Being caught up on this gacha feels weird to me, not because of the game is bad or anything neither that i have with issues with the story, as matter of fact i love Penacony story and the how the climax is looking to be my favorite in the next patch.

It's funny though, i started this game one month ago for shits and giggles in the anniversary but for me i was quite suprised how much content it had for a beginner and how it was completely overwhelming at first but going back at it, i never expected to get hooked as much i did and how having the reputation of ''It's another mihoyo game'' and that was how my mutuals and especially me viewed the game itself at first.

Going through at first i always had my expectations lowered as usual but i'm still suprised how generous and how much stuff the game gives you just by playing it, of course there's issues that disapears when you get mid game which being locking the relics on story even though you have the level required to grind it but they still lock you regardless, the gap in difficulty whenever you increase the eidrolons levels making the boss tanky and being more painful to get through which it would be fine if the stamina was good enough to grind the relics with the right SUBSTATS for the characters that i need for and how i can randomly start a patch from 1.6 while i just finished Luofu (1.2)...

With that aside, Star Rail story was still a ride to get into and i'm very excited for Penacony's climax

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/

​Serve drinks and learn the stories of your regulars as a barista running an overnight coffee shop in a mixture of a modern and fantasy setting. Great expressive art style and backgrounds. Good relaxing soundtrack, with music you can change during your shift. Characters are all enjoyable to interact with and learn about, you will frequently see two to four of them talking to each other as well so conversations aren't limited to being one on one or just you listening as many of these games tend to be.

Doesn't focus much on the wider world and your drink making doesn't usually matter to the extent it did in the somewhat similar game VA-11 HALL-A.​ Not necessarily a bad thing as there is just less focus on earning money and wider events as opposed to just being with the characters in the moment often having issues with their family, relationships, or jobs.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1282197282452955136