Bravely Default

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy (Japanese title; known as Bravely Default in the United States and Bravely Default: Where The Fairy Flies everywhere else) is an Eastern RPG for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Silicon Studio and published by Square Enix. It is a Spiritual Successor to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, and in fact was early in development conceived as a sequel to it. The game stands out from the crowd with its eponymous Bravely Default battle system, wherein the player and enemies can choose to use Braves to get extra turns or Defaults to delay and store them for extra effects, adding a new layer of strategy to your usual turn-based RPG fare.

The plot follows Agnès Oblige, a young woman chosen from birth to be the protector of the Wind Crystal, one of the four elemental Crystals that grant prosperity to the land of Luxendarc. When the Wind Crystal and its fellows are consumed by a sudden darkness, Agnès must embark on a grand journey across the world to purify them with the guidance of a magical Cryst-Fairy called Airy. Aiding her on her journey is an eclectic group of characters: Tiz Arrior, the only survivor of his Doomed Hometown; Ringabel, an enigmatic Casanova with no memories; and Edea Lee, a chivalrous knight from the country of Eternia who was originally sent to capture Agnès. Opposing them are the Job Masters of Eternia, who aim to shatter the Crystalist religion and seize the power of the Crystals for their own use.

It was released in Japan in October 11, 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS, and an Updated Rerelease called Bravely Default: For The Sequel was released on December 5, 2013. A localisation of For The Sequel was released in Europe (under the title Bravely Default: Where The Fairy Flies) on December 6, 2013; a North American version was released February 7, 2014.

The lead writer is Naotaka Hayashi, who also wrote Steins;Gate. In addition, the game's score is by Revo of Sound Horizon fame.

A browser Spin Off called Bravely Default: Praying Brage and a proper sequel entitled Bravely Second have also been released in 2015 and 2016. The sequel takes places several years after the events of the original and features a new protagonist named Magnolia Arch. A trilogy currently^[when?] named Bravely Third is currently^[when?] in the works.

Tropes used in Bravely Default include:

Absurdly Low Level Cap: With the right items and abilities, it isn't difficult to reach level 99. However, endgame material is tough enough that you'll be recommended to have a team of at least low 90s, ensuring the player always has a challenge. For better, or for worse, depending on skill.
Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: A gradual example. At first, Karl's inn in Caldisla is completely free thanks to your being friends with him. As the world-jumping goes on, however, he'll no longer recognize the party and his inn becomes one of the most expensive in the game.
All the Worlds Are a Stage: The Dimension's Hasp. Its floors are replicas of floors from several prior dungeons, starting with Vestment Cave and ending in Everlast Tower. Its locations are also a hint to the identity of the Bonus Boss: Wouldn't you find The Adventurer in each of these areas?
Anti-Frustration Features: Quite a few are present to make the weaknesses of RPGs less pronounced:
- Random Encounters rates can be boosted or turned off entirely. This makes backtracking out of a dungeon to heal much more forgiving, and grinding less of a wait.
- The Brave system allows you to spam attacks to quickly get through random encounters, and even rewards you with extra money, EXP and JP if you meet certain conditions (which generally favor eliminating enemies as fast as possible anyway).
- The Adventurer shows up in almost every dungeon, usually right before encountering a boss. He doesn't offer any healing, but he does give you a chance to save and buy healing items.
- The game's auto-saves your game every time you move between areas/dungeon floors, and even immediately after boss battles. The feature can be disabled if one so chooses.
- If a character can't complete an action for that turn, the BP they would have spent on that action is saved and available at their next turn.
- One of the abilities unlocked by the Conjurer job is "Obliterate", which instantly kills enemies twenty levels or more below the party. This makes grinding so much more convenient.
- Every dungeon, and even the seal on Derosso's door (assuming you already did the sidequest), will already be completed once you arrive in a new world. It doesn't make sense in story terms, but considering the alternative of doing them all over for 6 or so iterations, it's doubtful anyone will complain.
- If you're interested in seeking out Streetpass with other players, but live in an area largely devoid of other people playing 3DS's, updating your Streetpass data daily in the Save menu will send out 3-4 net invites on your behalf and find other players, which will guarantee a steady supply of villagers for the Norende minigame and get some options for summoning friends in battle. Many attacks players send online tend to be horrifically powerful.
- Brewing/Mixing is normally a frustrating process to figure out without resorting to Guide Dang It, but Compounding as a Salve-Maker has the courtesy to tell you what each combination of items will do. You can also cancel and re-try as many times as you wish, so you don't waste the ingredients either. While this still requires you to try lots of combinations to figure it all out, it is much less annoying than having to actually make every single Compound just to find out what it does. Your compounds are also recorded in D's Journal.
Antiquated Linguistics: Characters mostly speak fashion of England a century or more ago.
Arc Words: "Have the courage to disobey."
Augmented Reality: It's an optional feature and uses AR cards to see mini movies about Tiz, Ringabel, Anegus, and Edea.
Bare Your Midriff
Black Mage
Class and Level System
Cleavage Window
Demo: It's demo doesn't reveal any spoilers, but it made potential buyers think it's just a level grinding game and with little to no story.
Doomed Hometown: Norende
Egomaniac Hunter: Artiemia Venus
Gratuitous English: The title, which makes close to zero sense in English. According to The Other Wiki, Naotaka Hayashi, the game's writer, has stated that the title means "have courage and renounce the promises and responsibilities that are expected of you."
Grimy Water: Played straight with certain areas in certain locations, like some parts of Miasma Woods and the Florem Gardens have purple flowers, which gives the party ingame effects, unless they equip special armors. So, no short cuts.
Heroes With Bad Publicity: The Vestals, since it appears to the public that these holy ones didn't do anything when the four crystal were darken and shattered and also assumed that the Vestals don't care.
I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Most of the Florem residents desire this.
It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": PG is pronounced as "Pig."
Impossible Mission: Tiz wants to rebuild Norende.
Lady Land: Florem, there's a strict rule that requires that all its residents are supposed to be women.
MacGuffin: D's Journal.
No Export for You: It can only be played on the 3DS (Cue PS Vita port begging).
- Bravely Default can only be bought if one lives in the USA, Japan, and Europe.
Punny Name: "Luxendarc": "lux" is Latin for "light", and "darc", well...
Random Encounters
Scenery Porn: The attention to detail and lighting of the gorgeous backgrounds makes them the star of the released screenshots.
Shifting Sand Land: Ancheim, the Land of Sand and Time
Skill Slot System: Similar to Final Fantasy 5.
Spell Blade: The weapon of choice for Spell Fencers.
Spiritual Successor: Of Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light.
Swamps Are Evil: Aptly named Miasma Forest.
Magic Knight: The Spell Fencer Class.
Meaningful Name: Many of the characters have these names, like Artiemia Venus (Who name is referencing Artimas, a Huntress goddess, and Venus, a goddess who is renown for her beauty).
Microtransaction: Real money is used to buy SP.
- Subverted, the player can also put the 3DS on sleep mode for several hours to restore lost SP.
Spoony Bard: The Performer Class.
Talking Animals: Some of the animals do talk, like the Fox merchants.
Thirsty Desert: Harena Desert.
Trauma Inn
White Mage
Warrior Monk
World Map
Zettai Ryouiki