Now I’ll be completely honest I never played the original Octopath Traveler though I heard a lot of mixed thoughts when it came to people I spoke to about it. So admittedly Octopath Traveler 2 was a bit of a gamble. Would I love this game despite my lack of knowledge of the first one? How would it compare to other RPGs that I’ve played over the years & would it do anything different to break the mould?
The answer is simply: this game absolutely rules & It’s worthy of every bit of hype in my eyes. This is probably my favourite game of the entire year so far & it really touched me in ways that I didn’t ever expect it to. Throughout my entire 100 hour journey I grew to fall in love with the world & the incredible cast of characters each with their own engaging stories & to be honest…it’s been a while since I’ve played an RPG with mature themes such as the ones that are tackled in Octopath 2.
Each of the eight main characters has their struggles. Hikari a prince driven from his kingdom by his tyrannical dictator of a brother & goes on a journey to forge alliances to reclaim his home & stop the long history of bloodshed his people have faced. Throné a thief enslaved by the abuse of the Blacksnakes searches for her freedom in order to escape from her chains. Osvald a man who was framed & locked up in prison for the murder of his wife & daughter plots his revenge against the person who ruined his life. Castti an amnesiac apothecary searches for her memories & who she once was before everything. Partitio a merchant who survived the suffering of poverty & wants to bring happiness to the entire world. And I mean sure not ALL of the stories are hits & feel very cliche & run of the mill (hello Agnea you’re very nice though) but I’d say more than half of these characters all have engaging plots & it’s well worth seeking out all of them on your journey. You’re gonna want to experience all of them & there’s no story that I consider to be genuinely bad which for a game as massive as this is a huge compliment & it says a lot about the quality of these eight compelling narratives. And seeing how they all come together is absolutely mindblowing.
The combat in this game is absolutely exceptional. Maybe one of the best turn based systems. In combat your opponents have a shield & in order to break through it, you need to find which attack they are weak to whether that be swords, knives, polearms, bows, staffs or magic. What’s really cool is you have an option with what’s called the boost system. If you have two boost points you can attack twice or alternatively you can wait after the turn to attack three or even four times or use a more powerful attack to deal massive damage. Once you get through the shield your opponent will enter a break state which then allows you to deal much more damage to them. There’s also latent powers which when your power gauge is full you can use an ultimate move depending on the character. For example Partitio’s allows him to have maximum BP, Agnea’s has her attacks/buffs reach everyone & Ochette & Hikari will be able to use extremely powerful attacks. These abilities are especially handy in tough boss fights as one wrong move could mean losing the entire battle. I found this game to be genuinely challenging at times especially in the early stages when I was still getting a hang of things. But once the combat clicks man it’s such a satisfying feeling.
On top of that there’s also a job system which allows you to acquire a license of a class to use a secondary job for each character. These include hunter, warrior, apothecary, thief, merchant, dancer, scholar & cleric. You can use the job points that you acquire from battles to invest in whatever job you choose as it will give your party more abilities & support skills. The combinations are endless & ultimately I feel there’s some jobs which suit characters much better but you’re free to experiment at your leisure to find the perfect fit. There are also secret jobs which are well worth seeking out especially in the late game which give you even more powerful abilities such as the Armsmaster which will allow you to wield all six weapons types or the Arcanist which specialises in much more powerful magic.
One thing i absolutely love about Octopath Traveler 2 is the amount of freedom you have from the very start. The world of Solistia is vast & sure you can follow your main character’s story but you’re free to roam wherever you choose, even higher level areas if you’re brave enough. The game doesn’t hold your hand at all, this is your adventure & you can go about it your own way. I haven’t felt an RPG has given me this kind of experience since the YS series & I much prefer this kind of game design over vast bloated open worlds. There’s also a day/night system which you can toggle at will. This is another mechanic I love about the game as you can do different things at day & night called path actions. For example Hikari can duel people to learn different skills during the day & bribe someone for information at night. It also changes the NPC’s that you will encounter depending on the time of day you choose. I find this to be such a unique inclusion of a day/night cycle & it really gives Octopath 2 an identity of its own compared to other RPGs.
I don’t think I even need to mention the artstyle do I? Square Enix have taken a lot of L’s recently with the decisions they’ve made especially in the business side of things but one thing I don’t think anyone can deny: these HD 2D graphics are absolutely GORGEOUS. I played this game on the PlayStation 5 & oh my goodness it looks beautiful. It’s got a very old school feel & I would love to see more of this kind of artstyle in modern RPGs.
And how could I forget about the incredible soundtrack composed by the wonderful Yasunori Nishiki whether it be the relaxing town themes or the bombastic battle music which pumps you up with untold amounts of adrenaline. There were so many tracks in this game that really went so much harder than they had any right to & it’s definitely one of the best game soundtracks I’ve ever heard.
Now does this game have any problems that stick out to me? Well…yeah. Kind of. While each of the stories are engaging I will admit it feels a little disjointed at times. When you start a character’s chapter the other characters kind of just bugger off & don’t have a lot of impact, which I’m aware was an issue with the original Octopath. To counteract this you do have travel banter which actually sort of reminded me of the skits from the Tales of series where two or more characters discuss what is happening in that moment or perhaps just bond & tease each other. This is definitely a good addition & I always enjoy when these scenes play out when you have the option to view them but I still wish there was more interconnection between the cast at pivotal story moments.
Overall though, I really loved Octopath Traveller 2. As a fan of RPGs you owe it to yourself to check this game out if you haven’t already. As long as Square Enix continues to make titles with as much love & care as this then I’m sure I’ll be more than happy to stick with them because it truly proves there’s still a place for turn based RPGs in the modern era of gaming. Definitely my game of the year for 2023 & will be extremely hard to top.
The answer is simply: this game absolutely rules & It’s worthy of every bit of hype in my eyes. This is probably my favourite game of the entire year so far & it really touched me in ways that I didn’t ever expect it to. Throughout my entire 100 hour journey I grew to fall in love with the world & the incredible cast of characters each with their own engaging stories & to be honest…it’s been a while since I’ve played an RPG with mature themes such as the ones that are tackled in Octopath 2.
Each of the eight main characters has their struggles. Hikari a prince driven from his kingdom by his tyrannical dictator of a brother & goes on a journey to forge alliances to reclaim his home & stop the long history of bloodshed his people have faced. Throné a thief enslaved by the abuse of the Blacksnakes searches for her freedom in order to escape from her chains. Osvald a man who was framed & locked up in prison for the murder of his wife & daughter plots his revenge against the person who ruined his life. Castti an amnesiac apothecary searches for her memories & who she once was before everything. Partitio a merchant who survived the suffering of poverty & wants to bring happiness to the entire world. And I mean sure not ALL of the stories are hits & feel very cliche & run of the mill (hello Agnea you’re very nice though) but I’d say more than half of these characters all have engaging plots & it’s well worth seeking out all of them on your journey. You’re gonna want to experience all of them & there’s no story that I consider to be genuinely bad which for a game as massive as this is a huge compliment & it says a lot about the quality of these eight compelling narratives. And seeing how they all come together is absolutely mindblowing.
The combat in this game is absolutely exceptional. Maybe one of the best turn based systems. In combat your opponents have a shield & in order to break through it, you need to find which attack they are weak to whether that be swords, knives, polearms, bows, staffs or magic. What’s really cool is you have an option with what’s called the boost system. If you have two boost points you can attack twice or alternatively you can wait after the turn to attack three or even four times or use a more powerful attack to deal massive damage. Once you get through the shield your opponent will enter a break state which then allows you to deal much more damage to them. There’s also latent powers which when your power gauge is full you can use an ultimate move depending on the character. For example Partitio’s allows him to have maximum BP, Agnea’s has her attacks/buffs reach everyone & Ochette & Hikari will be able to use extremely powerful attacks. These abilities are especially handy in tough boss fights as one wrong move could mean losing the entire battle. I found this game to be genuinely challenging at times especially in the early stages when I was still getting a hang of things. But once the combat clicks man it’s such a satisfying feeling.
On top of that there’s also a job system which allows you to acquire a license of a class to use a secondary job for each character. These include hunter, warrior, apothecary, thief, merchant, dancer, scholar & cleric. You can use the job points that you acquire from battles to invest in whatever job you choose as it will give your party more abilities & support skills. The combinations are endless & ultimately I feel there’s some jobs which suit characters much better but you’re free to experiment at your leisure to find the perfect fit. There are also secret jobs which are well worth seeking out especially in the late game which give you even more powerful abilities such as the Armsmaster which will allow you to wield all six weapons types or the Arcanist which specialises in much more powerful magic.
One thing i absolutely love about Octopath Traveler 2 is the amount of freedom you have from the very start. The world of Solistia is vast & sure you can follow your main character’s story but you’re free to roam wherever you choose, even higher level areas if you’re brave enough. The game doesn’t hold your hand at all, this is your adventure & you can go about it your own way. I haven’t felt an RPG has given me this kind of experience since the YS series & I much prefer this kind of game design over vast bloated open worlds. There’s also a day/night system which you can toggle at will. This is another mechanic I love about the game as you can do different things at day & night called path actions. For example Hikari can duel people to learn different skills during the day & bribe someone for information at night. It also changes the NPC’s that you will encounter depending on the time of day you choose. I find this to be such a unique inclusion of a day/night cycle & it really gives Octopath 2 an identity of its own compared to other RPGs.
I don’t think I even need to mention the artstyle do I? Square Enix have taken a lot of L’s recently with the decisions they’ve made especially in the business side of things but one thing I don’t think anyone can deny: these HD 2D graphics are absolutely GORGEOUS. I played this game on the PlayStation 5 & oh my goodness it looks beautiful. It’s got a very old school feel & I would love to see more of this kind of artstyle in modern RPGs.
And how could I forget about the incredible soundtrack composed by the wonderful Yasunori Nishiki whether it be the relaxing town themes or the bombastic battle music which pumps you up with untold amounts of adrenaline. There were so many tracks in this game that really went so much harder than they had any right to & it’s definitely one of the best game soundtracks I’ve ever heard.
Now does this game have any problems that stick out to me? Well…yeah. Kind of. While each of the stories are engaging I will admit it feels a little disjointed at times. When you start a character’s chapter the other characters kind of just bugger off & don’t have a lot of impact, which I’m aware was an issue with the original Octopath. To counteract this you do have travel banter which actually sort of reminded me of the skits from the Tales of series where two or more characters discuss what is happening in that moment or perhaps just bond & tease each other. This is definitely a good addition & I always enjoy when these scenes play out when you have the option to view them but I still wish there was more interconnection between the cast at pivotal story moments.
Overall though, I really loved Octopath Traveller 2. As a fan of RPGs you owe it to yourself to check this game out if you haven’t already. As long as Square Enix continues to make titles with as much love & care as this then I’m sure I’ll be more than happy to stick with them because it truly proves there’s still a place for turn based RPGs in the modern era of gaming. Definitely my game of the year for 2023 & will be extremely hard to top.