Asano on Bravely Default’s Final Fantasy ties, Bravely Second localization interest, game’s name, more
Kotaku recently had the chance to speak with Bravely Default producer Tomoya Asano and assistant producer Shinji Takahashi. The two commented on the game’s Final Fantasy ties and name, interest in localizing Bravely Second, and more.
You can find some excerpts from the interview below. Kotaku’s full piece is located here.
On why Bravely Default isn’t a Final Fantasy game…
Asano: This project was originally planned as a sequel to 4 Heroes of Light, and so you will notice some Final Fantasy flavor here and there as a result of that. But we decided early on that we would like to challenge ourselves with the opportunity of creating an entirely new title that wasn’t related to previous games, and we felt like that would spur us on to completely different directions for this kind of game.
On why the team kept the references like spell names when they decided to not make a Final Fantasy game…
Asano: Certainly when you look at the game and you think about some of the elements here like turn-based combat, or a job system, or even the fact that people are exploring a world looking for crystals, you definitely start to get the sense that there are a lot of classic Final Fantasy elements. And I think that the names you’re talking about were just another one of those factors where we felt like these are things that are familiar to people and make it easier for them to get into the game. So we decided to keep them intact for that reason.
On releasing a new Bravely Default game each year and Square Enix’s franchise plans…
Asano: Right, we would like to do a new Bravely Default every year, and we’ve actually already announced Bravely Second in Japan, and hope to be releasing it this year. But I do believe that Bravely Default will continue to evolve in its own direction. It may retain some of the world feel, for example, the crystals being an important story element. But I believe it’s going to be generating a lot of its own new terms as well.
On the advantages/disadvantages of making an RPG on 3DS rather than consoles…
Asano: When we’re talking about Bravely Default, this is a game that would take people about 50-60 hours to complete, and I like to think that when you’re playing that on a handheld, you can have a much more comfortable experience; you can be laying down on a bed, or playing any time anywhere. It makes it much more convenient and comfortable.
As far as disadvantages, I suppose that if you’re comparing this to console games, then you’re certainly dealing with the smaller screen, but in the case of the Nintendo 3DS, you have a stereoscopic display that allows us to do things that are only possible on that system. And we really enjoy the process of going from our concept illustrations and backgrounds to interesting ways to represent that space that I think we could not have done anywhere but on the 3DS.
On what changed the team’s mind in terms of localizing Bravely Default…
Asano: That’s right, our initial goal was really just to make an RPG for Japanese fans, with all of our available resources and energy. We weren’t thinking about localizing an overseas version at all until after we released the Japanese version, and it was so well-received that news started to get out. We saw that there was quite a bit of demand overseas for this game as well. It was at that time that we decided to partner with Nintendo to pursue that opportunity. So it wasn’t until after the Japanese version of the game came out.
On interest in localizing Bravely Second…
Asano: We certainly would like to release the sequel in the US as well, but we’re definitely going to be taking a look at the sales for this one.
On whether Asano would consider making a game without Japanese RPG elements like turn-based gameplay/invisible random encounters…
Asano: Certainly these are rather old game mechanics when you’re talking about turn-based combat or random encounters in the field. But we also feel like there’s kind of a line of succession here in terms of how the features have been handled in various different games… Bravely Default I feel like is definitely suited for a certain market that likes those features, and those were really the kinds of people that we were thinking of the most when making it.
On Bravely Default’s microtransactions…
Asano: So I think you’re referring to the SP Drinks, when you talk about microtransactions. That’s an item that will allow you to charge up SP that allows you to use the Bravely Second system. And normally, you would gain one of these SP per eight hours of inactivity, so you would only expect to be able to use Bravely Second about 2-3 times per 24 hours. And that’s the rate around which we were really thinking about the balance of the game when designing encounters and thinking of difficulty.
It’s a very strong move, and doing it about 2-3 times per session in a day felt about right to us. It’s very helpful of course, but it’s not needed for most players. It’s something that can help new players address some difficulty, if they just can’t seem to get past one boss. But it’s something that also removes the damage cap, so even advanced players might come up with a bit of a meta-game where they try to raise meters to create the largest hit possible.
And so from both perspectives, whether you’re a new player or an advanced one, it’s something that’s there for both fun and comfort in the play experience.
On the game’s name…
Asano: As I mentioned earlier, we were really designing this game with Japanese RPG fans in mind, so the fact that the title might have sounded a little bit strange in English wouldn’t have been a problem for us at that time when we were thinking about only Japanese fans as the audience. But when we decided that we would be doing a localized version, we did have a discussion about whether to change the title to something that might sound a little more acceptable in English. But the issue for us was that people in the US already knew about the game because it was so well received in Japan. And they knew it by that title. So we decided to keep that title.
