i've been playing this for a few days and while i would usually wait for me to finish a game before sharing my thoughts, i can not contain how elated i am at how much of an improvement it is over the original. almost all of my issues with the original game were addressed and i'm very pleasantly surprised. what stands out the most to me is how interesting the characters are and the beautiful and varied environments, it really feels like a rare instance of a dev learning from not only the issues of the original but the parts of it that worked. would not be surprised if this ended up being my goty. i'm going to be locking comments and ignoring this 'review' once i finish the game and get my actual review out, i just genuinely could not stop myself from gushing about this game
Octopath Traveler came out at the right time, It kickstarted the HD-2D genre.
That's about all I can say about Octopath Traveler. While the game was a commercial and critical success, It felt lacking in more aspects than one.
So here comes the long awaited sequel, how does it fare to the original?
As of writing this, I don't believe I've ever played a game that improves on every single part of the original game and rises to new heights in the entire genre. It's a magical little game that has managed to hook me in from the first minute of playing the game, every single character is interesting and are fun to be around, they each have their own storylines together. It feels like everything has finally clicked.
The original game simply feels like just a proof of concept compared to this.
Octopath Traveler as a game was an interesting idea, but it lacked the narrative hook and It didn't help that the characters weren't really interesting either, the interactions between them were minimal or even non existent at times, everything felt disconnected.
The game at its core felt like a short 20 hour long classic SNES JRPG about multiple protags of which all of them had their own storylines cough Live a Live cough but stretched over to 100 hours, it felt exhausting.
This resulted in the average person picking up the game for around 20-30 hours, having their fill and putting the game down.
However Octopath 2 feels like it deserves those 100 hours and ends up making every single minute of those 100 hours insanely fun and entertaining, be it the combat, the characters or the beautiful environments.
If you were someone who loved the original, were let down by it or absolutely despised it.
I desperately urge you to give the second game a chance, there is no doubt in my mind that this game will go down as one of the greats in the entire medium.
That's about all I can say about Octopath Traveler. While the game was a commercial and critical success, It felt lacking in more aspects than one.
So here comes the long awaited sequel, how does it fare to the original?
As of writing this, I don't believe I've ever played a game that improves on every single part of the original game and rises to new heights in the entire genre. It's a magical little game that has managed to hook me in from the first minute of playing the game, every single character is interesting and are fun to be around, they each have their own storylines together. It feels like everything has finally clicked.
The original game simply feels like just a proof of concept compared to this.
Octopath Traveler as a game was an interesting idea, but it lacked the narrative hook and It didn't help that the characters weren't really interesting either, the interactions between them were minimal or even non existent at times, everything felt disconnected.
The game at its core felt like a short 20 hour long classic SNES JRPG about multiple protags of which all of them had their own storylines cough Live a Live cough but stretched over to 100 hours, it felt exhausting.
This resulted in the average person picking up the game for around 20-30 hours, having their fill and putting the game down.
However Octopath 2 feels like it deserves those 100 hours and ends up making every single minute of those 100 hours insanely fun and entertaining, be it the combat, the characters or the beautiful environments.
If you were someone who loved the original, were let down by it or absolutely despised it.
I desperately urge you to give the second game a chance, there is no doubt in my mind that this game will go down as one of the greats in the entire medium.
Will re-review once I actually finish the main story, but so far this is an absolutely stellar game. The character storylines are subversive and varied, and the battle system is one of the best I've ever experienced in a JRPG. The huge enemy variety and overwhelming breadth of abilities means that even simple random encounters take planning and coordination, and the leveling mechanics eliminate the need to grind.
While it feels a touch disingenuous to leave a negative review for a chunky game like Octopath after only ten hours, what I've seen in those ten hours was enough to convince me it wasn't cutting it (again).
If you are someone whose main criticism of Octopath 1 was something along the lines of: "The characters don't interact, and have nearly zero reason for teaming up with each other," then I'm here to tell you it's much the same. It would have been comical when aspiring merchant Partitio joins up with warrior Hikari on his quest for vengeance had it not been so stupid. Even better when hometown dancer Agnea joins the fray when her goal is to become a star performer.
The foundations of friendships and alliances in Octopath was always its achilles heel. No one is here to question its techical capability, so when such an obvious flaw (and one so vocally criticised!) is seemingly ignored like this, and the only notable changes thus far have been to combat I'm left feeling lukewarm.
I'm rarely satisifed by more of the same in media, so when a promising game like Octopath had a real shot at improving critical flaws with it's structure and characters I jumped at the chance to see it do so. Sadly however, it hasn't learned from its mistakes, and I'm not willing to roll the dice on another four individual stories of potentially wildly varying quality for forty hours.
If you are someone whose main criticism of Octopath 1 was something along the lines of: "The characters don't interact, and have nearly zero reason for teaming up with each other," then I'm here to tell you it's much the same. It would have been comical when aspiring merchant Partitio joins up with warrior Hikari on his quest for vengeance had it not been so stupid. Even better when hometown dancer Agnea joins the fray when her goal is to become a star performer.
The foundations of friendships and alliances in Octopath was always its achilles heel. No one is here to question its techical capability, so when such an obvious flaw (and one so vocally criticised!) is seemingly ignored like this, and the only notable changes thus far have been to combat I'm left feeling lukewarm.
I'm rarely satisifed by more of the same in media, so when a promising game like Octopath had a real shot at improving critical flaws with it's structure and characters I jumped at the chance to see it do so. Sadly however, it hasn't learned from its mistakes, and I'm not willing to roll the dice on another four individual stories of potentially wildly varying quality for forty hours.
Octopath Traveler was a good game that did a lot well. Visually, it pioneered the HD-2D style, successfully marrying retro and modern techniques to create a distinct identity. The music was phenomenal: Yasunori Nishiki's compositions are on par with the best of Square's golden era. And the battle system was a clever tweaking of the Brave/Default system from Team Asano's earlier games. Structurally, it borrowed from the Romancing SaGa series and Live A Live, creating a semi-open world that was refreshing for the turn-based RPG genre. All of this was exceedingly promising but, at times, the game was let down by poor pacing, chapter structure repetition, bland character writing and ultimately, a brutally unfair final boss gauntlet cryptically locked behind side quests.
Everything that Octopath Traveler did well, Octopath Traveler II does better. And everything it did poorly, II addresses.
On the surface, it doesn't immediately feel as though much has changed. You still have eight characters, one of which you choose to start with, which all follow separate narratives as you move across the map to collect them. Yes, these stories still do not coalesce for the most part, but additional party banter, battle chatter and the new Crossed Paths (chapters where two characters share a story) give a better sense of camaraderie. The individual stories themselves, meanwhile, prove that the anthology concept is a solid one, as long as each story is well-written. Across the board, these are much better. Agnea the Dancer and Ochette the Hunter perhaps have the weakest tales, but they still outdo most of the first game. On the other end, Partitio the Merchant, Temenos the Cleric, and Throne the Thief outright crush everything from the first title. We've leapt all the way to one of the better parties in modern JRPG history: already a huge difference.
But the worldbuilding is next level. The first game did provide flavor text on each NPC when you used inquire or another comparable Path Action, but it's far more detailed here. Even without names, these characters have notable relationships with each other: some are having affairs, some just moved and are struggling to make friends, etc. It does so much for immersion. The grander lore is better, too. Engage with certain NPCs in certain towns and you'll learn about Eir's Apothecaries before ever meeting Castti, or learn about the gods off the beaten path from Temenos's Seven-like cult murder mystery. Team Asano did an incredible job making this new world feel organic and far less game-y than their previous efforts.
My favorite moments still involve the freedom the game offers, though. I remember in Montwise, I had Hikari challenge a champion that I likely wasn't supposed to be able to beat yet. But, having picked up the Apothecary sub-job and some key Warrior and challenge skills, my Hikari felt pretty tanky even at a very low level. It was a long one-on-one battle: 15 minutes at minimum. But he won, and behind that champion was a chest with an incredibly powerful bow that basically doubled my Partitio's attack stat. Such newfound power emboldened me to buy my ship earlier and take to the seas: because I started with Partitio, I was able to raise the necessary funds much faster, and through clever use of the hire Path Action, I got a 50% discount, saving me tons of money for armor and concoction ingredients. The interplay between the in and out of battle systems was good before, but it's masterful now, and the open-world begs for multiple playthroughs to approach problems in different ways and tackle bosses with different parties and job combinations in different orders.
The visuals and music are, per usual, astonishing. This is the best use of the HD-2D engine so far. Lighting and shadows are immaculate, locales are artistically distinct, sprite animations are lovingly detailed. There's also much more dynamism in the camera angles, giving scenes a more cinematic feel. Nishiki returns with another stellar orchestral OST as well. But the voice acting! In the first game, it was minimal and frequently bad. Here, every major story scene is fully voiced, and it's good! Agnea's a stand-out: she's from the country but tries to speak like a bubbly city girl when possible. But when she's flustered, she'll revert back to her accent in a surprisingly believable performance. Temenos is another great one, with Jordan Dash Cruz capturing both his flirtatious nature and cynicism in equal measure.
It's difficult to levy a single, truly notable complaint. Side quests can be a bit obtuse, but considering it got me to touch every little corner of the game and puzzle them together, whether it's a plus or minus will vary from player to player. It'd be nice if you could change your party on the fly, but taverns are frequent enough that it rarely feels like a big issue and is probably a wise call when the game wants you to sort of commit to certain Path Actions for a section. Same with save points. If you could save anywhere, it would remove a lot of good tension, but points are still liberally scattered: you'll almost never go more than 15 minutes without seeing a new one. Every other aspect feels on point: the difficulty curve is far more balanced, chapter pacing is more varied, writing is mature without slipping into cringey edgelord territory. I love this. It feels like Team Asano's first true masterpiece: the studio that has continuously replicated the golden age of JRPGs has perfected the formula, put their own spin on it, and has finally captured the magic their previous efforts lacked. Cannot recommend this enough.
Everything that Octopath Traveler did well, Octopath Traveler II does better. And everything it did poorly, II addresses.
On the surface, it doesn't immediately feel as though much has changed. You still have eight characters, one of which you choose to start with, which all follow separate narratives as you move across the map to collect them. Yes, these stories still do not coalesce for the most part, but additional party banter, battle chatter and the new Crossed Paths (chapters where two characters share a story) give a better sense of camaraderie. The individual stories themselves, meanwhile, prove that the anthology concept is a solid one, as long as each story is well-written. Across the board, these are much better. Agnea the Dancer and Ochette the Hunter perhaps have the weakest tales, but they still outdo most of the first game. On the other end, Partitio the Merchant, Temenos the Cleric, and Throne the Thief outright crush everything from the first title. We've leapt all the way to one of the better parties in modern JRPG history: already a huge difference.
But the worldbuilding is next level. The first game did provide flavor text on each NPC when you used inquire or another comparable Path Action, but it's far more detailed here. Even without names, these characters have notable relationships with each other: some are having affairs, some just moved and are struggling to make friends, etc. It does so much for immersion. The grander lore is better, too. Engage with certain NPCs in certain towns and you'll learn about Eir's Apothecaries before ever meeting Castti, or learn about the gods off the beaten path from Temenos's Seven-like cult murder mystery. Team Asano did an incredible job making this new world feel organic and far less game-y than their previous efforts.
My favorite moments still involve the freedom the game offers, though. I remember in Montwise, I had Hikari challenge a champion that I likely wasn't supposed to be able to beat yet. But, having picked up the Apothecary sub-job and some key Warrior and challenge skills, my Hikari felt pretty tanky even at a very low level. It was a long one-on-one battle: 15 minutes at minimum. But he won, and behind that champion was a chest with an incredibly powerful bow that basically doubled my Partitio's attack stat. Such newfound power emboldened me to buy my ship earlier and take to the seas: because I started with Partitio, I was able to raise the necessary funds much faster, and through clever use of the hire Path Action, I got a 50% discount, saving me tons of money for armor and concoction ingredients. The interplay between the in and out of battle systems was good before, but it's masterful now, and the open-world begs for multiple playthroughs to approach problems in different ways and tackle bosses with different parties and job combinations in different orders.
The visuals and music are, per usual, astonishing. This is the best use of the HD-2D engine so far. Lighting and shadows are immaculate, locales are artistically distinct, sprite animations are lovingly detailed. There's also much more dynamism in the camera angles, giving scenes a more cinematic feel. Nishiki returns with another stellar orchestral OST as well. But the voice acting! In the first game, it was minimal and frequently bad. Here, every major story scene is fully voiced, and it's good! Agnea's a stand-out: she's from the country but tries to speak like a bubbly city girl when possible. But when she's flustered, she'll revert back to her accent in a surprisingly believable performance. Temenos is another great one, with Jordan Dash Cruz capturing both his flirtatious nature and cynicism in equal measure.
It's difficult to levy a single, truly notable complaint. Side quests can be a bit obtuse, but considering it got me to touch every little corner of the game and puzzle them together, whether it's a plus or minus will vary from player to player. It'd be nice if you could change your party on the fly, but taverns are frequent enough that it rarely feels like a big issue and is probably a wise call when the game wants you to sort of commit to certain Path Actions for a section. Same with save points. If you could save anywhere, it would remove a lot of good tension, but points are still liberally scattered: you'll almost never go more than 15 minutes without seeing a new one. Every other aspect feels on point: the difficulty curve is far more balanced, chapter pacing is more varied, writing is mature without slipping into cringey edgelord territory. I love this. It feels like Team Asano's first true masterpiece: the studio that has continuously replicated the golden age of JRPGs has perfected the formula, put their own spin on it, and has finally captured the magic their previous efforts lacked. Cannot recommend this enough.
I'm happy to say this is one of the best JRPGs from the last few years.
Initially, I was a bit skeptical of how much marketing they kept placing on assuring everyone that the characters interacted. I didn't want to play 80 hours of a game just to see characters chiming in for every event because every other JRPG does it so poorly already... While the game does include new two-person chapters for some interaction, they are usually just extended party banter with little to no combat and only a few chapters. They have also added a final chapter to tie in all the solo and partner chapters, while also giving you a proper final boss and a nice little epilogue. What a final boss it was too, the mechanic was very unique and I wish more games attempted it. Sadly it was a bit too easy and died quickly. Of course, there is still a super boss to attempt, and I'm glad to say it's still doable with little to no grinding if you prepped well.
The new additions to Octopath 2 greatly improved some of the frustrating parts of the original. Gone is every story consisting of 1-4 chapters done in the exact same order with the almost formulaic "get to town, press path action, do dungeon, beat boss." Now, depending on the story, you can have multiple routes to tackle in any order, some having optional routes and others just varying in length compared to the strict 4 chapters. Some don't even have a dungeon or boss fight, adding some needed variety. Dungeons in general are similar to the previous game, but the number of them appears to have been reduced. Chests are also hidden a bit more both inside and outside dungeons, which I appreciated because there are still barely any puzzles. The overworld exploration is even better here, with a lot more odd places that end up hiding secrets. I played the game as 4 and 4 and got my boat (also new to the series) on the second playthrough, making that party even more enjoyable because there were so many new areas for me to explore.
Each character's story quality seems to have gone up as well, as I don't remember caring for half of them in the previous game. With the exception of Castti's, I was immediately engrossed in all of the stories here. My favourites have to be Partitio's easily and Osvald. The sleeper hit has to go to Agnea, who I initially thought would be the worst one. Speaking of the worst character, we lost Ye Olde English and in return got a Catgirl. Her story is nice, but I just can't stand the character at all. Just as before, each story does tie together at the end, with some of them being very obvious in their chapters.
Now for the main reason these games are sick, the combat is just amazing. There have been tweaks to each job, while some of the characters are way more enjoyable to use throughout your journey. For example, H'aanit was pretty annoying to use in the first game due to your captures having limited uses. You ended up needing to constantly catch your favourites or just stockpile them. In Octopath 2, your captures are permanent, and you can enable auto capture, which gives you a 25% chance of capturing the monster every time you kill it with Ochette. This really reduced a lot of the tedium for me and made me actually want to use her. A lot of other jobs have been changed too, like thief, hunter, and scholar. In addition, each character now has a couple of EX skills that are unique to them. Half of these are scattered around the world as shrines to find, whereas in the first game, these shrines were what gave you access to subjobs. Subjobs in Octopath 2 are instead learned by finding their respective guilds and meeting certain requirements if you want multiple characters to use the same job. They have also added a new latent gauge to each character which pretty much functions like a limit break with some insane synergies. Each character now has an additional path action depending on the time of day, giving you a lot more variety in how you choose to build your teams. My favourite part has to be the new buffed talents, such as warrior and rogue. Hikari is great for warriors in particular because you can now learn skills based on who you challenge & defeat, giving you even more freedom in teambuilding, though I do wish there was a bit of QOL in being able to remember old skills. It feels like they really went above and beyond to ensure each character is unique rather than just being able to use any character with a subjob for minimal difference.
The gameplay is largely the same as the first game, with you leveling up throughout the journey at a nice pace. Even playing through with the reduced random encounters, you will easily stay on level. I'm not sure how grinding complaints ever arose when you have to work really hard to stay under-leveled, and even then, levels don't really matter. I could see needing to grind if you truly fucked up your skill selections for random sub jobs. I was able to get nearly every possible skill in every job with every character here due to secret job changes. Random encounters this time do feel a bit easier, but I think that's mostly because you can get the secret job way earlier than in the first game. This is because the four secret jobs now aren't just boss fights like before, which does make me a bit sad because we miss out on a music track that was one of the best in the original. I did appreciate the variety in how you acquired the secret jobs, but I still felt like they should have added 1 or 2 more bosses for them.
The only criticism I have is that they have yet to address the only issue with the first game. Your first character is still locked to your party until you complete their story. I really wish this wasn't the case because it leads to over-leveling, as in the first game, or resorting to 4 and 4, as I did here.
I'm so delighted this ended up being everything I wanted and more. Team Asano is quickly becoming my favourite JRPG developers just for their consistent level of quality, and the amount of freedom they allow for combat. I'm even more excited to play Triangle Strategy, as I heard it has a good amount of challenge for the entire playthrough and I enjoyed the demo. I might even give Various Daylife a shot on the offchance it is good. I cannot wait for the next game made by this team.
Initially, I was a bit skeptical of how much marketing they kept placing on assuring everyone that the characters interacted. I didn't want to play 80 hours of a game just to see characters chiming in for every event because every other JRPG does it so poorly already... While the game does include new two-person chapters for some interaction, they are usually just extended party banter with little to no combat and only a few chapters. They have also added a final chapter to tie in all the solo and partner chapters, while also giving you a proper final boss and a nice little epilogue. What a final boss it was too, the mechanic was very unique and I wish more games attempted it. Sadly it was a bit too easy and died quickly. Of course, there is still a super boss to attempt, and I'm glad to say it's still doable with little to no grinding if you prepped well.
The new additions to Octopath 2 greatly improved some of the frustrating parts of the original. Gone is every story consisting of 1-4 chapters done in the exact same order with the almost formulaic "get to town, press path action, do dungeon, beat boss." Now, depending on the story, you can have multiple routes to tackle in any order, some having optional routes and others just varying in length compared to the strict 4 chapters. Some don't even have a dungeon or boss fight, adding some needed variety. Dungeons in general are similar to the previous game, but the number of them appears to have been reduced. Chests are also hidden a bit more both inside and outside dungeons, which I appreciated because there are still barely any puzzles. The overworld exploration is even better here, with a lot more odd places that end up hiding secrets. I played the game as 4 and 4 and got my boat (also new to the series) on the second playthrough, making that party even more enjoyable because there were so many new areas for me to explore.
Each character's story quality seems to have gone up as well, as I don't remember caring for half of them in the previous game. With the exception of Castti's, I was immediately engrossed in all of the stories here. My favourites have to be Partitio's easily and Osvald. The sleeper hit has to go to Agnea, who I initially thought would be the worst one. Speaking of the worst character, we lost Ye Olde English and in return got a Catgirl. Her story is nice, but I just can't stand the character at all. Just as before, each story does tie together at the end, with some of them being very obvious in their chapters.
Now for the main reason these games are sick, the combat is just amazing. There have been tweaks to each job, while some of the characters are way more enjoyable to use throughout your journey. For example, H'aanit was pretty annoying to use in the first game due to your captures having limited uses. You ended up needing to constantly catch your favourites or just stockpile them. In Octopath 2, your captures are permanent, and you can enable auto capture, which gives you a 25% chance of capturing the monster every time you kill it with Ochette. This really reduced a lot of the tedium for me and made me actually want to use her. A lot of other jobs have been changed too, like thief, hunter, and scholar. In addition, each character now has a couple of EX skills that are unique to them. Half of these are scattered around the world as shrines to find, whereas in the first game, these shrines were what gave you access to subjobs. Subjobs in Octopath 2 are instead learned by finding their respective guilds and meeting certain requirements if you want multiple characters to use the same job. They have also added a new latent gauge to each character which pretty much functions like a limit break with some insane synergies. Each character now has an additional path action depending on the time of day, giving you a lot more variety in how you choose to build your teams. My favourite part has to be the new buffed talents, such as warrior and rogue. Hikari is great for warriors in particular because you can now learn skills based on who you challenge & defeat, giving you even more freedom in teambuilding, though I do wish there was a bit of QOL in being able to remember old skills. It feels like they really went above and beyond to ensure each character is unique rather than just being able to use any character with a subjob for minimal difference.
The gameplay is largely the same as the first game, with you leveling up throughout the journey at a nice pace. Even playing through with the reduced random encounters, you will easily stay on level. I'm not sure how grinding complaints ever arose when you have to work really hard to stay under-leveled, and even then, levels don't really matter. I could see needing to grind if you truly fucked up your skill selections for random sub jobs. I was able to get nearly every possible skill in every job with every character here due to secret job changes. Random encounters this time do feel a bit easier, but I think that's mostly because you can get the secret job way earlier than in the first game. This is because the four secret jobs now aren't just boss fights like before, which does make me a bit sad because we miss out on a music track that was one of the best in the original. I did appreciate the variety in how you acquired the secret jobs, but I still felt like they should have added 1 or 2 more bosses for them.
The only criticism I have is that they have yet to address the only issue with the first game. Your first character is still locked to your party until you complete their story. I really wish this wasn't the case because it leads to over-leveling, as in the first game, or resorting to 4 and 4, as I did here.
I'm so delighted this ended up being everything I wanted and more. Team Asano is quickly becoming my favourite JRPG developers just for their consistent level of quality, and the amount of freedom they allow for combat. I'm even more excited to play Triangle Strategy, as I heard it has a good amount of challenge for the entire playthrough and I enjoyed the demo. I might even give Various Daylife a shot on the offchance it is good. I cannot wait for the next game made by this team.
This game felt really special to me, and it kind of encapsulates a lot of the reasons why I grew up loving the genre. I enjoyed Octopath I quite a lot, in spite of the shortcomings it had. Octopath II however became one of my favourite JRPG's I've played in a long long time.
All of the stories feel very varied in tone, often in surprising ways to what my first impressions were, and there's even a fair share of twists that tripped me up along the way. What surprised me particularly is that no story ever felt like a drag. I played them in a similar way to the first, that being doing everyone's earlier chapter, then everyone's next part, and so on. However the formula for chapter progression feels a bit more unique this time, which made hopping back and forth that much more of a pleasure to find out what would happen next. The game also feels a lot more cohesive than the first, especially in terms of tying it all together.
There's so much flavour in the game too, with towns and the NPC's. Every NPC has some little story or background you can find out about them, and seeing these reflected in their items, dialogue or even their role in the town/quest/whatever they're involved in, was a special joy for me. Even a good handful of sidequests managed to get me invested in whatever little stories or issues were going on.
Combat feels great as expected, and the addition of an increased battle speed option is a much welcome addition. Jobs and skills feel quite similar to the first but with a lot of tweaks and new additions to give it a fresh feel. There's also a huge amount of bosses in the game, and every single time I see the spritework it just brings a smile to my face. Some of them are even sort of puzzly or gimmicky, which force you to play with an unusual approach. A special mention goes to a couple of endgame fights, one of made me bust out notepad to make notes to plan my strategy for it, and the final boss which is musically and mechanically just as epic as I'd hoped. The only downside I can say is there were times I felt like I'd gotten somewhat overpowered without really grinding, and even held back on some bosses because I wanted to see what they'd do next.
The music is on another level, and was honestly one of the parts of the game I most looked forward to prior to the release. Every character theme feels perfectly crafted for the traveller, and the variation of battle themes, town themes, and different versions of the character themes just hits the musical sweet spot deep within me. Special mention to Agnea's Theme, and a select few boss themes which were just amazing.
I have to gush over just how fun it is to explore in this game and find new things. Choosing when to risk going into higher danger level areas for some treasure, or finding new caves and dungeons with the excitement of seeing what cool new boss laid at the end of it, or big new equipment for one of your many travellers. Even just the loop of entering a new town and going tosteal, lawfully buy from everyone, find out their information and scout for abilities for Hikari, or new partners for Agnea, Partitio or Temenos - it become something I missed when I inevitably reached the last town in the game. Well, granted I can see this being a little tedious for some people, not that it's mandatory of course.
I was really excited for this game, and honestly I'm just really happy that I enjoyed it as much as I did. It was a fantastic time. I'll be listening to the soundtrack and excitedly waiting a 3rd entry in the series for the foreseeable future.
All of the stories feel very varied in tone, often in surprising ways to what my first impressions were, and there's even a fair share of twists that tripped me up along the way. What surprised me particularly is that no story ever felt like a drag. I played them in a similar way to the first, that being doing everyone's earlier chapter, then everyone's next part, and so on. However the formula for chapter progression feels a bit more unique this time, which made hopping back and forth that much more of a pleasure to find out what would happen next. The game also feels a lot more cohesive than the first, especially in terms of tying it all together.
There's so much flavour in the game too, with towns and the NPC's. Every NPC has some little story or background you can find out about them, and seeing these reflected in their items, dialogue or even their role in the town/quest/whatever they're involved in, was a special joy for me. Even a good handful of sidequests managed to get me invested in whatever little stories or issues were going on.
Combat feels great as expected, and the addition of an increased battle speed option is a much welcome addition. Jobs and skills feel quite similar to the first but with a lot of tweaks and new additions to give it a fresh feel. There's also a huge amount of bosses in the game, and every single time I see the spritework it just brings a smile to my face. Some of them are even sort of puzzly or gimmicky, which force you to play with an unusual approach. A special mention goes to a couple of endgame fights, one of made me bust out notepad to make notes to plan my strategy for it, and the final boss which is musically and mechanically just as epic as I'd hoped. The only downside I can say is there were times I felt like I'd gotten somewhat overpowered without really grinding, and even held back on some bosses because I wanted to see what they'd do next.
The music is on another level, and was honestly one of the parts of the game I most looked forward to prior to the release. Every character theme feels perfectly crafted for the traveller, and the variation of battle themes, town themes, and different versions of the character themes just hits the musical sweet spot deep within me. Special mention to Agnea's Theme, and a select few boss themes which were just amazing.
I have to gush over just how fun it is to explore in this game and find new things. Choosing when to risk going into higher danger level areas for some treasure, or finding new caves and dungeons with the excitement of seeing what cool new boss laid at the end of it, or big new equipment for one of your many travellers. Even just the loop of entering a new town and going to
I was really excited for this game, and honestly I'm just really happy that I enjoyed it as much as I did. It was a fantastic time. I'll be listening to the soundtrack and excitedly waiting a 3rd entry in the series for the foreseeable future.
so far pretty good
The first game was already one of my favorite games. This game managed to be better in literally every single way imaginable.
I don't even have a joke for my review. This is an unmitigated masterpiece.
What I came out of from this game was, I really want an Octopath game with a serious, real writer. More than any other recent rpg I can think of, this game really encourages you to play with its systems and worlds in creative ways and it rewards you for it. There is always something over that hill, past that door, and that's what carries the game through the early and mid sections.
The stories of the travelers themselves range from dull to deranged. Partitio's in particular is this absolutely bonkers random events plot about building shopping malls to abolish the concept of intellectual property(I'm not joking) and its so good just because you never know what the fuck is happening next. The one narrative thing the game does well is the "hype moments", all the travelers get their moment to shine, their cool little boss battle moments(Agnea, who has the least interesting story, has the best one). And it all wraps together in a way that is executed well for as well-played the tropes are.
Which I guess is the problem and why I can't put more heart into the game. Its the perfect example of a game where the game is just missing that ambition, that bit of magical quality to elevate from "pretty good" to "greatest of all time". I think if they hired a more ambitious writer, or went harder in the ludonarrative aspects of the gameplay, they could get there--the team has the talent, clearly.
Still, its a massive step up from Octopath 1 and that is worth applauding. Fun game.
The stories of the travelers themselves range from dull to deranged. Partitio's in particular is this absolutely bonkers random events plot about building shopping malls to abolish the concept of intellectual property(I'm not joking) and its so good just because you never know what the fuck is happening next. The one narrative thing the game does well is the "hype moments", all the travelers get their moment to shine, their cool little boss battle moments(Agnea, who has the least interesting story, has the best one). And it all wraps together in a way that is executed well for as well-played the tropes are.
Which I guess is the problem and why I can't put more heart into the game. Its the perfect example of a game where the game is just missing that ambition, that bit of magical quality to elevate from "pretty good" to "greatest of all time". I think if they hired a more ambitious writer, or went harder in the ludonarrative aspects of the gameplay, they could get there--the team has the talent, clearly.
Still, its a massive step up from Octopath 1 and that is worth applauding. Fun game.
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.
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.
still hard as 1
managed beat all stories
managed beat all stories
Platinumed in 58 hours.
Octopath Traveler II is a good, but not great, JRPG romp. A marginal improvement over the first entry, this sequel offers slightly better stories and improved combat. The pacing's great: I completed all 8 stories in under 50 hours, meaning each story was a little shy of 8 hours. There's plenty of side content to go around as well, with over 60 sidequests and around a dozen optional dungeons.
On the flip side, most of the stories were predictable or even forgettable, and the balancing is extremely wonky. It'll either be quite difficult or incredibly easy, all depending on what jobs you use. While the mechanics allow for a wealth of creativity in how you strategize, you're only rewarded if you play each character a certain way. The worst of it comes from the secret boss. I hate when JRPGs force you to make specific playstyle choices to beat the superboss, so I was beyond frustrated when I found out that this game had that sort of superboss. Not only that, it's among the worst offenders. You can beat it in 4 turns if you use a certain cheese strategy, or you can struggle for 6 hours like I did before switching to said cheese strat. At least beating it was a massive relief. Finally, while the stories intertwine better than in the first game, it's still an inferior endgame to that of its influence: Live a Live.
If you enjoyed Octopath Traveler, play this sequel. It's far better. However, if you felt mixed on it, be wary. You will either find this a worthwhile game or be let down yet again. I, personally, enjoyed my journey a lot despite its flaws.
Octopath Traveler II is a good, but not great, JRPG romp. A marginal improvement over the first entry, this sequel offers slightly better stories and improved combat. The pacing's great: I completed all 8 stories in under 50 hours, meaning each story was a little shy of 8 hours. There's plenty of side content to go around as well, with over 60 sidequests and around a dozen optional dungeons.
On the flip side, most of the stories were predictable or even forgettable, and the balancing is extremely wonky. It'll either be quite difficult or incredibly easy, all depending on what jobs you use. While the mechanics allow for a wealth of creativity in how you strategize, you're only rewarded if you play each character a certain way. The worst of it comes from the secret boss. I hate when JRPGs force you to make specific playstyle choices to beat the superboss, so I was beyond frustrated when I found out that this game had that sort of superboss. Not only that, it's among the worst offenders. You can beat it in 4 turns if you use a certain cheese strategy, or you can struggle for 6 hours like I did before switching to said cheese strat. At least beating it was a massive relief. Finally, while the stories intertwine better than in the first game, it's still an inferior endgame to that of its influence: Live a Live.
If you enjoyed Octopath Traveler, play this sequel. It's far better. However, if you felt mixed on it, be wary. You will either find this a worthwhile game or be let down yet again. I, personally, enjoyed my journey a lot despite its flaws.
i love this game i wish dads were real
Meus amigos, eu de fato fiquei contagiado do começo ao fim da campanha desse game, engoli ele com uma velocidade que até me impressionou.
Pontos Positivos:
Octopath Traveler II, depois de mais ou menos 60 horas de jogo, é uma experiência simplesmente fantástica, seus gráficos são, sinceramente falando, maravilhosos, no começo eu não achava que essa ideia de mesclar o 3d com 2d, dessa forma especificamente, daria certo, porém o primeiro jogo mais do que me provou o contrario, e esse aqui, apenas terminou de queimar minha lingua.
Seus gráficos como dito antes, são lindos, a jogabilidade tem um ar de clássico ao mesmo tempo que é nova, e condizente com o que o game se propõem, sendo aos moldes do primeiro.
Ainda porém tenho que destacar que, a trilha sonora, a história e os personagens são a melhor coisa do jogo, com toda certeza, a escrita e o desenvolvimento de toda a narrativa contada foi feita com primazia.
E é isso que mais dá pontos a Octopath Traveler II. Eu não sei dizer se esse game é ou não melhor do que o primeiro, saiba que se você gostou do game anterior, provavelmente vai gostar desse, já que acredito que ambos alcançaram um ótimo nível de qualidade.
Ponto Negativo:
Octo 2 é uma continuação interessante, porém, o que me impedi de dar a nota máxima, é a problemática de que no fim das contas, ele melhora pouco as coisas, no quesito técnico, que vimos no primeiro game. Passados 5 anos desde 2018, data de lançamento do jogo anterior, acredito que muitas de suas mecânicas poderiam ter sido aprimoradas ainda mais, do que vimos aqui.
Conclusão:
Estou desde 2018 esperando uma continuação boa, e essa aqui chegou a um ótimo nível, 2023, tem sido maravilho até agora, e se o ano acabasse nesse momento, já seria melhor que 2021 e até mesmo que 2020. 9/10
Pontos Positivos:
Octopath Traveler II, depois de mais ou menos 60 horas de jogo, é uma experiência simplesmente fantástica, seus gráficos são, sinceramente falando, maravilhosos, no começo eu não achava que essa ideia de mesclar o 3d com 2d, dessa forma especificamente, daria certo, porém o primeiro jogo mais do que me provou o contrario, e esse aqui, apenas terminou de queimar minha lingua.
Seus gráficos como dito antes, são lindos, a jogabilidade tem um ar de clássico ao mesmo tempo que é nova, e condizente com o que o game se propõem, sendo aos moldes do primeiro.
Ainda porém tenho que destacar que, a trilha sonora, a história e os personagens são a melhor coisa do jogo, com toda certeza, a escrita e o desenvolvimento de toda a narrativa contada foi feita com primazia.
E é isso que mais dá pontos a Octopath Traveler II. Eu não sei dizer se esse game é ou não melhor do que o primeiro, saiba que se você gostou do game anterior, provavelmente vai gostar desse, já que acredito que ambos alcançaram um ótimo nível de qualidade.
Ponto Negativo:
Octo 2 é uma continuação interessante, porém, o que me impedi de dar a nota máxima, é a problemática de que no fim das contas, ele melhora pouco as coisas, no quesito técnico, que vimos no primeiro game. Passados 5 anos desde 2018, data de lançamento do jogo anterior, acredito que muitas de suas mecânicas poderiam ter sido aprimoradas ainda mais, do que vimos aqui.
Conclusão:
Estou desde 2018 esperando uma continuação boa, e essa aqui chegou a um ótimo nível, 2023, tem sido maravilho até agora, e se o ano acabasse nesse momento, já seria melhor que 2021 e até mesmo que 2020. 9/10
we're not falling for another shitty vaseline smear game
Outra vez Square?
Frustrante quando a desenvolvedora volta a cometer os mesmos erros na sequela que fez no original
Frustrante quando a desenvolvedora volta a cometer os mesmos erros na sequela que fez no original
Just as amazing as the original. Graphically most stylized and beautifully well crafted from the background scenery to the sprite art. Love the turn based combat and how each chapter 1 from every character is catered to all 8 part member's playstyle. The job system brings a new dynamic to the fights and every story has something that everyone can enjoy from drama to wholesome fun. Partitio being my favorite. Absolute fun only muddled by some repeating moments and grind heavy experiences, but enough to enjoy a fun and engaging adventure.
"Nah, I don't think I'll play it, it didn't really hit when it was announced"
Little did this dumbfuck know he would drop everything he was playing for this game
-------22/3/2023 update----
I finished every character's storyline as of today, I have to do the true ending but as I honestly don't want to keep being tied to this game I'll do it a bit more slowly and start playing other things because I binged this hard
Now that I have played a good chunk I must say I loved this game, I don't like when games drag out too much sometimes and all I want is for them to end, but I'm nearly 90 hours in with a really big portion still left and I could go on
An absolute and really big improvement over the first game, I feel like they could make character interact even more than they do, but compared to the first game it's been really nice to see them in Travel Banter and Crossed Paths
I like every character, even Ochette when I don't like child characters (I know she's 20 but idc she's a child for me) and stories make you feel all sorts of emotions, like I was pretty happy with Agnea's when Partitio's felt pretty encouraging, I loved Cassti's and Hikari's too and the other ones were interesting too
When I couldn't bear more than 10 hours on the first game, I played nine times that the second, the only thing I didn't feel they improved was the dub but Square has really fell on that, Triangle Strategy's was awful too and I played them both in japanese
I'll update with my final impressions when I do the True Ending
Little did this dumbfuck know he would drop everything he was playing for this game
-------22/3/2023 update----
I finished every character's storyline as of today, I have to do the true ending but as I honestly don't want to keep being tied to this game I'll do it a bit more slowly and start playing other things because I binged this hard
Now that I have played a good chunk I must say I loved this game, I don't like when games drag out too much sometimes and all I want is for them to end, but I'm nearly 90 hours in with a really big portion still left and I could go on
An absolute and really big improvement over the first game, I feel like they could make character interact even more than they do, but compared to the first game it's been really nice to see them in Travel Banter and Crossed Paths
I like every character, even Ochette when I don't like child characters (I know she's 20 but idc she's a child for me) and stories make you feel all sorts of emotions, like I was pretty happy with Agnea's when Partitio's felt pretty encouraging, I loved Cassti's and Hikari's too and the other ones were interesting too
When I couldn't bear more than 10 hours on the first game, I played nine times that the second, the only thing I didn't feel they improved was the dub but Square has really fell on that, Triangle Strategy's was awful too and I played them both in japanese
I'll update with my final impressions when I do the True Ending
The makers of Octopath Traveler 1 asked themselves a bold question. "What if we made octopath again but better?" This truly ingenious move makes for an amazing and improved experience that transcends the original by quite a large margin.
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.
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.
god damn, game of the year came real early this year, huh
Just. Oh my god... I love this game.
When I first saw this game announced, I was both excited. I didn't have my expectations that high, as I really just wanted more Octopath. The first game was flawed, but I still absolutely loved it. But this game. This game blew my expectations right out of the water.
The stories to me were more engaging, and I immediately fell in love with characters like Partitio and Temenos. And while I was never bothered by the individual stories being separate in the first game, I'm so happy that they allowed characters to better interact with each other in this game. It added so much to the character dynamics of the cast.
The changes to each job were amazing as well. Somehow this game did what the first Octopath couldn't, which is make me enjoy playing as the Apothecary and the Thief. It also added some changes to Dancer, Warrior, and Huntress which makes me enjoy those classes even more than I already did. I love both the EX Skills and Latent Abilities, I may not have used the latter as much, but it ensures that each character properly feels unique in their own rights. There's so much customization options in this game that I probably didn't find the best ones, but the builds I made for each character were my own, and I'm so happy a game really allowed me to build characters to fit a specific archetype, but in the way I wanted as well.
The setting of Solistia is amazing, and I loved exploring it. I love how it isn't one big continent, and instead its separated into three smaller continents is amazing. And god, the HD2D continues to improve. I've always loved the HD2D style, and seeing it improve from Octopath 1, to LIVEALIVE, now to Octopath 2 is absolutely breathtaking.
And how can I forget the music? Octopath 1 already has one of my favorite OSTs of any game, and Octopath 2 might just beat it for me. I swear any time that first boss theme started playing, "Critical Clash II" I think it's called, I couldn't help but take a moment just to jam.
It's just absolutely absurd though that Octopath 2 took everything that was an issue in the first game, and just absolutely fixed it. From the lack of intertwining stories, to the over-necessity of grinding. In fact, I probably over-grinding because I assumed it was like the first one.
I'm sorry for typing so long, but as it stands from both how much I typed, and my obvious review score. This is just one of my favorite games of just... ever.
When I first saw this game announced, I was both excited. I didn't have my expectations that high, as I really just wanted more Octopath. The first game was flawed, but I still absolutely loved it. But this game. This game blew my expectations right out of the water.
The stories to me were more engaging, and I immediately fell in love with characters like Partitio and Temenos. And while I was never bothered by the individual stories being separate in the first game, I'm so happy that they allowed characters to better interact with each other in this game. It added so much to the character dynamics of the cast.
The changes to each job were amazing as well. Somehow this game did what the first Octopath couldn't, which is make me enjoy playing as the Apothecary and the Thief. It also added some changes to Dancer, Warrior, and Huntress which makes me enjoy those classes even more than I already did. I love both the EX Skills and Latent Abilities, I may not have used the latter as much, but it ensures that each character properly feels unique in their own rights. There's so much customization options in this game that I probably didn't find the best ones, but the builds I made for each character were my own, and I'm so happy a game really allowed me to build characters to fit a specific archetype, but in the way I wanted as well.
The setting of Solistia is amazing, and I loved exploring it. I love how it isn't one big continent, and instead its separated into three smaller continents is amazing. And god, the HD2D continues to improve. I've always loved the HD2D style, and seeing it improve from Octopath 1, to LIVEALIVE, now to Octopath 2 is absolutely breathtaking.
And how can I forget the music? Octopath 1 already has one of my favorite OSTs of any game, and Octopath 2 might just beat it for me. I swear any time that first boss theme started playing, "Critical Clash II" I think it's called, I couldn't help but take a moment just to jam.
It's just absolutely absurd though that Octopath 2 took everything that was an issue in the first game, and just absolutely fixed it. From the lack of intertwining stories, to the over-necessity of grinding. In fact, I probably over-grinding because I assumed it was like the first one.
I'm sorry for typing so long, but as it stands from both how much I typed, and my obvious review score. This is just one of my favorite games of just... ever.
I would describe this game as very similar to the first one, except pretty much every aspect is improved. I am here for it.
Some ofthe biggest improvments comes from the writing and characters. They are so much more interesting than the first one. I enjoyed each character and the arcs they went through. I enjoyed how the chapters had branching paths and 5 total chapters, one of them being dedicated purely to the narrative.
When it comes to visuals and music, there wasn't much to improve, but they still managed to do it. I like how all of the bosses have animations now and that all the weapons look different when they are equipped.
When it comes to gameplay, the additions the game makes improve the options and strategy you have. The addition of latent skills and the day/night abilities are generally cool. I like the new classes they added and the changes they made to the existing ones. I like the guilds to get new classes, rather than the shrines.
The real biggest improvement is the ending. In the first game, it was frustrating from a gameplay standpoint and poorly structured and written from a narrative standpoint. It overall just seemed very rushed. The ending in the second game obviously had a lot more time put into it, and it is much better written, witch much better designed bosses and I pretty cool conclusion.
Now to the negatives. The biggest flaw with this game in my eyes, carried over from the first one, is the lack of interconnectivity between the stories and characters. It is vastly improved from the first, but still not enough in my opinion. The addition of a few crossed path chapters, additional travel banter, and a more robust engame improves things, but throughout most of the game, the stories still feel very separate. There has obviously been a lot of thought into this issue, but it kinda seems inevitable with the way the game is structured.
The one aspect of the game that I feel wasn't imrpoved from the first was difficulty. The game seems a bit too easy for my liking. The only fights I ever found challenging were a couple I was 8-10 levels under the recommended, Hikari's final chapter, and the final boss. I feel like they overcorrected the amount of health on bosses. This first game had fights taking a long time. In this games, most chapter bosses went down in 1 or 2 break cycles. I feel like they usually ended just as they were getting interesting. I had a lot of second phases of boss fights that I completely skipped due to overkilling the boss before triggering the phase change. There were quite a few bosses that I came in around the recommended level and left without taking a hit. It's kind of a downer when you're preparing to use all of the tools the game gives you only to kill the boss before you can use all of them.
Overall this game is amazing, but it's flaws just barely pull it down from 5 stars. I appreciate all of the effort that went into this game.
Some ofthe biggest improvments comes from the writing and characters. They are so much more interesting than the first one. I enjoyed each character and the arcs they went through. I enjoyed how the chapters had branching paths and 5 total chapters, one of them being dedicated purely to the narrative.
When it comes to visuals and music, there wasn't much to improve, but they still managed to do it. I like how all of the bosses have animations now and that all the weapons look different when they are equipped.
When it comes to gameplay, the additions the game makes improve the options and strategy you have. The addition of latent skills and the day/night abilities are generally cool. I like the new classes they added and the changes they made to the existing ones. I like the guilds to get new classes, rather than the shrines.
The real biggest improvement is the ending. In the first game, it was frustrating from a gameplay standpoint and poorly structured and written from a narrative standpoint. It overall just seemed very rushed. The ending in the second game obviously had a lot more time put into it, and it is much better written, witch much better designed bosses and I pretty cool conclusion.
Now to the negatives. The biggest flaw with this game in my eyes, carried over from the first one, is the lack of interconnectivity between the stories and characters. It is vastly improved from the first, but still not enough in my opinion. The addition of a few crossed path chapters, additional travel banter, and a more robust engame improves things, but throughout most of the game, the stories still feel very separate. There has obviously been a lot of thought into this issue, but it kinda seems inevitable with the way the game is structured.
The one aspect of the game that I feel wasn't imrpoved from the first was difficulty. The game seems a bit too easy for my liking. The only fights I ever found challenging were a couple I was 8-10 levels under the recommended, Hikari's final chapter, and the final boss. I feel like they overcorrected the amount of health on bosses. This first game had fights taking a long time. In this games, most chapter bosses went down in 1 or 2 break cycles. I feel like they usually ended just as they were getting interesting. I had a lot of second phases of boss fights that I completely skipped due to overkilling the boss before triggering the phase change. There were quite a few bosses that I came in around the recommended level and left without taking a hit. It's kind of a downer when you're preparing to use all of the tools the game gives you only to kill the boss before you can use all of them.
Overall this game is amazing, but it's flaws just barely pull it down from 5 stars. I appreciate all of the effort that went into this game.
"You don't need to walk alone. No path is too perilous so long as friends are at your side."
rather than the game that struggled to emulate the polish and quality of its classic super nintendo contemporaries that was the original octopath traveler, octopath traveler 2 delivers not only a game that matches their level, but to me goes beyond and in many ways surpasses them. it has a few shortcomings, but it is definitely one of the best games i've ever played and more than anything i am beyond excited to see what team asano does next.
octopath traveler i find was a game plagued by many issues that it struggled to overcome in its endeavor to be a modern imagining of the snes-era jrpg classics square is known for. while that seems to be a fairly common consensus online i find the issue attributed as the 'main issue' of the original, the lack of 'meaningful' party interactions, to hardly be that big of a deal let alone a top 5 issue like people made it out to be. to me, it was mostly just a byproduct of the type of jrpg it was trying to be and completely "fixing" it isnt something that would work well if you wanted to keep the structure and identity of octopath or its very obvious conceptual inspiration in the saga games.in my opinion if you have any type of game like this where 8 characters come together, "fixing" this issue will mean their motivations are either going to be so similar that it becomes pointless to have them or even pointless to do more than just a typically structured jrpg. regardless, the game did supplement this issue with more than enough to satsfy the small part of me that was a bit bothered by it. the travel banter/party chat feature is still arguably one of the best things dragon quest pioneered and i love the clear character dynamics that form between your party in them. if that isn't enough for some i personally find the coverged paths idea to be fun even if they are in essence just a travel banter mini quest with voice acting.
in terms of the other issues, it's all so much better. the characters are more interesting and realized, the environments are gorgeous and varied, and the story itself successfully managed to capture that same sense of joy and adventure that the super nintendo classics did for me and even managed to go beyond that. i don't think i've seen a series go from initial entry to sequel while improving this much other than maybe yakuza or paper mario and even then the difference in improvement is still so massively different than those two. team asano did all they could to take an idea that might not've been executed well the first time and fix every issue with it and work on what was good about it at the same time. even non issues like music improved so much that octopath 2's soundtrack is easily some of my favorite tracks square has ever put out. the cast and stories are easily the biggest and most important improvement to me with all of them feeling so well realized and integral to this journey, whether that be to elaborate on the state of this world and the direction its heading or to tie into the big bad which i especially love. had they decided to make every story be about tying into the final boss and ending most of them would've fallen flat and left the world of octopath 2 feeling hollow and a good half of the cast feeling unfulfilled.
however, not all octopath 2 stories are created equal regardless of this. while osvald gets what i'd say is almost a shoe in for my favorite character story in any game i've ever played to the point where i'd gladly have played 90+ hours of that if square had given it to us and most everyone else gets incredibly compelling stories as well, castti is a bit of a black sheep. i don't find her terrible by any means, but she feels like a remnant of the original octopath. her story is relatively plain if a bit interesting and portrays her as a nothing character who has to share the stage with an otherwise great cast. i genuinely kind of hated her until i got more of her interactions with the other cast members because her story does absolutely nothing for her. i also find the final boss to be a bit uncompelling as a villain and i find that their impact depends on when you started temenos's story. they're definitely no sephiroth or odio, but they're servicable and mechanically one of the most exciting moments of the game and i don't find the story to be particularly hampered by them, just a bit of wasted potential is all.
after a story that managed to keep me hooked for 90 hours over weeks of using almost all of the time i had outside of work and other duties, becoming attached to all 8 of these characters and their lives and dreams and everything they've been through to get where they are now and the bonds they've made with each other, it's time to finally say goodbye. the epilogue segment might be one of my favorite parts of any game i've ever played in my life. it's so painfully sappy and after that sap seeing so many of the characters you met who either helped you or were helped by you in places in their lives they wouldn't have even thought of being in cements the themes of this game perfectly to me. i cried a good bit during the whole thing and unlike most other pieces of media, that stupid title drop gave me goosebumps.
octopath traveler 2 is one of the best games i've played in my entire life, an all time favorite, and an experience i will keep with me until i'm old and gray. i implore anyone who enjoys jrpgs and has the free time to at least give it a chance whether you loved the original or hated it. i spent most of the prerelease of this game trying to temper my expectations lest i be disappointed by another game that failed to impress me like the other original hd-2d titles team asano has put out, only to be absolutely blown away by how much improvement and love for their craft oozes in almost every aspect of the game. i don't know if i'll ever play this game again in its entirety with how long it is, but i'm glad i played it all the same.
"Thank you for traveling with us."
rather than the game that struggled to emulate the polish and quality of its classic super nintendo contemporaries that was the original octopath traveler, octopath traveler 2 delivers not only a game that matches their level, but to me goes beyond and in many ways surpasses them. it has a few shortcomings, but it is definitely one of the best games i've ever played and more than anything i am beyond excited to see what team asano does next.
octopath traveler i find was a game plagued by many issues that it struggled to overcome in its endeavor to be a modern imagining of the snes-era jrpg classics square is known for. while that seems to be a fairly common consensus online i find the issue attributed as the 'main issue' of the original, the lack of 'meaningful' party interactions, to hardly be that big of a deal let alone a top 5 issue like people made it out to be. to me, it was mostly just a byproduct of the type of jrpg it was trying to be and completely "fixing" it isnt something that would work well if you wanted to keep the structure and identity of octopath or its very obvious conceptual inspiration in the saga games.in my opinion if you have any type of game like this where 8 characters come together, "fixing" this issue will mean their motivations are either going to be so similar that it becomes pointless to have them or even pointless to do more than just a typically structured jrpg. regardless, the game did supplement this issue with more than enough to satsfy the small part of me that was a bit bothered by it. the travel banter/party chat feature is still arguably one of the best things dragon quest pioneered and i love the clear character dynamics that form between your party in them. if that isn't enough for some i personally find the coverged paths idea to be fun even if they are in essence just a travel banter mini quest with voice acting.
in terms of the other issues, it's all so much better. the characters are more interesting and realized, the environments are gorgeous and varied, and the story itself successfully managed to capture that same sense of joy and adventure that the super nintendo classics did for me and even managed to go beyond that. i don't think i've seen a series go from initial entry to sequel while improving this much other than maybe yakuza or paper mario and even then the difference in improvement is still so massively different than those two. team asano did all they could to take an idea that might not've been executed well the first time and fix every issue with it and work on what was good about it at the same time. even non issues like music improved so much that octopath 2's soundtrack is easily some of my favorite tracks square has ever put out. the cast and stories are easily the biggest and most important improvement to me with all of them feeling so well realized and integral to this journey, whether that be to elaborate on the state of this world and the direction its heading or to tie into the big bad which i especially love. had they decided to make every story be about tying into the final boss and ending most of them would've fallen flat and left the world of octopath 2 feeling hollow and a good half of the cast feeling unfulfilled.
however, not all octopath 2 stories are created equal regardless of this. while osvald gets what i'd say is almost a shoe in for my favorite character story in any game i've ever played to the point where i'd gladly have played 90+ hours of that if square had given it to us and most everyone else gets incredibly compelling stories as well, castti is a bit of a black sheep. i don't find her terrible by any means, but she feels like a remnant of the original octopath. her story is relatively plain if a bit interesting and portrays her as a nothing character who has to share the stage with an otherwise great cast. i genuinely kind of hated her until i got more of her interactions with the other cast members because her story does absolutely nothing for her. i also find the final boss to be a bit uncompelling as a villain and i find that their impact depends on when you started temenos's story. they're definitely no sephiroth or odio, but they're servicable and mechanically one of the most exciting moments of the game and i don't find the story to be particularly hampered by them, just a bit of wasted potential is all.
after a story that managed to keep me hooked for 90 hours over weeks of using almost all of the time i had outside of work and other duties, becoming attached to all 8 of these characters and their lives and dreams and everything they've been through to get where they are now and the bonds they've made with each other, it's time to finally say goodbye. the epilogue segment might be one of my favorite parts of any game i've ever played in my life. it's so painfully sappy and after that sap seeing so many of the characters you met who either helped you or were helped by you in places in their lives they wouldn't have even thought of being in cements the themes of this game perfectly to me. i cried a good bit during the whole thing and unlike most other pieces of media, that stupid title drop gave me goosebumps.
octopath traveler 2 is one of the best games i've played in my entire life, an all time favorite, and an experience i will keep with me until i'm old and gray. i implore anyone who enjoys jrpgs and has the free time to at least give it a chance whether you loved the original or hated it. i spent most of the prerelease of this game trying to temper my expectations lest i be disappointed by another game that failed to impress me like the other original hd-2d titles team asano has put out, only to be absolutely blown away by how much improvement and love for their craft oozes in almost every aspect of the game. i don't know if i'll ever play this game again in its entirety with how long it is, but i'm glad i played it all the same.
"Thank you for traveling with us."
Better than the first in every way. I'd recommend it to anyone that likes turn based RPGs
I have so much to say about this game and how much I adore it.
Literally everything in this game is an improvement over the first game. The stories, the characters, the structure, the combat, the visuals, the music and the connectivity. The only thing that was a slight downgrade in my opinion was the difficulty. The maps being larger means more random encounters and more exp.
All (but 1) of the characters I love (the exception I still really like though) and choosing a favourite is tough, unlike the first where I only really grew attached to a few characters really says something. Also my favourite character and the one I became most attached to (first game btw), was Mattias. An antagonist.
*spoilers for the final chapter
The stories aren’t anything special, they’ve been done in other games, but they’re all really good and compelling in there own way except Ochette’s which was kinda meh. But when they all come together for the eternal night it’s beyond satisfying. And having the final boss be 2 phases where in the second half you use ALL EIGHT TRAVELERS AT THE SAME TIME it’s so fucking amazing and it’s a really challenging fight and I love this game so much.
I can go on forever about this game. I’ve not even mentioned the soundtrack or how it’s one of 2 games to make me cry. This game is almost perfect. Now every game I play next will be disappointing in comparison. Oh well.
Anyway here’s my character ranking (will definitely change over time):
8: Hikari 7: Throné 6: Osvald 5: Ochette 4: Partitio 3: Castti 2: Agnea 1: Temenos
And the stories:
8: Ochette
7: uhhh
6: ummmmm
5: I don’t know
4: they’re all good
3: maybe…
2: not sure…
1: Castti
Literally everything in this game is an improvement over the first game. The stories, the characters, the structure, the combat, the visuals, the music and the connectivity. The only thing that was a slight downgrade in my opinion was the difficulty. The maps being larger means more random encounters and more exp.
All (but 1) of the characters I love (the exception I still really like though) and choosing a favourite is tough, unlike the first where I only really grew attached to a few characters really says something. Also my favourite character and the one I became most attached to (first game btw), was Mattias. An antagonist.
*spoilers for the final chapter
The stories aren’t anything special, they’ve been done in other games, but they’re all really good and compelling in there own way except Ochette’s which was kinda meh. But when they all come together for the eternal night it’s beyond satisfying. And having the final boss be 2 phases where in the second half you use ALL EIGHT TRAVELERS AT THE SAME TIME it’s so fucking amazing and it’s a really challenging fight and I love this game so much.
I can go on forever about this game. I’ve not even mentioned the soundtrack or how it’s one of 2 games to make me cry. This game is almost perfect. Now every game I play next will be disappointing in comparison. Oh well.
Anyway here’s my character ranking (will definitely change over time):
8: Hikari 7: Throné 6: Osvald 5: Ochette 4: Partitio 3: Castti 2: Agnea 1: Temenos
And the stories:
8: Ochette
7: uhhh
6: ummmmm
5: I don’t know
4: they’re all good
3: maybe…
2: not sure…
1: Castti
I loved Octopath 1 with my whole heart—but this game just makes it look like a dumpster fire in comparison. That's how good Octopath 2 is.
Amazing mm