Takahashi had grown up playing classic turn-based roleplaying games — he distinctly remembers watching his older brother play Final Fantasy III while he was still in kindergarten — and felt that many modern RPGs had become too complex, leaving older players behind.

The first Bravely Default launched on the Nintendo 3DS in 2014, and it was an experience clearly inspired by earlier Final Fantasy games, starring a ragtag group of heroes traveling through a fantasy world powered by four magic crystals.

It was followed by Bravely Second: End Layer in 2016, also on the 3DS, and next week the series makes its debut on the Nintendo Switch with Bravely Default II.

One difference eagle-eyed fans might notice, however, is that while the first two games in the franchise were developed by Square Enix and a partner studio called Silicon Studio, Bravely Default II is being helmed by a relatively new company called Clay Tech Works.

“Although the public may be hearing of Clay Tech Works for the first time with this game, they are people we’ve worked with for a long time,” says Takahashi.

Coincidentally, Shota Fukebaru, director at Clay Tech, also got his start in RPGs with Final Fantasy III at a young age.

And both Fukebaru and Takahashi say that Final Fantasy V and its job system — which gave players the ability to customize their fighters by assigning specific roles, and became a key feature in the Bravely series — were extremely influential on their careers.