It's a rare and amazing sight to not only see a game come out with heavy, valid criticism, but to see that criticism be taken to heart into a brand new game that basically addresses everything. Octopath Traveler II is what I would consider the gold standard of sequels. It takes what worked in the first game and improved every issue it used to have. Now we have a game that is by far one of the greatest games I've ever played. This review will be different from the others I've made because there is so much I wanna talk about. Octopath 1 is one of my favorite games of all time and the sequel is even better. This review will not only talk about Octopath II but compare to the first game to see what was done better and differently.
Story/Writing:
This is the aspect of the first game that had the most criticism. While I enjoyed the stories in the first game, they all came down to very basic and standard plot beats. Alfyn wants to be be a traveling apothecary, Tressa wants to be a traveling merchant, Cyrus wants to gain more knowledge. There are more complex stories (Therion, Primrose), but people weren't a fan of how they were handled.
The second game, however, took the complexity of stories like Primrose, but put that for basically everyone outside of maybe Agnea. The writing got a major improvement as soon as you start it. Each chapter 1 hooks you from the moment it starts, to the point you aren't even sure which party you want to start with. I don't want to dive into spoilers much as this game is still very new, but if you played the game, you know how insane some of the stories are cough Osvald cough.
Once you beat all 8 stories, you will unlock one final story that interconnects everything and give a really satisfying conclusion. They NAILED the conclusion this time while in Octopath 1, it was just a glorified lore dump and boss rush with a really really tough final boss. Octopath II, instead, had a 2-3 hour journey that ends with another really really tough boss. It's absolutely perfect with how the game set it up. I'm amazed at how the devs made such an incredible and engaging story.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is largely the same between both games, but the second game adds some new bells and whistles to liven up the battles. New to this game is the latent gauge, which is a unique ability to each of the 8 characters. Hikari's latent gives him three unique moves that are very good damage dealers, same with Ochette's with the exception of one move that's just a buff, Osvald's raises the potency of his spells but it can only hit one enemy instead of all, Partitio's raises his BP to maximum, and so on. All the latent abilities are useful for something so you are bound to use all of them eventually.
This is also a good place to talk about the bosses. The bosses in this game are WAY better than the first entry. Not only do all of the bosses offer a unique challenge, you also have to come up with new strategies on the fly. And all of them are fun! ...Okay there is one bad boss but it's still easy to take down when you know what to do. The later bosses especially gave me some trouble that I did not have from the first game outside of the final boss. This game will either be very moderately challenging or ball-breaking in difficulty depending on your strategies, but it never feels unfair. I think Team Asano finally manages to perfect the balance they were trying to accomplish from the Bravely Default games and even the first Octopath.
There's also the secondary classes/advanced classes that add even more freshness to the battles. The new advanced classes in this game are somehow even more insanely broken than before but in the best way possible. When you get good setups going, you will be steamrolling through all the bosses. The combat is some of the best I've seen in an RPG and I can't fathom anyone disliking it.
Exploration:
Exploration is honestly the one thing I think was done better in Octopath 1. The dungeons were more expanded and they didn't show everything on the map. While in Octopath II, it's still fun exploring around, but it felt like they stripped back this aspect of the game to put more time into the other aspects. I'm perfectly fine with that as the exploration is still good and everything else was improved tenfold, but I wish it wasn't so easy to discover all the secondary classes and secret dungeons.
The map as well is a little more tedious to traverse compared to before. This is more of a nitpick as you can fast travel when you enter a new town, it can be a little frustrating trying to figure out where the boats are to cross to the opposite region.
Visuals:
What do I even say about this game's visuals? The first game looked absolutely beautiful, inventing the HD-2D style that we are seeing with Triangle Strategy, LIVE A LIVE, and other games, but Octopath II manages to take it to the next level. So many shots have become dynamic with lots of different angles during cutscenes and even during combat to give everything that extra kick it needed. I can only imagine the future of this style, but my monkey brain can't even fathom how it gets better from here.
Music:
Do I even have to say anything about the music? It's Yasunori Nishiki for Christ's sake. I have no clue how this man managed to not only make a soundtrack on par with the first game, but to also possibly surpass it. The night themes that were added give this world a whole new air of life that was not present before. Hat's off to Yasunori Nishiki for making another outstanding score (also please release the ost on Spotify please please please).
Conclusion:
Overall, Octopath Traveler II is a step up from the first game in almost every single way. It's astounding that we have to praise the devs for simply listening to the criticisms, but that really is something that deserves praise. Not many studios and devs listen to the fans, or even listen to the proper criticism, but Team Asano is hellbent on perfecting their craft and I believe this is as perfect as it can get.
If you were not a fan of Octopath 1, even with the combat in mind, it's hard to say if you'd enjoy this one. As someone who stuck through the issues, I couldn't ask for a better title, but if you are still unsure, I can't say if you'd enjoy it. That's something you'd have to risk but I still 100% recommend it. Whether it's a new Octopath game or a brand new IP, I will be there day 1 for whatever Team Asano has in store. They've earned a lifelong and loyal fan.
Story/Writing:
This is the aspect of the first game that had the most criticism. While I enjoyed the stories in the first game, they all came down to very basic and standard plot beats. Alfyn wants to be be a traveling apothecary, Tressa wants to be a traveling merchant, Cyrus wants to gain more knowledge. There are more complex stories (Therion, Primrose), but people weren't a fan of how they were handled.
The second game, however, took the complexity of stories like Primrose, but put that for basically everyone outside of maybe Agnea. The writing got a major improvement as soon as you start it. Each chapter 1 hooks you from the moment it starts, to the point you aren't even sure which party you want to start with. I don't want to dive into spoilers much as this game is still very new, but if you played the game, you know how insane some of the stories are cough Osvald cough.
Once you beat all 8 stories, you will unlock one final story that interconnects everything and give a really satisfying conclusion. They NAILED the conclusion this time while in Octopath 1, it was just a glorified lore dump and boss rush with a really really tough final boss. Octopath II, instead, had a 2-3 hour journey that ends with another really really tough boss. It's absolutely perfect with how the game set it up. I'm amazed at how the devs made such an incredible and engaging story.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is largely the same between both games, but the second game adds some new bells and whistles to liven up the battles. New to this game is the latent gauge, which is a unique ability to each of the 8 characters. Hikari's latent gives him three unique moves that are very good damage dealers, same with Ochette's with the exception of one move that's just a buff, Osvald's raises the potency of his spells but it can only hit one enemy instead of all, Partitio's raises his BP to maximum, and so on. All the latent abilities are useful for something so you are bound to use all of them eventually.
This is also a good place to talk about the bosses. The bosses in this game are WAY better than the first entry. Not only do all of the bosses offer a unique challenge, you also have to come up with new strategies on the fly. And all of them are fun! ...Okay there is one bad boss but it's still easy to take down when you know what to do. The later bosses especially gave me some trouble that I did not have from the first game outside of the final boss. This game will either be very moderately challenging or ball-breaking in difficulty depending on your strategies, but it never feels unfair. I think Team Asano finally manages to perfect the balance they were trying to accomplish from the Bravely Default games and even the first Octopath.
There's also the secondary classes/advanced classes that add even more freshness to the battles. The new advanced classes in this game are somehow even more insanely broken than before but in the best way possible. When you get good setups going, you will be steamrolling through all the bosses. The combat is some of the best I've seen in an RPG and I can't fathom anyone disliking it.
Exploration:
Exploration is honestly the one thing I think was done better in Octopath 1. The dungeons were more expanded and they didn't show everything on the map. While in Octopath II, it's still fun exploring around, but it felt like they stripped back this aspect of the game to put more time into the other aspects. I'm perfectly fine with that as the exploration is still good and everything else was improved tenfold, but I wish it wasn't so easy to discover all the secondary classes and secret dungeons.
The map as well is a little more tedious to traverse compared to before. This is more of a nitpick as you can fast travel when you enter a new town, it can be a little frustrating trying to figure out where the boats are to cross to the opposite region.
Visuals:
What do I even say about this game's visuals? The first game looked absolutely beautiful, inventing the HD-2D style that we are seeing with Triangle Strategy, LIVE A LIVE, and other games, but Octopath II manages to take it to the next level. So many shots have become dynamic with lots of different angles during cutscenes and even during combat to give everything that extra kick it needed. I can only imagine the future of this style, but my monkey brain can't even fathom how it gets better from here.
Music:
Do I even have to say anything about the music? It's Yasunori Nishiki for Christ's sake. I have no clue how this man managed to not only make a soundtrack on par with the first game, but to also possibly surpass it. The night themes that were added give this world a whole new air of life that was not present before. Hat's off to Yasunori Nishiki for making another outstanding score (also please release the ost on Spotify please please please).
Conclusion:
Overall, Octopath Traveler II is a step up from the first game in almost every single way. It's astounding that we have to praise the devs for simply listening to the criticisms, but that really is something that deserves praise. Not many studios and devs listen to the fans, or even listen to the proper criticism, but Team Asano is hellbent on perfecting their craft and I believe this is as perfect as it can get.
If you were not a fan of Octopath 1, even with the combat in mind, it's hard to say if you'd enjoy this one. As someone who stuck through the issues, I couldn't ask for a better title, but if you are still unsure, I can't say if you'd enjoy it. That's something you'd have to risk but I still 100% recommend it. Whether it's a new Octopath game or a brand new IP, I will be there day 1 for whatever Team Asano has in store. They've earned a lifelong and loyal fan.