I guess the main draw of these games are the eight separate stories that you play through, that all take place within one world and all basically at the same time. It is a bit weird to play through the game and the characters not really acknowledning each other whatsoever despite appearing in the party during each other's stories (the old FF6 problem of maybe being a bit too ambitious and open to the player), but after accepting that's just how it is, I definitely appreciated these bite-sized RPG stories each character took part in. I wouldn't say any of them are fantastic and all of them suffer from being a bit wordy, cutscenes tending to be slower than they probably should be, and having at least one very stupid plot point (except for maybe Throné, now that I think about it). But they're mostly a good time since each of the eight main characters are really compelling in their own right, and their stories are all really good at setting things up that I as a player look forward to see the conclusion of, or mysteries that I want to see solved. The end-game where all eight characters do intersect sadly feels a bit rushed, though, and feels like it pulls out a bunch of twists more for the sake of having twists than them being properly set up at all, but at least the game ends on a high note. The english voice cast is also really good, so even the lesser material they work with is delivered with a lot of conviction, and the HD2D ensures that even the most static of conversations manage to look very, very good.
So while enjoyable, the game but stumbles a bit in the story department. However, not only does Octopath Traveler II have the best soundtrack of last year, it is also an extraordinarily well designed game to actually play (which is why some might say it was the sixth best game of 2023.) It is sort of difficult to explain why a turn-based battle system is good without showing it off, but something I really appreciate about OTII is how flexible it is. Like, every single character and subclass feels viable, and each of the eight have a couple of really good unique skills that make them useful in most situations. Of course, that's partly because the game is certainly not the hardest JRPG out there, but I do also want to commend the developers for how they've seemingly taken almost every party constellation into account and making sure that the ones you enjoy playing with are also going to work in basically every scenario, and that those left on the bench will feel useful and actually pretty fun those few times the game wants you to use those as well.
The battles themselves are also really quick and snappy (doesn't hurt that you can turn on double speed in combat, which every game like this really should have), the animations are great and attack pack some punch. It's also just plain fun to use up all battle points (you get one per turn and can use up to four to charge up abilities) and destroy enemies with attacks that, while previously looking pretty cool, now has the cinematography of an attack that would kill a god at the end of a game like this. Enemies look good, boss look great, and it's somehow here we get the only party interactions for most of the game, with party members actually cheering each other on (by name! Partitio's "You're a star, Agnea" gave me quite the shock when I first heard it)
The exploration is really good as well. OTII is basically an open world JRPG so you can go anywhere at any time (though different areas have different level recommendations, so maybe don't go into a lv 40 area after beating a character's first chapter), and the developers were really smart to make it large enough that it does feel like an adventure to traverse the entire world and see all the different biomes with their own, very distinct looks and atmospheres, but it's also small enough that travelling never feels like a slog, and basically every screen has something new to discover, whether that be an optional dungeon or a side quest. Just like the combat, movement on the overworld just feels so snappy and fast in a way a lot of other JRPGs just aren't. Encounter rates can feel a bit high at times, admittedly, but no dungeon or non-town screen is large enough that it ever becomes a big issue. So nice to have a lot of different towns, by the way. From large industrial cities, to small forest villages, there's a lot of variety here, but they all feel lived in, and are full of weirdly interesting NPCs (seriously, use any type of interrogation skill on townspeople and you'll get to read some of the most interesting character bios that have ever been put into a game, and there is one written for almost every single NPC in the game!)
So while enjoyable, the game but stumbles a bit in the story department. However, not only does Octopath Traveler II have the best soundtrack of last year, it is also an extraordinarily well designed game to actually play (which is why some might say it was the sixth best game of 2023.) It is sort of difficult to explain why a turn-based battle system is good without showing it off, but something I really appreciate about OTII is how flexible it is. Like, every single character and subclass feels viable, and each of the eight have a couple of really good unique skills that make them useful in most situations. Of course, that's partly because the game is certainly not the hardest JRPG out there, but I do also want to commend the developers for how they've seemingly taken almost every party constellation into account and making sure that the ones you enjoy playing with are also going to work in basically every scenario, and that those left on the bench will feel useful and actually pretty fun those few times the game wants you to use those as well.
The battles themselves are also really quick and snappy (doesn't hurt that you can turn on double speed in combat, which every game like this really should have), the animations are great and attack pack some punch. It's also just plain fun to use up all battle points (you get one per turn and can use up to four to charge up abilities) and destroy enemies with attacks that, while previously looking pretty cool, now has the cinematography of an attack that would kill a god at the end of a game like this. Enemies look good, boss look great, and it's somehow here we get the only party interactions for most of the game, with party members actually cheering each other on (by name! Partitio's "You're a star, Agnea" gave me quite the shock when I first heard it)
The exploration is really good as well. OTII is basically an open world JRPG so you can go anywhere at any time (though different areas have different level recommendations, so maybe don't go into a lv 40 area after beating a character's first chapter), and the developers were really smart to make it large enough that it does feel like an adventure to traverse the entire world and see all the different biomes with their own, very distinct looks and atmospheres, but it's also small enough that travelling never feels like a slog, and basically every screen has something new to discover, whether that be an optional dungeon or a side quest. Just like the combat, movement on the overworld just feels so snappy and fast in a way a lot of other JRPGs just aren't. Encounter rates can feel a bit high at times, admittedly, but no dungeon or non-town screen is large enough that it ever becomes a big issue. So nice to have a lot of different towns, by the way. From large industrial cities, to small forest villages, there's a lot of variety here, but they all feel lived in, and are full of weirdly interesting NPCs (seriously, use any type of interrogation skill on townspeople and you'll get to read some of the most interesting character bios that have ever been put into a game, and there is one written for almost every single NPC in the game!)