(There will be light gameplay spoilers for EX skills and Jobs but nothing major)
I got kinda mixed feelings on this game. I can firmly say I had fun and enjoyed this game, right after beating I would even call this one my favorite games of all time but in hindsight it is a lot more "okay" than I initially thought. Still a well made, fun game but it lacks staying power in my opinion.
Story:
The story, despite being a significant improvement from the first game (for the most part) still feels like an outline or summary of a full narrative rather than feeling like a full story. Even some of the better stories still feel lacking due the lack of "interesting" character development or time to let the plot simmer. Due to this lack of development, each story has a really good Chapter 1; they all feel like good starting points for further chapters to develop them, however later chapters lack development and only really do the bare minimum to finish the plot. I'm aware that this is due to there being 8 unique stories that need to be fairly digestible but still it doesn't change the fact that the stories feel kinda empty and underwhelming to me at least.
Even my favorite stories (Hikari, Castti, Osvald and Temenos) are only 7/10 experiences at best, in my opinion.
However, even the worst stories (e.g Ochette and Agnea) aren't horrible per say but rather feel very undeveloped or bland.
In addition, there is also a final chapter featuring all 8 main characters (a major improvement from OT1) and it contains some of the most memorable scenes in the game. Therefore, I can't really call the story bad since I do like things about it and most of my issues stem from what isn't there or what could of been rather than what is already in it. Just don't expect Peak Fiction.
Gameplay:
Gameplay is honestly fantastic in my opinion, Break & Boost is right next to the Press Turn system when it comes to turn based combat. Personally, the fun comes from trying to optimise damage and learn new ways to experiment and win fights and Octopath 2 more than provides with it's myriad of new features.
Latent Powers and EX Skills (while fairly unbalanced) give more individuality to each character and are really fun to use in different scenarios or create entire strategies around.
Personal favorites were Hikari's Latent Power and 2nd EX Skill, Castti's 2nd EX Skill, Partitio and Agnea's Latent Powers, Agnea's 1st EX Skill and Temenos' Latent power and both his EX skills.
Though I miss the advanced job superbosses from the first game (especially the battle theme), I do like what they did with the unlocking process for new advanced jobs in this game. With the exception of Arms master, the advanced jobs definitely felt less powered compared to the first game but still fun to use.
My main issue with the combat is that magic feels very under powered and cumbersome to use effectively compared to physical skills, this is mainly due to lack of easy ways to raise Elem.Atk and decrease Elem.Def as well as needing a divine skill (preferably from another character with a scholar reclass) to use on your dps. It's just a lot of hassle for something that often does less damage than physical and while I'm aware magic is capable of doing great damage with the right setup it just feel to much effort than it's worth in my opinion.
Still battle gameplay is really good.
Gameplay on the overworld and Path actions are alright but nothing much to say there, the nighttime path actions are a neat addition (as well as the day night cycle in general) but for some reason all night path actions have no punishment for failure if I'm recalling correctly which is kinda weird for stuff like Osvald's Mug but that's just a personal nitpick of mine.
Misc:
Well this goes without saying but the Soundtrack and Presentation are top notch, I don't even have anything else to say just WOW...
In conclusion, Octopath 2 is a fun game but personally I wouldn't call it much more and if that's enough for you I'd say the game is worth it.
If you want a fun JRPG with a fun world to explore and great gameplay go for it, but like I said earlier don't go in expecting Peak Fiction.
I got kinda mixed feelings on this game. I can firmly say I had fun and enjoyed this game, right after beating I would even call this one my favorite games of all time but in hindsight it is a lot more "okay" than I initially thought. Still a well made, fun game but it lacks staying power in my opinion.
Story:
The story, despite being a significant improvement from the first game (for the most part) still feels like an outline or summary of a full narrative rather than feeling like a full story. Even some of the better stories still feel lacking due the lack of "interesting" character development or time to let the plot simmer. Due to this lack of development, each story has a really good Chapter 1; they all feel like good starting points for further chapters to develop them, however later chapters lack development and only really do the bare minimum to finish the plot. I'm aware that this is due to there being 8 unique stories that need to be fairly digestible but still it doesn't change the fact that the stories feel kinda empty and underwhelming to me at least.
Even my favorite stories (Hikari, Castti, Osvald and Temenos) are only 7/10 experiences at best, in my opinion.
However, even the worst stories (e.g Ochette and Agnea) aren't horrible per say but rather feel very undeveloped or bland.
In addition, there is also a final chapter featuring all 8 main characters (a major improvement from OT1) and it contains some of the most memorable scenes in the game. Therefore, I can't really call the story bad since I do like things about it and most of my issues stem from what isn't there or what could of been rather than what is already in it. Just don't expect Peak Fiction.
Gameplay:
Gameplay is honestly fantastic in my opinion, Break & Boost is right next to the Press Turn system when it comes to turn based combat. Personally, the fun comes from trying to optimise damage and learn new ways to experiment and win fights and Octopath 2 more than provides with it's myriad of new features.
Latent Powers and EX Skills (while fairly unbalanced) give more individuality to each character and are really fun to use in different scenarios or create entire strategies around.
Personal favorites were Hikari's Latent Power and 2nd EX Skill, Castti's 2nd EX Skill, Partitio and Agnea's Latent Powers, Agnea's 1st EX Skill and Temenos' Latent power and both his EX skills.
Though I miss the advanced job superbosses from the first game (especially the battle theme), I do like what they did with the unlocking process for new advanced jobs in this game. With the exception of Arms master, the advanced jobs definitely felt less powered compared to the first game but still fun to use.
My main issue with the combat is that magic feels very under powered and cumbersome to use effectively compared to physical skills, this is mainly due to lack of easy ways to raise Elem.Atk and decrease Elem.Def as well as needing a divine skill (preferably from another character with a scholar reclass) to use on your dps. It's just a lot of hassle for something that often does less damage than physical and while I'm aware magic is capable of doing great damage with the right setup it just feel to much effort than it's worth in my opinion.
Still battle gameplay is really good.
Gameplay on the overworld and Path actions are alright but nothing much to say there, the nighttime path actions are a neat addition (as well as the day night cycle in general) but for some reason all night path actions have no punishment for failure if I'm recalling correctly which is kinda weird for stuff like Osvald's Mug but that's just a personal nitpick of mine.
Misc:
Well this goes without saying but the Soundtrack and Presentation are top notch, I don't even have anything else to say just WOW...
In conclusion, Octopath 2 is a fun game but personally I wouldn't call it much more and if that's enough for you I'd say the game is worth it.
If you want a fun JRPG with a fun world to explore and great gameplay go for it, but like I said earlier don't go in expecting Peak Fiction.