Hero of Hyrule
Frieren the Slayer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Preamble
I did not like Octopath Traveler 1 much. I love 16-bit JRPGs, and I loved the concept of Octopath 1 even beyond going back to mine that vein of nostalgia (the whole open world design, class based path actions, the job system, the battle system). But it didn't click for me. The novelty wears off in under a dozen hours, and the concept, while brilliant in theory, is never explored beyond the initial lip service to it. Instead, in a few hours, the game's structural repetition and seemingly contradictory design choices started to wear thin on me.
Earlier this year, some nice posters like @Lelouch0612 actually explained how some of the systems in the game are supposed to work, which would address my complaints of contradictory mechanics in the game, but by this point, I was over the game, and unlikely to return to it. Because of my experience with Octopath 1, I also had minimal interest in the sequel. I heard some praise for it when it came out, but I had told myself I would not fall for it this time.
I am impulsive with money
Then I fell for it anyway. Final Fantasy 16 is a very disappointing game for me, and all it did was make me long for a classic style Square JRPG again. There was zero chance of me ever going back to Octopath 1, but the sequel happened to be on sale last week. And I had heard great things about it. And the reviews were gushing, even from people who had famously disliked the first game.
So I decided to take the plunge.
And...
Octopath Traveler 2 is magnificent
This is it, this was the game I was looking for. Not just right now, this was the game I wanted when the original Octopath released. Everything I wanted is in here, this game is amazing:
- First and foremost, the structural repetition is gone. It's completely gone. While the story is still split across characters, it is no longer four straight chapters per character of going to town -> using path action -> doing a short, linear, bland dungeon -> fighting boss -> repeat. The stories across all characters are structured differently and paced differently, with unpredictability and dynamism in structure that helps stop the malaise of repetition from ever setting in. And this is important, but the stories are also different aesthetically. They end up being totally different genres. For example: Temenos the cleric's story is a detective noir murder mystery (and it's done really well); Throne's story is an underworld crime drama revenge story; the frontier settling cowboy Partitio is a socialist, and his story is about spreading the wealth! Osvald the scholar is a convicted murderer, and his story is a prison break. The subversion on character tropes, along with the variety in genres, is already great and you also get some of the more traditional JRPG stores with Agnea (the starry eyed dancer who wants to make it big) and Casti (the apothecary who has lost her memory and plays the JRPG amnesiac protagonist trope). I love all this. I am constantly invested in these characters and their stories, and I never get the time to get bored or weary of any of it, because every story and character is so different, and everything is structured and paced so differently from one another.
- In the first game, I got really tired of battles after a while. The need of having to grind to keep my party members on the same level was killer, because inactive ones don't earn EXP, and you always need the character whose story you are doing in your party at the time, and you can't swap out your starting character, and after a while it felt like even trash mob battles went forever. More than anything else, me not enjoying the battles after a while may have caused me to fall off.
The funny thing is, all of those criticisms actually still hold true here: you still don't have inactive party members get EXP, you still have restrictions on what characters you have to have in your party at all times, and so on. But Octopath 2 actually makes some smart changes that make battles a lot more funfor me to the point I am actively going out of my way find battles and engage in them:- The battle speed up option is a godsend (even longer boss battles feel quick and snappy, and short ones are over before I even know it)
- The unique character powers in each battle add another great mechanic and layer of strategy to battles that also keeps them feeling dynamics
- The passives, latent abilities, and job system in this game make experimenting with battles a lot more fun (I'll come back to this point in a bit)
- The encounter rate in Octopath 2 is far less insane than it was in the first game. Even when running (which is where the encounter rate is supposed to double in this) it never gets anywhere close to as obnoxious as it did in regular contexts in the first game
- The game communicates the necessity of gear (over even levels) much better this time around than the first game did, and gives you more opportunities to come by stronger gear for your characters too, in turn helping make sure you never feel underpowered in combat.
- I love the exploration. The world is gorgeous, extremely interestingly laid out, and always rewards exploration and going off the beaten path. You can fund anything from useful items to rare treasures, hidden side quests to optional dungeons, more sub-classes to secret bosses, as long as you are exploring, so exploring is always incentivized. it also helps that the world is so open - Octopath 2 really leverages the open world structure in a great way (this is actually an area the first game was good at too, so it does not surprise me, but here, it is helped by me loving the combat a lot more).
- Dungeon design is a lot better this time around. I don't have as much to say here, but I hated the dungeons in the first game. They were visually unimaginative, structurally boring and linear, just straight line gauntlets with a couple of optional dead ends for some hidden loot, and ridden with the aforementioned insane encounter rate of the first game. None of that is true here! Visually the dungeons are a lot more varied, in terms of design they are a lot more fun (still never too elaborate, but also they have the presence of mind to stay short so that that aforementioned lack of depth never wears thin on you), and as I already mentioned, the encounter rate is a lot better this time around.
- The stories tie in with each other more. This was one of the big complaints people had with the original - I actually was fine with the original being an anthology of eight standalone stories, but I did miss party banter and interactions. Both those complaints are addressed in Octopath 2. Not only is there more casual party banter and interaction in this game than in the first one, but they also have these "main" story quests where two of the characters end up having their stories converge together. This leads to some great pairings between characters, leading to all sorts of fun interactions, and also makes the party feel like an actual party. It helps add favour and depth to each individual narrative too.
- The setting and location are great. The move to this Industrial Revolution inspired setting has allowed not only a lot more variety and more elaborate cities, but the game also appropriates the American Frontier expansion imagery, and we end up with a lot more varied and fun environments in the world that it feels fun to explore just because they look so great.
- They did really well with making the path actions feel less repetitive. It helps that each character now has two path actions (depending on the time of day) but also the way the game makes you use them (and in some cases, bypass using them) feel a lot less repetitive than the first game, where it was always clear right away what you needed to do, how you needed to do it, where and when you needed to do it, and who you needed to do it to/with.
- The classes are a lot more fun. Really not much to say here, I loved the class system in the first game, but it's even better here. The classes are more fun and more imaginative, and their passives and latent abilities allow for a lot more fun character building (that in turn also benefits the combat, since it becomes a lot more fun to experiment with various builds and strategies now).
- The presentation aspects are amazing. This game is the best looking HD2D game there is, benefitting from the best realization of the art style yet, paired with the most diverse world, and just looking stunning. Thanks to my brother I also have access to the PS5 version, which I gave a look, and the game is absolutely stunning, the PS5 version is one of the best looking games I have played; the Switch version obviously does not look that good, but the great rendition of the HD2D style still helps it look appealing. The one area where Octopath 2 does not match or exceed its predecessor is the music. The OST in the first game was fantastic. The OST here is still very good, but it doesnt come close to matching the first game (so far anyway, maybe I change my mind later).
All of this is to say, this game is great. It is excellent, it is what the first game should have been all along. It is a better RPG than most RPGs Square has released in the last decade, and is just a really great blend of old and new ideas synthesized into one of the most compelling RPGs I have played in a very long time. If you love RPGs, play this game. It does not matter if the first game burned you (no matter what, you probably don't hate it as much as I do), this game is different, it's actually great, this will give you what you were looking for from the first game. Play this game. Octopath Traveler II is great.
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I haven't played the first one and only tasted the demo, so I hope I'll be more content with it than with "live a live"
