i was in like, middle school when bravely second came out. i remember seeing aimee matchlock and loving her for so many reasons--a strong female character for one at a time where so many still played a backseat to men (and let's be honest, as suave and murderous as angelo is, direct combat alone isn't his strong suit; he'd lose a fistfight aimee could win 5x over any day). a strong female BROWN character for two, as a brown afab myself, who almost never gets to see other brown girls in most (j)rpgs.
did they play into some stereotypes at the time? absolutely. i was p young when she debuted in bravely second and had a p disillusioned view of her, relatively naive and blissfully ignorant of how her outfitting (especially in the jpn release) and some of her more aggressive mannerisms made her feel more, "savage,"-like (in addition to the unfortunate portrayal of ochette from Octopath 2 being the only non-human of the cast).
though i love her sass. i love her wordplay. i love her boldness. i love that she is so confident and self-assured and does not let every little opposition sway how she thinks of herself. i love that she is the focus of angelo's affections and portrayed as a woman worthy of wholehearted, genuine, long-lasting cherishment. all these years later, and i can only look at and think of her so fondly.
I noticed a couple of comments about the Bravely Series on Twitter last night that made me realize some folks didn't know some of what I consider common knowledge of the series (like why the ba'al theme wasn't on the Bravely Default soundtrack).
Contains spoilers for all three games. Also this got longer than I thought, thanks in advance if you make it to the end and find something you didn't know! I'm sure most of this seems obvious to long timefans.
Here is a compilation of what I know that may or may not be common knowledge to newcomers?
I had to split this into three parts because of Tumblr's character limit and I'm honestly too tired to fix the numbering. A much more readable version can be found on Google Docs here.
First part:
The version of Bravely Default that was received in the West is the second version of the original Bravely Default game, released in Japan in Dec 2013. This version, called "Bravely Default: For the Sequel" came with a massive (80ish) amount of improvements based on player feedback, such as: additional sidequests for the Asterisk Holders in later parts of the game, difficulty and encounter settings sliders, battle speed, redrawing the cities, and the Bravely Second mechanic itself.
This means some tie-ins to Bravely Second didn't exist with the first version - the Adventurer being green when you first encounter her, the end AR movie with Magnolia, the Ba'als and their theme. All this was added later.
The Japanese version does include different languages, including English, so if you can't understand Japanese you can still easily play this version of the game on a hacked or Japanese 3DS!
The first release in Oct 2012 was called "Bravely Default: Flying Fairy" and a lot of JP folks still use BDFF to refer to it.
While BDFTS and BD: Where the Fairy Flies (the Western release) are functionally identical, some changes between JP and West include but are not limited to:
Costumes were censored (such as the Vampire having a bodysuit under the belts and the Bravo Bikini)
The ages of Agnes, Tiz, Edea, Alternis and the Venus sisters was bumped up 3 years in their journal entries (or anyone whose age is written out instead of written as numerals).
Japan had merchandise that had codes for the extra costumes. The extra costumes made it into the Western version of the released game for in-game currency with the exception of Tiz's Dimensional Officer, Edea's Military Cadet, Agnes's Bravo Bunny, and Ringabel's Wakoku Warrior.
You can summon friends from Japanese versions and those costumes will be visible EXCEPT the Bravo Bunny is censored (the cut-out is covered) and Wakoku Warrior is replaced with Freelancer.
These codes expired after like 2 years.
There are 4 novels called "Pocketbook of R" (2 books) and "Pocketbook of R Second" (2 books). I'm including all the translation information I currently have.
Pocketbook of R is a first person journal from Ringabel in what is commonly dubbed "Infinity World" between the events of Bravely Default and Bravely Second.
Ellen translated the first book here (note that she did largely 'summary' translations as she hated the writing in the novel).
Bill translated most of the second book (page 70+) here. (Bill's native language is French and while I did some proofreading, there may be some clunkiness of translating from a third language into a fourth.)
Ellen started translating the third book here. This and the fourth book take place at the same time as Second, for the most part.
No solid English translations of the fourth book currently exist though I know the gist of it thanks to an older Tumblr fan who gave me the rundown. I'm sure RNT will make a video.
Second Part:
There are an additional 2 novels that are based on two of the spinoff games.
One is "Bravely Default - 200 years later" based on Praying Brage that was released in the Japanese Bravely Second collector's edition ONLY.
One is "Bravely Default Fairy's Effect - Rinne's Miracle" based on Fairy's Effect that was released as a standalone novel.
Very little information has been released about both. One day we'll have a summary/translation.
There are (currently) 4 spinoff games, all currently shut down.
Praying Brage (Nov 2012 - Apr 2017) was a browser game and was based on the premise of Edea going 200 years into the future to save Agnes. RedNovaTyrant has a great video on it here!
Bravely Archive: D's Report (Jan 2015 - Oct 2017) was a mobile game that centered around an alternate/future Luxendarc with crystal memories and a new main character who is revealed to be Deneb
It released in Australia for about 6 months in 2018
Bravely Archive Fairy's Effect (Mar 2017 - Aug 2020) was a mobile game released after Bravely Second that took place simultaneously 8000 years in the future and between the events of Bravely Default 1 and Bravely Second. There's a lot of lore for both games in FE that can be seen in various videos on the internet (such as info on the Kaiser/Glanz Empire and Agnes's transition into Pope, Ominas having a role in saving Mahzer and the newborn Edea from Eternia during Braev's coup), but Bill translated some of the remaining website summary here.
Bravely Default Brilliant Lights (Jan 2022 - Feb 2023) was a crossover mobile game in a new world that combined Luxendarc and Excillant characters and setting. It lasted 13 months and I archived as much video as I could on Youtube but as of now, first person "reports" can be found here that summarize each board of each story.
It explains why "First Born" Ba'al was a thing in Bravely Second.
An 'offline' version was released but pulled from the app stores in July 2023.
There are 2 audio dramas for the first game!
First one is called "Festival of Reunion" and a translation of all four tracks can be found here.
Second one is called something like "Bracelets of Eternity" and so far no English translation seems to exist (though I know the gist of the first track).
The Ba'al theme was released with the first audio drama.
There's a Luxendarc / Linked Horizons concert that took place in Japan in 2013, you can find video of it on Youtube and Amazon Prime Video, and they released music CDs specific to it.
Square released an X-mas Collections Music CD that has wintery remixes of some of the Bravely Default music.
There is a Bravely Default 4 volume manga that's a retelling of the first game. Red made a video about it here. You can find scans online and most of the translations were done by Ellen.
There is also a manga anthology that serves to tie together Bravely Default and Bravely Second (released around the same time as Second, if not earlier). Red also made a video about it here. Ellen scanslated the third story in the anthology, I reuploaded it here after her imgur account got nuked.
Bravely Second was changed between the JP and Western releases based on feedback from Japanese players:
Sidequests were streamlined so that players could get a "good ending" based on their decision even if they chose the opposite Asterisk after the time reset
The Black Mage/ Ranger sidequest had its endings completely rewritten, as the Japanese version ends with either Bahamut being eaten or the wounded NPC dying depending on who you sided with.
Some costumes that were DLC were added to be bought with in-game currency (same as Default)
Fort Lune was made more easily available instead of being locked behind a SE Member account (along with some other things like costumes).
Some of the writing was tweaked as there were complaints about the memey/modern references/references to other media like Dragonball.
Aimee/Hawkeye costume was changed (there was also minor censoring of other costumes, like adding a bra to Ranger for Magnolia).
The fox companion was moved to different locations instead of sitting next to the Adventurer, lessening some complaints of "mood whiplash" between tent scenes and serious story events.
Some JP preorder-exclusive weapons were excluded (as far as I can tell, some weapons were just very hard to get).
The controversial apology for Bravely Second was in regard to the large amount of negative feedback the team received from the JP fans in regard to Second (though some Western fans also had a lot of negative things to say, it was largely only because of the costume censorship to the point at least one mod was released).
Third Part:
Magnolia and Pope!Agnes had large plushie prototypes made of them that were never released.
There's an official MMD figure of Agnes from Second.
2 types of large Edea plushies were released, one with closed eyes and one with open eyes.
Only 200 of the open-eyed Edeas were made/released but now there apparently there's only 199 in existence because I tried to buy one and the seller told me she was damaged in by a wild animal getting into the warehouse, rip Edea...
Large plushies were released of Edea, Ringabel, Agnes, and Tiz based on their Default appearance. Tiz's plush had an unfortunate hair style in the prototype that they changed in the final version. Images of this bowl cut have been lost forever.
Gloria got a smaller plushie that's in the JP SE Store.
A set of even smaller Default 1 cast plushies, among other things, are in the 10th anniversary set.
The European Collector's Edition of Bravely Default Where the Fairy Flies included this unfortunate figure of Agnes.
The Bravely Second artbook has three versions:
Original Japanese version, scans of it exist online
Bravely Second (Western) collectors edition version, which removed several images - sketches/concept art of Agnes tied up in the ribbon and a couple of images of Geist as well. This version had translated captions but any text on the images was not translated.
The fully English translated version which also restores the images removed from the CE.
Sales data has indicated that the Bravely Series reached 3 mil in Nov 2021. No word on 4 mil or 5 mil, but maybe we'll find out this year?
Bravely Default 1 (all versions) hit 1 million in July 2014 (21 months from initial BDFF release)
Bravely Second (all versions) hit 700k in April 2017 (2 years from BSEL release)
Bravely Default II (all versions) hit 1 mil in Dec 2021 (10 months from BDII release)
So much JP only merch was released through the years, especially in the years before Second.
Some through the SE Cafe collab with BDII
Some through Artnia (here's Default and Second's collabs)
10th anniversary stores with Hakabanogarou in person and online (now closed)
10th anniversary collab with Super Groupies for watches, Agnes's pendant, a stole with Airy's pendant.
Stuff on the SE JP store
Limited edition rubber stamp sets for Default and Second
Linked Horizon branded BD merch was released with the concert like pins.
Magnolia figure.
Official D's Journal
The messaging Line app released Bravely Default/Bravely Second stickers drawn by a fanartist made official artist named Satokivi! I think they were like 3 dollars per set.
She also drew the mini series of 4koma called "Praying for Miko" for Praying Brage
Physical versions of these stickers are on the JP SE Store.
There's a vinyl record
Pop-up Parade figurines of the main four were released in 2023 for the 10th anniversary of Bravely Default.
Bravely Default II had two demos, the first one specifically made difficult to get feedback from the fans. They implemented some feedback to change the final version of the game (but not everything). This was the first time they have asked for feedback from the West instead of just Japan.
Team Asano has released Lunar New Year art every year except 2016 with Bravely characters and the zodiac animal
They do Christmas cards every year, and it seems that this year they included a special card for a special fan with an extra character in the dragon art. If you know you know.
The woman on the cover of Bravely Default II isn't Gloria.
Bravely Default II has several secrets in the names of Chapter 5, 6, and 7. Spoilers for BDII below:
Twin AGES refers to both the first initials of the known Heroes of Light (Adelle/Gloria/Elvis/Seth and Aileen/Godric/Emma/Sloan) as well as the repetition across the two eras of Heroes. Also, you’ll notice that the initials are shared between the folks who inherited the same blessing from the crystal (assuming Emma got the Earth Crystal and Godric the Water Crystal). This is most noticeable in the final fight against the Night’s Nexus when the spirit of the old Hero of Light is standing behind the new to help them.
- Adelle/Aileen
- Gloria/Godric
- Elvis/Emma
- Seth/Sloan
Twin CAGES refers to the ‘cage’ that Adelle locks herself into, and the ‘cage’ that Elvis is forced into without her
Twin PAGES references back to the twin eras of the known Heroes of Light, but now with the Player - whose help is needed for the cycle to end. This is why “P” is the last letter to fade in the ending credits when the player is thanked.
I'm sure there's a lot more I'm forgetting, and this isn't even including the Bravely Default original concepts that were revealed in a booklet in the 10th anniversary exhibitions.
If you made it to the end, I applaud you, and I hope there was at least one or two things you didn't know!
Also one day I'll finish the video on the English fan survey.
octopath tumblr: give me your best tips and tricks on any and all leveling + money making in octopath (1, 2, or both!) im trying to compile a guide for a bud who is just starting to play
Hey so in case anyone else is writing anything for Octopath 2 and is just…. bad, like me, here’s a very handy interactive map that gives a lot of useful info like danger levels, locations of dungeons and bosses plus the quests associated. Even has stuff like when characters for to which town for which chapter.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Hey @okthatscoolmom , happy holidays! Here is your 2023 Bravely Secret Santa gift :3 I'm sorry for my tardiness as it's been a difficult season for me, but I wrote a brief fluff fic with Magnolia and Yew from Bravely Second that I hope you'll like!
Well you’re right, it’s only July. I’ll probably start sign-ups on October 1st for 3 weeks, so that it ends around October 21st, giving everyone around 2 months to work on gifts that will be due the week of Christmas.
I want to talk about the guidelines and get feedback on them!
Here are updated guidelines for Bravely Santa 2023! Updates in italics.
1) If you must cancel your application, please notify me immediately either via either Tumblr (komatsujo) or twitter (bravelykomatsu) or at this account, preferably before assignments are chosen.
2) When filling out your name on the Sneaky Santa website, please use your social media handle (either Tumblr or Twitter), so your Santa knows how to @ you.
3) Remember that you are gifting a present to someone, and be prepared to spend at least some time on it. No one likes a last-minute gift!
4) Both fanart and fanfic are accepted as submissions. Santees, please do not specifically request one or the other.
5) No AI generated art or fanfiction is allowed. The point of this is to create something for someone.
6) If there is a character and/or a ship that is an absolutely no go for you that you know is in someone’s wishlist, please let me know so I can prevent you from picking that person. Unfortunately, there’s little I’ll be able to do if they did not fill out their wishlist prior to assignment selections.
7) When creating your wishlists, please take care to not be so specific as to make it difficult to fulfill the request (example: requesting specifically fanart of the Crystal Crew as kids, instead of requesting something like “I would love to see the Crystal Crew as kids, doing something cute”). However, you should have more than 1 item on your wishlist. Please try to have 3-5 different items so your Santa has some freedom!
8) Specifically requesting shippy gifts is allowed, but no NSFW material, either in wishlists or presents. This is mostly about smut, but also be mindful with gore and violence.
9) Your wishlist and present must be Bravely themed, such as Bravely Default 1 or 2, Bravely Second, Fairy’s Effect, BDBL, Praying Brage, etc.
*Octopath 1 or 2 related stuff is cool, as long as it also includes Bravely AND please keep in mind that not everyone has played those, so be careful with spoilers for them and Bravely 2.
10) Please try to keep your assignments private! Talk about them with friends in DM all you want, but if someone can find out you’re their Santa on social media, that ruins the surprise!
Major FF16 spoilers ahead for first 10-15 hours of the narrative:
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okay so I really want to love this game. I really love the graphics and animation, the voice acting is immaculate, the combat is So Fucking good... but narratively they've made so many shit decisions with the writing.
like we did NOT need a whole racism equivalent plotline, and it is very uncomfortable to see as a black player. not to mention that plotting is a large reason they likely avoided adding brown characters so we are scuffed of representation even though there are square enix games in the same fantasy time period with brown characters in prominent positions (triangle strategy and bravely default 2, for example, include brown doctors, scientists, royalty, etc.)... especially when they could've scrapped the Bearer plotline to pursue every other more interesting thing anyways. Clive being Ifrit with minimal precedent or explanation? the once-loved mothercrystals tearing apart the earth? I love those parts of the story
and them choosing to kill off Benedikta and make Jill into a walking accessory to Clive 90% of the time... square enix is SO afraid to have prominent female and brown people in their biggest games and its exhausting.
Benedikta was SUCH a good character and her actress did a phenomenal job bringing her to life...
I am SO disappointed she dies so early on though. And it seems pretty set-in-stone, right now there doesn’t look to be any reason or method for bringing her back. She doesn’t even make it 5 full hours into the story. Kind of sad ‘cos I really enjoyed her character so far! I had hoped she’d at least become a neutral party if not an ally of Cid and Clive’s. It’s unfortunate that they chose not to do much more with her, but the story is still very much worth continuing.
partitio is the man to put all men out of business. he’s kind. he’s funny. he has a heart of gold. the driving force behind his travels is to literally end capitalism and poverty and greediness. he never forgets his manners even to some of the most evil people he meets. he yells “yeehaw” in battle. he calls agnea a star, the very thing she’s set out to become. he has a move called “rest” in which he quite literally takes a nap in a fucking fight and gets back up like nothing happened. his father calls him his “chickadee.” this man is sunshine incarnate.
