When Japanese games are localised for western release it's often the case that publishers such as Nintendo decide that certain elements need to be changed in order to make things suitable for a western audience. We saw this recently with Tharja's bottom in Fire Emblem: Awakening's DLC, and it would appear that Bravely Default — which is already available in Europe and comes out in the US shortly — has also had some of its content subtly altered.

The changes appear to relate to the costumes worn by some of the female characters:

Left is west, right is Japan

The screens on the right are taken from the Japanese version of the game, while the ones on the left come from the western localisation.

In addition to these cosmetic changes, the ages of some of the characters has been increased. Other changes to the storyline may be present, but without directly comparing the two versions side-by-side, we can't say for sure.

Will these alterations impact your purchasing decision, or do you see them as pretty minimal? Let us know by posting a comment.

Thanks to Nintendo Life reader eiffel65 for sending this in.

[source ign.com]