claro que tem os textos entre os bonecos em tavernas e lugares importantes da história de cada um, as historinhas em duplas e o epílogo. mas o que conecta os oito protagonistas mesmo é andar pelo mapa e encontrar um lugar com uns inimigos bem fortes, sair pelo mar e pegar uns tesouros, passar por dificuldades numa batalha só pra habilidade inata de um dos personagens salvar tudo. a narrativa só enfraquece se a afeição do jogador pelo mundo pelas batalhas pelas interações é pequena, é que nem o guia de imaginação do etrian odyssey - cada batalha, cada saída para explorar fazem parte do texto, são elas que tornam a reunião dos personagens na fogueira, como a capa ilustra, um evento nostalgico, que provavelmente aconteceu diversas vezes, longe dos nossos olhos mas pertinho da nossa mente.

You know what? This was a lot better than I thought it was going to be! I haven't played OG Octopath, but I've heard mixed things about it, but even I can tell from this game that everything about it was upgraded.

The visuals and soundtrack are absolutely stunning, probably one of the best looking and sounding games all year. The HD-2D style is so awesome and it was done amazingly here. The combat is genuinely really fun and strategic with a ton of strategy and a bunch of really good boss fights between the stories that actually are pretty tough.

And then there's the story, which I can TELL is a massive improvement from the original based on the way it's described to me. All of the characters in this game are super fun and well-written, with a ton of opportunities for fleshing them out in both the main story and the crossover side stories, which I hear isn't even IN the original. The way the stories intertwine feel super natural and the stories themselves are just a lot better written, with Throne and Temenos in particular being standouts for me.

I think what's kinda holding this game back for being a masterpiece for me is an ultimately petty reason. I think the overworld is fairly basic in its mechanical design (not creative, god no). I don't think I'm gonna remember any specific puzzles or setpieces in this world compared to something like Xenoblade 3. There's also the fact that each new recruit starts out super low-leveled, which makes sense but can be a bit of a pain.

But apart from that, this is just a beautiful game with an incredible soundtrack, fun jrpg combat, memorable boss encounters, a really well told, interconnected story, and a cast of characters I genuinely loved. Banger game. I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

I remember barely anything about the first Octopath Traveler so some things I praise or complain about here might just be holdovers.

When I played the first game I only went through it with my chosen 4 members, this time I went through the game with everyone on top of just going for the whole platinum so that means all sidequests, locations and whatnot on top of getting everyone all the job skills for the hell of it. Unlike the first game, if I'm remembering correctly, you need to go through everyone's stories in order to hit credits. Speaking of credits, it was a really nice ending without going into spoilers. It honestly got to me, maybe I'm just continually softening up as I get older.

The battle system is mostly the same as the first entry but now they added passive abilities and limit breaks I mean latent powers which add enough to the combat flow. Ochette is been the beastmaster job I have wanted in jprgs for a long time. You catch a monster and (barring some special cases) you can use it in every single battle and will not leave your roster until you choose to get rid of it. To balance that she can only carry 8 non story related ones. Her latent power I think was was the best cuz has versatility. Do you want an aoe, high single target damage or an aoe debuff? She got it all

In terms of story, like the first game, they are unfortunately still very much isolated. You might as well not even have a party and it should have been done in in the way of Live A Live where its all separate until the end. They tried to alleviate it by having optional banter you can view depending on story progression, location and party composition which are unvoiced. There are also these paired stores between 2 characters where they actually speak to each other, interact, the whole 9 yards. Great, should have been the whole game. Then the epilogue has all 8 actually exist on screen at on time and speak to each other! I couldn't believe it! Again this should have been the whole game.

Still no bench party experience so I was dreading going through the more unused characters but it was pretty painless especially when my stronger characters could carry them through thing easily. Not that the game itself was difficult outside of maybe 3 or 4 fights and only cuz of those bosses being really annoying and doing things like giving themselves extra turns, bonus turns after brining a party member to 1 hp, and locking out basic actions like healing (both via magic and item), attacking (via regular action and skill) and blocking boosting. You also needed to go to a tavern to swap characters which was annoying. There were things in the world map that required certain characters so if they weren't with you then you had to either come back later or if you're like me and worry you'd forget, go back to a town, swap characters, walk ALL the way back to where it was and through the considerable high encounter rate this game has even with the reduced encounter skill to get back to it. The fact the option to swap party members out via the menu was locked to the epilogue is cruel and unusual punishment.

Speaking of skills, the game outright tells you what skills don't stack. Limited the fun a bit but I appreciate the game telling me it won't work so I wouldn't waste time. Since the game was so upfront about labeling things as unstackable, I assumed the items that don't have the disclaimer stacked as they should. Considering how often I was running into the metal slime equivalents while wearing the increasing items as I was power leveling for the last bit of the game, they were working. I also liked that there was an npc who only did the exp/jp buffs, so that way I didn't have to play russian roulette with the dancer class and have a chance to wipe my party.

Music was phenomenal, I adored the night versions of the tracks. This was another Xenoblade situation where I listened to everything at both times of the day. Partitio's theme is GOATED, fantastic and I'll be considering buying the ost just cuz of it. The whole time I've been writing this review I've been sitting in a tavern in game with it on loop.

I am also not tired of the HD2D style, its just so beautiful. Granted I did skip the more recent releases like triangle strategy and diofield chronicle so I haven't been as exposed to it as some others. Can't wait for that Dragon Quest 3 HD2D remake.

So given my, admittedly, lacking memory of the first game from what I remember I think this game is an all around improvement. I recommend it, unless you're a tryhard who only cares about difficult cuz then you have nothing here. Only things I ask in the future is, if they can't feasible have more interaction between the characters in each of their stories due to the sheer amount of variable its openness comes with, then do it like Live a Live and have everything be completely separated until they meet up at the end. The second ask is please allow bench exp, even if its at a reduced rate. It doesn't have to be from the get go, you could have that happen after you beat the character's story since you do have set levels of the encounters for each sequence. The third is allow party swapping from the menu or at save points. There is no good reason to not have it to lock it to the tail end of the game.

Octopath Traveler 2 was a nice surprise, as richly detailed diorama of a game that seeped soul. Each of the micro-stories worked in building out the tone of the world. The BP system is super fun, and breaking the battle systems was a great way to defeat some of the tougher bosses. The flow of combat is great, and the way the game forces you into making risky calls by letting you see an impending barrage from a tough enemy that will wipe your team makes those risky moves feel great when they pay off.

The character writing varies from story to story, but overall I loved the characters. In particular, Partitio, Throne, and Osvald were highlights. The day / night cycle and it's corresponding character skills is a really unique system, and I absolutely loved the soundtrack and sprite art.

Octopath Traveler 2 nails what it is going for, and feels like a perfect pastiche of SNES jrpgs. I really hope they keep the momentum going with a third entry.

Octopath Traveller is praised by many people and I wanted to see for myself. I don't play many JRPGs myself and this game showed me perfectly why. I don't think I'm the right person for this kind of game.

The gameplay feels outdated and unnecessarily tiring. If you disregard the occasional grinding, you still have to deal with constantly running into towns to change your team. Why can't you do that everywhere? Why can't I always access all character actions?

It was to be expected that the storytelling would be rather weak, if you already have to write eight stories. Some of the stories had interesting beginnings, others never got interesting, but in the end you still have to endure this really superficial writing. Most of the characters, if they are lucky, have one or two traits. The fact that some of the antagonists were simply evil and had nothing else to offer doesn't make it any better.

Exploring the world and finding new items kept me entertained, and the battle system was absolutely fine. Even if the balancing is completely destroyed by the team leader, who can't be changed.

I'm currently in the final chapters and just need a break, maybe I'll return one day. But a JRPG of this type doesn't seem to be for me.

I was torn on where to play this game - on either the PS5 or Switch. The major difference on PS5 was the addition of raytracing, a feature that was very tempting. However, I went with Switch for the portability, collector value, and the Switch’s OLED screen.

I played the demo before the release. It sold me, and I ordered the game (during February 2023’s “Week of too many games,” which included Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, Like a Dragon Inshin!, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and Metroid Prime Remastered.).

At the time I’m writing this, I’m 6 hours in. I really like the graphical style and the combat. Story wise, I oscillate between being very intrigued to somewhat bored. I think once I get through all the characters' first chapters, I won’t be bored anymore, of which I’m now on my 4th character. I like how characters cross paths, and the game reminds me of Chrono Trigger. In Chrono Trigger, you’re basically always in a party member's story climax. Each segment focuses on a single character and their story, and I’m getting similar vibes here.

Now, 20 hours in, I adore this game. Combat is wonderful, the story is gripping, and exploration is never a chore. One aspect that is standing out is the music - this game has a killer soundtrack. I’m really savoring each moment, as I haven’t even met all 8 members of the game yet. I’m excited to play more.

I finished the game at 120 hours. I loved it mostly, but was frustrated by the end game.

After you finish everyone's story, the meta story comes together. It’s satisfying because the clues were laid beforehand, and everything is revealed. Then the end game starts, and where the massive flaw is exposed. Once you start the end game, you’re stuck in the night cycle. This poses a problem as the end boss is extremely challenging, and proper grinding and acquisition of end game weapons require access to the day cycle. So, if you’re like me and are somewhat underpowered, there is nothing you can do but slowly grind. After 120 hours, I would hope for a more forgiving end game. After trying and failing to beat the end boss, I threw my hands up and watched the ending on YouTube.

Overall, the game is 9/10. It’s a fantastic JRPG, standing shoulder to shoulder with the greats like Chrono Trigger. It’s not a 10/10 because it doesn’t push the genre forward, but it does refine the elements perfectly and makes it accessible to those who may be interested but have never played a JRPG before. The endgame mess doesn’t harm the game enough to knock it down a point, but it was close. Nonetheless, those 120 hours were well spent.

É uma experiência similar ao primeiro jogo, e mesmo assim te encanta como se fosse a primeira vez. Se eu pudesse resumir em uma palavra Octopath 2: ENCANTADOR. Um aviso: Não é pra qualquer um, é um jogo de NICHO, você tem que gostar de um jogo mais lento, com muito texto e combate de turnos. São combates desafiadores, ótima variedade de inimigos, BOSSES incríveis, imensa variedade tática e de gameplay, exploração leve e gratificante/recompensadora, o dia/noite de forma dinâmica trouxe um grau a mais na exploração, sistema de jobs mais aprimorado, habilidades específicas de cada personagem E classe, gameplay intuitiva e incrível, adição dos poderes latentes trouxe uma variedade única, trilhas sonoras ABSURDAS, personagens carismáticos, a dublagem excelente ajuda a dar vida, as HISTÓRIAS cada uma com suas peculiaridades e com uma conexão final IMPORTANTE, está mais orgânico seguir de capítulo em capítulo sem precisar de grind. Resumindo, visualmente é deslumbrante, com uma ótima gameplay, e as histórias te prendem, a JORNADA te prende. OBS: foi removido algo frustrante no primeiro game (somente uma classe podia abrir os baús roxos que muitas vz estavam no FINAL da dungeon), agora as Path Actions são mais assertivas para dar variedade e não limitação.

Sobre pontos negativos, só consiso enxergar um: Ainda ter encontros aleatórios, isso é um baita ponto negativo para a exploração, principalmente no late game que não tem mais desafio e só atrasa a viagem, e te joga em um grind involuntário.

I think the Octopath games biggest triumph that isn't talked about enough is how well they evoke a feeling of adventure. There's no RPG (not just JRPG) period in my opinion that captures the boundless optimism and intrigue of exploring a fantasy world. In that way I really think it captures the essential kind of 'escapist' root of fantasy perfectly. In particular I really love how significant gameplay progression is tied behind items rather than levelling up, it means that when you go out of your way to explore or enter an area that's perhaps to dangerous for you, you're typically rewarded with a weapon or item befitting of the risk that you took. Idk shit is honestly just gas, sound mixing a bit sloppy sometimes tho lol

It's a rare and amazing sight to not only see a game come out with heavy, valid criticism, but to see that criticism be taken to heart into a brand new game that basically addresses everything. Octopath Traveler II is what I would consider the gold standard of sequels. It takes what worked in the first game and improved every issue it used to have. Now we have a game that is by far one of the greatest games I've ever played. This review will be different from the others I've made because there is so much I wanna talk about. Octopath 1 is one of my favorite games of all time and the sequel is even better. This review will not only talk about Octopath II but compare to the first game to see what was done better and differently.

Story/Writing:

This is the aspect of the first game that had the most criticism. While I enjoyed the stories in the first game, they all came down to very basic and standard plot beats. Alfyn wants to be be a traveling apothecary, Tressa wants to be a traveling merchant, Cyrus wants to gain more knowledge. There are more complex stories (Therion, Primrose), but people weren't a fan of how they were handled.

The second game, however, took the complexity of stories like Primrose, but put that for basically everyone outside of maybe Agnea. The writing got a major improvement as soon as you start it. Each chapter 1 hooks you from the moment it starts, to the point you aren't even sure which party you want to start with. I don't want to dive into spoilers much as this game is still very new, but if you played the game, you know how insane some of the stories are cough Osvald cough.

Once you beat all 8 stories, you will unlock one final story that interconnects everything and give a really satisfying conclusion. They NAILED the conclusion this time while in Octopath 1, it was just a glorified lore dump and boss rush with a really really tough final boss. Octopath II, instead, had a 2-3 hour journey that ends with another really really tough boss. It's absolutely perfect with how the game set it up. I'm amazed at how the devs made such an incredible and engaging story.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is largely the same between both games, but the second game adds some new bells and whistles to liven up the battles. New to this game is the latent gauge, which is a unique ability to each of the 8 characters. Hikari's latent gives him three unique moves that are very good damage dealers, same with Ochette's with the exception of one move that's just a buff, Osvald's raises the potency of his spells but it can only hit one enemy instead of all, Partitio's raises his BP to maximum, and so on. All the latent abilities are useful for something so you are bound to use all of them eventually.

This is also a good place to talk about the bosses. The bosses in this game are WAY better than the first entry. Not only do all of the bosses offer a unique challenge, you also have to come up with new strategies on the fly. And all of them are fun! ...Okay there is one bad boss but it's still easy to take down when you know what to do. The later bosses especially gave me some trouble that I did not have from the first game outside of the final boss. This game will either be very moderately challenging or ball-breaking in difficulty depending on your strategies, but it never feels unfair. I think Team Asano finally manages to perfect the balance they were trying to accomplish from the Bravely Default games and even the first Octopath.

There's also the secondary classes/advanced classes that add even more freshness to the battles. The new advanced classes in this game are somehow even more insanely broken than before but in the best way possible. When you get good setups going, you will be steamrolling through all the bosses. The combat is some of the best I've seen in an RPG and I can't fathom anyone disliking it.

Exploration:

Exploration is honestly the one thing I think was done better in Octopath 1. The dungeons were more expanded and they didn't show everything on the map. While in Octopath II, it's still fun exploring around, but it felt like they stripped back this aspect of the game to put more time into the other aspects. I'm perfectly fine with that as the exploration is still good and everything else was improved tenfold, but I wish it wasn't so easy to discover all the secondary classes and secret dungeons.

The map as well is a little more tedious to traverse compared to before. This is more of a nitpick as you can fast travel when you enter a new town, it can be a little frustrating trying to figure out where the boats are to cross to the opposite region.

Visuals:

What do I even say about this game's visuals? The first game looked absolutely beautiful, inventing the HD-2D style that we are seeing with Triangle Strategy, LIVE A LIVE, and other games, but Octopath II manages to take it to the next level. So many shots have become dynamic with lots of different angles during cutscenes and even during combat to give everything that extra kick it needed. I can only imagine the future of this style, but my monkey brain can't even fathom how it gets better from here.

Music:

Do I even have to say anything about the music? It's Yasunori Nishiki for Christ's sake. I have no clue how this man managed to not only make a soundtrack on par with the first game, but to also possibly surpass it. The night themes that were added give this world a whole new air of life that was not present before. Hat's off to Yasunori Nishiki for making another outstanding score (also please release the ost on Spotify please please please).

Conclusion:

Overall, Octopath Traveler II is a step up from the first game in almost every single way. It's astounding that we have to praise the devs for simply listening to the criticisms, but that really is something that deserves praise. Not many studios and devs listen to the fans, or even listen to the proper criticism, but Team Asano is hellbent on perfecting their craft and I believe this is as perfect as it can get.

If you were not a fan of Octopath 1, even with the combat in mind, it's hard to say if you'd enjoy this one. As someone who stuck through the issues, I couldn't ask for a better title, but if you are still unsure, I can't say if you'd enjoy it. That's something you'd have to risk but I still 100% recommend it. Whether it's a new Octopath game or a brand new IP, I will be there day 1 for whatever Team Asano has in store. They've earned a lifelong and loyal fan.

I remember seeing the first Octopath Traveler trailer back in the day. That's when I first fell in love with the HD-2D art style. When it comes to the actual game behind the style, it's alright. Some decent characters, a great battle system, amazing soundtrack, and a mixed bag of narrative. When seeing that the game was getting a sequel, I was cautiously optimistic. There were so many issues from the first game that I wanted to see fixed. I'm happy to report that Octopath Traveler 2 fixes many of the issues from the previous game, while standing on its own as a fantastic JRPG for fans of the genre.

Similar to its older brother, Octopath 2's stories are varied when it comes to their overall quality. However, they are overall much improved over the original. There are only two stories that I am mixed on, that being Agnea the dancer and Partitio the merchant. Agnea's is just weak all around, and although there are elements of Partitio's that could have been done better, his voice actor's great performance makes up for it. All of the other stories are extremely interesting and well done. In particular, Osvald's story of revenge and Temenos' detective tale are the game's major highlights narratively speaking. Speaking of voice actors, everyone in the main cast gives a fantastic performance.

The visuals are yet another highlight, like the previous game. The HD-2D style continues to be one of the best things that Square Enix has created. The music also continues to be a major highlight as well. Though I think that the first game may have the better soundtrack overall.

The battle system is even better than in the original. Every mechanic from the previous games are still there, but they added even more to it. Every character now has a special meter that builds up either through attacking enemy weakness or being attacked. These abilities range from super powerful attacks, to more strategic abilities that can help turn the tide of battle. It further deepens the already deep and strategic combat.

While there is so much to love in this game, there are some missteps as well. The biggest thing, which was a big issue in the last game as well, is the lack of character interactions for the vast majority of the experience. To be fair, the developers tried to combat this by adding more banter sections, and even added a set of quests called "crossed paths," where two of the eight characters interact in a particular questline. However, things still feel extremely disconnected between characters. All of the eight storylines lack any cutscenes with the other main characters. In fact, when characters do start to interact at the very end of the game, they seem as though they have little to no idea what happened in the other characters' stories. I don't understand why this has to be the case with this series. I love that there are so many different stories with their own tones and vibes to them, but why does this prevent meaningful character interactions?

The game still lacks very interesting side quests imo. There are some that are interesting and take you to meaningful places, or at least have interesting stories, but the majority of them aren't very interesting. I skipped a lot of them due to this. I'd like to see the next entry have more involved side quests. Maybe ones that allow our characters interacting more as well? Just an idea.

Even with my complaints, Octopath Traveler II was an amazing time. It's such a big improvement over the first game. While there is still room to grow from here, the developers did an amazing job with this entry. This is a game for JRPG lovers everywhere.

Octopath Traveler II is a massive adventure packed to the gills with juicy, delicious SYSTEMS. Its deep turn-based RPG mechanics practically beg you to break them and build your little guys into single turn boss-killing machines. If you’re the kind of person that gets a dopamine hit from seeing the numbers go up, then get excited. You’ll be unlocking new weapons and skills and abilities left and right until you’re dealing just dumb amounts of damage. There is always some new synergy or strategy to unlock, and Octopath has a billion different bosses with their own unique mechanics to put your skills to the test, including a post game superboss that basically requires you to break the game to survive.

Where Octopath Traveler 2 doesn’t quite shine (for me anyway) is in its narrative and characters. By all accounts it's an improvement on the original (though I haven't played it), but the protagonists are just so shallow. Everyone has their one character trait, and they talk about it all the time. Osvald is stoic and gruff and out for revenge, Castii can’t remember anything, Temenos is a sassy crime-fighting detective, Ochette is hungry, Partitio loves making fat stacks, Throné wants to NOT be a slave, Hikari hates any bloodshed that he’s not personally committing, and Agnea just wants to dance. Seriously, what are you doing here, Agnea? Go. Go dance. Be free. This all goes doubly for the bad guys, who are generally so cartoonishly evil they’re impossible to take seriously.

To be fair, this seems to be the vibe the game is going for, emulating the simple tales of good vs evil from JRPGs of old. The characters aren’t shallow, they’re archetypal. Mythic figures standing (dancing?) against impossible odds. But when the characters are so one-note it can be difficult to become invested in their journeys. It doesn’t help that the interactions between party members are limited to brief text exchanges and a few crossover chapters that make up a vanishingly small percentage of the game’s overall length (though the final chapter IS very cool).

That’s not to say that the stories being told here are bad. They’re just kind of... there. They give the characters reasons to collect new skills and swords to make their numbers go up so they can kill bigger guys. And at the end of the day maybe that’s all Octopath Traveler II needs to be. The mechanics and systems at play are so good and satisfying that I was more than happy to spend 100+ hours defeating ancient evils and brokering business deals and collecting pokemon and dancing and whatever else.

Alright. So I gave up playing this game after 25 hours. Why? I do think it's really good but merely good is not enough for me to keep playing for an additional 30 hours to reach the end.

What I liked? The combat is snappy and satisfying. Breaking enemies' shields by using various attack types adds a minor layer of strategy that makes the combat feel like more than mindlessly taking turns hitting each other. I did enjoy some of the set ups for the character's stories and I liked the trajectory of those stories even if they are a little too anime.

What caused me to stop playing? Well, it's a damn long game and I'm not the type to feel necessitated to "finish what I started." Furthermore the stories, while their premises are good, are a little too anime. What do I mean? I mean the antagonists are laughably evil. Cartoonishly evil. Also, because the game has to tell 8 stories none of them feel as fleshed out as I would like. For example a minor character had a complete 180 in personality that felt incredibly underbaked. I literally laughed. At it. Not with it. And frankly I'd prefer 4 stories as opposed to 8 if it meant they could be fleshed out more. I'd choose Temenos, Throne, Hikari, and Oswald.

All that being said there is still a lot to like here and I sometimes feel the pull to see Temenos' and Throne's stories through to the end. I simply don't think it is worth the time investment to play. So maybe I'll youtube them.

my irks are restrictions regarding your party (i am fine with the protagonist lock until story completion; however, i believe exp should be shared across active and reserve members, we don't have to stick to that archaic restriction despite the visual aesthetics; once party formation is free to use w/o the taverns, they still don't treat it as if you can interact with all of them); wish the game speed went up to 3x; no clear data / new game plus option :(

i did not play the first octopath traveler beyond the demo, but i'm glad that party interaction went up a bit here with the crossed paths and travel banter (wish that was voiced). the battle system is great and i like the customization options, though adding additional job slots can be bit out the way depending on types. played in english and think the voice acting was top notch and quite like some localization choices (rendering partitio's kansai-ben as a southern accent >>>). music is great, they need to put it on spotify. plot is nothing special, but i enjoyed what it had to offer.

I was a very early adopter of Project Octopath Traveler hype. That first trailer all the way back in September of 2017 sold me instantly. From the beautiful graphics to the amazing music, I knew i would be buying it day one. And I did. And I dropped it almost immediately.

Aside from the soundtrack, which of course, was still amazing, and the visuals, which were also still very, very good, nearly nothing about the game hooked me. I found the combat to be just okay, and the the characters and story to be super boring. I think what turned me off most, though, was the lack of a connecting story. In the small amount of the game that I experienced, the characters didn't interact at all. That's when I decided it just wasn't for me, and went on with my life.

Flash forward to 2022, and Octopath Traveler II was announced. I once again, was interested, but this time, I was a lot more wary about it. When it was announced, I think I said something along the lines of "Man, I really hope this is good, but I'm not counting on it." When it was announced that characters would get crossover chapters, though, is when it really caught my attention. I still didn't buy it on launch, but I did get it for my birthday. and then didn't touch it for 7 months.

Listen, in my defense, my birthday came right after the Xenoblade 3 dlc came out, and right before Tears of the Kingdom came out. I had other priorities! Still, I regret not playing it sooner, because holy. fucking. shit.

This game is incredible. It's a completely magical experience, and an absolute love letter to JRPGs in all the best ways. This game somehow swept Digital Devil Saga 1/2 off its feet to become my new favorite turn based combat system out there. The break system is levels of genius game design my mind can't even begin to comprehend. And the gameplay twist that happens in the final boss? I don't remember the last time I've squealed like that because of a gameplay twist. I lost my shit. 10/10 combat.

The stories here are much improved from the first game. I wouldn't call them all fantastic, but all of them are at least great, with multiple making me tear up (Castti, Temenos, Throné, iykyk) and multiple making my jaw hit the fucking ground with their twists (OSVALD, THRONÉ, IYKYK), and the final chapter was, I think, a very nice ending, with quite possibly the greatest and most heartwarming title drop I've ever seen.

The cast here is a lot of what really makes this game special to me. Straight up, I think this game has one of the greatest casts in gaming. Or recent history, at least. I love every single one of them (especially Partitio, my fucking GOAT, greatest character of all time) and it makes me incredibly sad that I probably won't ever see them again unless octopath 3 has more connections to 2 past one boss fight. The travel banter, battle voice lines, and crossed paths really make this cast something special. Moments like when Partitio tried giving all his money to Agnea so she could live out her dreams, or when Ochette told Osvald the sixth source was meat, or every time Ochette called Castti Ma (MY FUCKING HEART AHHHHH), and everything inbetween. It's all so special. I can only hope Octopath 3's cast is half this good.

The last thing I'm gonna gush about here is the soundtrack. This motherfucker Yasunori Nishiki COOKED. All of the character themes are amazing, with Partitio, Castti, and Osvald's being straight up brilliant pieces of music, the environment and town themes are incredibly beautiful and atmospheric, and the battle themes. Oh my god the battle themes. Normal Battle III?? CRITICAL CLASH II???? FUCKING FOR THE DAWN????????????? peak. goated. raw. Ungodly levels of perfection here. Nishiki has to be a wizard or something. Don't even get me started on the remixed character themes before boss fights and how they transition perfectly into the boss theme. I could talk about this soundtrack, and frankly, this game, for hours, but I think I've about written enough.

In a comeback story for the ages, Octopath Traveler II has managed to steal my heart and become one of the best games I've ever played. Top 15 at least, if not higher. I cannot stress enough how special this game is. All I can hope for at this point is that this game somehow gets story DLC, and/or that Octopath 3 is at least half as good.

SPOILERS BELOW BECAUSE I HAVE AN INSANE STORY TO TELL.

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ok so that final boss yeah? the greatest fucking boss fight in gaming?

I shit you not I've spent like the last two weeks of my life trying to defeat this fucker. this absolute bastard. this complete son of a bitch who can stop you from reviving and kill pretty much anyone in one turn because of ruinous light and that other attack in phase 2. I had no idea that you had to use all 8 characters in this fight. I had used the same 4 characters for pretty much the whole game, the other 4 were all like level 35 when I strolled up to the final boss. I've been grinding and doing side content for two weeks straight and still this boss fight was the most brutal thing ever. the most raw fucking tooth and nail fight I've ever done in a video game. I've experienced nothing like it and I don't think I'll experience anything like it ever again. I was constantly on the verge of losing. I struggled to get past the first phase every attempt. my winning attempt though, oh my GOD. I had just about gotten the jackass to half health so he could initiate phase 1.5 and drag out the other half of my party when he killed two of my current party members and got another one to like, 50 health or so. I thought I was boned. I was so tempted to just restart. but I'm so glad I didn't. because I MANAGED TO BRANDS BLADE HIS NOT EVEN BROKEN ASS INTO PHASE 1.5 AND BROUGHT BACK AND HEALED MY WHOLE PARTY BEFORE THE SWITCH HAPPENED. I literally couldn't believe my eyes. I felt like a fucking god gamer. also the fight took me two fucking hours. 10/10 never fucking doing that ever again but its peak. ok reviews done now bye

Osvald, Castti, Throne, Ochette, Partitio, Agnea, Temenos, and Hikari make the party for this game, and it's a great cast. The game surpasses the first one in almost every inconcievable way.
The world of Solista has so many neat little locations to find and it was always fun to explore and see how what the world was building to. The exceptionally beautiful HD-2D graphics made the world flourish and shine unlike anything else. To compliment that you have a beautiful OST to give everything even more life!
The party and their stories are the main event though. Each of the eight stories are great in their own way and have their own themes and lessons with them. They somehow had the stories connect in a big way, as the last chapter can possible make you shed a tear (i definitely didn't don't look at me!)
The fixed alot that felt missing with the first one with special chapters that had two of the travelers team up together with their own story, and some side quests that felt like they had meaning! The boss fights can also be very difficult, and also a little easy if you know how to cheese some of them(lol). Which i enjoyed that, it shows that the game has alot of flexibility within it.
I have no complaints, this was my GOTY for 2023 and has my highest recommendation!

Octopath Traveler II is a large improvement over the already charming original. With more voice acting (also much better performed and directed), charming characters, fun jobs, thrilling sidequests and interesting stories I was hooked for almost 90 hours! Without going too much into spoilers one of the big complaints about the original is that the stories did not intertwine well and this game fixes that in spades in my opinion. Each story is still "standalone" but they all combine very well eventually. This honestly might be one of my favorite JRPGs ever now.

Team Asano has been carrying the torch of turn based RPGs at Square Enix for some time, and with Octopath Traveler II they continue their excellence with a unique combat system that evolves what the original done and spins it in even more curious directions.

Each character has, beyond their classes, unique traits and skills that not only you can exploit in battle but are actually woven in their storylines and sometimes to great effect in their boss battles. There are some truly magical moments where gameplay and storytelling merge to deliver some unforgettable setpieces.

I still struggle with juggling all characters and classes, I wish there was an easier way to keep the party caught up on levels. The equipment already helps with stats, but you still need job points for skills and in general the "secondary" members you chose always seem to be lagging behind in some way.

Octopath Traveler II is a sequel that improves the original in every way, and while superficially it might seem similar, it manages to be unique and bring surprising ideas to change your strategies and deliver a great story.