Players felt that empathy crossed the line into scolding.
Changes to the ending of sidequests in the European version of Bravely Second were made by SquareEnix and Silicon Studio due to fan feedback.
Originally, the endings to sidequests in the Japanese version would cause what Japanese players felt was "undue regret". In a statement to NintendoLife, Nintendo explained the decision as a step to improve the game experience: "...each side quest would end with the team lamenting the decision they made, regardless of the player's decision. This was intended to help players empathise with the characters' situation, but overwhelming feedback from players indicated they felt an unsatisfying disconnect between their intentions and the characters' reaction."
It is not known if the changes will be kept for the North American version of the title at this time.
Those consequences are exactly what I want in an RPG, so having the game "streamlined" by removing the possibility of negativity is not a good selling point.
Those consequences are exactly what I want in an RPG, so having the game "streamlined" by removing the possibility of negativity is not a good selling point.
I took it less as "they removed harsh consequences" and more of "they removed writing that sucked."
Without knowing Japanese and playing the original, I will never know which it is for sure. But given my experience with Japanese video game stories thus far, I'm leaning towards the latter.
