I am a huge RPG fan and a moderately big JRPG fan and I really really really wanted to like this game. It's a shame because it's so beautiful and the gameplay is really fun (while it does go stale fairly quickly for me).

The biggest issue is that I just can't stand the writing of the game. It's SUCH a slog to have to slowly read the childish dialogue lines that it was unbearable for me to finish. Maybe I needed to give it more time for all stories to eventually intertwine or something, but after 45 hours I am not sure how much better the game can get.

Please someone recommend me a similar, aesthetically pleasing RPG like this one but with better writing.

I was so excited for Octopath Traveler when it came out. JRPGs are my favorite genre of games. I absolutely fell in love with the art style and thought the premise of 8 different stories was a cool concept. Unfortunately Octopath Traveler under delivered in every aspect for me outside of art. That is why I waited so long to really give Octopath Traveler 2 a try even though I bought it the week it came out. I’m very happy to report that Octopath Travler 2 succeeds in every aspect that failed in the original.

Let’s start with the story and characters. In the original I only like 3 of the 8 cast the other 5 I didn’t even care about. They felt soulless and I didn’t care about anything going on with them. In Octopath 2 I struggled on who to keep in my party as I loved all 8 characters very much. Each one had motives, struggles, and real emotions that made me care about them. But what really made this game so much better was the story. In the original the stories were so disconnected with chapter after chapter being a boring slog fest. Characters didn’t have any relevance at all unless the chapter was about them. No inner party connections and at times you wondered if they even knew each other were there together. It felt like there was no purpose, no over arching story. Now I’m not going to lie to you and say this is a great story and that the party was as connected as some of the greats in the genre. But I will say it was a Grand Canyon size difference from the original. The story’s were entertaining with no throw away chapters. As the stories unfolded you could see there was something connecting these stories that was drawing closer to being realized. The party grows together, have real conversations, and care about each other. These small things made a world of difference in the quality of the games.

The battle system is very similar to the original but with minor changes that make all the difference. For one the battles felt faster and more snappy. My second biggest problem with the original outside of story is it blatantly didn’t respect the players time. If you wanted to beat the original plan on running in circles for hours to grind out EXP from random encounters. With Octopath 2 you can change at will whether you are playing at day or night. When it is night you fight tougher enemies leading to more EXP thus killing the need for grinding as well as making you use more strategy than just hit X to kill the enemy but gain no EXP. My final major upgrade is the boss fights. In the original literally EVERY SINGLE BOSS FIGHT was a DPS race with each side one a timer. It wasn’t fun or satisfying. Octopath 2 is much more strategy based finding weak points and exploiting them to gain an advantage. Again simple things can make worlds of difference.

The art style is one thing that didn’t change and thank God for that. The game is a beautiful masterpiece with wonderful set pieces and great character designs. I love thier take on 2.5D and wish many more games made use of it. The music is equally sublime and many tracks stand out as greats in the medium.

All in all if you were turned off from Octopath 2 because of the extremely average Octopath Traveler please don’t be. Give this game a chance if you are a JRPG fan, it is worthy of your time.

My 2024 ranked. (It’s been a supberbyear in gaming for me so far)
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/

octopath traveler ii feels like a copy of its predecessor but in all the right ways. the battle system is just as good, perhaps even better with the addition of latent powers. the score is a massive bonus to the gameplay (although i was an IDIOT for not saving the epilogue on a different save file while they warned me and now i'm stuck in the shadowlands with a boss I've given up on beating). the bonus chapters you get where two characters interact give off a very 'found family' vibe which i love.

the only downside i see to this game is that the character stories feel a bit lacking. they don't have as interesting goals as in octopath traveler i.

in the end, it's just as good as the first one.

A forma que história se desenrola com cada personagem é bem repetitiva, cheguei ao level 14, faltaram 2 personagens, mas já estava meio enjoado do jogo. A forma que o combate desencadeia é bem datada, do nada inicia um combate mesmo que os inimigos sejam bem fáceis, lembra os jrpg dos anos 90, simplesmente não rola mais, nem o matinho do pokemon ainda é assim. Combate pouco engajante, histórias individuais bem cliche. Enfim, não que seja um jogo ruim, mas definitivamente não oferece nada de novo ou engajante.

My journey with Octopath Traveler II occurred the exact same way that I had with the original. The weird journey occurred as such:

1. Falls in love with the visuals and enjoys each unique character
2. Really into it for about 20 hours
3. Starts to get very bored during the grinding and only anticipating the boss battles at the end of each chapter.
4. Gives game mixed rating
5. Will likely pick up the next game and think to myself "you know what the previous game was super fresh and fun"
6. Retroactively improves score of previous game.
7. Repeat experience for next game

Shelving now to preserve the highs that I had with this game. Makes noticeable improvements but still falls flat with its weaknesses.

I have 50 hours on this fantastic sequel, and I haven't finished it yet, but I can say that I'm really satisfied with Octopath Traveler 2, it's the sequel to a game that had some good ideas, but which also had some big flaws, for example the way the characters' stories were told and also a fairly "schematic" progression.
now, in Octopath Traveler 2 some flaws remain, it is not a perfect game, but it has really improved, in fact I found some great characters in the game world, and very exciting stories (even the least appreciated character has a good story) and a much improved narrative, although some uncertainties remain. the combat system is the same as the first game, with the difference that now travelers can use latent powers, nice but not a great innovation. the game shines on the artistic and musical direction, a truly large and beautiful game world to explore, accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack. Furthermore, compared to Octopath Traveler 1, more secondary content has been added both during the game and in the endgame. in conclusion, if you loved Octopath Traveler 1, you will like this sequel even more, you will also like it if you are a big fan of turn-based role-playing games and above all fans of the first Final Fantasy games.

While not perfect itself, Octopath Traveler II is a huge step up from the first title. Yes, most of the stories aren't connected, which was a huge complaint from the previous game, but now we have bond events called Crossed Paths. Featuring two protagonists working together on a common goal. It's not much, but it does add flavor and flesh out the characters in ways the past title had not. Not to mention, most of the stories presented in this game are a lot more interesting. As a result, I was more engaged with this cast and looked forward to their development. Mostly. Some stories, coughAgnescough, I felt were stinkers and had me bored for the ride. Nevertheless, there were more fun adventures here than bad, so overall, I can't complain too much there.

Let's talk about how much fun the gameplay was, because if you had the right setup for your characters, wiping out enemies can be both engaging and satisfying. See, the game presents itself as a traditional turn based RPG, but it also has mechanics called "Boost" and "Break". Each turn, your party members accumulate boost points, which gives them multiple actions to use per turn (depending on how many points are collected). Because enemies have several weaknesses, it's best to boost several times and then "break" your enemies shield points until they finally give, making them dizzy and weak for the rest of the cast to get some hits in without doing neutral damage. What a fun mechanic! Every battle had me planning out my attacks, trying to outsmart the AI whenever possible.

New to this game are "latent powers", giving each character their own unique ability to use in combat. In example, Throne's power allows her to make two actions in one turn. This could be devastating for the opponent, depending on how many boost points are accumulated and how many buffs she has.

That's not all, either. The game has a class system, giving even more control and customization over the core cast. Agnes, while her story was kinda mid, could be an absolute monster in combat due to her main class, the performer, and a secondary class like the white mage which could keep the party buffed and ready for any situation. The gameplay is incredibly deep and is honestly one of the best turn based systems I have ever played.

Outside of battle, the game offers a large, beautiful overworld to explore. The artists over at Square Enix really gave it their all to make this game pop, and I commend their efforts here. Even when out and about, each party member has an ability to interact with the various NPCs. Some characters can steal items, while others can retrieve valuable information used to give more depth to the world or lead players in a certain direction. In addition, thanks to the night and day system, each ability has a different effect depending on the time of day.

Octopath Traveler II was a very fun time. While I did have issues with some of the character's stories, I cannot understate just how fun playing the actual game is. I recommend it for all JRPG fans out there.

Terra meter: 82%

Story/narrative - 3/5
Gameplay - 5/5
Sound/music - 4/5
General presentation - 4.5/5
Overall enjoyment - 4/5

I wanted to like this game so bad, at times I really did like it, but it falls so flat where story is concerned.

Its combat and progression is deeply engaging, its world is gorgeous and well designed, its skill system and party make up is so well balanced. The game is incredible to play when you’re running through dungeons or fighting bosses. The issue is that a game like this needs a story that propels you through the gameplay, a context you care about and that keeps you going, but it just doesn’t. There is no main plot or main story, it’s just 8 separate and disconnected character stories that are of no real interest or importance to anything outside of those very specific events for the stories to take place. I couldn’t engage with any of them beyond Agnea. The messages felt flawed and cack-handed; a man who wants to create a land of equality by coming a monarch? A man who wants to end poverty through capitalism? A woman who wants to kill her abusive parental figures and escape from a life of pain, only to go back on that for no logical reason? This game’s story is just simply broken, it’s a slog, it has no real point of investment and it’s a huge shame.

Where the Final Fantasy games these are obviously directly spiritual successors to used their enthralling plot as a means to make you care about everything you do, the stories here feel like a total after thought, just something that vaguely exists to give you an excuse to play it. But it’s not enough and the game suffers for it.

I’ve been trying to play this one and off for almost a year and the gameplay is so damn fun, the music and atmosphere are tremendous but the crux of the game, its story and characters, are empty, disconnected and messy as all hell. I want to try the first game to see if it has the same issues and I hope they make a third to fix some of these flaws and improve on a game premise that has such shining potential to be incredible.

Prior to being release, I was very intrigued by the original Octopath Traveller. The new HD-2D graphics style looked beautiful and the idea of a modern-day SNES-era turn-based RPG sounded incredible. I planned on buying it shortly after release, but after hearing that most players were pretty disappointed by the game's story, mostly because the characters' storylines didn't really tie together in a satisfying way, I bumped it down significantly on my list of games to eventually check out.

Then, in early 2023, the game's sequel, Octopath Traveller 2, was released. Word on the internet was that the sequel was an improvement in pretty much every way, having a somewhat tweaked/improved combat system, slightly better visuals (but still used the HD-2D style), the characters' storylines tied together better, and best of all it required no prior knowledge of the first game. I decided I had to check it out.

Octopath Traveller 2 tells the story of eight individuals, each with their own personality, back story, motivations, and character class. When starting the game, you are presented with bios of each character, and whichever one you select will be locked in your party until you finish their storyline (I was a bit rash when making this selection, thinking it would be inconsequential once more characters joined the party, but I was wrong). After you finish your selected character's first chapter you are let loose in the game's world where are free to track down the remaining 7 party members however you see fit.

Each party member's story is broken up into about five chapters. Each chapter has a recommended experience level, and this level increases by a decent amount for each subsequent chapter (you can attempt a chapter under levelled, but I wouldn't recommend it). This was likely done to prevent players from burning through one character's storyline, forcing them to split their time up amongst the stories of other members of the group. I didn't mind this, for the most part, but it was a bit disappointing at times to not be able to continue a character's story until I grinded for experience or levelled up by playing through another group member's story.

All of the character's storylines were well-written, pretty enjoyable, and did a good job of outlining each of the characters' motivations. I didn't care much for the dancer's storyline, but otherwise these were well done. The characters' stories were mostly independent, but they did somewhat tie together towards the end of the game, which gave the group a mutual motivation of sorts. This link was nothing terribly shocking or groundbreaking, but it was still nice to see some sort of connection there.

My favorite aspect of Octopath Traveller 2 was its surprisingly complex turn-based combat. It was easy enough to understand but still required enough strategic thinking to keep things entertaining from the start of the game through to its conclusion. To explain it as simply as I can, in addition to their health points, enemies have shield points that can only be reduced by being attacked by one of their weaknesses. These weaknesses can be determined either through trial and error (trying random weapon/spell attacks) or by using the scholar's "Learn" spell. Each time the enemy is hit by something it is weak to its shield points will decrease, and once these hit zero the enemy will "break", preventing them from attacking for a short time and opening them up to increased damage from your attacks. Enemies still take damage when they have shield points, but the amount of damage they take is significantly less, so it is best to break an enemy before releasing your most powerful attacks.

On top of the shield point system is the BP system. Party members earn one BP per turn (unless they are using BP in that turn), to a maximum of 6 BP. The player can then stack this BP, up to a maximum of 4 in one turn, to unleash numerous regular weapon attacks (good for lowering shield points) or to unleash a charged-up version of a skill/ability (good for causing massive damage to a broken enemy).

The combination of the "break" system and the BP system made for highly entertaining battles, especially when it came to the bosses. The boss battles were a highlight of the game, always being challenging and always requiring good planning and tactical thinking. Bosses kept me on my toes by changing up their tactics mid-battle (they can change their weapon/elemental weaknesses, gain additional shield points, etc.) or by unleashing powerful charged attacks that were devastating if I wasn't prepared for them. Bosses have massive health pools, hit incredibly hard, and often took quite a while to defeat (especially if at or under the recommended level for the area), but it was always fun coming up with a strategy and whittling their health down to zero.

Though I really enjoyed the combat, there are two things I feel some gamers might not like. First, the random encounter rate is quite high. I wasn't bother too much by it, but I'm sure it could be aggravating to some gamers, especially since all encounters are random encounters. You can unlock a skill that, when equipped, reduces the frequency of these encounters, but I feel players won't want to miss out on too many battles as they'll require the XP in order to continue meet the level requirements of unfinished story chapters.

Secondly, every battle in this game, requires the use of tactics. Whether you're fighting a boss or just looking to grind for XP, you will need to put a decent amount of strategy into each battle (unless you are seriously over-levelled, but then you should probably fight more powerful enemies for an increased amount of XP). You can't simply steamroll through lower levelled enemies to gain XP, which makes grinding a bit more of a chore. I thoroughly enjoyed the complexity of the battle system, but there were times that I wished I could put in less effort to get my characters up to the recommended level for their upcoming story chapters.

In addition to the game's combat, there is a fairly sizable world to explore. None of the locations were overly unique or surprising, but there was enough variety to keep things interesting. Each area was enjoyable to explore, and they were all chock-full of treasure chests and hidden items to find. You mostly explore the world by foot, but eventually you gain access to a boat, which opens up the exploration a bit more (though you are quite limited by where you can board it/unload from it, which made using it a bit disappointing). Every town was stocked with NPCs, which could be interacted with in a few different ways. Depending on your team composition, you can coerce info out of the NPCs, steal their items, learn new skills from them, or get them to follow you around. Some NPCs also offer up side quests, but I found the instructions for these to be incredibly vague. I did a few of these but would highly recommend consulting a guide if you plan on tackling these.

This was my first time playing a game with the HD-2D graphical style, and I was quite impressed, though less so than I had anticipated. The world looked very nice and the amount of detail present in each locale was commendable. The character, enemy, and boss designs were well done and interesting, and the graphics instilled a good amount of charm into the experience. I played through the game entirely in handheld mode and felt that the performance was generally quite good. The framerate did drop when using fully charged BP attacks, and things got exceptionally choppy during the final boss fight, but otherwise the game's performance was more than adequate.

I'm sad to say it, but I can't really comment too heavily on Octopath Traveller 2's sound design. I played through most of the game while having a TV show or movie on in the background, so I missed out on a lot of this game's audio components. When I did have the sound on, I was generally impressed by the voice acting and the soundtrack, and I have since listened to a portion of the soundtrack on Spotify and really enjoyed it. If you have the option to play the game with headphones I do recommend it, but if not, the game is still fully enjoyable with the sound turned off.

Now, while I thoroughly enjoyed Octopath Traveller 2, there are a few things that didn't sit well with me, namely the game's length and the game's final boss battle.

Firstly, this game was way longer than I anticipated it would be. Howlongtobeat has it listed as 60 hours to finish the main story and 93 hours to fully complete it, but it took me over 110 hours and I know I was far from finishing everything. Mind you, I know my time would have had a good number of hours of idle time built in due to playing it with the TV on in the background, but I can't imagine that would equate to too elevated of a playtime. Also, I know I really shouldn't complain about the game having lots of content, and I didn't dock the game's score for this, but as I got closer to the game's conclusion, I just really wanted it to end.

That leads me to my main negative, the game's final boss. This boss fight had an immense difficulty spike that came completely unexpected and was really unappreciated. Leading up to this battle I wouldn't have considered myself a pro at the game's content, but I felt I had solid strategies and was more than capable of defeating bosses on my first attempt. My team members were between level 70 and 75, and I figured things were going to be pretty straightforward, but the boss completely and utterly wiped the floor with me, and I stood no chance of defeating it without a more advanced strategy. I gave the battle a few attempts, but quickly realized I did not stand a chance. I eventually resorted to following a YouTube guide to walk me through a strategy, which was utterly disappointing after getting through the rest of the game by myself. Prior to this battle I felt the game deserved a 4.5 or 5 star rating, but the unfair difficulty spike really lowered my overall feelings on the game as a whole.

Though it wasn't a perfect experience, I had a great time playing through Octopath Traveller 2. I thoroughly enjoyed the game's cast, their individual storylines, and the overall narrative. The HD-2D graphics were lovely, performance was pretty solid (or solid enough that it didn't cause any frustration), and the soundtrack was top notch (though I didn't experience as much of it as I should have). The world was fun to explore and there were loads of treasures to find and secrets to unlock. The game's biggest strength was its turn-based combat system which required a fair amount of strategy and very well could be the best system I have experienced in the genre. Sadly, the unfair difficulty spike at the game's finale greatly detracted from my overall enjoyment of an otherwise great game. Despite that disappointment, I still highly recommend Octopath Traveller 2 for any fan of the genre.

One of the ways I like to describe Octopath traveler is like "the best homemade Pizza Otto Stagioni you ever eat".

Also translated as "Eight seasons Pizza", it's basically a meal that is prepared in eight sections, each with diverse ingredients, with each section having a different "tone" or vibe. As a whole the pizza may feel too segmented, and for many this taste may not be their cup of tea, since the section with tomatoes can't be enjoyed with the section with cheese. But despite all of this, the way the pizza is presented, it's cooked and accompanied is able to generate some of the most positive emotions you ever had while eating.

Each "slice" of this game has a unique and different taste, that feels both like a celebration and an evolution of the classic formula it takes inspiration from. 8 stories, 8 protagonists, each of them with their own path, able to cross together in this adventure filled with an even more stunning HD2D artstyle, an incredible voice acting performance, an addicting but esurprisingly deep gameplay and job mechanic, and ONE OF THE BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER COMPOSED FOR A GAME.

MAN, YASUNORI NISHIKI IS A GOD.

One of the most overlooked games from 2023. A must play for every fan of the genre.

Good sequel that addressed and fixed a ton of the issues of the first game, more layers to the job system, each main character received some more depth in their main gimmicks, extra main quests dedicated to the interactions between two main characters were also added, and most importantly of all: 2x speed during combat.

Soundtrack and combat still as solid as the first game, if not improved on in a lot of aspects. Each main story is significantly better in most aspects compared to the first game, both in structure and writing, but still not super unique in most aspects.

Still suffers from a really slow start until you can play the game proper, as well as some grindiness.