THE TRUE RPG OF THE YEAR 2023
After being somewhat let down by the first game (didn't even finish it), I was hesitant about taking on the sequel. Turns out it's pretty good! My biggest complaint was the lack of connection between the characters, and while this entry doesn't significantly change that dynamic, it does make great strides at making the party connect with each other more often. It is still largely individual stories, but I found most of them much more compelling than the first game. I also think they tried to make the individual chapters more unique and not quite as repetitive. Overall, a fun experience!
My favorite game that I didn't actually care enough about to finish. The soundtrack is an actual 10/10 and should be winning awards left and right.
My favorite turn-based RPG combat in any game ever. Beautiful and diverse environments, and stunning art style. Character stories are a bit inconsistent in quality and attention put into them but overall great.
The gameplay and combat are pretty simple but still engaging, the visuals and music are incredible. Similar to the first game, there's hits and misses in terms of storylines, but overall they were stepped up by a lot. Had they given more interesting character depth to some of the evil guys beyond "they magically turned evil or just always have been" with random turnarounds, it could have gone even higher, so take this as being closer to 4 than 5 stars.
In general, this is a really well made successor. And god DAMN the music has hits.
In general, this is a really well made successor. And god DAMN the music has hits.
je mets que 4,5 le temps de finir et je mettrais 5
As someone who did not like the first title I was greatly surprised by this one. While the combat hasn’t changed the characters this time around have more personality and interact with each other more, creating a realistic narrative the first lacked imo. Some characters definitely felt weaker story wise than others but overall this game was great. With way more towns to explore and a bigger world I had so much fun playing this game. This one is probably my favorite jrpg of the year.
This review contains spoilers
Someone will have to explain me why this game wasn't nominated to best RPG of the Year and Soundtrack of the Year
I already loved the original Octopath Traveler so I was really excited to finally play OTII after so many good impressions and reviews. I honestly didn't expect to like it that much more than OT but the truth is that it improves on so many ways that it's hard to actually recommend playing the first one now.
Octopath Traveler II is honestly one of the best JRPGs that I have played in the last 15 years and I have played a lot of them, it has everything to become an instant classic in the coming years and it's an absolute crime that this game isn't celebrated more.
Combat wise, I loved the inclusion of the Latent Powers. During my playthrough, a few times I was on the verge of wiping out but these powers came in clutch at the right time to turn the tides of the battles and that made me feel a rush that I haven't felt while fighting bosses in JRPGs for a very long time.
I also really liked what they did the story structure in this game. While I loved many of the Traveler's stories in OT1, in Octopath Traveler II I was hooked with every single story, even Agnea's. I was smiling hard when I reached the ending and everything came together because that was one of my, and many others, complaint about the first game. The campfire scene was amazing, they actually made the cover from the game a scene and even placed them in the same order as the cover, that was a great touch. The epilogue absolutely destroyed me. Of all places they could've played the main theme, they chose this one. I was almost in tears while hearing the song and Agnea's speech. Always treasure the moments you spend with your friends, family and loved ones. Always.
The "Crossed Paths" stories were amazing, I loved them all. I loved the pair dynamic everyone had going on and how it helped to flesh them out a little bit more. My favorite pair was definitely Temenos and Throné. Perhaps my favorite characters from this game.
I'm also glad that they didn't stick to 4 chapters only and gave some travelers more breathing room to flesh out their stories with 5 chapters.
I had my suspicions about Kazan right off the bat and I was proven correct but I was honestly shocked to learn about Ori, sister Mindt and, I'm sure there are subtle pieces of dialogue that foreshadow their true nature though.
The soundtrack was amazing (as expected) but as of now, I think OT1 has the superior OST. Maybe as I hear more of it I'll like it more, who knows.
I'm really excited about the future of the series, if they somehow improve on OT2 then they could be crafting something truly magical here.
The ending left me wanting a Team Asano game with a more traditional story structure though, if they make it I have no doubts that it's going to be amazing.
"Walk astride to the dawn."
I already loved the original Octopath Traveler so I was really excited to finally play OTII after so many good impressions and reviews. I honestly didn't expect to like it that much more than OT but the truth is that it improves on so many ways that it's hard to actually recommend playing the first one now.
Octopath Traveler II is honestly one of the best JRPGs that I have played in the last 15 years and I have played a lot of them, it has everything to become an instant classic in the coming years and it's an absolute crime that this game isn't celebrated more.
Combat wise, I loved the inclusion of the Latent Powers. During my playthrough, a few times I was on the verge of wiping out but these powers came in clutch at the right time to turn the tides of the battles and that made me feel a rush that I haven't felt while fighting bosses in JRPGs for a very long time.
I also really liked what they did the story structure in this game. While I loved many of the Traveler's stories in OT1, in Octopath Traveler II I was hooked with every single story, even Agnea's. I was smiling hard when I reached the ending and everything came together because that was one of my, and many others, complaint about the first game. The campfire scene was amazing, they actually made the cover from the game a scene and even placed them in the same order as the cover, that was a great touch. The epilogue absolutely destroyed me. Of all places they could've played the main theme, they chose this one. I was almost in tears while hearing the song and Agnea's speech. Always treasure the moments you spend with your friends, family and loved ones. Always.
The "Crossed Paths" stories were amazing, I loved them all. I loved the pair dynamic everyone had going on and how it helped to flesh them out a little bit more. My favorite pair was definitely Temenos and Throné. Perhaps my favorite characters from this game.
I'm also glad that they didn't stick to 4 chapters only and gave some travelers more breathing room to flesh out their stories with 5 chapters.
I had my suspicions about Kazan right off the bat and I was proven correct but I was honestly shocked to learn about Ori, sister Mindt and, I'm sure there are subtle pieces of dialogue that foreshadow their true nature though.
The soundtrack was amazing (as expected) but as of now, I think OT1 has the superior OST. Maybe as I hear more of it I'll like it more, who knows.
I'm really excited about the future of the series, if they somehow improve on OT2 then they could be crafting something truly magical here.
The ending left me wanting a Team Asano game with a more traditional story structure though, if they make it I have no doubts that it's going to be amazing.
"Walk astride to the dawn."
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.
Forgot how much I loved this style of gameplay from the first in the series and found myself enthralled. I would often play this while drinking coffee in the mornings as if they were my daily crossword or sudoku puzzle. Absolutely electric soundtrack as well!
jouez y
eu joguei no lançamento, e depois de rejogar recentemente, eu nao tenho mais duvida sobre ele, GOTY é uma coisa muito pessoal de jogador pra jogador, e nesse caso, o Octopath 2, é meu GOTY pessoal de 2023, eu realmente gostei demais da experiencia dele, principalmente a trilha sonora e o gameplay, ele arruma boa parte dos problemas do 1, com certeza um dos meus RPGs favoritos, e fico entre ele e o Final Fantasy IX como meus jogos favoritos da Square
its just gets better and better till the very end
PEAK JRPG GAMING GOODNESS
PEAK JRPG GAMING GOODNESS
Adding it to my GOTY 2023 list retroactively. Absolute fuckin heat from start to finish. Massive upgrade over the first game in every possible way, and I don't want to wait another four years for Octopath III.
I did everything there was to do in this game besides the secret boss (attempted it but no thanks lol). Not every character sings, but they did a much better job of making them feel like a party in this game. If anything, it takes too long to turn into a classic JRPG story, but it's part of the vision for what they're doing here. Easy recommend to any JRPG fans.
I did everything there was to do in this game besides the secret boss (attempted it but no thanks lol). Not every character sings, but they did a much better job of making them feel like a party in this game. If anything, it takes too long to turn into a classic JRPG story, but it's part of the vision for what they're doing here. Easy recommend to any JRPG fans.
This is my favorite game I've ever played. In one of the most stressful years in my life the stories this game told has kept me moving forward towards the next dawn. I'm forever thankful for traveling with these characters.
Oh and the music/visuals/combat is fucking awesome.
Oh and the music/visuals/combat is fucking awesome.
Partitio for smash
Friendship
banger again
I had a weird experience with this game. I played the original Octopath Traveler a few months before playing this, and I was really hyped after having a good time with it. Let me say right now, Octopath Traveler II is a phenomenal game, and improves on the previous game in every way. It has great stories, the game play is addicting and overall narrative is fantastic. That all being said, it didn't hook me like it did the first one, I wasn't sucked into the world and I often had to force myself to push through the game, even though I could tell it was a great video game.
By the time I was completing the uninteresting and unimaginative intro section to a JRPG character for the 4th time I got incredibly sick of the concept. Perhaps it would be better playing in small chunks and doing a chapter a session, but the idea of going back and doing another 4 of them is one of the least appealing things I can think of right now. Maybe I'll try that at some point but not for a while (I also don't really like the art style OOPS)
ogh
Na minha opinião a melhor trilha sonora de 2023 disparado e se não fosse Baldur's Gate 3, também seria o melhor RPG do ano.
Não consigo entender essa Square Enix que fala de queimar dinheiro em NFTs e cospe gachas genéricos enquanto lançam projetos absurdos como Live A Live e Octopath Traveler. Parece pura contradição. Mas não estou reclamando não, por mim que continuem nessa.
Eu queria ter mais coisas pra falar sobre, mas eu ainda estou muito encantado com quão lindo esse jogo é e quão maravilhosa é essa trilha sonora. É realmente um projeto feito com muito carinho e acho que da pra sentir a intenção e amor colocado nele pelos desenvolvedores.
Eu mal sai desse mundo e já sinto falta de tudo nele.
Não consigo entender essa Square Enix que fala de queimar dinheiro em NFTs e cospe gachas genéricos enquanto lançam projetos absurdos como Live A Live e Octopath Traveler. Parece pura contradição. Mas não estou reclamando não, por mim que continuem nessa.
Eu queria ter mais coisas pra falar sobre, mas eu ainda estou muito encantado com quão lindo esse jogo é e quão maravilhosa é essa trilha sonora. É realmente um projeto feito com muito carinho e acho que da pra sentir a intenção e amor colocado nele pelos desenvolvedores.
Eu mal sai desse mundo e já sinto falta de tudo nele.
I thought I would like this, but having to micromanage 8 characters and not being able to do so outside of the tavern ended up being tiresome for me. The pixel art is fuckin amazing tho, and the OST bops, but I just couldnt bother with that aspect and the grind.
Played this game almost entirely on the Steam Deck and it reminded me so much of playing epic RPG games on Gameboy / Nintendo DS, it felt magical at times.
I didn’t play the first game, so I took a chance when I heard this was a great and it lived up to the mild hype it had.
The things that stood out the most to me were the soundtrack, travel banter between travelers and the break system. The soundtrack is one of the best soundtracks in an RPG game, hands down. Yasunori Nishiki knocked it out of the fucking park over and over. Entering a new area means new music, and switching between night / day to enjoy both versions of any given track is an absolute treat. The travel banter reminded me of one of my favorite RPGs, Tales of Symphonia which had a similar feature. It’s a small thing without any voiceover but it makes these characters have so much more personality than they already get from their respective stories. It hyped me up so much every time the music would transition from the pre-boss encounter to the actual fight and the battle theme started playing, it hit every time. The battle / break system here makes for some really strategic decisions. Each fight can become a puzzle and with the bosses adding their own gimmicks it all works together pretty well from start to finish. Each character feels impactful in a fight and it’s not just “do big damage with everyone every turn”.
This is the most open world turn based RPG I’ve played and I will be buying Octopath 3 on release date, no questions asked.
Also Agnea had the best story, don’t @ me.
I didn’t play the first game, so I took a chance when I heard this was a great and it lived up to the mild hype it had.
The things that stood out the most to me were the soundtrack, travel banter between travelers and the break system. The soundtrack is one of the best soundtracks in an RPG game, hands down. Yasunori Nishiki knocked it out of the fucking park over and over. Entering a new area means new music, and switching between night / day to enjoy both versions of any given track is an absolute treat. The travel banter reminded me of one of my favorite RPGs, Tales of Symphonia which had a similar feature. It’s a small thing without any voiceover but it makes these characters have so much more personality than they already get from their respective stories. It hyped me up so much every time the music would transition from the pre-boss encounter to the actual fight and the battle theme started playing, it hit every time. The battle / break system here makes for some really strategic decisions. Each fight can become a puzzle and with the bosses adding their own gimmicks it all works together pretty well from start to finish. Each character feels impactful in a fight and it’s not just “do big damage with everyone every turn”.
This is the most open world turn based RPG I’ve played and I will be buying Octopath 3 on release date, no questions asked.
Also Agnea had the best story, don’t @ me.
A huge improvement in every single positive the first game had, and a JRPG that should be talked about more among the modern greats. Stories are much more fleshed out and rely less on a formula, party interactions are stressed more with dual side-missions, and the introduction of a ship to sail around the sea to get to different places and islands on the map to progress the story or get some loot added so much.
This game is cool but I do feel like the stories are pretty weak and it makes it a lot less interesting for me.
There were no cool side characters or villains that I really wanted to see again or anything similar that typically keeps me engaged in a JRPG long term. There were some mysteries but they didn’t do much for me personally.
Gameplay is really good but you’re still doing easy random encounters most of the time so it doesn’t always reach the heights it could with its combat.
There were no cool side characters or villains that I really wanted to see again or anything similar that typically keeps me engaged in a JRPG long term. There were some mysteries but they didn’t do much for me personally.
Gameplay is really good but you’re still doing easy random encounters most of the time so it doesn’t always reach the heights it could with its combat.
Phenomenal game all around. The mechanics, the characters, the music, everything about this game and series is special. Probably my new game of the year
This review contains spoilers
A Slow Burn.
This is a game where I truly believe most of the quality must be earned, barring a couple specific characters, all the party members stories begin a tad generic and uninteresting, and it takes a little bit for the battle system to also blossom into beauty. This is an old school SNES Jrpg through and through. A jump forward from Octopath 1, in that this time the characters are actually interesting and share chapters with eachother. By the time every characters ending chapter came along, I was glued to the screen. Especially Agnea, who originally struck me as the least interesting character, yet as I played her final boss, and heard the absolutely stunning song that plays, I finally understood what her story meant. And seriously this game knows how to weave a story for all 8 characters. Every party member feels unique and stands out with well written personalities. Partitio the merchant being a gosh darn cowboy from the wild west trying to be the worlds best capitalist manages to mesh perfectly with Osvald, a disgraced scholar who had his wife and child killed in front of him. This games soundtrack honestly blew me away, i've almost never been impressed by a JRPGs soundtrack other than the obvious standout of the modern Persona trilogy (3-5). The orchestra on this game does fantastic, the fantasy world with a modern world almost ready to form around it is portrayed perfectly with soaring strings. The battle system is just as strong as the first, this time mixing it up by adding Latent Powers, which gives each character a final fantasy limit break of sorts. Adds a perfect mix to the already immaculate concoction of Octopath 1's. Castti best girl.
This is a game where I truly believe most of the quality must be earned, barring a couple specific characters, all the party members stories begin a tad generic and uninteresting, and it takes a little bit for the battle system to also blossom into beauty. This is an old school SNES Jrpg through and through. A jump forward from Octopath 1, in that this time the characters are actually interesting and share chapters with eachother. By the time every characters ending chapter came along, I was glued to the screen. Especially Agnea, who originally struck me as the least interesting character, yet as I played her final boss, and heard the absolutely stunning song that plays, I finally understood what her story meant. And seriously this game knows how to weave a story for all 8 characters. Every party member feels unique and stands out with well written personalities. Partitio the merchant being a gosh darn cowboy from the wild west trying to be the worlds best capitalist manages to mesh perfectly with Osvald, a disgraced scholar who had his wife and child killed in front of him. This games soundtrack honestly blew me away, i've almost never been impressed by a JRPGs soundtrack other than the obvious standout of the modern Persona trilogy (3-5). The orchestra on this game does fantastic, the fantasy world with a modern world almost ready to form around it is portrayed perfectly with soaring strings. The battle system is just as strong as the first, this time mixing it up by adding Latent Powers, which gives each character a final fantasy limit break of sorts. Adds a perfect mix to the already immaculate concoction of Octopath 1's. Castti best girl.
Um dos melhores jogos que já joguei, OST maravilhosa a gameplay ótima e a história puta vida tem de tudo o que é bom, todos os problemas do 1 foram resolvidos, dito isso. Castti best girl
Octopath ii didn’t hook me like Sea of Stars did. I think it just seemed too complicated? I loved Live A Live last year and Octopath was similar to that. Might try and pick this up again down the road when I’m jonesing for a JRPG and I might warm up to it more.