PixelKnight
Observing the process
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I enjoyed Octopath Traveller 2 so much. An easy 10/10 game for me, one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played. I just couldn’t put it down. Even while I played it, I knew that I had the original OT in my backlog of rpgs, but for some reason I hadn’t started it. Usually, after finishing a long rpg, I take a break, play something different and shorter. But OT2 is the first game in ages where I rinsed almost all the stuff to do out of it (apart from a post-game super-boss), and came away thinking ‘what did I miss from the original, what was changed, what was new, as this was amazing’. And so I dove into the first game, which I’ve just put down. Here’s my list of stuff I noticed while it’s fresh in my mind.
General quality of life elements
Several mechanical things really stood out to me straight away when going through OT.
OT2 displays the threat level of areas/dungeons on its map, which makes choosing where to go next easier, but also makes it easier to keep track of when would be a good time to try a dungeon. Some of those in OT I ended up stumbling into at a low level, but only going back when I was hilariously over-levelled, as there was no reminder of when might be a good moment.
Another was that OT2 lists item pickups in the order of most recent first, before you categorise further if looking by type. Which is a huge change when you’ve got 200 items and just want to read the description of a bracelet you picked up, out of the dozens of other accessories with similar names.
Another one is that OT2, when using up the stat-boost consumables, tells you exactly how much your stat went up by. OT1 just says ‘a large amount’ or something similarly vague, if you wanted to know you’d have to check before and after. None of these are big deals but OT2 is so much more elegant with giving the player the info they might want to see at any given time.
Introductory chapters
OT has the main party meet each new traveller just before they head into their first dungeon. Replaying their intro (which you can do immediately or select from the tavern) is only really a matter of reading the conversations and moving around their home town until they get to that point- about 10 minutes play or so.
OT2, however, has each traveler on their own, with scant resources and NPC allies at best. Their stories feel more urgent and desperate for it, their need for strong allies more apparent, as at the time the party meets them, they’ve already been through a really tough time.
Which leads on to my next point- OT has a lot of ‘and so I chose to travel the world’ going on. Sure, a couple of them are more urgent, but most are pretty relaxed in terms of working out why they are adventuring. OT2’s intros are far more urgent in comparison, the stakes much higher.
The Apothecary and the hunter, class balance and consumables
In both OT games, characters have an inate skill that’s exclusive to them. Dancers can call followers into combat, hunters can capture beasts etc. Anyone can take apothecary as a subclass to gain their skill list, but only the two actual apothecary characters, OT’s Alfyn and OT2’s Castii, can ‘concoct’, which is to combine consumables for major healing effects, removing debuffs etc. However, I just didn’t use it as much in OT. This is because OT2 gives them each a ‘latent power’ meter, giving access to a range of unique super abilities beyond the ones granted by jobs. This also ties into the boost points, where you gain one for every turn that you don’t use them. In Castii’s case, her latent power lets her concoct without using ingredients, and every boost point grants an additional effect. Which made it easy for Castii to, say, apply ‘affect whole party’ and ‘heal’ and ‘cure poison’ or whatever. Alfyn has to use consumables to do this, for a far more limited and weaker and less flexible effect. On top of this, the class skill list in OT2 has an axe strike that hits everyone. In OT1 it just hits one target, which all combines to make apothecary feel a really weak job compared to the cleric. Sure, it’s still good in that there’s abilities to use powerful items on everyone at once, which makes Alfyn great for endgame bosses, but for 95% of the game, not so much.
The hunter class in OT1 has you capturing monsters, that have only a small number of uses each, but in OT2 this restriction is removed and you just keep the ones you like, swapping them out as you encounter stronger ones, this meant that, again, I used the class feature a lot more in OT2. In OT1, I almost exclusively used ‘leghold trap’ (make enemies go at the end of the turn), and the skills to fill multiple enemies with arrows.
Advanced jobs
In OT 1, sorcerer and warmaster feel a lot more like just better versions of scholar and warrior respectively. Whereas in OT2 the Armsmaster has a quest where you search out relic weapons to add to your armoury. It’s just a lot more interesting than Warmaster. Starseer from OT though is a fun skillset.
Gaining jobs, shrines, guilds
In OT1, finding the shrine gives you the job as a subclass option. In OT2, entering the shrine with the relevant character gives you a new latent power move for them, while you gain licenses for subclasses from guilds instead. Completing tasks for those guilds gives more licenses, meaning more people can share the subclass.
Mentor characters
In OT1, I noticed that 3/4 the female characters are constantly in the shadow of a powerful father/father figure, with barely any mention of any significant mother figure at all in comparison.
Haanit is looking for her mentor who raised her
Primrose wants to kill the men that killed her father
Tressa gains a veteran ship captain as a mentor (happily her mum and dad still exist in a shop in her home town, it would be cool if they acknowledged her when you visit though).
Ophelia sets out after her adoptive father falls ill.
In contrast, Cyrus, Therion and Olberic all have zero mention of their parents, their quests aren’t related to family/parental figures, and even Alfyn is only really on the trail of an apothecary he remembers from when he was a kid.
OT2 handles this a lot better in terms of avoiding tropes, mainly through Castii taking Oberic’s role as a stoic, steady and experienced leader of people, full of gentle support. Her story is amazing and not wrapped up in well-trod paths, and her relationships with her supporting cast feel very fresh in comparison. In contrast, Hikari’s ‘Prince in exile needs to retake the throne’ treads very familiar fantasy ground. I found it more urgent than Olberic, and the contrast between them really well handled- Hikari is young and counters through speed and skill. Olberic is all strength and resilience in comparison, a rapier compared to a greatsword.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Throne’s story as, like Primrose, some aspects felt a bit voyeuristic to me.
The world
OT2’s map gives you rivers and boats, which makes the world feel so much more alive. OT1’s fields are just crossroads connecting towns and dungeons really, you can’t get lost, whereas OT2 had a lot more of ‘how do I get to that dock over there’ and it being a couple of areas back and needing to go under a bridge or whatever. There’s more verticality with ladders too, more variety in dungeons, and the open sea means the world opens up more gradually. In OT2 I was still finding towns and islands and new areas as a surprise in the late game, whereas in OT1, none of them really were. Both games constantly surprised me in how often there was closure for NPCs, people you’d helped or even opposed earlier. They all have things to do, jobs and families or whatever, that aren’t wrapped up in your travels, and that’s cool.
The sense of the team being a party
Having read some of the criticism of OT1 before playing it, I was expecting there to be very few skits or anything, but I found the travel banter to be OK to sell the illusion for me. OT2 just does it better though. Not only through it’s paired ‘crossed path’ sections, but also because it’s banter sparkles more somehow. Both games have a real sense of warmth though that I really appreciate. Sure, you need to let your imagination cover the gaps to allow the game to have you wander wherever you want in whatever order. But the characters are all worth following as their adventures play out over a series of vignettes. I imagined they are meant to be taken as if each character is telling a story over a drink.
Final boss. Post-game bosses
I’ll leave it all there for now, just wanted to set it all out while it’s fresh in my mind. Has anyone else played them both? What did you think? Is anyone looking to try one of them?
General quality of life elements
Several mechanical things really stood out to me straight away when going through OT.
OT2 displays the threat level of areas/dungeons on its map, which makes choosing where to go next easier, but also makes it easier to keep track of when would be a good time to try a dungeon. Some of those in OT I ended up stumbling into at a low level, but only going back when I was hilariously over-levelled, as there was no reminder of when might be a good moment.
Another was that OT2 lists item pickups in the order of most recent first, before you categorise further if looking by type. Which is a huge change when you’ve got 200 items and just want to read the description of a bracelet you picked up, out of the dozens of other accessories with similar names.
Another one is that OT2, when using up the stat-boost consumables, tells you exactly how much your stat went up by. OT1 just says ‘a large amount’ or something similarly vague, if you wanted to know you’d have to check before and after. None of these are big deals but OT2 is so much more elegant with giving the player the info they might want to see at any given time.
Introductory chapters
OT has the main party meet each new traveller just before they head into their first dungeon. Replaying their intro (which you can do immediately or select from the tavern) is only really a matter of reading the conversations and moving around their home town until they get to that point- about 10 minutes play or so.
OT2, however, has each traveler on their own, with scant resources and NPC allies at best. Their stories feel more urgent and desperate for it, their need for strong allies more apparent, as at the time the party meets them, they’ve already been through a really tough time.
Which leads on to my next point- OT has a lot of ‘and so I chose to travel the world’ going on. Sure, a couple of them are more urgent, but most are pretty relaxed in terms of working out why they are adventuring. OT2’s intros are far more urgent in comparison, the stakes much higher.
The Apothecary and the hunter, class balance and consumables
In both OT games, characters have an inate skill that’s exclusive to them. Dancers can call followers into combat, hunters can capture beasts etc. Anyone can take apothecary as a subclass to gain their skill list, but only the two actual apothecary characters, OT’s Alfyn and OT2’s Castii, can ‘concoct’, which is to combine consumables for major healing effects, removing debuffs etc. However, I just didn’t use it as much in OT. This is because OT2 gives them each a ‘latent power’ meter, giving access to a range of unique super abilities beyond the ones granted by jobs. This also ties into the boost points, where you gain one for every turn that you don’t use them. In Castii’s case, her latent power lets her concoct without using ingredients, and every boost point grants an additional effect. Which made it easy for Castii to, say, apply ‘affect whole party’ and ‘heal’ and ‘cure poison’ or whatever. Alfyn has to use consumables to do this, for a far more limited and weaker and less flexible effect. On top of this, the class skill list in OT2 has an axe strike that hits everyone. In OT1 it just hits one target, which all combines to make apothecary feel a really weak job compared to the cleric. Sure, it’s still good in that there’s abilities to use powerful items on everyone at once, which makes Alfyn great for endgame bosses, but for 95% of the game, not so much.
The hunter class in OT1 has you capturing monsters, that have only a small number of uses each, but in OT2 this restriction is removed and you just keep the ones you like, swapping them out as you encounter stronger ones, this meant that, again, I used the class feature a lot more in OT2. In OT1, I almost exclusively used ‘leghold trap’ (make enemies go at the end of the turn), and the skills to fill multiple enemies with arrows.
Advanced jobs
In OT 1, sorcerer and warmaster feel a lot more like just better versions of scholar and warrior respectively. Whereas in OT2 the Armsmaster has a quest where you search out relic weapons to add to your armoury. It’s just a lot more interesting than Warmaster. Starseer from OT though is a fun skillset.
Gaining jobs, shrines, guilds
In OT1, finding the shrine gives you the job as a subclass option. In OT2, entering the shrine with the relevant character gives you a new latent power move for them, while you gain licenses for subclasses from guilds instead. Completing tasks for those guilds gives more licenses, meaning more people can share the subclass.
Mentor characters
In OT1, I noticed that 3/4 the female characters are constantly in the shadow of a powerful father/father figure, with barely any mention of any significant mother figure at all in comparison.
Haanit is looking for her mentor who raised her
Primrose wants to kill the men that killed her father
Tressa gains a veteran ship captain as a mentor (happily her mum and dad still exist in a shop in her home town, it would be cool if they acknowledged her when you visit though).
Ophelia sets out after her adoptive father falls ill.
In contrast, Cyrus, Therion and Olberic all have zero mention of their parents, their quests aren’t related to family/parental figures, and even Alfyn is only really on the trail of an apothecary he remembers from when he was a kid.
OT2 handles this a lot better in terms of avoiding tropes, mainly through Castii taking Oberic’s role as a stoic, steady and experienced leader of people, full of gentle support. Her story is amazing and not wrapped up in well-trod paths, and her relationships with her supporting cast feel very fresh in comparison. In contrast, Hikari’s ‘Prince in exile needs to retake the throne’ treads very familiar fantasy ground. I found it more urgent than Olberic, and the contrast between them really well handled- Hikari is young and counters through speed and skill. Olberic is all strength and resilience in comparison, a rapier compared to a greatsword.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Throne’s story as, like Primrose, some aspects felt a bit voyeuristic to me.
The world
OT2’s map gives you rivers and boats, which makes the world feel so much more alive. OT1’s fields are just crossroads connecting towns and dungeons really, you can’t get lost, whereas OT2 had a lot more of ‘how do I get to that dock over there’ and it being a couple of areas back and needing to go under a bridge or whatever. There’s more verticality with ladders too, more variety in dungeons, and the open sea means the world opens up more gradually. In OT2 I was still finding towns and islands and new areas as a surprise in the late game, whereas in OT1, none of them really were. Both games constantly surprised me in how often there was closure for NPCs, people you’d helped or even opposed earlier. They all have things to do, jobs and families or whatever, that aren’t wrapped up in your travels, and that’s cool.
The sense of the team being a party
Having read some of the criticism of OT1 before playing it, I was expecting there to be very few skits or anything, but I found the travel banter to be OK to sell the illusion for me. OT2 just does it better though. Not only through it’s paired ‘crossed path’ sections, but also because it’s banter sparkles more somehow. Both games have a real sense of warmth though that I really appreciate. Sure, you need to let your imagination cover the gaps to allow the game to have you wander wherever you want in whatever order. But the characters are all worth following as their adventures play out over a series of vignettes. I imagined they are meant to be taken as if each character is telling a story over a drink.
Final boss. Post-game bosses
OT1 doesn’t really have a final story chapter that wraps it all up, instead it has a post-game sidequest that offers a super-boss, before which are 8 mini bosses that all offer a page to read about how all the quests are linked. I didn’t defeat the boss itself, because after two hours of play, with no save points, a random ability from a boss spawn insta-killed my party. At that point, after 65 hours of play, I decided it wasn’t worth my time persevering- I read the things I wanted to read. OT2 does this much better- there’s a final chapter and a final boss that, while still feeling a little rushed, ties it all up with a fantastic epilogue that makes a great point to leave it. There’s a post-game sidequest super-boss again, but I didn’t do that either, although I’m sure both are fun for people who want to spend hours breaking down the fight and reworking the team. For me it’s not why I loved both of the OT games, but it does speak to the depth of the combat system- I’m sure it’s possible to beat these quests at a far lower level than I was when they wiped the floor with me!
I’ll leave it all there for now, just wanted to set it all out while it’s fresh in my mind. Has anyone else played them both? What did you think? Is anyone looking to try one of them?
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