Square Enix Says Bravely Second Will Focus On Story Rather Than Exploration

Bravely Default series producer Tomoya Asano has explained that Bravely Second will have more of an emphasis on story rather than exploration. Asano mentioned that Bravely Default and Bravely Second both predominately target adult audiences, much like Final Fantasy and to some degree, Dragon Quest.

“Asano also let us know that Bravely isn’t a series that is focused on exploration. Rather, it’s meant to be more of a story-driven experience. This is why Bravely Default doesn’t make enemies visible on the map—referred to as “symbol encounters” in Japan—and instead, opts to use an adjustable random encounter rate, in order to let players streamline their experience. This system will remain in Bravely Second.”

“Originally, showing exploration more naturally is not something we put importance on because [the game] consists of deformed characters walking on a deformed map,” Asano shared. “However, having symbol encounters is convenient in that it allows players to engage in battles at their own pace. The adjustable encounter rate accomplishes this.”

“An interesting point worth mentioning is that Asano says both Bravely Default and Bravely Second target adult audiences. Asano pointed to the adult audiences of both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy as the target audience for the Bravely games. In the past, Asano and character designer Akihiko Yoshida have said that Bravely Second’s heroine, Magnolia, is turning out a little more adult in nature than Bravely Default’s characters.”

“On the subject of Magnolia, Asano said to us, “With regards to Magnolia, we wanted to focus on new characters rather than the current four. It should be interesting, so I hope you are looking forward to it!”