"You don't need to walk alone. No path is too perilous so long as friends are at your side."
rather than the game that struggled to emulate the polish and quality of its classic super nintendo contemporaries that was the original octopath traveler, octopath traveler 2 delivers not only a game that matches their level, but to me goes beyond and in many ways surpasses them. it has a few shortcomings, but it is definitely one of the best games i've ever played and more than anything i am beyond excited to see what team asano does next.
octopath traveler i find was a game plagued by many issues that it struggled to overcome in its endeavor to be a modern imagining of the snes-era jrpg classics square is known for. while that seems to be a fairly common consensus online i find the issue attributed as the 'main issue' of the original, the lack of 'meaningful' party interactions, to hardly be that big of a deal let alone a top 5 issue like people made it out to be. to me, it was mostly just a byproduct of the type of jrpg it was trying to be and completely "fixing" it isnt something that would work well if you wanted to keep the structure and identity of octopath or its very obvious conceptual inspiration in the saga games.in my opinion if you have any type of game like this where 8 characters come together, "fixing" this issue will mean their motivations are either going to be so similar that it becomes pointless to have them or even pointless to do more than just a typically structured jrpg. regardless, the game did supplement this issue with more than enough to satsfy the small part of me that was a bit bothered by it. the travel banter/party chat feature is still arguably one of the best things dragon quest pioneered and i love the clear character dynamics that form between your party in them. if that isn't enough for some i personally find the coverged paths idea to be fun even if they are in essence just a travel banter mini quest with voice acting.
in terms of the other issues, it's all so much better. the characters are more interesting and realized, the environments are gorgeous and varied, and the story itself successfully managed to capture that same sense of joy and adventure that the super nintendo classics did for me and even managed to go beyond that. i don't think i've seen a series go from initial entry to sequel while improving this much other than maybe yakuza or paper mario and even then the difference in improvement is still so massively different than those two. team asano did all they could to take an idea that might not've been executed well the first time and fix every issue with it and work on what was good about it at the same time. even non issues like music improved so much that octopath 2's soundtrack is easily some of my favorite tracks square has ever put out. the cast and stories are easily the biggest and most important improvement to me with all of them feeling so well realized and integral to this journey, whether that be to elaborate on the state of this world and the direction its heading or to tie into the big bad which i especially love. had they decided to make every story be about tying into the final boss and ending most of them would've fallen flat and left the world of octopath 2 feeling hollow and a good half of the cast feeling unfulfilled.
however, not all octopath 2 stories are created equal regardless of this. while osvald gets what i'd say is almost a shoe in for my favorite character story in any game i've ever played to the point where i'd gladly have played 90+ hours of that if square had given it to us and most everyone else gets incredibly compelling stories as well, castti is a bit of a black sheep. i don't find her terrible by any means, but she feels like a remnant of the original octopath. her story is relatively plain if a bit interesting and portrays her as a nothing character who has to share the stage with an otherwise great cast. i genuinely kind of hated her until i got more of her interactions with the other cast members because her story does absolutely nothing for her. i also find the final boss to be a bit uncompelling as a villain and i find that their impact depends on when you started temenos's story. they're definitely no sephiroth or odio, but they're servicable and mechanically one of the most exciting moments of the game and i don't find the story to be particularly hampered by them, just a bit of wasted potential is all.
after a story that managed to keep me hooked for 90 hours over weeks of using almost all of the time i had outside of work and other duties, becoming attached to all 8 of these characters and their lives and dreams and everything they've been through to get where they are now and the bonds they've made with each other, it's time to finally say goodbye. the epilogue segment might be one of my favorite parts of any game i've ever played in my life. it's so painfully sappy and after that sap seeing so many of the characters you met who either helped you or were helped by you in places in their lives they wouldn't have even thought of being in cements the themes of this game perfectly to me. i cried a good bit during the whole thing and unlike most other pieces of media, that stupid title drop gave me goosebumps.
octopath traveler 2 is one of the best games i've played in my entire life, an all time favorite, and an experience i will keep with me until i'm old and gray. i implore anyone who enjoys jrpgs and has the free time to at least give it a chance whether you loved the original or hated it. i spent most of the prerelease of this game trying to temper my expectations lest i be disappointed by another game that failed to impress me like the other original hd-2d titles team asano has put out, only to be absolutely blown away by how much improvement and love for their craft oozes in almost every aspect of the game. i don't know if i'll ever play this game again in its entirety with how long it is, but i'm glad i played it all the same.
"Thank you for traveling with us."
rather than the game that struggled to emulate the polish and quality of its classic super nintendo contemporaries that was the original octopath traveler, octopath traveler 2 delivers not only a game that matches their level, but to me goes beyond and in many ways surpasses them. it has a few shortcomings, but it is definitely one of the best games i've ever played and more than anything i am beyond excited to see what team asano does next.
octopath traveler i find was a game plagued by many issues that it struggled to overcome in its endeavor to be a modern imagining of the snes-era jrpg classics square is known for. while that seems to be a fairly common consensus online i find the issue attributed as the 'main issue' of the original, the lack of 'meaningful' party interactions, to hardly be that big of a deal let alone a top 5 issue like people made it out to be. to me, it was mostly just a byproduct of the type of jrpg it was trying to be and completely "fixing" it isnt something that would work well if you wanted to keep the structure and identity of octopath or its very obvious conceptual inspiration in the saga games.in my opinion if you have any type of game like this where 8 characters come together, "fixing" this issue will mean their motivations are either going to be so similar that it becomes pointless to have them or even pointless to do more than just a typically structured jrpg. regardless, the game did supplement this issue with more than enough to satsfy the small part of me that was a bit bothered by it. the travel banter/party chat feature is still arguably one of the best things dragon quest pioneered and i love the clear character dynamics that form between your party in them. if that isn't enough for some i personally find the coverged paths idea to be fun even if they are in essence just a travel banter mini quest with voice acting.
in terms of the other issues, it's all so much better. the characters are more interesting and realized, the environments are gorgeous and varied, and the story itself successfully managed to capture that same sense of joy and adventure that the super nintendo classics did for me and even managed to go beyond that. i don't think i've seen a series go from initial entry to sequel while improving this much other than maybe yakuza or paper mario and even then the difference in improvement is still so massively different than those two. team asano did all they could to take an idea that might not've been executed well the first time and fix every issue with it and work on what was good about it at the same time. even non issues like music improved so much that octopath 2's soundtrack is easily some of my favorite tracks square has ever put out. the cast and stories are easily the biggest and most important improvement to me with all of them feeling so well realized and integral to this journey, whether that be to elaborate on the state of this world and the direction its heading or to tie into the big bad which i especially love. had they decided to make every story be about tying into the final boss and ending most of them would've fallen flat and left the world of octopath 2 feeling hollow and a good half of the cast feeling unfulfilled.
however, not all octopath 2 stories are created equal regardless of this. while osvald gets what i'd say is almost a shoe in for my favorite character story in any game i've ever played to the point where i'd gladly have played 90+ hours of that if square had given it to us and most everyone else gets incredibly compelling stories as well, castti is a bit of a black sheep. i don't find her terrible by any means, but she feels like a remnant of the original octopath. her story is relatively plain if a bit interesting and portrays her as a nothing character who has to share the stage with an otherwise great cast. i genuinely kind of hated her until i got more of her interactions with the other cast members because her story does absolutely nothing for her. i also find the final boss to be a bit uncompelling as a villain and i find that their impact depends on when you started temenos's story. they're definitely no sephiroth or odio, but they're servicable and mechanically one of the most exciting moments of the game and i don't find the story to be particularly hampered by them, just a bit of wasted potential is all.
after a story that managed to keep me hooked for 90 hours over weeks of using almost all of the time i had outside of work and other duties, becoming attached to all 8 of these characters and their lives and dreams and everything they've been through to get where they are now and the bonds they've made with each other, it's time to finally say goodbye. the epilogue segment might be one of my favorite parts of any game i've ever played in my life. it's so painfully sappy and after that sap seeing so many of the characters you met who either helped you or were helped by you in places in their lives they wouldn't have even thought of being in cements the themes of this game perfectly to me. i cried a good bit during the whole thing and unlike most other pieces of media, that stupid title drop gave me goosebumps.
octopath traveler 2 is one of the best games i've played in my entire life, an all time favorite, and an experience i will keep with me until i'm old and gray. i implore anyone who enjoys jrpgs and has the free time to at least give it a chance whether you loved the original or hated it. i spent most of the prerelease of this game trying to temper my expectations lest i be disappointed by another game that failed to impress me like the other original hd-2d titles team asano has put out, only to be absolutely blown away by how much improvement and love for their craft oozes in almost every aspect of the game. i don't know if i'll ever play this game again in its entirety with how long it is, but i'm glad i played it all the same.
"Thank you for traveling with us."
4 Comments
I started 2 recently and I'm glad I got around to it sooner rather than later, you were right, this game really does improve so much over 1. I do have a few issues, I'm about 17 hours in and I can't find an item/spell for ignoring random encounters /: Also I lied I like Castii a lot now, the characters (minus 2) are really strong in this one.
i don't know if this game has a spell for removing them entirely but the cleric class iirc has a skill thats reduces encounter rate which makes it a lot more comparable to a normal jrpg encounter rate
ohh thank you so much I would not have found that for a good while, I appreciate it! Now the question becomes who should I slap the cleric sub-job onto....
moschidae
1 year ago