Beating Bravely Default HD Remaster at the Starting Level: A Record of Strategies for Each Boss

The story begins with a cataclysm: a pillar of light rises, a great chasm opens, and an entire village is swallowed up. The protagonist, Tiz Arrior, loses his younger brother and falls unconscious. At this point the player first opens the config menu and sets the EXP gain option to "Don't Gain." Because the game lets you refuse experience points with this setting, that is all the preparation the challenge needs.

The player also imposes an additional restriction on themselves partway through. During a boss fight in the desert kingdom, they explain that there is a way to win by spamming items, but decide not to use items on this adventure because it is "so easy it has no flavor." From then on, every battle is built solely around jobs, abilities, special moves and equipment.

The first boss fight is against Bearing & Holly, officers of the Duchy who have come to capture Agnès, the vestal of the crystals. The game has a mechanic called "Brave" that lets you borrow up to three turns in advance. The player uses this to land a total of eight "Attack" commands with just Tiz and Agnès, defeating the boss.

The Duchy's officers carry mysterious gems, and defeating them unlocks new jobs. After recruiting Ringabel, an amnesiac man, the party heads for the Duchy army's garrison, where the enemies have fallen out among themselves over a plan to burn down the entire town. The party switches to the newly acquired "Monk" job and is joined by Edea, a member of the knightly order who is outraged by the Duchy's methods; the four of them defeat the black mage Ominas with a combined 16 attacks.

After that, the king is kidnapped by the Sky Knights, and the party boards the enemy airship, defeats Heinkel, and captures the airship while they are at it. Around here the player changes approach. Because physical attacks tend to be weak at low levels, they will fight mainly with black magic from this point on. This decision marks the starting point of the magic-centered fighting style that continues into the late game.

Arriving in the desert kingdom aboard the captured airship, the party ends up fighting Jackal, a thief up to no good. According to the player, boss HP suddenly jumps around this point. The countermeasure they start using is the rod special move "Reduce Ripple." Special moves are powerful techniques that can be charged up across battles, and this one sharply boosts magic damage. In the fight against Jackal, the bodyguard withdraws on his own once the thief's HP is halved.

Next, the party confronts Boritry, a corrupt merchant who had been in league with the thieves to rake in exorbitant profits. The same bodyguard tags along again, but withdraws first once his HP drops below half. This boss also has fairly high HP, so a special move is used here as well. This is the battle in which the player made the no-items decision mentioned above.

Afterward, a conversation with the crystal spirit clarifies the purpose of the journey. If the vestal dons the prayer vestment and frees the four crystals, she can purify the darkness of the world and perhaps even close the great chasm. The dragon in the cave where the party goes to gather materials for the vestment isn't very strong, and falls almost anticlimactically to a special move and 15 casts of "Thunder."

Orthros, the monster that had possessed the wind crystal, uses a powerful party-wide attack. The player explains that taking it head-on at the starting level would mean certain annihilation. So they opt to put it to sleep with "Sleep." Since the special move lowers the enemy's resistances, sleep lands reliably. While it sleeps, the party attacks with "Thunder" to defeat it and successfully frees the wind crystal.

Before heading for the next crystal, it is revealed that the mastermind who had been using the thieves and the corrupt merchant was the king of this very country, and the party fights Najitt & Mahmut. According to the player, bosses around this point can be outpaced if you stack enough speed. They equip Ringabel with gear that raises speed so he acts first, putting the enemies to sleep as needed and finishing them with "Thunder."

In the region with the water crystal, a group of eccentric officers has been dispatched. The player's approach is to hunt down every last one of them and defeat them to obtain new jobs. Around here boss HP exceeds 10,000, but having newly learned "Thundara," the party has plenty of firepower, they say. Mephilia is defeated with this firepower.

The fight against Artemia, who holds the Ranger job, shows the difficulty of battles where you can't act first. The player says that even withstanding the enemies' attacks takes some effort. They equip the Black Mage ability "Damage Dispersal" and the White Mage ability "Angel's Blessing," somehow endure attacks from every enemy, and then start their offense with a special move as usual.

The player judges that Land Turtle, a large turtle monster encountered while traveling, will be easy to beat because it defends on its first turn. Since this boss sometimes reflects magic, and the timing seemed right, they buy "Reflect Rings" for the whole party. The idea is to have spells bounce off allies, which also aims to increase the damage.

This reflection tactic is used again in the next fight, against Einheria, who holds the Valkyrie job. The player describes Einheria as "looking like she'd scratch up the whole house just by walking around." After weathering the enemy's attacks, they open with a special move, secure firepower with the Reflect Rings, and win by landing just a few casts of "Thundara." The party is now dealing quite respectable damage even at the starting level, they say.

In the fight against the red mage DeRosa at the enemy hideout, the player touches on the value of the Red Mage job. Red Mages have an ability that reduces MP cost to 0 while in critical condition, which is extremely useful at the starting level when MP is low. In this battle Edea gets charmed during the infiltration, making it effectively a three-person fight, but according to the player, firepower was surprisingly not a problem.

With the officers dealt with, the party fights Rusalka, the monster that had possessed the water crystal. The tactic is, as ever, a special move followed by reflected "Thundara." Boss HP has reached the tens of thousands and is gradually inflating, but the player says that thanks to their increasingly well-rounded equipment and jobs, they can beat bosses surprisingly smoothly even at the starting level, which feels great.

On the new continent, the party infiltrates an enemy base to destroy the chemical weapons the Duchy is developing, and fights the Automaton security robots. Since there are several of them, summon magic is used here.

Qada, the developer of the chemical weapons, doesn't attack on his first turn, so the party defeats him with a special move followed by repeated "Thundara." Of the "Salve-Maker" job obtained from this boss, the player explains that it teaches abilities that will be extremely useful for the rest of the adventure. In particular, "Numb Pain" nullifies damage for just the first two turns. This proved invaluable as a way to survive the enemy's opening move in fights where the party can't act first, they say.

In the fight against Chaugnar at the fire temple, Tiz, equipped with Numb Pain, covers for the others against the enemy's physical attacks while the remaining three attack all at once. This boss has very high magic defense for a while. So the three besides Tiz are given "Magic Defense Penetration," and they break through its defenses without any problems.

After the fire crystal is freed, the ghost ship found at sea turns out to be carrying Barbarossa, an officer of the Duchy. The tactic is the usual special move followed by reflected "Thundara." Here the player explains why they keep using lightning. In this game, special moves can apply weaknesses to every element, and a hat that greatly strengthens lightning is available from early on. As a result, lightning attacks end up being used against almost every boss, they say.

Later, in the engine room of a giant airship, the party is ambushed from behind by Behemoth, a large monster. They deflect its physical attacks with "Numb Pain" and "Cover" while fighting with a special move and reflected "Thundara." Defeating this boss earns them a new airship, allowing them to enter Duchy territory, where the last crystal, the earth crystal, lies.

In the mountain-ringed Duchy territory, the party first fights the Ice Golem guarding the defensive line. They weather its first strike with Numb Pain and finish it off with a special move and rapid-fire "Thundara." Once they reach town, "Thundaga" can be learned at the magic shop, so this is the last time Thundara is used. The player looks back on it as a black magic spell that served brilliantly for a very long stretch starting from the early game.

At the general headquarters of the Eternian Duchy, the party fights the officers Victoria & Victor as an opening act before the Marshal. Here the Merchant's "Full Leverage" makes its debut. It is an ability that doubles both MP cost and power, and the party piles up damage by casting the freshly learned "Thundaga" on all targets.

In the fight against Braev, Marshal of the Duchy's army, the party uses the "Arcanist" job obtained in the previous battle to fire off powerful magic attacks at low cost. The player also touches on the conflict in the story. The Duchy believes the crystals will eventually bring catastrophe, and that difference in ideology is why it ends up fighting the protagonists, they say.

Gigas Lich, the monster that had possessed the last crystal, is an easy win because the Arcanist's actions are simply so strong. Even without support from special moves, the damage easily hit the cap, they say.

Having freed all the crystals, the party heads for the pillar of light, but the dark knight Alternis Dim, who had survived, appears on the airship's deck. Here again they attack with the Arcanist's dark magic, so they first apply a dark weakness with a special move. After that, they double their power with Full Leverage and hammer in capped damage over and over, whittling away all 100,000 of his HP. The face revealed beneath Alternis's broken mask is the spitting image of Ringabel's.

Yet after entering the pillar of light, the great chasm has not closed. The wind has stopped, the seas have rotted, and the crystals are back in their pre-liberation state. Without really understanding what is happening, the party travels the world once more, frees the four crystals, and enters the pillar of light again. On the deck, they end up fighting Alternis again. Since he is not much stronger than before, they likewise use a special move followed by Full Leverage and defeat him with a barrage of the Arcanist's dark magic. By the player's calculation, this tactic lands a total of 14 attacks, so any boss with under 140,000 HP can be dispatched with room to spare.

Even so, the purification of the world fails, and amid all this Ringabel gradually regains his memories. As the liberations repeat, the party notices that the number engraved on the fairy Airy's wings gets smaller each time.

Here Airy reveals her true nature, and the party learns they have been deceived all along. The player pokes fun at the transformation—"transforming into a cool form," "she suddenly got fat"—as the battle begins.

Airy's HP in this form is 150,000. According to the player, even firing off capped magic damage repeatedly isn't enough to finish her. So they switch tactics to Spellblade and use Dual Wield to increase the number of attacks. In the second form, they nullify the enemy's actions with equipment that prevents charm, raise their critical rate, and once again attack with Spellblade.

Pursuing the fleeing Airy into the great chasm, they find the mastermind Ouroboros waiting, revived by the power gained from linking parallel worlds. The fully powered Airy has a combined 300,000 HP. The procedure for this battle is explained in considerable detail.

1. Raise the critical rate with the staff special move "Lux"
2. Apply Spellblade and increase allies' BP
3. Use the rod special move that has been in use since the early game
4. After Agnès also applies Spellblade, use "All-Out Attack," in which every ally in critical condition attacks together

The player rates the rod special move as a capable technique that stays useful from the early game all the way to the end. In this battle they were able to set up seven All-Out Attacks, and with Dual Wield factored in, they landed a total of 42 Spellblade hits, they say.

The final boss fight has five forms in total, with long events in between. Because it is a continuous gauntlet, the number of special moves available is limited. The player decides to save special moves for the forms with high HP.

The first form has 150,000 HP, so they use Agnès's special move. The tactic is the same as in the Airy fight: Spellblade followed by All-Out Attack. The second form has a modest 50,000 HP, so they get by without a special move. After blocking the enemy's instant-death attack with equipment, they use All-Out Attack to land 36 Spellblade hits. Past this point, an immortal man who has lived for 2,000 years appears as a helper. The player introduces him as "the guy I skipped explaining because of time constraints." This man merges with the enemy and seals away its infinite engine. Taking advantage of the opening, the party attacks Ouroboros and gets through the third form, with 75,000 HP, without a special move.

After that, Ouroboros attacks other parallel worlds and begins restoring its health by absorbing the power of the worlds it destroys. The fourth form is tough at 200,000 HP, so a special move is used here. Making full use of the Merchant's abilities, they stack various buffs, increase Agnès's and Tiz's BP, and use that BP to fire off All-Out Attacks one after another. In this form they can hit with 42 Spellblade strikes, so even 200,000 HP went down surprisingly easily, they say. In the end, however, the enemy absorbs parallel worlds and heals endlessly. The player also jokes that the enemy's lines around here are starting to sound like "a hysterical mom."

At this point, the worlds of the game's fictional friends show up to help. Describing themselves self-deprecatingly as "a lifetime honorary loner who's always playing weird solo games," the player thanks COM Taro, COM Jiro, COM Saburo and COM Shiro, and moves on to the final form.

For the final form, they use Ringabel's special move. The player says, "Since I've been using it the whole time, this BGM really does feel soothing." At the starting level, Ringabel has the best speed, so he naturally tended to end up as the special-move user, they say. The player notes that on this adventure, differences in the companions' stats have a clear impact, and seeing each one's individuality stand out is part of the fun. Finally, they whittle away the remaining health with Spellblade and defeat Ouroboros.

After watching the ending, the player looks back on the game as a whole. With its comical banter, its surprising storyline, and its nostalgic presentation reminiscent of the 3DS era, it is a game that remains highly enjoyable even today, they say. What they praise most is the free-form job-change system, which carries on the lineage of FF3 and FF5. The fun of choosing from among many different solutions is outstanding, there is room for creative play even at the starting level, and they thoroughly enjoyed it, the player concludes.