A forma que história se desenrola com cada personagem é bem repetitiva, cheguei ao level 14, faltaram 2 personagens, mas já estava meio enjoado do jogo. A forma que o combate desencadeia é bem datada, do nada inicia um combate mesmo que os inimigos sejam bem fáceis, lembra os jrpg dos anos 90, simplesmente não rola mais, nem o matinho do pokemon ainda é assim. Combate pouco engajante, histórias individuais bem cliche. Enfim, não que seja um jogo ruim, mas definitivamente não oferece nada de novo ou engajante.

My journey with Octopath Traveler II occurred the exact same way that I had with the original. The weird journey occurred as such:

1. Falls in love with the visuals and enjoys each unique character
2. Really into it for about 20 hours
3. Starts to get very bored during the grinding and only anticipating the boss battles at the end of each chapter.
4. Gives game mixed rating
5. Will likely pick up the next game and think to myself "you know what the previous game was super fresh and fun"
6. Retroactively improves score of previous game.
7. Repeat experience for next game

Shelving now to preserve the highs that I had with this game. Makes noticeable improvements but still falls flat with its weaknesses.

I have 50 hours on this fantastic sequel, and I haven't finished it yet, but I can say that I'm really satisfied with Octopath Traveler 2, it's the sequel to a game that had some good ideas, but which also had some big flaws, for example the way the characters' stories were told and also a fairly "schematic" progression.
now, in Octopath Traveler 2 some flaws remain, it is not a perfect game, but it has really improved, in fact I found some great characters in the game world, and very exciting stories (even the least appreciated character has a good story) and a much improved narrative, although some uncertainties remain. the combat system is the same as the first game, with the difference that now travelers can use latent powers, nice but not a great innovation. the game shines on the artistic and musical direction, a truly large and beautiful game world to explore, accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack. Furthermore, compared to Octopath Traveler 1, more secondary content has been added both during the game and in the endgame. in conclusion, if you loved Octopath Traveler 1, you will like this sequel even more, you will also like it if you are a big fan of turn-based role-playing games and above all fans of the first Final Fantasy games.

I enjoyed the first game fine enough, but Octopath Traveler II manages to take everything about the first game that worked and improve upon it while dropping everything that didn't. Lowered encounter rate, day/night cycle, better stories and more consistent (and present) voice acting, auto progress for voiced scenes, better side quests, more interesting and varied towns and environments, improved upon "hidden" job classes, latent powers, the MUSIC! The list goes on.

What else can I say? It's the first game but so much better with much better stories, intertwined stories, better character moments, and an amazing climax where all the stories tie together into one last big bad.

I can't necessarily recommend the first game, but this is a must-play for old-school JRPG fans. Easily one of my games of the year and a soundtrack I'll be listening to for years.

Osvald, Castti, Throne, Ochette, Partitio, Agnea, Temenos, and Hikari make the party for this game, and it's a great cast. The game surpasses the first one in almost every inconcievable way.
The world of Solista has so many neat little locations to find and it was always fun to explore and see how what the world was building to. The exceptionally beautiful HD-2D graphics made the world flourish and shine unlike anything else. To compliment that you have a beautiful OST to give everything even more life!
The party and their stories are the main event though. Each of the eight stories are great in their own way and have their own themes and lessons with them. They somehow had the stories connect in a big way, as the last chapter can possible make you shed a tear (i definitely didn't don't look at me!)
The fixed alot that felt missing with the first one with special chapters that had two of the travelers team up together with their own story, and some side quests that felt like they had meaning! The boss fights can also be very difficult, and also a little easy if you know how to cheese some of them(lol). Which i enjoyed that, it shows that the game has alot of flexibility within it.
I have no complaints, this was my GOTY for 2023 and has my highest recommendation!

It really is the most straight-forward and traditional JRPG experience refined into its best iteration yet.

The combat system is really satisfying during mob encounters, but still intense and creative during boss battles. Team building is also as fun as ever, as is figuring out some of the best combos you can pull off with your jobs and gear available at the moment.
Although the writing is a bit too silly for my taste most of the time, everything comes together nicely at the end. Some of the twists actually took me by surprise this time, and alongside some of the best soundtracks of the genre, I actually felt some goosebumps here and there.

It's the best parts of the first game combined with some actual decent story moments this time, highly recommend.

OT2 was fun. The beautiful sceneries mixed with hd-2d was something I've never experienced before and OT did it perfectly. Gameplay was extremely satisfying. My main party consisted of Osvald, Throné, Ochette, and Castti. Ochette and Throné's gameplay mechanics were some of the most fun I've ever had in videogames. I can't get over it. There were some banger music tracks as well. The only bad thing I have to say about the game is not caring for the other half of the cast's stories which in turn leaves me not fully completing the game. At least for now. There was a 5-year gap between OT1 and 2 so maybe when 3 is close to launch, I'll be motivated to finish. Grinding levels is not something I'm too fond of as I get older so having to do it over again for the others is kind of upsetting. Other than that, I definitely still enjoyed OT2 and I'm excited for the series.

Finally, I understand why everyone speaks so highly of this game. It truly excels in almost every aspect compared to the first one, or at least in most. The music and graphics remain in the same style without many drastic changes, but aside from that, the game has seen various improvements over the first installment.

One of the worst parts of the first game was the excessive grinding required between chapters, which made the game incredibly tedious. This aspect was significantly improved in this game, making it much more dynamic. Another disappointment in the previous game was the lack of interaction between characters and even stories involving two or more different characters. In this game, there are more interactions, including chapters that mix two characters from the cast in a different storyline.

Continuing on the theme of characters and story, there was only one character in this game that I didn't like and thought was inferior to the others. However, even this character had a more interesting story than the weakest link in the first game. For me, this game was superior to the first one in every way because it addressed all the 'problems' I found in the first one: lack of interaction, tedious grinding, and uninteresting storylines.

Prior to being release, I was very intrigued by the original Octopath Traveller. The new HD-2D graphics style looked beautiful and the idea of a modern-day SNES-era turn-based RPG sounded incredible. I planned on buying it shortly after release, but after hearing that most players were pretty disappointed by the game's story, mostly because the characters' storylines didn't really tie together in a satisfying way, I bumped it down significantly on my list of games to eventually check out.

Then, in early 2023, the game's sequel, Octopath Traveller 2, was released. Word on the internet was that the sequel was an improvement in pretty much every way, having a somewhat tweaked/improved combat system, slightly better visuals (but still used the HD-2D style), the characters' storylines tied together better, and best of all it required no prior knowledge of the first game. I decided I had to check it out.

Octopath Traveller 2 tells the story of eight individuals, each with their own personality, back story, motivations, and character class. When starting the game, you are presented with bios of each character, and whichever one you select will be locked in your party until you finish their storyline (I was a bit rash when making this selection, thinking it would be inconsequential once more characters joined the party, but I was wrong). After you finish your selected character's first chapter you are let loose in the game's world where are free to track down the remaining 7 party members however you see fit.

Each party member's story is broken up into about five chapters. Each chapter has a recommended experience level, and this level increases by a decent amount for each subsequent chapter (you can attempt a chapter under levelled, but I wouldn't recommend it). This was likely done to prevent players from burning through one character's storyline, forcing them to split their time up amongst the stories of other members of the group. I didn't mind this, for the most part, but it was a bit disappointing at times to not be able to continue a character's story until I grinded for experience or levelled up by playing through another group member's story.

All of the character's storylines were well-written, pretty enjoyable, and did a good job of outlining each of the characters' motivations. I didn't care much for the dancer's storyline, but otherwise these were well done. The characters' stories were mostly independent, but they did somewhat tie together towards the end of the game, which gave the group a mutual motivation of sorts. This link was nothing terribly shocking or groundbreaking, but it was still nice to see some sort of connection there.

My favorite aspect of Octopath Traveller 2 was its surprisingly complex turn-based combat. It was easy enough to understand but still required enough strategic thinking to keep things entertaining from the start of the game through to its conclusion. To explain it as simply as I can, in addition to their health points, enemies have shield points that can only be reduced by being attacked by one of their weaknesses. These weaknesses can be determined either through trial and error (trying random weapon/spell attacks) or by using the scholar's "Learn" spell. Each time the enemy is hit by something it is weak to its shield points will decrease, and once these hit zero the enemy will "break", preventing them from attacking for a short time and opening them up to increased damage from your attacks. Enemies still take damage when they have shield points, but the amount of damage they take is significantly less, so it is best to break an enemy before releasing your most powerful attacks.

On top of the shield point system is the BP system. Party members earn one BP per turn (unless they are using BP in that turn), to a maximum of 6 BP. The player can then stack this BP, up to a maximum of 4 in one turn, to unleash numerous regular weapon attacks (good for lowering shield points) or to unleash a charged-up version of a skill/ability (good for causing massive damage to a broken enemy).

The combination of the "break" system and the BP system made for highly entertaining battles, especially when it came to the bosses. The boss battles were a highlight of the game, always being challenging and always requiring good planning and tactical thinking. Bosses kept me on my toes by changing up their tactics mid-battle (they can change their weapon/elemental weaknesses, gain additional shield points, etc.) or by unleashing powerful charged attacks that were devastating if I wasn't prepared for them. Bosses have massive health pools, hit incredibly hard, and often took quite a while to defeat (especially if at or under the recommended level for the area), but it was always fun coming up with a strategy and whittling their health down to zero.

Though I really enjoyed the combat, there are two things I feel some gamers might not like. First, the random encounter rate is quite high. I wasn't bother too much by it, but I'm sure it could be aggravating to some gamers, especially since all encounters are random encounters. You can unlock a skill that, when equipped, reduces the frequency of these encounters, but I feel players won't want to miss out on too many battles as they'll require the XP in order to continue meet the level requirements of unfinished story chapters.

Secondly, every battle in this game, requires the use of tactics. Whether you're fighting a boss or just looking to grind for XP, you will need to put a decent amount of strategy into each battle (unless you are seriously over-levelled, but then you should probably fight more powerful enemies for an increased amount of XP). You can't simply steamroll through lower levelled enemies to gain XP, which makes grinding a bit more of a chore. I thoroughly enjoyed the complexity of the battle system, but there were times that I wished I could put in less effort to get my characters up to the recommended level for their upcoming story chapters.

In addition to the game's combat, there is a fairly sizable world to explore. None of the locations were overly unique or surprising, but there was enough variety to keep things interesting. Each area was enjoyable to explore, and they were all chock-full of treasure chests and hidden items to find. You mostly explore the world by foot, but eventually you gain access to a boat, which opens up the exploration a bit more (though you are quite limited by where you can board it/unload from it, which made using it a bit disappointing). Every town was stocked with NPCs, which could be interacted with in a few different ways. Depending on your team composition, you can coerce info out of the NPCs, steal their items, learn new skills from them, or get them to follow you around. Some NPCs also offer up side quests, but I found the instructions for these to be incredibly vague. I did a few of these but would highly recommend consulting a guide if you plan on tackling these.

This was my first time playing a game with the HD-2D graphical style, and I was quite impressed, though less so than I had anticipated. The world looked very nice and the amount of detail present in each locale was commendable. The character, enemy, and boss designs were well done and interesting, and the graphics instilled a good amount of charm into the experience. I played through the game entirely in handheld mode and felt that the performance was generally quite good. The framerate did drop when using fully charged BP attacks, and things got exceptionally choppy during the final boss fight, but otherwise the game's performance was more than adequate.

I'm sad to say it, but I can't really comment too heavily on Octopath Traveller 2's sound design. I played through most of the game while having a TV show or movie on in the background, so I missed out on a lot of this game's audio components. When I did have the sound on, I was generally impressed by the voice acting and the soundtrack, and I have since listened to a portion of the soundtrack on Spotify and really enjoyed it. If you have the option to play the game with headphones I do recommend it, but if not, the game is still fully enjoyable with the sound turned off.

Now, while I thoroughly enjoyed Octopath Traveller 2, there are a few things that didn't sit well with me, namely the game's length and the game's final boss battle.

Firstly, this game was way longer than I anticipated it would be. Howlongtobeat has it listed as 60 hours to finish the main story and 93 hours to fully complete it, but it took me over 110 hours and I know I was far from finishing everything. Mind you, I know my time would have had a good number of hours of idle time built in due to playing it with the TV on in the background, but I can't imagine that would equate to too elevated of a playtime. Also, I know I really shouldn't complain about the game having lots of content, and I didn't dock the game's score for this, but as I got closer to the game's conclusion, I just really wanted it to end.

That leads me to my main negative, the game's final boss. This boss fight had an immense difficulty spike that came completely unexpected and was really unappreciated. Leading up to this battle I wouldn't have considered myself a pro at the game's content, but I felt I had solid strategies and was more than capable of defeating bosses on my first attempt. My team members were between level 70 and 75, and I figured things were going to be pretty straightforward, but the boss completely and utterly wiped the floor with me, and I stood no chance of defeating it without a more advanced strategy. I gave the battle a few attempts, but quickly realized I did not stand a chance. I eventually resorted to following a YouTube guide to walk me through a strategy, which was utterly disappointing after getting through the rest of the game by myself. Prior to this battle I felt the game deserved a 4.5 or 5 star rating, but the unfair difficulty spike really lowered my overall feelings on the game as a whole.

Though it wasn't a perfect experience, I had a great time playing through Octopath Traveller 2. I thoroughly enjoyed the game's cast, their individual storylines, and the overall narrative. The HD-2D graphics were lovely, performance was pretty solid (or solid enough that it didn't cause any frustration), and the soundtrack was top notch (though I didn't experience as much of it as I should have). The world was fun to explore and there were loads of treasures to find and secrets to unlock. The game's biggest strength was its turn-based combat system which required a fair amount of strategy and very well could be the best system I have experienced in the genre. Sadly, the unfair difficulty spike at the game's finale greatly detracted from my overall enjoyment of an otherwise great game. Despite that disappointment, I still highly recommend Octopath Traveller 2 for any fan of the genre.

One of the ways I like to describe Octopath traveler is like "the best homemade Pizza Otto Stagioni you ever eat".

Also translated as "Eight seasons Pizza", it's basically a meal that is prepared in eight sections, each with diverse ingredients, with each section having a different "tone" or vibe. As a whole the pizza may feel too segmented, and for many this taste may not be their cup of tea, since the section with tomatoes can't be enjoyed with the section with cheese. But despite all of this, the way the pizza is presented, it's cooked and accompanied is able to generate some of the most positive emotions you ever had while eating.

Each "slice" of this game has a unique and different taste, that feels both like a celebration and an evolution of the classic formula it takes inspiration from. 8 stories, 8 protagonists, each of them with their own path, able to cross together in this adventure filled with an even more stunning HD2D artstyle, an incredible voice acting performance, an addicting but esurprisingly deep gameplay and job mechanic, and ONE OF THE BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER COMPOSED FOR A GAME.

MAN, YASUNORI NISHIKI IS A GOD.

One of the most overlooked games from 2023. A must play for every fan of the genre.

Good sequel that addressed and fixed a ton of the issues of the first game, more layers to the job system, each main character received some more depth in their main gimmicks, extra main quests dedicated to the interactions between two main characters were also added, and most importantly of all: 2x speed during combat.

Soundtrack and combat still as solid as the first game, if not improved on in a lot of aspects. Each main story is significantly better in most aspects compared to the first game, both in structure and writing, but still not super unique in most aspects.

Still suffers from a really slow start until you can play the game proper, as well as some grindiness.

+ The npc bio writing is oddly very strong! Poignant, and terse; I felt very motivated to click on everybody and read a little two sentence life story, in a way that the likes of baldurs gate 3 or <any fallout> absolutely fail to do.

-job system is extremely dry and boring. so many things wrong with it. just steal from FFT if you can't be bothered to do it right.
-narrative driving force is non-existent; this is just a collection of 8 character arcs that are totally unrelated to each other
-as such, the texture of playing the game is much like hitting speedbumps over and over, as you get a new character and have to train them up from 0 again (and if you play their initial chapters, that's basically a whole hour where the net power level of your ACTUAL party has ZERO delta!!)
-whats the point in having 8 characters if i can only ever use 4 of them. this is a problem thats been solved for 20 years, embarassing to stumble into it again.

if you're going to invest a bunch of time / money into developing a character the feeling i get when i pick one up can't be:
1) great another bench warmer
or 2) make me feel negatively about replacing another character that i've already put a bunch of levels into

bunch of other mechanical issues with it that are deeply annoying but are too nitty gritty to want to get into here, and the character stories are simply not good enough (and often not good at all) to cover for it.

Eight paths directly into the innermost retro chambers of my heart.

Do you like lavish vintage console RPG-esque art? Do you like strolling around a cozy town talking to charming little people while listening to a soothing song? Do you like solving strategic puzzles to defeat gargantuan foes in mortal turn-based combat? This games takes all these disparate elements and puts them together into a single composition. The result has moments of elevated intensity, but this adventure is most remarkable for just how very comfortable it is. You can really spend a lot of time in here (and I did) because the experience is almost soothing. The variety of emotional tones and excellent pacing provide a refreshing rhythm to the experience. It’s never too one note. In the narrative, the sad stories are balanced out by the happy ones. In the gameplay, the cognitively engaging combat challenges contrasts with strolling through the cozy towns. In light of all this, I found Octopath II to be the most impressive retro-inspired JRPG to date.

In the abstract, it’s a strange mixture—fighting monstrous superbosses then dipping back into a flaneur-like existence in an adorable town. The chilling and the killing take turns on center stage—so to speak. It’s almost a paradox at the heart of the genre. (On the other hand, there’s something so charming about fighting all those wonderfully drawn sprites that it barely even registers as an act of virtual violence.) I can imagine that some people might intensely love exactly half of the experience and intensely hate the other. And which half you like depends largely on your disposition. But that contrast, that range of emotional intensity, that almost paradox, is an almost essential characteristic of this genre. If you like that mixture, then this is one of the very best examples.
If so, then go ahead and collect your tiny characters, get in your little battles, walk around the tiny towns and talk to all (yes, all) the other chibi people, then get in a little boat and sail across this vast miniature world.

Now let’s talk about some details.
The HD-2D style is even more stunning this time around. The detailed sprites, varied environments, and cozy towns are all lovingly crafted in their own way. Even the menus and text boxes and fonts have a certain tasteful, classic, restrained, Square look. The soundtrack is almost unfailingly good—and when it’s not to my taste, it is thematically appropriate.

The combat is excellent and consistently engaging. It’s smooth, it’s fast, it’s puzzle-like. There are resources to manage and strategies to ponder. It is similar to much else in the genre. Exploit enemy weaknesses, pick your attacks, use your boosts and specials wisely, manage your health and mana and status effects well—and you’ll eventually win. That sounds simple enough, but way it comes together is one type
of turn-based perfection. For comparison, the only (non-tactical) turn-based combat I’ve found this cognitively intriguing and would probably be SaGa Scarlet Grace, FFX, and X-2.
And these encounters are designed for speed. It’s like the designers asked “Can we make turn-based battles blazingly fast?” And they did . The transition to the battle screen is fast. The menus are responsive. The action animations are quick but impressive. The rewards screen is brief and takes a minimal number of clicks to get through. If you’ve never experienced some the molasses like battles during the PS1 and PS2 days, know that these are some high compliments. Trash mobs can usually be dispatched within a minute or so. Bosses and superbosses are appropriately challenging and will take longer. The progression systems (which are a mix of leveling, skills, jobs, and gear) are rich, interesting, and breakable in the best possible way. The towns are memorable and filled with charming npcs (often with hidden lives that range from comical to sinister.) The world feels vast and mysterious and rich. The way the world map is designed avoids those all too familiar boredom inducing vast empty spaces. There’s a SNES or PS1 openness—where the vastness of the world done in miniature just like the chibi sprites.

And this world is bursting with side quests and secrets. Dungeons are just about the right size—long enough to present some challenge, but brief enough to avoid degenerating into a slog. And, like in the original, there’s a neat visual search and path finding mechanic when it comes to side paths and treasure. This is a simple and common diversion in classic JRPGs— see the treasure chest and then puzzle out how to get to it. But due to the fixed camera angle and HD2D art style, there’s a bit more depth in the scene. This means designers can make the most of occlusion to misdirect and confuse the player. (This wayfinding element plays sort of like Toad Treasure Tracker if you couldn’t rotate the camera and there were fewer puzzles.)

The designers also introduced a day/night cycle along with the ability to shift between the two times at will. By changing day to night or vice versa, you can adjust the encounter rate seamlessly. And it makes for some puzzles here and there in the dungeons. The day/night cycle also made the towns feel even more lively because the npcs have different habits.

The stories on the individual paths vary in tone and quality. The tone goes from comedic to melodramatic to darkly tragic. The quality ranges from not so good to okay to alright to cute to that was sort of poignant to the absurdity of that made me laugh. And yet I played every story because it’s just a pleasure to spend time in this world. And besides, many of the characters are likable enough— and when they weren’t, the combat mechanics kept me going. The creativity on display in the boss fights made it worthwhile to me. Each boss is an oversized pixel art spectacle on the outside with some intriguing puzzle box mechanics on the inside. These boss fights were really their own reward. And then they typically rewarded you with something interesting.
This review began with the phrase “Eight paths directly into my heart.” More accurately,it could have “eights paths set in a world whose systems and atmosphere lead into my heart no matter how much I did not resonate with the narrative in the path I chose.” That’s a bit too long for an opening line though.

There’s quite a bit of depth in the progression systems here. Interesting gear, job classes, and special secondary classes. Hunting for synergies in the menus is fun if that’s your sort of thing. Grinders should find plenty to do here: superbosses, ultimate weapons, hidden dungeons. For the first time since probably the PS2 era, I personally did every bit of optional content. And I was still sad to see it all come to an end.