In a similar vein to the village-building minigame from previous titles that utilized Street Pass, Bravely Default 2 also offers an optional way for players to earn themselves some extra goodies with online functionality incorporated into it. This special feature is called Boat Expeditions and allows you to earn items while you're not playing.
For everything you need to know about sending your boat out on exploration voyages to earn some sweet rewards for your characters, we've got a guide here all about how to unlock this feature and how it works.
How to Unlock Boat Expeditions
You will be guided into accepting and completing the side quest "Borrowing the Boat" quite early on in the game, and this is how you unlock Boat Expeditions. You'll notice that the old woman NPC who gives you this quest is the same old woman that you saved earlier in the game. As part of the quest, you will send the boat out and get a taste of what this function can do.
However, this side quest is slightly misleading as the Boat Expedition functionality will not work as quickly as it is shown during the quest, this is just an example of the end result, but the process has been sped up greatly.
How Boat Exploration Works
First and foremost, despite what the "Borrowing the Boat" side quest portrayed, boat explorations only work when you are not playing. The expedition will only actually progress while your Nintendo Switch is in sleep mode, and can only explore up to a maximum of 12 hours. You should always send your boat out to explore when you are taking a break from playing or stopping for the day so you can maximize your earnings.
You can start a new Boat Expedition, examine the exploration log of what you have encountered so far, or stop exploring to recall your boat and claim your rewards from the old Boat-Lending Woman NPC. Don't worry, she'll also pop up in other towns too, so you don't need to worry about traveling back to Halcyonia each time.
You will be given the option to use online functionality for this feature, though you can change this at any time in the settings menu. Opting to use online functionality will yield better rewards, so it's worth choosing this if you are able to.
Whenever you choose to end the exploration, you will see a review of the exploration log and whenever you have found some treasure, your actual reward will be revealed. Rewards obtained from exploration can include JP-boosting orbs, experience-boosting orbs, or HP-boosting buns, as well as other items.