Octopath Traveler II was announced with much joy from fans and after playing, it did not disappoint. Kakunoshin Futsuzawa, who was the writer for the original Octopath Traveler, returned and improved on the original game with tighter scripting and a much more cohesive scenario setup. There is no reason to worry about getting into the game if you have not played the first, as the two are not directly connected and you can enjoy this without the first.
A big part of what makes Octopath Traveler work so well is meeting each character, being able to decide where you’d like to go and what you’d like to do first, and then simply doing it. The game has an amazing amount of choice and the design of the game gives you a wide latitude to make your own decisions. And what a world in which to make those choices, because Octopath Traveler II feels fully realized with a script that tackles multiple issues in a more structured way and blends things together more naturally.
Octopath Traveler II improves everything over the first game, especially the gameplay. The combat feels far more polished and the Boost/Break system is a brilliant one that adds a lot of depth to the game. Learning how the boosts work along with enemy weaknesses and breaks, makes for a game that just feels rewarding to learn to play.
Combat may seem complex at first, but is actually rather easy to understand and get used to for new players. Beyond the Boost/Break system, each character also has a Latent Power that charges through combat and allows you to unleash a powerful attack or use more abilities. This becomes needed for many challenging battles and is introduced so seamlessly that it just feels right for the game.
The playable characters in Octopath Traveler all have specialties, thieves, fighters, merchants, scholars, and more and their stories explain their backgrounds, histories, and abilities, but there is more going on than just that. Octopath Traveler II brings in a job system, a mechanic that Square Enix has been using since the SNES days, but things are a bit different here as each character can equip a secondary job. If you manage to find that job’s guild hall, you can acquire additional licenses for that job (up to 3) allowing you to assign it to other characters as well.
The jobs provide stats boosts, additional abilities, and even clothing changes, and expand the strategic nature of the game even further. In addition, there are four hidden jobs that you can find, but only one of each is available. All of this results in a brilliant expansion of the original concept.
In addition, there is the day and night system where with the touch of a button, you can switch between day and night in Octopath Traveler II, whether you’re in the field or in a town. When you are out in the field, this will cause stronger and nastier enemies to pop up and for encounter rates to rise. This is excellent for those who are looking to grind and is a great way to get more experience. When in town, people will have different things to say at night and might be standing in different places which affords you access to previously unreachable areas.
With the wide amount of choices the game gives you, there really is no one way to play the game. There are open choices for how to proceed, complex job options that allow you to overpower your characters, and the ability to shift the enemy power dynamics in the field on the fly and change how the towns work. There is a ridiculous amount of player agency here and while it can be overwhelming at first, the ability to play the game pretty much any way you’d like soon shows itself to be very appealing.
Both visually and in terms of audio, Octopath Traveler II takes a bold step forward and it just works. One thing that everyone knows about Octopath Traveler is the HD 2D art style that blends a 3D and 2D Pixel art style and uses modern technology to make it look amazing. The visuals are even more impressive in Octopath Traveler II, with every area feeling amazing to look at and the effects seen in battles are truly spectacular. The music is also amazing as Octopath Traveler II features a rich, orchestrated soundtrack and haunting melodies throughout that fit the story of the game well. The voice acting in this game is also far better and brings in much more range and depth to the characters and we are given voice acting that matches the amazing script perfectly.
To sum up, Octopath Traveler II is an absolute delight to play. with a complex and nuanced script, interesting characters with outstanding voice work, and truly exciting and compelling mechanics that permeate every portion of the game. The fun factor is much higher than your average role-playing game, and this is no exaggeration. To do everything there is to do in the game, you are looking at around solid 65 hours or so to wrap everything up, but hardcore completionists can almost double that. It feels almost criminal that this was charged the standard price for a AAA game because Octopath Traveler II goes above and beyond to create an amazing experience that every RPG player should get and enjoy.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
Images taken from Nintendo.com
