The 2010s was an interesting decade for Square Enix. While the publisher’s HD releases saw an increased focus on action, its handheld titles focused on traditional and experimental RPG mechanics. Out of this era cameBravely Default, a 3DS RPG title that harkened back to the first three Final Fantasy titles where four young adults were chosen by a crystal to save the world. The game proved extremely popular, spawning a sequel and spin-offs across the 3DS, Switch and PC. While fans await a potential third sequel, Square Enix and developer Cattle Call aim to reinvigorate the franchise at the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.Bravely Defaultis back, now titledBravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster. Is this remaster brave enough to excite RPG fans or should it have stayed on the 3DS?
A tale of four heroes
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remastertakes place in the world of Luxendarc, which has been thrown into chaos after the four elemental crystals are consumed by darkness. The story opens with a giant chasm that destroys the town of Norende, setting various events into motion that will either save or doom the world. Players journey with the sole survivor Tiz, vestal of wind Agnes, amnesiac Ringabel and disillusioned soldier Edea as they set out to heal the world.
As a remaster,Flying Fairy HD Remastertells the same story as the 3DS original.Bravely Default’snostalgic story with a handful of twists remains completely intact, warts and all. For the good, that means a simple but charming story that feels ripped right out of theFinal Fantasy I-IIIera, a cast of mostly likeable characters and a series of plot twists that shake up the traditional storytelling.
There’s a decent story here, but many of the original’s warts remain. The writing and voice acting remain as cringey as they were on the 3DS and the pacing heavily pulls down the experience in the narrative’s middle portion. The story does pull itself together strongly in the final hours, though.
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster’snarrative is solid despite its issues, just don’t expect any new story elements, revoiced dialogue or other additions. Nor should you expect much to change about the structure. Like the 3DS original, you’ll wander an open world, conquer dungeons and interact with NPCs to advance the story. In total,Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remastershould easily run you 50-60 hours.
A new UI, same gameplay
There’s also little deviation from the original’s beloved game. Like a traditional turn-based RPG,Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remasteris a turn-based RPG where you assign moves to your four party members and then watch them play out. WhereBravely Defaultstood out, and continues to stand out, is from the depth injected into its systems via the ‘brave/default’ mechanics.
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster’snarrative is solid despite its issues, just don’t expect any new story elements, revoiced dialogue or other additions.
For a game that relies heavily on nostalgia for the classic Final Fantasy games, this mechanic manages to help it stand out from them. In battle, each character’s actions are dictated by Brave Points. Each turn, a character receives a single Brave Point to perform an action. Instead of using that point, however, players can have their characters ‘Default’ and give up their turn, enter a defensive position and bank an additional point that can be used in a later turn. This creates a risk-reward system that encourages careful planning and observation of enemy plans, since they too can bank points. Knowing when to fight, Default and Brave is a key aspect to pulling off difficult battles.
Making playing the game easier is the brand-new UI and quality of life changes introduced by the remaster. The UI has been completely redone and optimized for a single screen. It still feels true to the original game all while working much better on the single screen. Small features like a ‘Heal All’ button or being able to hold the B button to dash make the game feel speedier. Meanwhile, showcasing recommended levels for dungeons and all abilities for each Job upfront makes strategizing for dungeons and bosses more streamlined.
Review: Bravely Default
A few new things
While there aren’t any new story elements, areas to explore, or gameplay mechanics to experiment with, developer Cattle Call did create two minigames: Luxencheer Rhythm Catch, a rhythm-based game, and Ringabel’s Panic Cruise, which sees you fly the group’s airship. As the only new content additions, these modes play with one of the Switch 2’s new gimmicks, the Joy-Con’s mouse controls. These modes aren’t bad and are decent showcases for mouse controls, but they’re not game-changers.
Flying Fairy HD Remasteralso makes use of Switch 2’s Wi-Fi capabilities to allow players to join each other’s games through NPCs known as Passing Souls. Collecting them increases the population of new Norende, allowing you to revamp and upgrade the town at a quicker pace. Furthermore, you can register other players as friends that you can then summon to help you in combat.
Not a showcase, but still lovely to view
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remasteris a remaster of a 3DS title, and you can tell, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Original developer Silicon Studio’s colorful, chibi art style translates beautifully to the Switch 2’s vastly more powerful hardware. The colors are vibrant, the resolution is crisp and stunning, textures are far more detailed, the wider aspect ratio puts more of the beauty on screen and the frame rate is silky smooth. No,Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remasterisn’t going to show off the power and capabilities of your Nintendo Switch 2, but it’s still a game that looks and runs real well on Nintendo’s latest console.
Closing Comments:
Bravely Defaultwas a welcome addition to the RPG genre back when it launched. At a time when it seemed like Square Enix was abandoning its roots,Bravely Defaultwas there to remind players that it hadn’t. More than a decade later,Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remasteris a friendly reminder of how good turn-based RPGs can be, even if this release doesn’t do a lot to update the game. The story remains a nostalgic trip down memory lane with some interesting twists, though the pacing issues and poor dialogue remain unaltered. The design and gameplay haven’t changed, which is a good thing considering how solid they are. The updated UI and quality-of-life improvements do improve the experience, though it would have been nice to get some new content that isn’t just forgettable minigames focused around Switch 2’s mouse control gimmicks. While the game isn’t a graphical showcase for Switch 2’s hardware, the charming chibi art style of the original scales beautifully to the hardware.Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remasteris a good remaster that might not do much to freshen up the original experience, but it does make an already good game available to a new generation of RPG fans.
Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
BRAVELY DEFAULT, the incredible first instalment in the BRAVELY series returns, remastered in High Definition!Without warning, the Great Chasm opened a hole in the world. Tiz is the sole survivor of a village swallowed whole by the chasm. In the depths of his despair, he encounters a young vestal named Agnès. Together they set off on a journey with the goal of closing the chasm and freeing the crystals swallowed by darkness… They set off, entirely unaware of the significance of that goal.
