Pretty much an improvement from the first game in so many ways. There are some nice quality of life features added, the final chapter was much more doable, and the most important thing to me was actually having this team feel like a team. The little things like saying each other's names during combat made the biggest difference. The combat, world design and OST were top notch as always. I found myself much more engaged with these stories than the first as well. There are definitely some aspects that could still be improved on, such as not having to go to a tavern to switch party members and maybe some more crossed paths? That one seems like a big ask.

Octopath Traveler had a solid core to build off of and the sequel took it and ran with it. Truly a wonderful game and I hope there will be more of these in the future.