A comprehensive list of additions and changes in Bravely Default: For the Sequel

Bravely Default: For the Sequel may not be an entirely new game, but Square Enix is making a ton of changes and improvements. Producer Tomoya Asano and Silicon Studio’s Kensuke Nakahara gave a comprehensive rundown in an interview with Dengeki Online, which was summarized by Game Jouhou. We have the translation below.

– Introducing auto-save (This can be enabled or disabled in options)
– Items in all columns will be unified, selection of items in the top and bottom of the cross button will be determined by using left or right, and introducing a cancel operation (This can be set in options)
– Encounter rate is selectable, and it can be changed at any time during the game.
– The sub-scenario from the final stage is, although probably considered massively unbalanced, allowing for the deployment of the “asterisk holder” to more than once at the same time.
– Voices in additional events have been rerecorded. There are also new battle party combinations.
– It was hard to not fight in a lot of random places in the first one after clearing the game, so we decided to put an idea together to make the battles more exciting.
– Argent Heinkel, Ominous Crow, Bearing Out, as well as the Holly White Knights may all appear at the same time. This easily raises the question, “Why such a combination?!”
– There are now 3 save slots.
– The ability to add one to jobs or abilities is getting a bit of an adjustment and recalculation. As an exception, by being able to set the encounter rate, the “Keeping Off the Enemy” ability is no longer needed and has been replaced with “Poison Invalid” instead.
– The appearance of monsters will be similar to the first game, but there will be new enemies appearing in places associated with the new system in this second game.
– Some weapons and armor will be available through benefits and collaborations. (Obtained through products such as CDs, books, etc)
– The BGM has not been arranged like the previous game, and new songs by Revo were added by the requirement of the new system.
– But For the Sequel, it is not possible to skip or fast-forward the ending credits.
– There is no direct correlation with the browser game Praying Brage. Only in For the Sequel is there an assumption that there’s a connection with Playing Brage, since Mr Ajiro supervised both games.
– No change to Crystal’s roll speed.
– Change due to difficulty only pertains to your surroundings. There will be no change to AI behavior patterns.
– NORMAL difficulty is similar to that of the original game, but considering the new system being added, boss fights have been adjusted to be a little stronger.
– Multilingual support. With the addition to Japanese voice and text, there will also be English voice and subtitles for 5 languages. You can also use English voice with Japanese subtitles, and you can change this at any time during the game.
– With the newly added Event Viewer, it is possible to to do continuous playback from the main or sub events. It should be noted that that voice and text reflect the data for the jobs while playing.
– The new battle system is to “break through some kind of limit”. In terms of the first game, the system at its core is Bravely Default. FTS is not a cheap cash-in. It is a true trial for the upcoming sequel.
– The amount of information that can be confirmed during the battle has increased.
– In the first game, there was a subtle waiting time for the character when you press the button to skip the message. This was modified to send messages more quickly.
– Expressions have been added to the face graphics of party chat. You can laugh, be angry, or wink.
– Such as progress and equipment from the original game, progress of almost everything besides the story will transfer over.