Game review: Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster (Switch 2)

There was some minor criticism about the launch lineup for the Switch 2, which only featured one new exclusive video game. That game, of course, was Mario Kart World. The rest of the games at launch were ports of older video games. 

However, one game that could be considered new for many is Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster. Unlike some people, I never had a chance to play the original version of this game because it was stuck on the Nintendo 3DS. At the time of this game's release, the only handheld console I owned was Sony's PS Vita. To me, this game was a new experience. 

Despite being released back in 2013 in New Zealand, the original Bravely Default was never re-released for any other Nintendo console until now. Now that the Switch 2 is out, more people can enjoy the game thanks to the release of Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster. 

Before I begin talking about the game itself, one of the biggest selling points for Bravely Default on Switch 2 is its relatively cheap price in New Zealand. While Mario Kart World is priced at $129.00 NZD, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster costs only $69.00 NZD at launch. 

The other thing worth mentioning about Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is that it's visually far superior compared to the original 3DS version from 2013. Although I never played the original, I've seen comparison videos on YouTube, and the 3DS version looks very pixelated and blurry. 

Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, on the other hand, is finally in glorious HD, and the game looks beautiful. Not to mention, the game runs at 60fps most of the time, with only some dips in framerate. Unlike the recently released Gex Trilogy, the cutscenes have been upscaled to HD as well. 

The game's interface has been reworked, so you can now easily play the game using only one screen. The map is in the top right-hand corner of the screen, and you can enlarge or minimise its size at any time you wish. This is really helpful if you're exploring through dungeons. 

Speaking of dungeons, the game will now tell you the recommended level you should be before you enter combat. For example, in one dungeon, it told me the monsters were between level 17 to level 21. Thankfully, I was at level 21 at the time of playing, so I was prepared for any fight. 

Story-wise, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster revolves around four teenagers who plan to awaken the corrupt crystals. You will first encounter the character Tiz, who is the only survivor of Norende, which is a village that gets destroyed by the land thanks to the crystals. He teams up with a young girl called Agnes and two other young heroes to save the world from chaos. 

As for the gameplay, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster may have arguably one of the most useful turn-based combat systems I've ever seen. I'm usually not a huge fan of turn-based combat in general, but this game adds some innovative features to make it feel fun and fair. 

Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is one of the few games that do random battles correctly. Random battles are usually horrible, but in this game, you can control the percentage of random encounters you want to run into. The percentages you can choose from include 50%, 100%, 150%, or even 200%. I like to use 50% when I'm lost in a dungeon, but I increase this to 200% whenever I feel comfortable levelling up next to a save point. 

You can also fast-forward battles if levelling up feels too repetitive for you. You can speed the game up 2 times or four times faster than normal. Again, this is a useful feature because seeing the same animations over and over again can get tiresome when you want to level up your characters. 

Another feature of battles that I found really helpful is the 'Brave Point' system. By selecting this on the battle window, each character can attack up to four times during one turn. This was really useful because the characters are able to kill monsters with high HP without needing to wait their turn, like in other JRPGs. 

The 'Brave Point' system also allowed me to heal all my characters in one turn instead of waiting for that character's next turn. In turn, my characters were always healthy during battles thanks to Agnes being selected as my sole White Mage. 

Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster also allows you to choose your own class type for each character. I remember I was struggling to beat a tough dragon, so I made all my characters Black Mages, and I spammed the 'Blizzard' 'attack. Since all my characters were magic users, I was able to defeat the dragon at record speed. If another boss is giving you trouble, you can always go back to the characters' default class type to counter them. 

If you are connected online, you can find 'friends' in towns and some of them can be summoned into battle for one attack. While most online friends don't do too much damage, I did collect some useful characters along the way with huge attack power. One online friend I summoned helped me out a lot during the first boss battle in the game I was struggling with at first!

While Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster may have a great battle system, here's one thing I didn't like about its combat. The one thing I didn't like about this game is that your characters cannot dodge or parry enemy attacks during combat. 

I remember facing the tough dragon, and my characters got wiped out quickly with one attack! It's annoying because there's nothing you can really do aside from summoning the 'protect' spell to help soften the damage. 

I preferred the combat systems in Mario & Luigi: Brothership and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, where you are able to dodge enemy attacks with precision timing. With this kind of battle system, you don't have to worry about any of the boss characters wiping you out with one attack or anything like that!

Aside from the lack of parrying or dodging enemy attacks, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is a near-perfect JRPG. It has innovative features to make the combat fast-paced and fun. Plus, the game looks visually appealing now that it can be played on the much more powerful Nintendo Switch 2 platform. 

Verdict: 9.0/10