Bravely Default Screens Show Off The New Graphical Improvements And Story Events

While the US will have to wait till next year to pick up Square Enix’s Bravely Default: For The Sequel, new screenshots of the game show how it’s shaping up, and highlight the numerous improvements, from better graphics to better UI. We’ve detailed these features in the past, but now you can see them for yourself below.

The above screens showcase the auto battle system and revamped user interface we previously mentioned. Check out how the equipment list is now longer, requiring less scrolling and utilizing all the white space on the bottom touch screen (which will also have quick-jump buttons)

In this shot, the revamped battle and after-battle (respectively) screens show what skills were used as well as more detailed after-battle reports for players. Note that when players select auto-battle, the game remembers which commands were used and repeats the actions rather than simply using the basic attack command.

Above: the newly updated Job Change class screen.

Additionally, the entire game has gotten a graphical facelift, which you can see in the screens to the right above. Note the obvious added emphasis in the flower gardens to the brighter tones during overland segments, bringing better life to streets, shops, and general eye-candy while walking around.

In response to fan demand, Square Enix are also expanding the number of story events, including minor characters who did not get enough screen time. This includes adding new facial expressions to them, and tweaking later chapters to better explain the ending.

For those who simply cannot wait and want to play through the game with a Japanese 3DS, note that For The Sequel will ship with English voiceovers (alongside French, Italian, German and Spanish). Menus and text will still be in Japanese however.

Other minor improvements include aforementioned expansions to save slots (from one to three), the ability to import your data from the original game, and the ability to fully tweak options such as random battle spawns and the average difficulty.

Bravely Default: For The Sequel will be out for the Nintendo 3DS December 5 in Japan, by end year in Europe, and 2014 in the US.