Here's a look at Bravely Default II's demo

Today, the demo for Bravely Default II is available on the Nintendo Switch eShop, and we gave it a spin. What appears to be the next “numbered” title in the series succeeds 2012’s Bravely Default, which saw a direct sequel named Bravely Second. Both titles released on the Nintendo 3DS.

Bravely Default II takes place in a new world with a new cast of characters. The 2D background style from the original game remain to an extent, and can be explored in 3D using a fixed perspective. Developed with Claytechworks, the game features a new claymation-style look that brings a lot of of character models. Revo has also returned to compose the soundtrack.

You can check out how it turned out in our video below:

The new cast includes Seth, a sailor who washes up on the shore of one of five kingdoms in the land of Excillant. He meets Gloria, a princess of a kingdom destroyed for its crystal. Elvis and Adelle carry a mysterious book they intend to decipher and join Seth on his journey. The demo picks up some ways into the game where the four protagonists have crossed a desert to a submerged city of Savalon, and endeavor to find the cause of the flooding by locating the Water Crystal.

Combat in Bravely Default II is largely brought over from its predecessor, with one key difference. In the original, all allies would select their actions together; here, it’s not so. Enemies and allies take turns individually, and I assume turn order is dictated by an innate attribute. There isn’t a ready way to determine the turn order of each combatant.

Naturally, jobs obtained from Asterisk stones return. Freelancer, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Vanguard, and Thief are available in the demo. Defeating enemies will level up your jobs and bestow battle and support abilities accordingly. These abilities can be saved as a sub-job should you switch to another, allowing you to mix battle abilities from two jobs and support abilities from all sorts. This is the meat of the game here, where finding a synergistic selection often makes a world of difference.

Square Enix will be collecting feedback in a survey to be distributed at a later time.

Bravely Default II is set for 2020 on Nintendo Switch.


About the Author

Tony Garsow Tony joined Nova Crystallis in 2015, and has spent more than a decade writing in the Final Fantasy community. He also contributes to the Nova Crystallis Twitch and YouTube channels, where you can watch select gameplay highlights, previews, and streams.

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