Octopath Traveller 2 is remarkable in the sense that I've never seen a game that went so far out of its way to sabotage itself to no apparent benefit. The improved strength of character of the cast and the addictive gameplay fall way to the astoundingly bad story decisions and almost mean-spirited nature of the messages this game is trying to project. I haven't finished a single storyline- but I am 35 hours in and I am so incredibly tired of every single character. I will talk about the game itself and then give a quick overview of how the game handled each traveller's story.
The gameplay itself is as great as ever, it's incredibly fun and a fantastic modernization of typical jrpg combat. For most of the game, battles feel quick and satisfying, and the break mechanic is an entertaining strategy to play around. I love the additions of the dual-story chapters, which help to make your cast feel like friends and build their character. The game is still visually gorgeous, in fact my favorite parts of playing Octopath have been exploring all the various areas and just taking in how beautiful everything looks. It feels like you're wandering around a little diorama set.. like you're on a real adventure. That's easily my favorite thing in this game... which is sad, considering Octopath 2 refuses to let you skip or turn off random encounters. There's a skill or two that reduces the rate, but it's still really annoying when you just want to go for a walk, listening to the calming music but every 3 seconds you're forced into a battle. Escape is not guaranteed, which makes matters worse.
I also said that the gameplay is fun at first, but towards the end of your party's storyline it gets harder and harder to raise your level. I hate grinding, and you apparently have to grind a lot- I'm level 40 and every final boss has a recommended level of 45... but you should be comfortably above this because the final bosses of this game are an absolute disgrace. I've only done Throne's and Agnea's but they are frustrating. Agnea's takes forever and it's split into two parts, and your opponent can steal your party members? Two of them? She stole Hikari who I made into an absolute powerhouse, so I basically just lost in a way that didn't feel to be my fault, with 30 minutes of my time out the window. It's so demoralizing and to be honest, makes me feel like quitting.
But I could power through it if the story was good. It started strong but slowly snowballed into being just utterly irredeemable in my eyes. I will go character by character and dissect each story, but first let me say that I can really, really, really feel the Shinzo Abe influence in this game. The biggest fault Octopath 2 has for me is this: every character is somehow connected to a parent or is doing what they're doing for a parent. By everyone, I mean it even extends to NPCs. There is even a very morbid underlying message to the way this game conveys parenthood. The children in this game are treated as an extension of their parents, no exceptions. Your mom is a dancer? You want to be a dancer. Your dad is a baker? You're a baker. There are no bad families in this game.... in the characters eyes. Because even when a mother WHIPS AND BEATS children en masse, and raises them to be assassins, she still deserves forgiveness because she was nice a few times and she's your mother! I can not overlook this philosophy the game is insistent on pushing onto the player. And that extends to the forgiveness part too, someone could kidnap a child, drug her, tell her ailing mother she should just drop dead so he can capitalize on the town... but it's OK! He had everyone's best interest in mind, murder is bad and we should forgive him!
I will go into more issues on it this next segment but you can feel the old conservative Japanese man blood flowing through this game, and it's a real shame. It's obsession with procreation and their visions on autonomy turns this game into something of a disgrace to read through. Octopath 2 has really amazing female NPCs but unfortunately all that progress is reduced by the inherent misogyny this game presents.
Now onto the character plot break downs:
Hikari:
Of noble birth, Hikari wants to free his country from the oppressive rule of his brother and become a king that ushers in an era without bloodshed. A pretty basic tale... I actually like the character of Hikari a lot, but if you know anything about history, his entire story is impossible to take seriously. First off, his evil brother... this goes for all villains in this game, but they are cartoonishly wicked. With no depth at all, he wants to rule because he desires the world to be his. He also wants to call for every lowborn in his country to be executed. What? Even soldiers pick on the poor folk, but aren't soldiers barely above peasants if we are going off patriarchy? Even the most tyrannical of kings ushered in debt-wiping "clean slates" because they KNEW their kingdom rode on the back of the farmers and the slaves that built their buildings. You're just going to have a kingdom with only an upper-class? Who is going to do your work?? Everyone seems to go along with this without thinking and it's impossible to even give a shit when everyone's dancing around, showing off how evil they are. Hikari himself has a major flaw, which is that his "cursed blood" is just embarrassing to watch and I'd never say this about anything. It sucks. I will not get into the fact that Hikari wants a kingdom of equality... but still strives to be a king, and doesn't seem to have an interest in actually changing the hierarchy of their social classes.
Agnea:
The best story in the game by far, warm-hearted and Agnea is just fun to watch. It is still plagued by the fact that apparently no one in this world is capable of doing anything without their parent doing it first, but I enjoyed watching her grow as a person with her new friends, and I love Giselle.
Throne:
Her adventure started out so good, ended up so bad. I... have no words for her final chapter... just revolting. I thought Throne would be a character that broke the weird parent thing this game had going on, because her metaphorical parents were the ones keeping her chained, but apparently even abuse is not enough to warrant hating someone. Her big reveal basically crushed anything she had going for her- relying on her heritage yet again more than her personal accomplishments. And that final boss? Had nothing to do with Throne's story, nothing! It was so revolting and misogynistic. And not to mention unfun to fight.
Castti:
My starting character and one I generally liked... till everyone started calling her "mother hen" cause she's an apothecary, though that's her job. Her big reveal too was not written with much care. I haven't done her last chapter but I can't imagine how it can get worse. Spoilers- this game really said to me that even the man who randomly decided to massacre untold amounts of people deserves forgiveness. Is he supposed to be mentally ill? Because that is some poor writing. A healer spontaneously turned bad because "life is suffering so I'll just kill everyone to free them" is so childish.
Ochette:
This character is unforgivable. Where do I begin? To start with, she is a race of humanoid beast that is very, very clearly inspired by island indigenous people. Already off to a bad start, but of course they talk in broken English. Ok. Do you not get it yet? Apparently not because there's human colonists that liken them to "dogs who can barely speak" and wants to take their territory. I could maybe, maybe see any of this as something in good faith but they couldn't even do any research into indigenous societies at all. Not in the way they are socially organized, not in the way they treat people, not in their philosophies, not even something as simple as what- if any- economy do they have. Ochette, the saying of your tribe is "the weak are meat for the string to eat?" and if that's not all, you're a hunter that feels as if they have direct control over the 'balance' of the forest. And of course, she can hear the trees and all that shit. You have to TRADE meat with the shopkeeper, instead of just giving them coin, somehow even going more out of their way to be ignorant. I don't know if anyone told them this, but the concept of money and exchange doesn't persist in every society from every time and place ever. I could go on, but this character just spits in the face of native peoples. A native character would of been interesting! In fact, Haanit from the first game might of been a better example than this girl.
Temenos:
An interesting character with a humorous and alright storyline, held back by the fact that the mystery present in his path is not strong, therefore making the investigation segments come off as stupid. I'm only halfway through with him so I hope this doesn't end badly like the others
Partitio:
He is blatantly stated to be capitalist that wants to end poverty.... through capitalism. I don't know what to say to that.
Lion Guy:
Haven't even started him though I am not really interested, at this point.
I truly do not know why the first Octopath got so much backlash. It had some flaws, but unlike this game it was very simple and did not go out of its way to seemingly destroy what is a very good base premise for no real reason. How the stories are now all connected in 2 does not matter to me, because the way they are connected is really insulting and ruins the quality of each characters tale. I want to have fun with this game so badly, but each time I try to appreciate something, for one reason or another, it gets in my way. I love Octopath and I see the ways in which this game shines, but it is so dulled by its final acts.
It was between this game and a hitachi magic wand and I think I chose wrong. Thank you so much for reading!
The gameplay itself is as great as ever, it's incredibly fun and a fantastic modernization of typical jrpg combat. For most of the game, battles feel quick and satisfying, and the break mechanic is an entertaining strategy to play around. I love the additions of the dual-story chapters, which help to make your cast feel like friends and build their character. The game is still visually gorgeous, in fact my favorite parts of playing Octopath have been exploring all the various areas and just taking in how beautiful everything looks. It feels like you're wandering around a little diorama set.. like you're on a real adventure. That's easily my favorite thing in this game... which is sad, considering Octopath 2 refuses to let you skip or turn off random encounters. There's a skill or two that reduces the rate, but it's still really annoying when you just want to go for a walk, listening to the calming music but every 3 seconds you're forced into a battle. Escape is not guaranteed, which makes matters worse.
I also said that the gameplay is fun at first, but towards the end of your party's storyline it gets harder and harder to raise your level. I hate grinding, and you apparently have to grind a lot- I'm level 40 and every final boss has a recommended level of 45... but you should be comfortably above this because the final bosses of this game are an absolute disgrace. I've only done Throne's and Agnea's but they are frustrating. Agnea's takes forever and it's split into two parts, and your opponent can steal your party members? Two of them? She stole Hikari who I made into an absolute powerhouse, so I basically just lost in a way that didn't feel to be my fault, with 30 minutes of my time out the window. It's so demoralizing and to be honest, makes me feel like quitting.
But I could power through it if the story was good. It started strong but slowly snowballed into being just utterly irredeemable in my eyes. I will go character by character and dissect each story, but first let me say that I can really, really, really feel the Shinzo Abe influence in this game. The biggest fault Octopath 2 has for me is this: every character is somehow connected to a parent or is doing what they're doing for a parent. By everyone, I mean it even extends to NPCs. There is even a very morbid underlying message to the way this game conveys parenthood. The children in this game are treated as an extension of their parents, no exceptions. Your mom is a dancer? You want to be a dancer. Your dad is a baker? You're a baker. There are no bad families in this game.... in the characters eyes. Because even when a mother WHIPS AND BEATS children en masse, and raises them to be assassins, she still deserves forgiveness because she was nice a few times and she's your mother! I can not overlook this philosophy the game is insistent on pushing onto the player. And that extends to the forgiveness part too, someone could kidnap a child, drug her, tell her ailing mother she should just drop dead so he can capitalize on the town... but it's OK! He had everyone's best interest in mind, murder is bad and we should forgive him!
I will go into more issues on it this next segment but you can feel the old conservative Japanese man blood flowing through this game, and it's a real shame. It's obsession with procreation and their visions on autonomy turns this game into something of a disgrace to read through. Octopath 2 has really amazing female NPCs but unfortunately all that progress is reduced by the inherent misogyny this game presents.
Now onto the character plot break downs:
Hikari:
Of noble birth, Hikari wants to free his country from the oppressive rule of his brother and become a king that ushers in an era without bloodshed. A pretty basic tale... I actually like the character of Hikari a lot, but if you know anything about history, his entire story is impossible to take seriously. First off, his evil brother... this goes for all villains in this game, but they are cartoonishly wicked. With no depth at all, he wants to rule because he desires the world to be his. He also wants to call for every lowborn in his country to be executed. What? Even soldiers pick on the poor folk, but aren't soldiers barely above peasants if we are going off patriarchy? Even the most tyrannical of kings ushered in debt-wiping "clean slates" because they KNEW their kingdom rode on the back of the farmers and the slaves that built their buildings. You're just going to have a kingdom with only an upper-class? Who is going to do your work?? Everyone seems to go along with this without thinking and it's impossible to even give a shit when everyone's dancing around, showing off how evil they are. Hikari himself has a major flaw, which is that his "cursed blood" is just embarrassing to watch and I'd never say this about anything. It sucks. I will not get into the fact that Hikari wants a kingdom of equality... but still strives to be a king, and doesn't seem to have an interest in actually changing the hierarchy of their social classes.
Agnea:
The best story in the game by far, warm-hearted and Agnea is just fun to watch. It is still plagued by the fact that apparently no one in this world is capable of doing anything without their parent doing it first, but I enjoyed watching her grow as a person with her new friends, and I love Giselle.
Throne:
Her adventure started out so good, ended up so bad. I... have no words for her final chapter... just revolting. I thought Throne would be a character that broke the weird parent thing this game had going on, because her metaphorical parents were the ones keeping her chained, but apparently even abuse is not enough to warrant hating someone. Her big reveal basically crushed anything she had going for her- relying on her heritage yet again more than her personal accomplishments. And that final boss? Had nothing to do with Throne's story, nothing! It was so revolting and misogynistic. And not to mention unfun to fight.
Castti:
My starting character and one I generally liked... till everyone started calling her "mother hen" cause she's an apothecary, though that's her job. Her big reveal too was not written with much care. I haven't done her last chapter but I can't imagine how it can get worse. Spoilers- this game really said to me that even the man who randomly decided to massacre untold amounts of people deserves forgiveness. Is he supposed to be mentally ill? Because that is some poor writing. A healer spontaneously turned bad because "life is suffering so I'll just kill everyone to free them" is so childish.
Ochette:
This character is unforgivable. Where do I begin? To start with, she is a race of humanoid beast that is very, very clearly inspired by island indigenous people. Already off to a bad start, but of course they talk in broken English. Ok. Do you not get it yet? Apparently not because there's human colonists that liken them to "dogs who can barely speak" and wants to take their territory. I could maybe, maybe see any of this as something in good faith but they couldn't even do any research into indigenous societies at all. Not in the way they are socially organized, not in the way they treat people, not in their philosophies, not even something as simple as what- if any- economy do they have. Ochette, the saying of your tribe is "the weak are meat for the string to eat?" and if that's not all, you're a hunter that feels as if they have direct control over the 'balance' of the forest. And of course, she can hear the trees and all that shit. You have to TRADE meat with the shopkeeper, instead of just giving them coin, somehow even going more out of their way to be ignorant. I don't know if anyone told them this, but the concept of money and exchange doesn't persist in every society from every time and place ever. I could go on, but this character just spits in the face of native peoples. A native character would of been interesting! In fact, Haanit from the first game might of been a better example than this girl.
Temenos:
An interesting character with a humorous and alright storyline, held back by the fact that the mystery present in his path is not strong, therefore making the investigation segments come off as stupid. I'm only halfway through with him so I hope this doesn't end badly like the others
Partitio:
He is blatantly stated to be capitalist that wants to end poverty.... through capitalism. I don't know what to say to that.
Lion Guy:
Haven't even started him though I am not really interested, at this point.
I truly do not know why the first Octopath got so much backlash. It had some flaws, but unlike this game it was very simple and did not go out of its way to seemingly destroy what is a very good base premise for no real reason. How the stories are now all connected in 2 does not matter to me, because the way they are connected is really insulting and ruins the quality of each characters tale. I want to have fun with this game so badly, but each time I try to appreciate something, for one reason or another, it gets in my way. I love Octopath and I see the ways in which this game shines, but it is so dulled by its final acts.
It was between this game and a hitachi magic wand and I think I chose wrong. Thank you so much for reading!
64 Comments
the internet loves hitachi magic wand but i heard it's very loud & i hate loud shit
the only stuff ive heard about octopath traveler 2 is from you and we were going to one day get around to playing octopath 1 but now with how bad you make 2 seem i'm like....... do i even wanna play either of them ._.
the only stuff ive heard about octopath traveler 2 is from you and we were going to one day get around to playing octopath 1 but now with how bad you make 2 seem i'm like....... do i even wanna play either of them ._.
@BEAUTIFULBRUTE I loved Octopath 1, it was really fun to play, the music and environments were bewitching, and I had a good time with the characters. None of their stories connected in any way but I didn't think it had to- for what it was I really liked it. I have no idea what happened here, it has aggressively bad morals... I just can't forgive it /:
there's 3 types I think, there's a modern model that isn't supposed to be as loud. All my neighbors are old though so even if it was I don't think they could hear it lol. Currently mourning buying octopath 2 instead of that though u_u
there's 3 types I think, there's a modern model that isn't supposed to be as loud. All my neighbors are old though so even if it was I don't think they could hear it lol. Currently mourning buying octopath 2 instead of that though u_u
I have to really disagree with the part re: Mother and Mira bc nowhere in that chapter they want you to feel bad for Mother, but rather Mira. Mira begging Throne not to kill Mother and saying "she is the only mother ive ever had" felt like stockholm syndrome/common behaviour for abusive victims. Theres a post game quest that addresses this kinda
I dont think Throne saying "farewell mother dearest" was meant to be forgiving also, especially when she pretty much only regrets maybe killing Father. I dunno, I think OT2 makes it very clear that Throne despised Mother until the end
Greg though? yeah fuck him. Weirdest part in Casttis story but eh, doesn't knock down her story for me
Speaking of Castti, again nowhere the game implies that you should feel bad about the guy or even forgive him. Can't go too much regarding him and Castti bc that's spoilers for her final chapter, Crossed Paths and the post game, but theres /slightly/ more to it than that
I'm glad theres more people defending Agneas story, though I personally think her final chapter is doing most of the heavy lifting here
Throne's story was my favorite one. The final boss was really out there and needed more build up but it didn't really bother me. My biggest complain about this story is that i don't understand wether the writers want us to feel bad for Marietta or not, Im surprised you didnt mention this. Like yeah she wanted the best for Throne but she also killed Fathers kid and left him for another man??? Are we supposed to believe that Claude had some vampire seduction shit/brainwash or something??
I have very mixed feelings about Ochette. Between OT1's orientalist dancing outfits and Triangle Strategy's borderline racial caricatures of SWANA people I realized you can never win with these SE games. I agree with almost every complain you have about the way beastlings are written, the fact that every Ochette chapter begins with her getting called a monster and that the beastlings have a lore reason to not get mad at the miss colonizer in their island doesnt help at all considering her story is about human greed. Now I said almost every complain bc exchanging goods without money is still done within indigenous groups in my country, so I didn't really saw it as strange. I highly doubt the writers made research about this now that I think about it
Now regarding both Hikari and Partitio. The way i see it, just how Octopath is set in a fantasy world where magic exists I think it's also a fantasy world where theres some capitalists that aren't inherently greedy as fuck who prioritize profit at the expense of human lives, so i just took it as that and had fun with it. Sure, I would have loved it if that wasn't the case at all but if i'm being frank i think expecting explicit anti-capitalist messages in a game from modern Square Enix is just setting one up for dissappointment. I have similar thoughts regarding Hikari and the hierarchy in Ku
As for the villains, idk, I don't think any of them were supposed to be mega deep, not even the ones from OT1 and I'm alright with that. I used to dislike the villain in Osvalds story bc of how cartoonishly evil they are but then i realized he is the funniest hater in the game so he loops back to being goofy as hell (in a good way, at least to me)
Finally, I dont understand the complains about grinding personally. In general OT2 encourages you to constantly rotate your party so everyone gets leveled up, and you don't have to be at the recommended level of a chapter to tackle the boss. I recently finished a girls only + makeshift weapons only run and it wasn't really that hard, I was able to tackle on several CH3 bosses several levels under, though the fights lasted like half an hour. Something I realized is that equipment matters a lot more than levels so you might want to shift equipment around if you are struggling. Alternatively you can always use Hikari's learned skills to cheese through the bosses if you dont want to deal with that anymore lol
I dont think Throne saying "farewell mother dearest" was meant to be forgiving also, especially when she pretty much only regrets maybe killing Father. I dunno, I think OT2 makes it very clear that Throne despised Mother until the end
Greg though? yeah fuck him. Weirdest part in Casttis story but eh, doesn't knock down her story for me
Speaking of Castti, again nowhere the game implies that you should feel bad about the guy or even forgive him. Can't go too much regarding him and Castti bc that's spoilers for her final chapter, Crossed Paths and the post game, but theres /slightly/ more to it than that
I'm glad theres more people defending Agneas story, though I personally think her final chapter is doing most of the heavy lifting here
Throne's story was my favorite one. The final boss was really out there and needed more build up but it didn't really bother me. My biggest complain about this story is that i don't understand wether the writers want us to feel bad for Marietta or not, Im surprised you didnt mention this. Like yeah she wanted the best for Throne but she also killed Fathers kid and left him for another man??? Are we supposed to believe that Claude had some vampire seduction shit/brainwash or something??
I have very mixed feelings about Ochette. Between OT1's orientalist dancing outfits and Triangle Strategy's borderline racial caricatures of SWANA people I realized you can never win with these SE games. I agree with almost every complain you have about the way beastlings are written, the fact that every Ochette chapter begins with her getting called a monster and that the beastlings have a lore reason to not get mad at the miss colonizer in their island doesnt help at all considering her story is about human greed. Now I said almost every complain bc exchanging goods without money is still done within indigenous groups in my country, so I didn't really saw it as strange. I highly doubt the writers made research about this now that I think about it
Now regarding both Hikari and Partitio. The way i see it, just how Octopath is set in a fantasy world where magic exists I think it's also a fantasy world where theres some capitalists that aren't inherently greedy as fuck who prioritize profit at the expense of human lives, so i just took it as that and had fun with it. Sure, I would have loved it if that wasn't the case at all but if i'm being frank i think expecting explicit anti-capitalist messages in a game from modern Square Enix is just setting one up for dissappointment. I have similar thoughts regarding Hikari and the hierarchy in Ku
As for the villains, idk, I don't think any of them were supposed to be mega deep, not even the ones from OT1 and I'm alright with that. I used to dislike the villain in Osvalds story bc of how cartoonishly evil they are but then i realized he is the funniest hater in the game so he loops back to being goofy as hell (in a good way, at least to me)
Finally, I dont understand the complains about grinding personally. In general OT2 encourages you to constantly rotate your party so everyone gets leveled up, and you don't have to be at the recommended level of a chapter to tackle the boss. I recently finished a girls only + makeshift weapons only run and it wasn't really that hard, I was able to tackle on several CH3 bosses several levels under, though the fights lasted like half an hour. Something I realized is that equipment matters a lot more than levels so you might want to shift equipment around if you are struggling. Alternatively you can always use Hikari's learned skills to cheese through the bosses if you dont want to deal with that anymore lol
omg i didnt even realize that comment ended up as a mega wall of text so sorry about that
Amazing read and analysis of the stories from a narrative standpoint.
I have yet to play any of the two Octopaths, but by the sound of it, this one just really seems like a bunch of missed opportunities and a result of both poor research and questionable morals of a conservative society, and this would not be the first game to commit both of these faults.
Incredibly well written review as always, good job! :D
I have yet to play any of the two Octopaths, but by the sound of it, this one just really seems like a bunch of missed opportunities and a result of both poor research and questionable morals of a conservative society, and this would not be the first game to commit both of these faults.
Incredibly well written review as always, good job! :D
@ceorys first of all, thanks for going through my whole review. It was pretty long and I know a lot of people like this game so i knew some people would disagree... about the part with Mira and Mother, when your game never really shows for a second that they understand the concept of abuse and constantly eggs on this weird forgiveness thing- I just don't really feel like they handled it good at all. They want you to feel bad for Father and they try somewhat to show Mother in the same light, to me it's just really weird and I can't place my faith in 2 to treat the subject with respect. I also think throne despised Mother, but my point was that they tried to take away the relief of getting to kill her with Mira, completely unnecessary imo.
Fuck Greg yeah wtf Square
I haven't finished Castti's final thing but didnt they keep repeating "there's someone you have to save"? I assumed the someone was that dude, cause if malaya meant the mass of people he was gonna kill she would say "them". As a person myself who was very violent to others and myself I dunno his whole thing is just so stupid I can't even put myself into the story anymore. Her first few chapters were really cool but I feel like they threw it all away with this guys reasoning. I know we probably kill him but Castti was very ready to accept him back, her character has become very lacking morals when it comes to who she treats.
Oh yeah thrones mom, I kind of assumed the game wanted us to like her because the game wants me to like everyone. I felt revolted by this boss, I really do not like how this game handled women and how strong they go on parenthood. It was just really creepy to me.
I'm glad you brought the money thing up, cause like i said there are various ways people exist but I think the difference is in history. A lot of people nowadays have really no choice but to use our capitalist economy, but indigenous people are known for their human economies. A lot of societies will "pay" other important people, like doctors and whatnot but it's purpose is to strengthen human relations, and the existence of it implies that they both know that the "money" is a symbol that there is a debt that can not be paid. Trading is exclusively something people do when they are used to money, and then have it taken away. I hope I didn't come off as a know it all but I take these things really seriously, I wish I had my books so I could quote them but most of my knowledge comes from Debt by David Graeber, and a few other things. So, i know there's a lot of people who trade but the culture behind it might be different.. and also the way the beastings are ravenous and trade meat just rubs me the wrong way. Basically my point is, if my cat was suddenly given the ability to walk and talk I do not think he would resort to trading lol.
With hikari and patrihwhdh it's 6 am I can't remember his name, yeah. You're probably right and you can see it that way if it means you'll have fun. However, this review is written by a really stubborn woman who is also on the spectrum, when I see something I don't like I REALLY don't like it and I can't put up with it. I know people are more bending, but to me the story is most important and there's nothing in this game that makes me feel like I can accept it- cause I was originally going to with Ochette about 17 hours it, but then I felt like the game just kept making it worse.
I have no idea what's happening with me and my levels tbh. I cheesed a bunch of bosses with Hikari and now I'm screwed, I think?? I'm doing the clerics route but I have to grind with him to make sure he doesn't die, and then Agnea misses out on levels. The bosses are rec 45 and when I started them I was 38. I have mo idea how this happened but I spent an hour grinding last night and my party is still only 41, wtf. I don't know if it's my fault genuinely or else I wouldn't of brought it up, cause I've been fighting everything I see, and side quests don't give you exp so I dunno! This is what I did in 1 and it worked so... I don't know lol
Also it's fine, my review was a wall of text lol. It seems like you love this game a lot and I apologize, I hope it didn't make you mad. But this is just what I feel about this game, I can't help it. I really want to love it but when I shake it off and come back something else happens that makes me hate it.
Fuck Greg yeah wtf Square
I haven't finished Castti's final thing but didnt they keep repeating "there's someone you have to save"? I assumed the someone was that dude, cause if malaya meant the mass of people he was gonna kill she would say "them". As a person myself who was very violent to others and myself I dunno his whole thing is just so stupid I can't even put myself into the story anymore. Her first few chapters were really cool but I feel like they threw it all away with this guys reasoning. I know we probably kill him but Castti was very ready to accept him back, her character has become very lacking morals when it comes to who she treats.
Oh yeah thrones mom, I kind of assumed the game wanted us to like her because the game wants me to like everyone. I felt revolted by this boss, I really do not like how this game handled women and how strong they go on parenthood. It was just really creepy to me.
I'm glad you brought the money thing up, cause like i said there are various ways people exist but I think the difference is in history. A lot of people nowadays have really no choice but to use our capitalist economy, but indigenous people are known for their human economies. A lot of societies will "pay" other important people, like doctors and whatnot but it's purpose is to strengthen human relations, and the existence of it implies that they both know that the "money" is a symbol that there is a debt that can not be paid. Trading is exclusively something people do when they are used to money, and then have it taken away. I hope I didn't come off as a know it all but I take these things really seriously, I wish I had my books so I could quote them but most of my knowledge comes from Debt by David Graeber, and a few other things. So, i know there's a lot of people who trade but the culture behind it might be different.. and also the way the beastings are ravenous and trade meat just rubs me the wrong way. Basically my point is, if my cat was suddenly given the ability to walk and talk I do not think he would resort to trading lol.
With hikari and patrihwhdh it's 6 am I can't remember his name, yeah. You're probably right and you can see it that way if it means you'll have fun. However, this review is written by a really stubborn woman who is also on the spectrum, when I see something I don't like I REALLY don't like it and I can't put up with it. I know people are more bending, but to me the story is most important and there's nothing in this game that makes me feel like I can accept it- cause I was originally going to with Ochette about 17 hours it, but then I felt like the game just kept making it worse.
I have no idea what's happening with me and my levels tbh. I cheesed a bunch of bosses with Hikari and now I'm screwed, I think?? I'm doing the clerics route but I have to grind with him to make sure he doesn't die, and then Agnea misses out on levels. The bosses are rec 45 and when I started them I was 38. I have mo idea how this happened but I spent an hour grinding last night and my party is still only 41, wtf. I don't know if it's my fault genuinely or else I wouldn't of brought it up, cause I've been fighting everything I see, and side quests don't give you exp so I dunno! This is what I did in 1 and it worked so... I don't know lol
Also it's fine, my review was a wall of text lol. It seems like you love this game a lot and I apologize, I hope it didn't make you mad. But this is just what I feel about this game, I can't help it. I really want to love it but when I shake it off and come back something else happens that makes me hate it.
@DemonAndGames Thank you very much! I appreciate you reading the whole thing lol. It's important to keep in mind that I have a low tolerance for such things but I feel like it's justified. I was really enjoying the game but there's only so many times you can dress up conservative messages as kindness before I lose it.
Ok I'm awake I kind of worded my response with Ochette wrong, debt was the wrong word to use there because that implies an impersonal inequality, and the ability to use violence to extort an exchange out of someone. What I meant to say was that, with human economies any exchange is really meant to say that there is something here that cannot be measured. It seemed weird that for basing an entire culture around an indigenous society that square couldn't of even been bothered to look up what a longhouse is. It's a pretty basic thing, and they kind of contradict themselves by saying Ochette hunts for everyone but then if you need clothing you have to pay someone (with food? That ochette gives everyone for free?) The little things make the bigger picture imo
This game's so weird to me bc i literally didnt care about it at all before it released despite being incredibly hyped for the release of the first one. Mostly due to how much I didn't end up liking the first one. But then like three people i follow gave it five star reviews the day it came out. And i had foolishly wasted money on an eshop card when I bought Fire Emblem Engage bc i assumed i was gonna get the season pass too, but then engage was the worst game ever made unfortunately so i had an extra 35$ of eshop money to use so I bought it. And then the game was barely better than the first one imo. Like, the first one genuinely has one of the worst written stories of all time, so it wouldn't be hard to write something better. And like, Triangle Strategy, for how dumb that game's story is, is still a good game, and the livealive remake was great, so it seemed like the 2dhd people had finally gotten on track (plus they're the team that did bravely default, so like they CAN make good games), but the game really didn't learn from a lot of OT1's problems, yet loads of people love it. loads of people who have similar tastes to me love it. And yet I don't, and every review of it i read i just can't see what they see in the game. They'll say that the game's story like moved them emotionally and that just baffles me. Maybe because the bar was so low with the first one, people were very pleasantly surprised by what ends up being a borderline serviceable story. Ironically, that made people really hype over it, giving me super high expectations, which ended up hurting my experience of the game.
Anyway, really great review. Finally someone is bold enough to say that the game where a guy sets out to end capitalism by being the best capitalist there is is kinda dumb. Also, hard agree that Agnea's story is, like, leagues above every other story. Really there's Hikari and Temenos (who was my protagonist btw, which i heavily regret), who both have fine stories, Castti who has an insanely boring and underwhelming story, there's Throne, Partitio, and Ochette who all have bafflingly terrible stories, and then Agnea and Osvald who have really really great solid stories.
I think the reason people maybe like the game's story so much is that the first chapters of everyone's stories are really great. Minus Ochette, all of Ochette's chapters suck. Like Partitio's story and character make literally no goddamn sense at all both his chapter 1 is some incredible storytelling. Temenos's mystery solving ends up being pretty limb later on, but the intrigue set up in his chapter 1 is fantastic. Hikari's set up is basically just the set up for a Fire Emblem game more or less. Prince/Princess must flee kingdom after it's conquered and then has to go on an adventure to slowly build up an army to take it back. And since Fire Emblem is my favorite game series I definitely have an affinity for those kinds of stories, and chapter 1 of Hikari's tale sets it up pretty perfectly. I didn't like Throne's chapter 1 that much, but it definitely did a better job at conveying a narrative than the rest of her chapters did. And while I was playing Agnea's chapter 1 I was literally just thinking how I wish this was the whole game. I was coming up with the concept for a game that was just about Agnea while playing her chapter 1 and then for the rest of my time with the game, and I daresay it was a pretty good idea.
Also, and this is probably the only information in this comment that really matters, but Osvald was really great and I highly recommend at least playing his chapters before giving up on the game entirely
Anyway, really great review. Finally someone is bold enough to say that the game where a guy sets out to end capitalism by being the best capitalist there is is kinda dumb. Also, hard agree that Agnea's story is, like, leagues above every other story. Really there's Hikari and Temenos (who was my protagonist btw, which i heavily regret), who both have fine stories, Castti who has an insanely boring and underwhelming story, there's Throne, Partitio, and Ochette who all have bafflingly terrible stories, and then Agnea and Osvald who have really really great solid stories.
I think the reason people maybe like the game's story so much is that the first chapters of everyone's stories are really great. Minus Ochette, all of Ochette's chapters suck. Like Partitio's story and character make literally no goddamn sense at all both his chapter 1 is some incredible storytelling. Temenos's mystery solving ends up being pretty limb later on, but the intrigue set up in his chapter 1 is fantastic. Hikari's set up is basically just the set up for a Fire Emblem game more or less. Prince/Princess must flee kingdom after it's conquered and then has to go on an adventure to slowly build up an army to take it back. And since Fire Emblem is my favorite game series I definitely have an affinity for those kinds of stories, and chapter 1 of Hikari's tale sets it up pretty perfectly. I didn't like Throne's chapter 1 that much, but it definitely did a better job at conveying a narrative than the rest of her chapters did. And while I was playing Agnea's chapter 1 I was literally just thinking how I wish this was the whole game. I was coming up with the concept for a game that was just about Agnea while playing her chapter 1 and then for the rest of my time with the game, and I daresay it was a pretty good idea.
Also, and this is probably the only information in this comment that really matters, but Osvald was really great and I highly recommend at least playing his chapters before giving up on the game entirely
@Ninjabunny it's weird, maybe I should replay it but I didn't mind Octopath 1's story? I thought it was good for what it wanted to be, and I enjoyed it. It wasn't groundbreaking or anything but none of the characters pissed me off and I had fun.
You're right, the first and second chapters of everyone in 2 (minus ochette) are really, really good. But after that everything seems to kind of... fall apart? Like the purple rain stuff with castti was really interesting and they just shoot themselves in the foot with that, and the clerics (I can never spell his name) story had me intrigued but then it feels like it loses its steam. This is ignoring the weird philosophies this game has that it just starts shoveling down your throat for some reason...I keep thinking about it and it's really strange! Like even all the inquries for npcs I do are "this girl is the daughter of a baker and she LOVES her father AND baking (her father owns a bakery) and is already planning her career in the culinary arts" like there is no one in this game who hates their family. It's so weird. Like, why should I care about throne's experience when her mom was a better and cooler thief, according to the game? Nothing these characters do feels like it has any impact cause they just inherited it from their parents, or whatever. Not a very relatable tale
And yeah I love Hikari for that reason too, but I feel like even fire emblem has better politics lol. Like soliders just don't go around slaughtering peasants from their own country (normally) in those games for no reason.
Thank you for the compliment (: a lot of people love this game and I started getting So worried because my complaints aren't exactly typical, I'm glad someone agrees with me about the Partitio thing though. His story set up was so good but... why go in that direction with it lol.
I'm gonna beat this game, so I have to do Lion Guy's thing... I hope it holds up to everyone's high praises lol. Thank you!
(If this sent multiple times I'm sorry Backloggd is freaking out rn)
You're right, the first and second chapters of everyone in 2 (minus ochette) are really, really good. But after that everything seems to kind of... fall apart? Like the purple rain stuff with castti was really interesting and they just shoot themselves in the foot with that, and the clerics (I can never spell his name) story had me intrigued but then it feels like it loses its steam. This is ignoring the weird philosophies this game has that it just starts shoveling down your throat for some reason...I keep thinking about it and it's really strange! Like even all the inquries for npcs I do are "this girl is the daughter of a baker and she LOVES her father AND baking (her father owns a bakery) and is already planning her career in the culinary arts" like there is no one in this game who hates their family. It's so weird. Like, why should I care about throne's experience when her mom was a better and cooler thief, according to the game? Nothing these characters do feels like it has any impact cause they just inherited it from their parents, or whatever. Not a very relatable tale
And yeah I love Hikari for that reason too, but I feel like even fire emblem has better politics lol. Like soliders just don't go around slaughtering peasants from their own country (normally) in those games for no reason.
Thank you for the compliment (: a lot of people love this game and I started getting So worried because my complaints aren't exactly typical, I'm glad someone agrees with me about the Partitio thing though. His story set up was so good but... why go in that direction with it lol.
I'm gonna beat this game, so I have to do Lion Guy's thing... I hope it holds up to everyone's high praises lol. Thank you!
(If this sent multiple times I'm sorry Backloggd is freaking out rn)
@CURS thank you, a compliment from you means a lot [: I'm not surprised people haven't mentioned my issues with the game, but I haven't even seen people bring up Ochette, who is the most glaringly bad problem in the game. It's weird...
aw yeah CURS i knew you were cool, but you're even cooler now that I know you like Graeber lol. I'm currently reading Bullshit Jobs and it's really insightful, Debt and The Dawn of Everything are essential reads imo
aw yeah CURS i knew you were cool, but you're even cooler now that I know you like Graeber lol. I'm currently reading Bullshit Jobs and it's really insightful, Debt and The Dawn of Everything are essential reads imo
It's all good here ๐ Getting out of the honeymoon period after finishing a game and noticing all of its flaws is part of the experience imo, so nothing to be mad about, sorry if i came across that way
And ofc i understand your feelings, most of the points discussed here is stuff i look back and go "man i wish that was different" but i guess it is what it is! I would be definitely more critical about these writing choices if it were another series (im gonna say Fire Emblem for example, bc it used to be one of my favorite series) But I dunno, I guess the good far outweights the bad for me so i can let most of it slide
You know now that im thinking more about it i think the most ๐คจ moment in OT2 is when Alrond mentions something about giving handouts to the people of the town and that turned them all into lazy good for nothings or something. That left a really bad taste in my mouth and i can 100% see it turning people off
And ofc i understand your feelings, most of the points discussed here is stuff i look back and go "man i wish that was different" but i guess it is what it is! I would be definitely more critical about these writing choices if it were another series (im gonna say Fire Emblem for example, bc it used to be one of my favorite series) But I dunno, I guess the good far outweights the bad for me so i can let most of it slide
You know now that im thinking more about it i think the most ๐คจ moment in OT2 is when Alrond mentions something about giving handouts to the people of the town and that turned them all into lazy good for nothings or something. That left a really bad taste in my mouth and i can 100% see it turning people off
@ceorys oh good lol, I don't want to come off as mean and I can definitely see why someone would love OT2 but for me I just can't overlook these types of flaws. I was a huge fan of OT1 so believe me I really, really wanted to have a good time with it /:
Yeah omg I forgot about that. I've been thinking about it and after a certain point they really do start going hard on the shitty dialogue. If it was just one or two things, okay it's a jrpg I'm not expecting anything crazy... but it's just nonstop, idk what got into them.
I also remembered that they somehow managed to incorporate boob jiggle into the sprite artwork -_- wtf square...
Yeah omg I forgot about that. I've been thinking about it and after a certain point they really do start going hard on the shitty dialogue. If it was just one or two things, okay it's a jrpg I'm not expecting anything crazy... but it's just nonstop, idk what got into them.
I also remembered that they somehow managed to incorporate boob jiggle into the sprite artwork -_- wtf square...
"What? Even soldiers pick on the poor folk, but aren't soldiers barely above peasants if we are going off patriarchy?"
It's probably more based on things like warrior classes, such as in Japan's past (fitting given the theming), rather than a system of just patriarchy. A military caste with high prestige, with a considered "noble" standing, is extremely in line with what Mugen is thinking so it feels like a pretty clear line to draw between the two.
Just want to add in Greg is the worst.
Not really gonna add in with the rest because I don't really feel like making a long comment but thought that would be worth noting down.
It's probably more based on things like warrior classes, such as in Japan's past (fitting given the theming), rather than a system of just patriarchy. A military caste with high prestige, with a considered "noble" standing, is extremely in line with what Mugen is thinking so it feels like a pretty clear line to draw between the two.
Just want to add in Greg is the worst.
Not really gonna add in with the rest because I don't really feel like making a long comment but thought that would be worth noting down.
@FrozenRoy ohh I see, unfortunately I don't really know all that much about traditional Japanese military history so I'll definitely look into that later. I still think it's kind of iffy tho cause like I wrote, noble classes don't do their own work so itd literally be impossible to have a nation without peasants/lower class... unless Mugen meant slaves, which are technically property, but I somehow think square didn't think that hard about it lol >_>
@moschidae My interpretation is that it is meant to be a flaw, and that given Ku is a nation of bloodstained, warrior-first history people aren't considering the long term ramifications. Especially since they're probably getting food and money from conquests, so everything seems fine for the moment. After all, Mugen is basically called out on not having the capacity for nation building by his father and others, one reason being his lack of compassion and foresight. It's also likely most of the soldiers are not talking to Mugen directly so they won't be thinking of this beyond "war of aggression, take people's land", something Ku is stated to have done before in the past so they think it is more "same ol' usual" rather than "I will Murder Everyone".
There's also probably, again, a Japanese connective element here. Kiri-sute gomen (or uchi-sute) was the right of a samurai to kill a person of the lower classes if they offended their honor. Obviously in real life there were a lot of additional conditions, paperwork, etc but Mugen's reaction to the "lower borns" and his general disposition seems like an intentional exaggeration of their negative samurai aspects.
There's also probably, again, a Japanese connective element here. Kiri-sute gomen (or uchi-sute) was the right of a samurai to kill a person of the lower classes if they offended their honor. Obviously in real life there were a lot of additional conditions, paperwork, etc but Mugen's reaction to the "lower borns" and his general disposition seems like an intentional exaggeration of their negative samurai aspects.
@FrozenRoy yeah that does make sense. I think Hikari's story is the one that bothers me the least besides Agnea's since it kind of feels like a fire emblem plot, but then even still u have to think about their economy. I'm not sure if Japan did the war -> slavery -> coinage -> thing but you'd need lower class to buy things and slaves to mine for your metals ect ect. Soliders definitely can get away with murder but the way it's presented just feels... a little offputting? Like when we were getting context on Hikaris friend and they just slaughtered some random merchant. You're right about the connection to Japanese history but I feel like Mugen and the whole thing just isn't written very well, because though that may be the case it still just kind of comes off as generic-evil dude to me. I feel like they could of had a very intense story here if they stuck closer to that history but no matter what way you look at it there's a bunch of holes... like how are you gonna afford all these weapons when you just set fire to your lower class sect? And wouldn't he be treated as like a national enemy if he was slowly gaining control over the entire continent? But no other country seems to care. It doesn't feel real enough to make it really cool and intense /: instead I feel like I'm playing fe and the Evil Dragon Man wants to shroud the world in darkness or whatever lol. That's just how I feel tho, I'm not really sure any Japanese context clues would make it better cause like I said it just comes off as a bit lame and full of holes to me. I feel like they could of made things a bit more nuanced, you know?
So basically while Mugen is depicted as a bad leader I don't think that's a reason for the writing being the way it is
"And wouldn't he be treated as like a national enemy if he was slowly gaining control over the entire continent? But no other country seems to care."
TBF, Hikari disposes of him pretty quickly. Ku has had warfare before, and it isn't like everyone necessarily tried to destroy them then. Although note that the start of the story IS other nations trying to take down Ku for similar reasons. You can even look to real history, it isn't like a country halfway across the world suddenly declared war throughout much of history because you conquered your nearby neighbors. Odds are that if he had kept going then nations would have banded together and fought him, and who knows what the result would be.
"I feel like they could of had a very intense story here if they stuck closer to that history but no matter what way you look at it there's a bunch of holes... like how are you gonna afford all these weapons when you just set fire to your lower class sect?"
I mean it isn't like he just literally is murdering the lower class at all times, given that a bunch of them ARE alive as seen by Hikari's return. Again, that's a short amount of time, but it doesn't exactly seem like he went "all the lowborn are dead, bye" to start off. (Also destroying the lower classes and then suffering defeat due to doing so has been a not-so-uncommon reason for warlords and the like to fall throughout actual history, so I would argue it is realistic if his plans fall through that way)
"Soliders definitely can get away with murder but the way it's presented just feels... a little offputting? Like when we were getting context on Hikaris friend and they just slaughtered some random merchant."
I mean, ultimately, there's been multiple societies where such a thing would and has been tolerated IRL. Obviously we can argue if it feels over the top here, or what have you, but given Ku is meant to be a kingdom with a bloody past and culture in dire need of nation building I think it is an effective show of Ku being a messed up place. And overall my point is less Mugen is necessarily super nuanced as much as I think he fits the story effectively, and that he makes a lot of sense within the story / society.
TBH the main villain I had that issue with Trousseau. He feels the most "generic evil man" and Castti's story was, IMO, by far the worst and one reason was the fact it wasn't handled the best. Mostly think we really should have gotten to see the talk leading him to villainy in some kind of flashback more, and that it misses a lot of the interesting Hooks at the start of Castti's story.
TBF, Hikari disposes of him pretty quickly. Ku has had warfare before, and it isn't like everyone necessarily tried to destroy them then. Although note that the start of the story IS other nations trying to take down Ku for similar reasons. You can even look to real history, it isn't like a country halfway across the world suddenly declared war throughout much of history because you conquered your nearby neighbors. Odds are that if he had kept going then nations would have banded together and fought him, and who knows what the result would be.
"I feel like they could of had a very intense story here if they stuck closer to that history but no matter what way you look at it there's a bunch of holes... like how are you gonna afford all these weapons when you just set fire to your lower class sect?"
I mean it isn't like he just literally is murdering the lower class at all times, given that a bunch of them ARE alive as seen by Hikari's return. Again, that's a short amount of time, but it doesn't exactly seem like he went "all the lowborn are dead, bye" to start off. (Also destroying the lower classes and then suffering defeat due to doing so has been a not-so-uncommon reason for warlords and the like to fall throughout actual history, so I would argue it is realistic if his plans fall through that way)
"Soliders definitely can get away with murder but the way it's presented just feels... a little offputting? Like when we were getting context on Hikaris friend and they just slaughtered some random merchant."
I mean, ultimately, there's been multiple societies where such a thing would and has been tolerated IRL. Obviously we can argue if it feels over the top here, or what have you, but given Ku is meant to be a kingdom with a bloody past and culture in dire need of nation building I think it is an effective show of Ku being a messed up place. And overall my point is less Mugen is necessarily super nuanced as much as I think he fits the story effectively, and that he makes a lot of sense within the story / society.
TBH the main villain I had that issue with Trousseau. He feels the most "generic evil man" and Castti's story was, IMO, by far the worst and one reason was the fact it wasn't handled the best. Mostly think we really should have gotten to see the talk leading him to villainy in some kind of flashback more, and that it misses a lot of the interesting Hooks at the start of Castti's story.
@FrozenRoy yeah I mean it is what it is, it's a Square Enix jrpg so I wasnt expecting anything super nuanced and insane. I guess my point was with Hikari that I just slowly started to feel that it was kind of wasn't paced/thought out well in general. Like we may know that Mugen would never actually manage to take over the world, but in-game there's never anything to insinuate that. The way its written makes me feel like they had no idea what they were talking about. Hikari even says at one point that he was going to take over the world if he personally doesn't stop him. This conbined with dudes randomly just murdering his mom (Mugen wasnt even king then whyd they answer to him lol?), the lack of knowledge, and Hikaris stupid evil blood thing that generates the most embarrassing dialouge in the game just takes me out of the immersion and makes me not care. The tone and underlying thought is important and in general I do not really appreciate what OT2 tends to try to say. I don't really have much else to comment on lol, I like Hikari and I wish it was done differently /: also im really sick right now so my thoughts aren't the most composed, if any of this sounds weird that's why.
Yeah Castti's story made me drop my head in my hands, it's a really big logic jump to be like "I'm a healer I love everyone I'd die to save one life" to "actually life is suffering so im going to personally kill everyone and enjoy it joker laugh"
Sucks cause I liked Castti, I would of liked her to actually be part of a murderous healing group and had to live with what she was. It would of been more interesting than that dude randomly deciding that he's evil now
Yeah Castti's story made me drop my head in my hands, it's a really big logic jump to be like "I'm a healer I love everyone I'd die to save one life" to "actually life is suffering so im going to personally kill everyone and enjoy it joker laugh"
Sucks cause I liked Castti, I would of liked her to actually be part of a murderous healing group and had to live with what she was. It would of been more interesting than that dude randomly deciding that he's evil now
Trying very hard to be cordial here: Of all the possible angles you could have possibly chosen to quarrel with OT2, this is certainly one of them.
Like, there's really no arguing against the fact that this game (and the first, as much as you may claim otherwise) are demonstrably laden in social conservatism. That's just a fact. I'm just confused as to why this is a bigger deal to you than...the story and character writing not meeting any real standard of quality to begin with. I think you're putting the cart before the horse. Though honestly the claim that the story starts strong may be our point of divergence: Throne and Osvald's starting chapters are on a level of bad that I seldom ever see and this is coming from someone who plays edgy fan games on a regular basis. Don't really get how anyone could go in with high hopes after going through that. (Seems you skipped Osvald, that may have contributed.) In summary, I think you're trying to argue for something that is 1. not really textually supported and 2. is much more easily explained by the writer being a blatant hack as opposed to some kind of (racially???) laden agenda, which I think is incontrovertibly obvious if you play the game in full. Or have any idea what the mobile game's story by the same writer is like.
The Shinzo Abe comment is borderline racist. No idea why you felt the need to phrase it like that.
Like, there's really no arguing against the fact that this game (and the first, as much as you may claim otherwise) are demonstrably laden in social conservatism. That's just a fact. I'm just confused as to why this is a bigger deal to you than...the story and character writing not meeting any real standard of quality to begin with. I think you're putting the cart before the horse. Though honestly the claim that the story starts strong may be our point of divergence: Throne and Osvald's starting chapters are on a level of bad that I seldom ever see and this is coming from someone who plays edgy fan games on a regular basis. Don't really get how anyone could go in with high hopes after going through that. (Seems you skipped Osvald, that may have contributed.) In summary, I think you're trying to argue for something that is 1. not really textually supported and 2. is much more easily explained by the writer being a blatant hack as opposed to some kind of (racially???) laden agenda, which I think is incontrovertibly obvious if you play the game in full. Or have any idea what the mobile game's story by the same writer is like.
The Shinzo Abe comment is borderline racist. No idea why you felt the need to phrase it like that.
@Parma.... I'm not being racist, there is a brand of conservatism only prevalent in old ass Japanese men, due to their history and location. And Shinzo Abe has proliferated procreation sentiments in many forms of media by the conservatives that follow him
There's also this really cool function right next to my name... it's a flag. Yeah, and if you touch it, there's this really neat feature where you can block me! So there's no reason to write a 500 paragraph essay on why I suck (it was apparently hard to not write more) and then call me racist cause I mentioned shinzo abe???
There's also this really cool function right next to my name... it's a flag. Yeah, and if you touch it, there's this really neat feature where you can block me! So there's no reason to write a 500 paragraph essay on why I suck (it was apparently hard to not write more) and then call me racist cause I mentioned shinzo abe???
Someone's being mean to me on the internet help ):
I really wrote a 12 page essay on why this game's writing is laden with things that personally upset me and this guys problem is that it sucks therefore i... shouldn't of expected anything? What are you talking about.
Remember kids: don't dislike conservative media for propagating old fashioned, bigoted or otherwise unhealthy conservative views, dislike it because it's simply too stupid for my big huge awesome brain
yeah, saw that one coming from a mile away. let's drop cordiality and go with a more direct approach:
-first of all, shinzo abe's brand of conservatism is not "uniquely japanese", even if his adherents claim it is. even if it was, that's completely irrelevant, because the social conservatism displayed in OT1 and 2 is not unique to shinzo abe and very much pre-dates him.
-if you understood japanese culture on the level you claim to, you would understand that the hugely obvious subtext in both hikari and throne's stories runs contrary to your entire point. both stories are dreadfully bad but not in the bizarre way you frame it as.
-your review contains some really far-reaching statements and several more that are literally incorrect, as has been pointed out by other comments.
-every single thing you lambast this game for was present and worse in OT1, including the boob jiggle
also your needless whining about dolcinea's charm mechanic marks you as a really boring person. wow I just HATE IT when enemies in JRPGs can DO THINGS. alright thanks, we can block each other now
-first of all, shinzo abe's brand of conservatism is not "uniquely japanese", even if his adherents claim it is. even if it was, that's completely irrelevant, because the social conservatism displayed in OT1 and 2 is not unique to shinzo abe and very much pre-dates him.
-if you understood japanese culture on the level you claim to, you would understand that the hugely obvious subtext in both hikari and throne's stories runs contrary to your entire point. both stories are dreadfully bad but not in the bizarre way you frame it as.
-your review contains some really far-reaching statements and several more that are literally incorrect, as has been pointed out by other comments.
-every single thing you lambast this game for was present and worse in OT1, including the boob jiggle
also your needless whining about dolcinea's charm mechanic marks you as a really boring person. wow I just HATE IT when enemies in JRPGs can DO THINGS. alright thanks, we can block each other now
@parma: cordially, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_aEjIfcoUk
Fucking LMAO at Parma doing their usual shtick of getting unruly aggressive and pedantic about someone's differing opinion, and then immediately doubling down on the venom instead of figuring out what went wrong. Consistently one of the absolute worst users on this site, it's better to block them than to engage.
local doesn't block and ignore first because they want to be angry about something online
moschidae
1 year ago