tsdenizen
2023
Octopath Traveler was a good game that did a lot well. Visually, it pioneered the HD-2D style, successfully marrying retro and modern techniques to create a distinct identity. The music was phenomenal: Yasunori Nishiki's compositions are on par with the best of Square's golden era. And the battle system was a clever tweaking of the Brave/Default system from Team Asano's earlier games. Structurally, it borrowed from the Romancing SaGa series and Live A Live, creating a semi-open world that was refreshing for the turn-based RPG genre. All of this was exceedingly promising but, at times, the game was let down by poor pacing, chapter structure repetition, bland character writing and ultimately, a brutally unfair final boss gauntlet cryptically locked behind side quests.
Everything that Octopath Traveler did well, Octopath Traveler II does better. And everything it did poorly, II addresses.
On the surface, it doesn't immediately feel as though much has changed. You still have eight characters, one of which you choose to start with, which all follow separate narratives as you move across the map to collect them. Yes, these stories still do not coalesce for the most part, but additional party banter, battle chatter and the new Crossed Paths (chapters where two characters share a story) give a better sense of camaraderie. The individual stories themselves, meanwhile, prove that the anthology concept is a solid one, as long as each story is well-written. Across the board, these are much better. Agnea the Dancer and Ochette the Hunter perhaps have the weakest tales, but they still outdo most of the first game. On the other end, Partitio the Merchant, Temenos the Cleric, and Throne the Thief outright crush everything from the first title. We've leapt all the way to one of the better parties in modern JRPG history: already a huge difference.
But the worldbuilding is next level. The first game did provide flavor text on each NPC when you used inquire or another comparable Path Action, but it's far more detailed here. Even without names, these characters have notable relationships with each other: some are having affairs, some just moved and are struggling to make friends, etc. It does so much for immersion. The grander lore is better, too. Engage with certain NPCs in certain towns and you'll learn about Eir's Apothecaries before ever meeting Castti, or learn about the gods off the beaten path from Temenos's Seven-like cult murder mystery. Team Asano did an incredible job making this new world feel organic and far less game-y than their previous efforts.
My favorite moments still involve the freedom the game offers, though. I remember in Montwise, I had Hikari challenge a champion that I likely wasn't supposed to be able to beat yet. But, having picked up the Apothecary sub-job and some key Warrior and challenge skills, my Hikari felt pretty tanky even at a very low level. It was a long one-on-one battle: 15 minutes at minimum. But he won, and behind that champion was a chest with an incredibly powerful bow that basically doubled my Partitio's attack stat. Such newfound power emboldened me to buy my ship earlier and take to the seas: because I started with Partitio, I was able to raise the necessary funds much faster, and through clever use of the hire Path Action, I got a 50% discount, saving me tons of money for armor and concoction ingredients. The interplay between the in and out of battle systems was good before, but it's masterful now, and the open-world begs for multiple playthroughs to approach problems in different ways and tackle bosses with different parties and job combinations in different orders.
The visuals and music are, per usual, astonishing. This is the best use of the HD-2D engine so far. Lighting and shadows are immaculate, locales are artistically distinct, sprite animations are lovingly detailed. There's also much more dynamism in the camera angles, giving scenes a more cinematic feel. Nishiki returns with another stellar orchestral OST as well. But the voice acting! In the first game, it was minimal and frequently bad. Here, every major story scene is fully voiced, and it's good! Agnea's a stand-out: she's from the country but tries to speak like a bubbly city girl when possible. But when she's flustered, she'll revert back to her accent in a surprisingly believable performance. Temenos is another great one, with Jordan Dash Cruz capturing both his flirtatious nature and cynicism in equal measure.
It's difficult to levy a single, truly notable complaint. Side quests can be a bit obtuse, but considering it got me to touch every little corner of the game and puzzle them together, whether it's a plus or minus will vary from player to player. It'd be nice if you could change your party on the fly, but taverns are frequent enough that it rarely feels like a big issue and is probably a wise call when the game wants you to sort of commit to certain Path Actions for a section. Same with save points. If you could save anywhere, it would remove a lot of good tension, but points are still liberally scattered: you'll almost never go more than 15 minutes without seeing a new one. Every other aspect feels on point: the difficulty curve is far more balanced, chapter pacing is more varied, writing is mature without slipping into cringey edgelord territory. I love this. It feels like Team Asano's first true masterpiece: the studio that has continuously replicated the golden age of JRPGs has perfected the formula, put their own spin on it, and has finally captured the magic their previous efforts lacked. Cannot recommend this enough.
Everything that Octopath Traveler did well, Octopath Traveler II does better. And everything it did poorly, II addresses.
On the surface, it doesn't immediately feel as though much has changed. You still have eight characters, one of which you choose to start with, which all follow separate narratives as you move across the map to collect them. Yes, these stories still do not coalesce for the most part, but additional party banter, battle chatter and the new Crossed Paths (chapters where two characters share a story) give a better sense of camaraderie. The individual stories themselves, meanwhile, prove that the anthology concept is a solid one, as long as each story is well-written. Across the board, these are much better. Agnea the Dancer and Ochette the Hunter perhaps have the weakest tales, but they still outdo most of the first game. On the other end, Partitio the Merchant, Temenos the Cleric, and Throne the Thief outright crush everything from the first title. We've leapt all the way to one of the better parties in modern JRPG history: already a huge difference.
But the worldbuilding is next level. The first game did provide flavor text on each NPC when you used inquire or another comparable Path Action, but it's far more detailed here. Even without names, these characters have notable relationships with each other: some are having affairs, some just moved and are struggling to make friends, etc. It does so much for immersion. The grander lore is better, too. Engage with certain NPCs in certain towns and you'll learn about Eir's Apothecaries before ever meeting Castti, or learn about the gods off the beaten path from Temenos's Seven-like cult murder mystery. Team Asano did an incredible job making this new world feel organic and far less game-y than their previous efforts.
My favorite moments still involve the freedom the game offers, though. I remember in Montwise, I had Hikari challenge a champion that I likely wasn't supposed to be able to beat yet. But, having picked up the Apothecary sub-job and some key Warrior and challenge skills, my Hikari felt pretty tanky even at a very low level. It was a long one-on-one battle: 15 minutes at minimum. But he won, and behind that champion was a chest with an incredibly powerful bow that basically doubled my Partitio's attack stat. Such newfound power emboldened me to buy my ship earlier and take to the seas: because I started with Partitio, I was able to raise the necessary funds much faster, and through clever use of the hire Path Action, I got a 50% discount, saving me tons of money for armor and concoction ingredients. The interplay between the in and out of battle systems was good before, but it's masterful now, and the open-world begs for multiple playthroughs to approach problems in different ways and tackle bosses with different parties and job combinations in different orders.
The visuals and music are, per usual, astonishing. This is the best use of the HD-2D engine so far. Lighting and shadows are immaculate, locales are artistically distinct, sprite animations are lovingly detailed. There's also much more dynamism in the camera angles, giving scenes a more cinematic feel. Nishiki returns with another stellar orchestral OST as well. But the voice acting! In the first game, it was minimal and frequently bad. Here, every major story scene is fully voiced, and it's good! Agnea's a stand-out: she's from the country but tries to speak like a bubbly city girl when possible. But when she's flustered, she'll revert back to her accent in a surprisingly believable performance. Temenos is another great one, with Jordan Dash Cruz capturing both his flirtatious nature and cynicism in equal measure.
It's difficult to levy a single, truly notable complaint. Side quests can be a bit obtuse, but considering it got me to touch every little corner of the game and puzzle them together, whether it's a plus or minus will vary from player to player. It'd be nice if you could change your party on the fly, but taverns are frequent enough that it rarely feels like a big issue and is probably a wise call when the game wants you to sort of commit to certain Path Actions for a section. Same with save points. If you could save anywhere, it would remove a lot of good tension, but points are still liberally scattered: you'll almost never go more than 15 minutes without seeing a new one. Every other aspect feels on point: the difficulty curve is far more balanced, chapter pacing is more varied, writing is mature without slipping into cringey edgelord territory. I love this. It feels like Team Asano's first true masterpiece: the studio that has continuously replicated the golden age of JRPGs has perfected the formula, put their own spin on it, and has finally captured the magic their previous efforts lacked. Cannot recommend this enough.