Without hyperbole, I think Bravely Default is a contender for one of the best JRPGs of all time. I did not grow up with this game, but I think if I did I would have the same reverence for it as Final Fantasy 9, Star Ocean 3, Tales of Symphonia and the like.

The brilliance of the story doesn't become clear until the end game, where the entire narrative, great as it already is, get re-contextualised.

I don't want to spoil anything but even game mechanics such as why new jobs come in asterisk stones, or summoning and sending special moves to other players forms part of that narrative. Even down to character actions like, why is that enemy killing fairies? Or lines early on like "Have the courage to disobey" having a meaning you didn't even realise. There are many, many layers that just make the game brilliant.

I think it's easy to overlook this game as a novelty 3DS game, but you shouldn't.

This is a really good remaster, and for me the highlight is the new voice acting and revised translation.
I personally found the translation for The War of the Lions to be near impenetrably flowery, but this is an absolute masterclass of talent. It is so engaging, and the delivery of a lot of the lines is jaw dropping.

Everything is voiced. Even individual shopkeepers and in battle dialogue. Even your generic characters seem to have individual personalities in their voices. You could have 2 black mages with different personalities, but you could take that black mage, turn them into a knight and they will retain their personality, but have different voice lines for a knight. Every character is different, and I'm not even sure how they managed to do that.

I have a theory that it might be a combination of zodiac sign, class and gender but if that's true it's absolutely insane. I came across a really foppish knight for example who just seemed so funny to me when he'd say things like "I think not." when chugging down an auto-potion, or "You can't hurt me." when blocking with a shield.

I also really like the tactician difficulty. This game is hard, especially in the early game when you're trying to find your footing. Battles oftentimes seem to hang by a thread and it feels really good when smart or creative decisions are rewarded. Every battle offers a unique challenge. Even in your very first random encounter there could be an enemy chocobo you need to figure out how to deal with or you're done, or an enemy panther you didn't expect could scale the rocks and hit your back line.

This is so, so good. :)