendo Switch)

Well, here it is. Bravely Default II is coming exclusively to Nintendo Switch in 2020. And Revo is back! And we all know the best JRPGs are built on a foundation of an excellent score.

Here’s a statement from Revo:

Looking forward to this. Played the first game (haven't played Second), found it good. Also liked Octopath Traveler.

Square Enix's support of Switch has been good so far. For example a lot of FF ports, Dragon Quest XI, Dragon Quest Builders 1 and 2, Octopath Traveler, Collection of Mana, the upcoming Trials of Mana and now this.

Square Enix truly has led the charge with supporting the Switch. It’s a hybrid console. It’s not a good fit for everything, but what they have been able to do, they’ve done.

I only wish Tomb Raider trilogy would be ported over, but they seem less interested in bringing their more western type games, which is a shame.

@JaxonH JRPG's suits the console perfectly, in my opinion. I also love to get a second chance at playing some classics I've missed, like FFVII (just remember watching sporadically while my brother played it when we were kids at the end of the 90's, but I've never experienced it myself). Chrystal Chronicles is another example.

Loved the first game, but never touched Bravely Second End Layer. Which makes calling the third game in this series Bravely Default II slightly confusing. Unless S-E calls the next entry Bravely Third...or something like that. Regardless, Bravely was dope. Easily the best Final Fantasy game not called Final Fantasy.

A must-own for any jrpg fan.

I hope there's an uber-edition similar to what Octopath Traveler offered.

It seems to follow Final Fantasy, Assassin’s Creed, Kingdom Hearts, and every other series’ naming convention,

Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Final Fantasy XIII-3

Bravely Default I
Bravely Default I-2 (Bravely Second)
Bravely Default II

Each new main numbered entry is the start of a new story with new characters, while every other release is a continuation of the story of the last mainline numbered entry (aka a direct sequel).

I personally, can't wait for this.
Although some of the art style reminds me of like claymation or something..

The more I look at it, the more I appreciate how well they’ve adapted the trademark style into the HD era. It’s one of my absolute favorite styles of any JRPG ever. It just feels so cozy. So right.

And, much like Fire Emblem gained feet after Awakening, Bravely Default gets noses!

I think the deformed character designs looked better without noses, personally.

Anyway, so long as the gameplay, music, and environments are solid, I don't really care about the character designs either way.

It's kind of funny how Atlus was, far and away, the biggest supporter of the 3DS, and now S-E has taken up that role for the Nintendo Switch.

Ohh. I always thought it looked weird without noses. Everything else about it was on point, but their faces just looked weird. It was ok being on 3DS because you couldn’t make out much detail anyways, but it would look strange indeed if they had no noses on the new characters 😁

I’m hoping once the new generation starts, and Atlus gets cold feet with a small install base, they migrate over to Switch for its final 3 years, just as they migrated over to PS4 once 3DS died off. I think the last 3 years of Switch are going to be the best yet. Everyone was so hesitant to support the system that it took several years just for the support to start ramping up properly. But now we’re at a point where I think everyone realizes it’s a money maker, even more than 3DS was. Get ready for some spectacular new games over the next few years.

But hats off to Square Enix. Not only are they migrating Final Fantasy over (every game that can run)- and I bet we see FFXIV at some point too, as well as Kingdom Hearts Story So Far, they’re actually bringing new games, and new exclusive games at that.

I wonder if there's any hope for a Bravely Default & Bravely Second HD Remaster double pack on Switch before Bravely Default II arrives?

They still get massive points for DQXI, even if it's a port. They practically had to re-develop the game to get it running well on the Switch, but it was worth it. I haven't enjoyed a S-E game this long since... well, since the days of the PS1. It fixes every issue I had with DQVIII while maintaining its charm and giving us an even better cast of characters.

Also cool how they touch up some of their older ports for the system. FFXII is better on Switch than PS4 because of some QoL improvements, actually. Everything they port seems to run really well. Once Bravely 2 comes out, we'll have two at least console exclusive games for Switch. You couldn't ask for much better support from one company.

I do think we'll get more Atlus stuff than just SMT V, though. If you remember, their presence on the PS4 was almost non-existent until Persona 5 released, and then they started using that game's engine for spin-offs and whatnot. And this is Atlus' first time working with UE4.

I certainly hope so, @Magician .... There's likely enough people who didn't get to play them before & who'd get them again, as well

I'm definitely looking forward to this one. I enjoyed both Bravely Default and Bravely Second and have been keeping an eye out for more news. Unpopular opinion maybe, but I liked the second game slightly more due to some of the QoL improvements. They did get rid of one of my favorite job combinations between the first and second game (Arcanist/Black Mage), but that was borderline broken anyway. XD

Second game was amazing. I never finished either of them but man did I love those games.

Bravely Second had one of the best demos of any game to date, save perhaps the DQXIS demo. It was practically the MGSV Phantom Pain of JRPGs, but without the $40 price tag.

Love the 3DS games.

I really hope they make the world a bit deeper this time though. The 3DS games were annoying because these handpainted towns look so great, but then you can barely explore them. That first area in the first game is a picture of a massive city, and then you can only go in 2 buildings. That's such a buzzkill in games like this.

If you want to make a really restricted and linear game, at least have the decency to do a FF13 and make it look like a corridor. If you're gonna make it look open, it needs to have some degree of openness.

If they didn't draw the original artwork in HD, then there's pretty much zero chance.

I imagine they did, even back on the PS1 they did the pre-rendered backgrounds in much higher quality and downscaled them. A few years ago someone unearthed some of the original FFIX backgrounds and they were gorgeous. I would have to guess they have incomplete records which is why they haven’t been used in modern ports.

As for the noses, I think they look cute without them. What always weirded me out was their hips being so wide!

@Glitchling78

I think you're probably talking about the concept art for FF9. I'm fairly sure that was actually the hand-drawn and painted stuff that they based the final renders on, but not the actual renders themselves.

Pretty much everything in the PS1 games was 3D renders in the final game. And I'm fairly sure Square have admitted they threw away those original files. Obviously back then no-one anticipated that they might need to make a HD version a decade later.

Anyone hear anything else about release timeframe? I'm guessing no, but thought I would bring it up. I still only see 2020.

@komodo182 No, the only upcoming Nintendo published game with a more specific release timeframe than "2020" is Animal Crossing on March 20th.