Welcome to our exclusive interview with Tomoya Asano (Bravely series general producer) and Naofumi Matsushita (Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster producer). It was an honor to interview two legends from the gaming industry about one of my (now) favorite JRPGs, so without further ado, let’s dive in and give them the floor.
Bravely Default in general:
Bravely Default has become iconic among modern turn-based RPGs. What motivated you to revisit it now with a remaster?
Asano: In around the spring of 2022, the team got together to discuss the upcoming 10th anniversary of the Bravely series and we wondered what the best thing that we could do to delight the fans who have supported us over that time was. We were even put under a little pressure by the assistant producer of the original game, Masashi Takahashi, reminding us that “It is the 10th Anniversary, don’t you know?!” (laughs). We thought about various directions that we could go, including making a completely new game as well as remasters and remakes, but ultimately decided that we should make it possible to easily play the first game on modern platforms. Once that was decided I spoke to Mr. Matsushita and asked him “Well, the 10th anniversary is only 6 months away, do you think you can have it ready by then?”. Obviously doing it that quickly was completely impossible though! (laughs) When we were working out the development schedule, we realised that our projected release date overlapped with the Nintendo Switch 2, which blessed us with a great opportunity.
Matsushita: Pretty much exactly when we were discussing that, we heard that the 3DS section of the Nintendo e Shop was going to close in March 2023. I was in charge of handling that and there was quite a reaction, not just from players here in Japan, but from all around the world, who were saying that they still wanted to use the online functions and didn’t want the shop to close. I was moved when I realised that we had so many loyal customers who were passionate about still wanting to play our game and thought it would be great if we could release something that would please them. We found a new determination towards the idea of doing a remaster, although it was way too late to have it ready in time for the 10th anniversary itself (laughs).
Beyond HD visuals, what enhancements or refinements can fans expect in Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster?
Matsushita: Firstly, we stabilised the frame rate at 60fps by making the game a Switch 2 exclusive. We also re-worked all the sounds and voices to make them even clearer to hear, with the co-operation and support of the Square Enix sound team. In addition to that, we rebuilt the UI from scratch, as it was originally designed for a two-screen setup and needed changing to one based on aa single screen. We put in numerous convenience features to improve the games quality of life and many of these were actually reverse imported from ideas pioneered in Bravely Second and Bravely Default II. By changing the Street Pass reliant gameplay that was unique to the 3DS system into a mechanic involving “passing souls” in towns, it was possible to re-create the experience given by the original communications features and gameplay in a way that does not feel off at all.
We have also added in two completely new mini games that are designed around the Switch 2’s new mouse controls, as well as an option to switch the encounter rate down to zero when playing and even written some new D’s Journal entries. These new entries were created especially for this edition by the same Keiichi Ajiro who was in charge of the scenario writing for the original game.
Were there any original elements you considered changing, but ultimately chose to keep, for the sake of authenticity?
Matsushita: What we placed particular importance on throughout the development was the core concepts of not changing the gameplay experience and improving the smoothness and ease of play. Accordingly, there have been no changes to the main story. The graphics also use the original resources up scaled and converted as a rule. We did re-work some sections that we did not feel met modern game design standards, but our guiding policy, including for the UI redesign, was very much to retain the same feel from the past when making improvements and enhancements.
The communications-based mechanics have been converted to a system of “passing souls” in towns, but you can still use all the familiar features, such as restoring Norende, Abilink, special abilities and friend summoning in exactly the same way. The high-level bosses that were available through the network features have also been re-positioned in the main game content, so all of them can still be fought and the whole gameplay experience is pretty much completely available as it was in the original Bravely Default.
What were the biggest technical or creative challenges in bringing a Nintendo 3DS title to the more powerful Switch 2?
Matsushita: I would definitely say it was the UI. We had to re-build the entire UI as we were combining something that was designed to be split across two screens onto just one. We had quite a hard time creating a new UI that made the game smoother and more and convenient to play, while also making the information easy to follow for newcomers. One other thing was the AR movies. Where the original 3DS platform let you move the system itself in all directions so you could have fun composing a scene, for the remaster we are using a controller, so we tried to recreate as close an experience as possible using the controller to alter camera angles.
Nintendo Switch 2 development:
How has the hardware of the Nintendo Switch 2 expanded what you can do with a game like Bravely Default?
Matsushita: Once we had decided to develop for Switch 2, I heard about the new mouse controls that it would offer and felt that if it was the original Bravely team that was doing this game then they would definitely have challenged themselves to use those in some way! The original game made full use of all the 3DS hardware features, so I didn’t want to be beaten by the original team and decided to support these new controls straight away. The staff at our developer, Cattle Call, were all very passionate about the original game too, and I was glad when they said they would do it.
We narrowed down various ideas about how to make use of these controls to the two you see in the final game, and I think that the Luxencheer Rhythm Catch minigame really gets across how you play it through the visuals, with characters dancing on screen and the notes approaching towards them. On the other side, the airship game (Ringabel’s Panic Cruise) was done in a way that hasn’t really been seen before, where you are somewhat puzzled about how to control everything going on, and I hope that intrigues players. We focused on ease of accessibility and unique visuals respectively for these two games.
The biggest challenge that we faced in the development was adding these two mini-games. We aimed to make both of them at a level of quality where they could stand alone as games in their own right. To make sure there were no delays I directed the development on the mini-games myself, and finalised the specifications for them rapidly, optimising the development flow and co-ordinating with the QA team to push the debugging schedule for everything, including the mini-games, as far as it could go, right down to the line. This meant that there were no regrets about not being able to do something and I am very satisfied with the results.
I think that we have managed to deliver a really fun way to experience the new mouse controls of the Switch 2 in a style unique to the Bravely Default setting and would be delighted if players feel the same way.
Is there anything you wanted to implement in the original that is finally possible now?
Matsushita: With the Japanese version of the game, we actually did Bravely Default and then made some improvements in For the Sequel, which was released as the original BRAVELY DEFAULT in the west. I checked with Mr. Asano and Mr. Takahashi and they both believe that they did everything they wanted to in those releases! That means that there are no major elements we wanted to work on, but we did look to make further adjustments to polish and enhance the visuals in some of the areas the original development team were most attached to. In particular, we asked Mr. Asano about how Airy was depicted in the original version and based on what he told us, we further enhanced the way she has a blue faery glow around her and how her wings appear translucent. The same goes for the red flames that appear during play as well.
Creative process & philosophy:
From Bravely Default to Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy, you’ve helped define a new wave of HD-2D and classic-feel RPGs. What’s your guiding principle when starting a new IP?
Asano: The philosophy of knowing what gamers want and expect from Square Enix and trying to deliver that is at the core of our thinking.
Looking forward
What message would you like to share with longtime Bravely Default fans awaiting the HD remaster?
Asano: Thank you so much to all the long-term Bravely fans who continue to support us! It has been ten years since we all last played the game, right? In particular, the visuals have been powered up even more that what everyone remembers, so the novelty will probably beat the nostalgia, I think! Have fun with the game!
Does this remaster mark a celebration of the original or a new beginning for the series?
Asano: I think it is probably a bit of both. For those fans who learned about Bravely from playing the HD-2D series, such as Octopath Traveller or Triangle Strategy, this title is the origin point from which out team started, and those games eventually came. It is our masterpiece. There is nothing specific that I can say at the moment, but we’d love to continue the Bravely series in some form going forward, if possible. However you look at it, this release serves as a way to preserve something from the past – for both present and the future.
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We want to thank Mr. Tomoya Asano and Mr. Naofumi Matsushita for their time and effort in answering our questions. Check out our full review via the following link.
