Top Five Starting Tips: Tips And Secrets

Master bravely default with these top 5 starting tips, including online features, difficulty settings, stats, and auto-battle.

1. Connect Online

Connecting your 3DS or 2DS to the internet offers significant advantages in bravely default. You can access online functions through the save menu by speaking to the red-suited Adventurer or from the world map. Choose the 'Add Friends' option to automatically add up to 20 friends who have played the game. Having friends allows you to borrow their learned abilities via Abilink under “Tactics” in the main menu, which is incredibly useful if they are further ahead in the game. You can also summon a friend into battle to perform their most recent move when you need assistance. Additionally, selecting 'Update Data' allows you to download guests from around the globe and optional bosses called nemeses for Norende village. Guests can be summoned like friends, but you cannot use Abilink with them. Each guest provides a resident for Norende village, which is helpful for rebuilding if you lack StreetPass tags. Note that you can only update data once every 24 hours.

2. Play How You Want

You can adjust the game’s difficulty and encounter rate at any time via “Tactics” > “Config” > “Difficulty” in the main menu, provided you are not in a battle or cut-scene. If you are struggling and not finding the game fun, you can lower the difficulty. Conversely, if the game is too easy, you can raise it to “Hard”. There are no in-game accomplishments or negative effects tied to changing the difficulty. However, playing exclusively on the easiest setting may hinder your learning of the game's mechanics. It is generally recommended to play on Normal difficulty, as this is how the game was intended to be experienced, but ultimately the choice is yours. The encounter rate can be set between +100% (double encounters) and -100% (no encounters). Disabling encounters is useful for backtracking without interruption or when your party needs to recover at an inn. Be aware that prolonged periods with no encounters can lead to underleveled characters, though this is not an issue if you are simply backtracking. Doubling encounters can speed up grinding.

3. Know Your Stats

While there are many stats to manage, you can let the game assist you by selecting “Recommended” for individual equipment or “Optimum” to have the game choose your entire gear setup. The game generally makes good choices, prioritizing attack for physical characters and magic for magical characters, while armor focuses on defense. To gain an edge, it is beneficial to understand the stats. You can touch a stat's name on the bottom screen for a brief description. For example, EVD (Evade) determines your ability to dodge enemy hits and reduce the number of hits in an attack. While attack, magic, and defense are important, don't overlook equipment that offers significant boosts in other areas. White Mages, for instance, benefit greatly from Mind boosts for improved healing, and Agility is always valuable for attacking before enemies.

4. Auto-Battle

Auto-Battle is a convenient feature that allows you to speed up gameplay. In battle, press the Y button during your turn to activate Auto-Battle. Your characters will repeat the last commands you selected until you press Y again. Auto-Battle persists between battles, saving you the effort of re-entering commands if you can easily defeat subsequent enemies. Pairing Auto-Battle with 4x battle speed is highly effective for speeding up grinding. However, Auto-Battle is not recommended against tough enemies or bosses, as repeating the same commands can be detrimental, though not impossible to overcome.