Tomoya Asano and Akihiko Yoshida talk Bravely Second

Famitsu’s full Bravely Second interview with producer Tomoya Asano and character designer Akihiko Yoshida is now available in English. You can find some experts below and the full translation here.

— Please tell us about the concept for this game.

Asano: There are many concepts on many levels but, to name one of them, we were steadfast in having to surpass the previous game. We took where the last game was fun and then thought about how we should surpass people’s expectations for the next one. Evaluation began with both considering whether to change the characters and world from the previous game or continue that story. The final determination made was that the previous game’s characters and world were something well liked and, since we weren’t changing the hardware the game is on, the sequel would take place a few years after the previous game and expand on the story of Luxendarc.

— As far as key team members go, Asano-san and Yoshida-san, since Silicon Studio is developing the game, what about other people involved with the last game?

Asano: There are a lot of things that are still not decided so we’ll make an announcement at a later time. What I am announcing now is that we’ve asked Yoshida-san to continue art duties from the previous game.

— So you consider the games in the Bravely Series to be special, Yoshida-san?

Yoshida: The scale of development of modern games has gotten bigger and so the effect it has had is that the business is subdivided into all kinds of departments. You don’t really ever feel like you’re done. So, to people like myself who have experience developing old games, you get this yearning somewhere deep down to work on things in a smaller scale. To that end, continuing working together on games like the Final Fantasy 3 Remake or Final Fantasy: 4 Warriors of Light with Asano-kun is very fulfilling. With a development scale that isn’t that large and a group of people who all have the same understanding of the importance of doing things that way, it is very easy to get ideas across so I think it’s been great.

— Please tell us about the beginnings of this game.

Asano: “Second” can mean both sequential second and a second in time. There is also the battle system in “For the Sequel” to stop time during battle called the “Bravely Second.”

— The last game’s subtitle, “Flying Fairy,” had a hidden meaning. What about this time around?

Asano: With “For the Sequel” I said beforehand that there was no special hidden meaning but I can’t do the same this time because I think it will clash with fan expectations. By the way, when it comes to both the title and logo, we will be adding a subtitle so this isn’t the final version.

— The content included in the secret movie in “For the Sequel” was quite surprising.

Asano: In the last game we used AR Movies as one of the new features we included. We got a really good response from that and it was a success but there wouldn’t be anything special if we used AR again in this title so, as a new feature, we decided to try making a movie that uses the gyroscope feature. Both the AR movie from the last game and the gyro movie is something surprising that you can only experience with the 3DS in your hands. I think it gives the game a very “bravely feeling.”

— The video showed a world we’d never seen before.

Asano: That will be one of the locations in Bravely Second.

— Magnoria also made an appearance. What kind of character is she?

Asano: She is the main heroine and will play a role relating to Agnes from the last game. She accompanies you on your journey. We’ve also given her a specific speech pattern where she mixes English into her Japanese. (laughs)

— The things about the demon lord and moon weren’t in the last game so…

Asano: They’re new things added to the world of Luxendarc for “Bravely Second.” There are a lot of things hidden in the secret movie from “For the Sequel” so make sure to watch it closely.

— Yoshida-san, when you were drawing Magnoria, what kinds of things did you pay careful attention to?

Yoshida: Key words that appear in the main scenario conversations like “Lunarian” and “young woman returning home” gave me an vision of her. So I gave her a casual style with outer space clothes and rabbit ears. In the end, when compared to the characters of the last game, she came out seeming a bit more adult but as I was drawing her she became kind of stretched. After trying a lot of different things, the truth is I stretched all the characters just a little bit.

— I can’t wait to see the other characters! The magical academy town of Istantaru was also shown in the initial reveal. Has it also been made into a new city after not being used for a number of years after the last game?

Asano: Not exactly. Since it is a city that’s been around for a while and the characters didn’t have any reason to go to it in the last game, it’s more like a city that hasn’t been visited.

— There’s a lot of interesting information there. What about upgrades to the game system?

Asano: Since “For the Sequel” is a preview of the systems of “Bravely Second,” we are going to carry over elements of battle and character development from there. Still, we’ll look at the reaction to “For the Sequel” and there is a possibility we will change some things.