There have been a bunch of announcements recently but I haven’t posted any of them (and I haven’t seen anyone else posting them either), so I’ll summarize everything as best I can right now!

First up, returning(ish) features. The main thing is that the Norende minigame will have a counterpart in this game—now, you’re rebuilding Magnolia’s hometown, which I must remind you is on the moon. So be sure to StreetPass everyone, because rebuilding the moon is very important. Also there will be a journal, U’s Journal, I don’t think they’ve said if it predicts the future or anything special though. Probably just standard in-game journal functions.

We also have our villains! The guy who kidnapped Agnes calls himself Emperor Oblivion, which does sound pretty cool, and he’s going around with his military destroying things for reasons currently unknown. Also he’s accompanied by a fairy named Anne who looks suspiciously similar to…

Well, anyway. A release date has been set: April 23, 2015! In Japan, of course. In preparation, a demo was just released (in Japan), and apparently has returning Asterisk-holders you can fight. Reports mention Kamiizumi, Praline, Einheria, and…unfortunately…DeRosa. But this is just the demo, so, who knows. Apparently the demo also includes the previously mentioned Amy Matchlock with her Tomahawk Asterisk, and that leads right into our next topic!

Two new Asterisk-holders were announced, both of whom are designed by the creator of Soul Eater. One is an old man who doesn’t have an official name yet, but his Job will be Astrologer. There’s also a girl named Minnete Goroneze, using a Job called Cat Master. Yes, she and the artwork for Magnolia using the Asterisk are pretty much what you expect. Astrologer is usable in the demo, and uses Moon Magic that features powerful buff abilities. Also, it looks like Freelancer has a new ability that lets you use an Item on the entire party at the cost of reducing its healing effect by 50%.

Confirmed Job List: (Jobs new to Bravely Second in bold, newly confirmed Jobs italicized)

-Freelancer

-Valkyrie

-Red Mage

-Time Mage

-Performer

-Tomahawk

-Swordmaster

-Wizard

-Cat Master

-Astrologer

There should be 20 more Jobs, and we should be getting at least 2 more brand new Jobs, maybe more if old Jobs are cut (though I don’t really want to see that happen). Since Astrologer uses Moon Magic and Magnolia is from the moon, I’m expecting there to be some sort of connection between her and the Asterisk-holder, which could possibly be why he doesn’t have a name yet. Of course I could be entirely wrong.

One more thing is a new feature called Consecutive Chance. If you clear the field of enemies in one turn, you can challenge another enemy with a chance to get increased rewards, x1.5 it seems. You can also chain this if you’re really good at clearing battles in one turn, with the reward chance increasing to x1.8, then x2, then x2.2; unknown if it can go beyond five battles. You will not regain BP, however, so if you used up a bunch of BP one-turning that first battle, you’ll be sitting ducks in the second. Use with caution.

Also there will be a Collector’s Edition, but since that might be Japan-only I won’t tempt you with the details. I think that’s everything, though since the demo is fresh, there might be more to discover that just hasn’t been reported yet. I’ll let you know, and I’ll be quicker about it this time!