Bravely Default series producer Tomoya Asano has explained that Bravely Second will have more of an emphasis on story rather than exploration. Asano mentioned that Bravely Default and Bravely Second both predominately target adult audiences, much like Final Fantasy and to some degree, Dragon Quest.

“Asano also let us know that Bravely isn’t a series that is focused on exploration. Rather, it’s meant to be more of a story-driven experience. This is why Bravely Default doesn’t make enemies visible on the map—referred to as “symbol encounters” in Japan—and instead, opts to use an adjustable random encounter rate, in order to let players streamline their experience. This system will remain in Bravely Second.”

“Originally, showing exploration more naturally is not something we put importance on because [the game] consists of deformed characters walking on a deformed map,” Asano shared. “However, having symbol encounters is convenient in that it allows players to engage in…