Japan's new Bravely Default demo offers four free chapters

There are demos, and then there are demos that make half the game free. Step in a new Bravely Default demo out July 28 in Japan, which will let 3DS owners play chapters 1-4 of the Square Enix game without spending a single yen. So that's something like 30 hours at least of high-quality, old-school JRPG action for free. That, Square Enix, is some demo.

Of course, you don't get that kind of offer without a catch, but it's only the exclusion of voice acting. Japanese audio is added back in with a 2,000 yen download (around $19.62 converted), which also adds the rest of the game with saves carried over. A multilingual alternative with English audio will be available starting August 7, priced 2,500 yen ($24.52.)

There's no word if we can expect the demo in the West, but clearly Square Enix is ready to ramp up excitement ahead of the sequel, Bravely Second. So the publisher should, since Bravely Default is a refreshingly strong take on classic Final Fantasy games, and hopefully the sequel will live up to it.

"The paradigm shift in Bravely Default is not making Final Fantasy into something new," Joystiq's four-star review put it, "but reaching back and dragging the series' past into the modern day – with care, that is."

[Image: Square Enix]