Review: Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster Is a Joy to Play on Switch 2

The original Bravely Default and Bravely Second left me awestruck. The gameplay called to mind Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light and more classic entries in that series, and the story’s direction grabbed hold of me in a way that nearly felt unhealthy. I spent hours getting every job, exploring every sidequest, and building up my characters as stayed until the very end. 11 years later, even though I did all this before, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster triggered the same response on the Switch 2,  and this Square Enix game remains a fantastic JRPG.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster begins with Agnes Oblige calling out for help, asking for warriors of light for salvation as the world crumbles around her and she falls into the cracks. Across the world, we see shepherd Tiz Arrior tending his flock with his little brother Til when the Great Chasm swallows up their village of Norende, leaving him the only survivor. When he returns to the ruins, he finds the Wind Vestal Agnes and the Cryst-fairy Airy who are on a journey to awaken the four crystals of the world to save it. The two end up ed by an amnesiac named Ringabel, who holds a book called D’s Journal that sometimes seems to predict the future, and the Eternian defector Edea Lee who is disgusted by the behavior of the Sky Knights.

I’m not going to say anything more about the story. I don’t want to spoil anything. But it is great, the characters are fantastic, and it holds up over 10 years later.

Like Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster is a turn-based JRPG with a job system. As you defeat Asterisk holder bosses, you gain new roles for of your party to undertake. You can then, in turn, combine them by equipping a second command category and an ability that offers some sort of extra feature of buff or bonus. For example, you can make someone a Black Mage who also has the White Magic class of spells and equipped the Angelic Ward ability that might halve damage or a Ninja with Thief command and Raid ability that could increase everyone’s BP when a battle starts. 

Speaking of BP, that’s the element that sets Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster apart as a JRPG. You can either stock up on action points (Default), making a character defend against attacks in the process, or act up to four times in a single turn (Brave) by forgoing attacking the next three turns after that. Think of it as being both a strategic and quality of life gameplay element. In more standard encounters, you could direct all four characters to each use Brave four times in a row to attack (or create an “Auto” preset with that) to quickly grind for levels and job points to level up roles to get access to more abilities. That lets you wipe everything out in one turn. In the case of a boss fight or more difficult challenge, you could use Default to defend and stockpile turns or prepare for guards to drop, then respond with multiple attacks at once. You can gain greater control of a battle’s pace. I personally like to have one of my physical attackers (Edea or Tiz) Brave all at once, then have Agnes and Ringabel perform more nuanced attacks responding to situations ASAP. 

As in Final Fantasy or other Square Enix JRPG games, the adventure in Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster sends us around the world. There is the main campaign, as well as sidequest stories to follow. For the sake of clarity, Airy appears in the in-game menu to offer suggestions. There are party talk moments when the four discuss what’s going on or offer insight into the world. Campaign quest objectives are highlighted with orange markers, while sidequests use blue ones. The UI, redone for this release, is easy to parse. Not to mention the towns we visit are even more stunning in this version, thanks to enhanced textures that make the pop-up, fairytale designs really, well, pop. In general, every main character, major opponent, and enemy looks wonderful in HD with the updated models and textures. The opening movie and new voice acting is also wonderful and adds to the experience. 

The other changes to Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster on the Switch 2 feel like appropriate quality of life additions. While newcomers might not use the fast forward auto-play option as much, I it to using it a few times early on to see how it worked and get to a full party faster. It’s a great option! The 50% to 200% encounter rate is handy for grinding, and I love being able to have four possible presets for the auto-battle function that carries over when fights start. Because of the way I play, I didn’t need the “recommended level” for dungeons, but I expect that will be quite handy for others. I also think the way Souls appear every 24 hours in-town is helpful, since getting folks to help rebuild Norende or allies for attacks would be as easy as it was in the 3DS years. 

While the two new minigames are fun enough, rebuilding Norende still feels like the most valuable optional activity. The souls you gather from towns from other players allow you to assign those “townsfolk” to unlocking and upgrading tasks in the fledgeling village following the devastation at the beginning of the game. This adds more to a shop, additional Special Moves, and sometimes bonuses for just stopping by. It’s great to load up folks on a task to bring the timing down to 15-30 minutes when you’re active, then spread them out when you’ll be sleeping or away for 12-24 hours. 

I will say that I sort of feel like the Luxencheer Rhythm Catch and Ringabel’s Panic Cruise minigames in
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster are better introductions to the Switch 2 Joy-Con mouse controls than Nintendo’s Welcome Tour. In Ringabel’s Panic Cruise, you’re actually using the left and right controllers in mouse mode to steer the ship, perform certain controls to hit altitudes, manage folks’ requests, swat flies, and maintain speeds. It’s interesting and a great showcase of the new feature! Luxencheer Rhythm Catch is a more typical type of rhythm game, with the mouse controls tasking you with catching note indicators with the energy line between your two lightsticks or moving in time with the (ittedly great) songs from the game’s soundtrack. Both can be genuinely fun and show what the console can do.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster is a remarkable Switch 2 JRPG, and the core gameplay, mechanics, and story remain fresh and relevant. It looks beautiful and runs wonderfully on the Switch 2. I’d even say the new gameplay additions serve as a better introduction to mouse controls for the hardware than the actual tech demo minigame collection Nintendo created. Anyone who picks it up to go with their new system won’t be disappointed.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster is available on the Switch 2.