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News Octopath Traveler II announced for Switch, Playstation and Steam, launching February 24, 2023 (UPDATE: Prologue Demo available now, see threadmarks)

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Vernal said:
Forgive the double post but I'm bumping the thread to remind everyone who might be interested that the Octopath Traveler II's first look livestream is starting in just 10 minutes.
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Maronic03 said:
From the stream :

- You can switch from night and day with a simple button press. Naturally there are different activities to do for each.

- If I'm not mistaken, they said there is a night theme for everything, even the game over music.

-They're playing right now, on the map, there are a lot of icons for characters stories (both solo and pairs).

-Seemingly more elevation in towns.

-The day and night switch is seemless, no transitions whatsoever, I love it.

- The water effects are less sparkly.

- JAZZY TUNE IN A CITY!

- We got a glimpse of the new normal battle music, the victory theme seems to be a remix of the original, like the main theme.

- The interiors of the shops are much more detailed.

- The visual effects when using BPs are different from the first game, a bit more "intense" I would say.

- You can speed up battle, like in Bravely default.

- Transition form the cutscene to gameplay a super smooth as well.
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It looks and sounds amazing. With so many QoL features they really decided to outdo themselves with the sequel!
 
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Maronic03 said:
From the stream :

- You can switch from night and day with a simple button press. Naturally there are different activities to do for each.

- If I'm not mistaken, they said there is a night theme for everything, even the game over music.

-They're playing right now, on the map, there are a lot of icons for characters stories (both solo and pairs).

-Seemingly more elevation in towns.

-The day and night switch is seemless, no transitions whatsoever, I love it.

- The water effects are less sparkly.

- JAZZY TUNE IN A CITY!

- We got a glimpse of the new normal battle music, the victory theme seems to be a remix of the original, like the main theme.

- The interiors of the shops are much more detailed.

- The visual effects when using BPs are different from the first game, a bit more "intense" I would say.

- You can speed up battle, like in Bravely default.

- Transition form the cutscene to gameplay a super smooth as well.
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And you can add to that list temporary controllable party members that join you in story chapters as well! As seen from Hikari's ch. 1.
Kevin said:
Looks fantastic. Looks like they are running the PlayStation build. I wonder how it will run on the Switch. The original was far less pretty and only managed 720p when docked. Make me really nervous about this new one on Switch...
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Seems to be from the PC build (likely maxed out?) of the game, just played with a DS4. Still, i think that the switch version will run just fine (in line with the first one at the very least)
Maronic03 said:
I struggle to find a single aspect of this game that is unappealing. Is this my future new favorite JRPG?
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Thunder84 said:
It’s unreal how every single bit of information about this game sounds fantastic. They went all out.
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I relate to both messages on a spiritual level. If i manage (big if) I'll probably go in blind and not watch any future trailers.
 
Pretty sure the tempo of the boss battle music (and therefore the 8 prelude tracks as well) is identical to the tempo used in the first game and CotC.

I don’t know too much about music composition, but I have to imagine it’s pretty tough to create that many music tracks across multiple games using the same tempo.
 
Thunder84 said:
Pretty sure the tempo of the boss battle music (and therefore the 8 prelude tracks as well) is identical to the tempo used in the first game and CotC.

I don’t know too much about music composition, but I have to imagine it’s pretty tough to create that many music tracks across multiple games using the same tempo.
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I recommend this video


"Pure madness"
 
Kevin said:
Looks fantastic. Looks like they are running the PlayStation build. I wonder how it will run on the Switch. The original was far less pretty and only managed 720p when docked. Make me really nervous about this new one on Switch...
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I don't see any reason for concern since the game was most likely developed with the Switch in mind and up-ported to the other systems. Also while the visuals of the Switch version of OT were not as crisp as the PC and XBox versions it was still a beautiful game.
 
I hope this sells a ton, I love the IP and this style in general! Really excited about this one. It’s great that they are trying to improve on the first one in so many ways. I only finished 4 or 5 stories as the lack of real connections between heroes didn’t hook me, but everything else was a 10.
 
Kevin said:
Looks fantastic. Looks like they are running the PlayStation build. I wonder how it will run on the Switch. The original was far less pretty and only managed 720p when docked. Make me really nervous about this new one on Switch...
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What? Triangle Strategy and Live A Live already were a step up compared to Octo1 in terms of image quality
 
The TGS footage mesmerized me on how lively the scenery is throughout. The foliage during the forest village scene is another step up from TS. I noticed back then in the latter how the leaves sway along the wind during cutscenes, but here in OT 2 the whole forest breathes along with the player as the sunlight sparkles through the leaves. The whole scene gradually turns red as sunset comes. Adding day/night cycles is the biggest improvements in OT 2 imo. It adds another layer of dynamism to the visual and attenuates the whole scene no matter which location we see: the forest, the town, the city. This is just another generation above OT 1 in every visual aspect.

Also the music, the music! At least there're Pkm gen 9 and Bayo 3 holding me over until next year...
 
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do we know if the characters interact with each other's stories in this one?
 
I remember the first game fondly and really enjoying my time with it. When I saw this announced in the direct I was so excited. Prob the best part of the direct for me (better than Zelda, because it was another teaser). It looks amazing and can’t believe it’s coming so soon!
 
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ILikeFeet said:
there are side stories that feature multiple party members that you meet
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mmm…hopefully they’re meaty enough that the character interactions don’t fall by the wayside, that was my biggest issue with the first one
 
SlumWolf said:
mmm…hopefully they’re meaty enough that the character interactions don’t fall by the wayside, that was my biggest issue with the first one
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guess it depends on what you mean by meaty. characters won't be active participants in another character's story and it seems like there will be story-specific characters filling out the party as well
 
ILikeFeet said:
guess it depends on what you mean by meaty. characters won't be active participants in another character's story and it seems like there will be story-specific characters filling out the party as well
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I don’t necessarily have an issue with the characters not talking to each other during each party member’s main story beats, but the way they did it in the first one, with so much time between chapters that you forgot all about character specific npc’s and stakes…I don’t think optional side quests are going to fix that
 
SlumWolf said:
I don’t necessarily have an issue with the characters not talking to each other during each party member’s main story beats, but the way they did it in the first one, with so much time between chapters that you forgot all about character specific npc’s and stakes…I don’t think optional side quests are going to fix that
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It'll at least help, and if they changed it so that not every character follows the exact same "Chapter 1-4, go to a new zone, dungeon, boss, repeat" structure that'll help too. But I don't think it'll suddenly start being a big massive 'team RPG' feel, either - it's still likely to be a mostly single-character-focused vignette kind of thing. Although they could expand party interactions and the endgame more, once you've done all the stories.
 
This was posted a couple of days ago by SE's twitter account:




Outside of those screens being a real thing of beauty (obviously), the tweet confirms the existence of a new deity, the conjurer god, Hinoekagura. Now, the obvious implications of this are that we'll have, at the very least, a brand-new God in OT II's pantheon, maybe more than one, maybe all of them. And it helps me segue in to a discussion that I've been meaning to bring up for a while now: would you prefer OT II's world to be the same as the first game (just in a different continent and time), or would you prefer them to be entirely separate universes (just sharing some common iconography and stuff, a la FF)?

As of now we have no way to tell which of the two it will be but personally, I'd ABSOLUTELY love OT II, and all future Octopath Traveler games, sharing a single world. Obviously this can prove quite impractical, somewhat harder to manage, and/or limiting to the writing (lore and world building piling up, and all of the consistencies required). But I feel like this could work well for the series as, while the post-game of the OG builds up a more overarching (and limiting maybe?) lore (which quite frankly can always be easily retconned, just pretend that more progenitor gods outside of Orsa exist, or any other idea works really), the rest of the game doesn't, and makes great use of its singular stories being quite grounded, a setup that could be easily reused for future games.
The games all being set in the same universe would GREATLY, at least for me, enhance the feeling of journeying and discovery that was central to the first game's identity. Letting the player imagine and invest their fancy in a vast, mysterious world, that can have regions isolated yet thriving, modern or primitive, full of light and darkness.
In the first trailer for the game (the JP version), we have one of the new 8 travelers, the priest Temenos, actually name drop Aelfric, which many of you will surely remember was one of the original gods of the first game. With Temenos being a priest of "the flame" we are left at a crossroads: are this Aelfic and this flame the same as in the first OT, and the Church of the Sacred Flame has managed to spread its influence all the way to Solistia, or are SE and Acquire pulling an FF on us and just referencing and reusing tropes from the first game (as an anthology series does)? Are they going to actually give continuity to the series and keep on building one huge, seamless world? With this I'm not asking for the games to be heavily interconnected, they absolutely don't need to be a bunch of direct sequels and prequels. SE is never going to do that. As we can already see from early interviews, producer Takahashi and director Miyauchi are being quite coy on the game's standing in reference to the first, obviously due to a clear business objective of maximizing reachable player base by not scaring away potential buyers who have not played the first (and in the future the previous) game/s in the series, but I'm still (maybe foolishly) holding out hope for them to be in the same universe.

There's more that can be said about this but I feel like my post is already wordy enough, so hopefully I haven't rambled on to much and some of you are actually interested in giving their two cents on the topic lol.
 
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Man I can’t wait for this. I really enjoyed the first game, it was something special during the first year of switch when not much games were announced. I remember the battle music pumping me up and the stories individually were pretty good even if they did not interconnect is such a way everybody thought they would. Highlight of the direct for me and the wait won’t be that long. I still can’t believe this game exists, I thought for sure it was on hold with all the games square had coming out.
 
Josh5890 said:
Special edition- Yes

Amiibos- highly unlikely
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$180? Damn that's a lot.

I kinda wish they made the "true ending* easier for Octopath Traveler 1 The game was a tough grind for the secret bosses. I only got 2 and like gave up after.. And didn't experience the final boss.
Hoping ythey compensate with an option for higher difficulty for the sequel, while making the post game a little easier or less grindy.
 
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Easily my most anticipated game right now, everything they shared so far looks and sounds amazing.
 
Actually, I think I can "easily" not watch any new trailers, I'm good. Only peeked the opening shot and last few seconds.

Also, that is Aelfric's flame no doubt, and because of that I'm once again reiterating my last post. C'mon Aquire and SE don't disappoint me and set the games in the same universe. I'm fine if they don't though, I can forgive and forget
 
Vernal said:
There's more that can be said about this but I feel like my post is already wordy enough, so hopefully I haven't rambled on to much and some of you are actually interested in giving their two cents on the topic lol.
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I was hoping for a shared world too when I saw the more industrial look but based on what they were saying in the TGS presentation it sounds like this is a whole new world. So, like with Bravely, they're sticking with the Final Fantasy tradition of sequels not being a direct continuation unless they specifically state it.
 
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shoptroll said:
I was hoping for a shared world too when I saw the more industrial look but based on what they were saying in the TGS presentation it sounds like this is a whole new world. So, like with Bravely, they're sticking with the Final Fantasy tradition of sequels not being a direct continuation unless they specifically state it.
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Yeah, what they've said and shown so far has been pointing to both possibilities. (e.g. Aelfric's flame could signify same world, just like a new god in Hinoekagura could mean a new setting altogether. Same goes for the director's words on players feeling a connection to Orsterra and the game being perfectly stand-alone and removed in time/place from the original).

Only time will tell, though honestly I'm also feeling like they'll do what they did with BDII and go Final Fantasy with it. (for my disappointment ahah)

SirArthur said:
https://www.esrb.org/ratings/38929/....esrb.org/ratings/38929/octopath-traveler-ii/

I think it was like a couple of months ago that there were almost done. So at least its content complete at this point.
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Sure sounds like Octopath. Hopefully we get more light-hearted stories too though!
 
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Before release I want do a comparison of the marketing strategies between 1 & 2. Not necessarily with this game, but I've never been a fan of how SE does marketing for their games in the west.
 
Osvald's theme is beautiful and Partitio's theme goes ridiculously hard. God, I need this OST in my life ASAP.
 
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Of course I'm sleeping when there's a major update!

We already knew about the intertwining stories with the side chapters, but it looks like the characters are also interacting during battles now.
 
Oooo Limit Breaks! Err Trance! No wait, I mean Latent Abilities! I was wondering what that icon meant in the TGS stream.

Trailer also confirms it's a brand new world. I expect there's going to be plenty of recurring elements like the pantheon and so far it's looking like all the jobs have the same path actions as before (just they're the day action now). I was kinda hoping they'd drop the random roll on some of the path actions since there were absolutely no stakes to failure aside from forcing you to either save scum or pay a 100k fee. Maybe there will be some teeth on that system this time?

I'm also wondering how much of the background assets in this game was bootstrapped by the previous 3 HD-2D games. The first game had frontier towns but now we have something that's very Wild West themed and that feels way too convenient to include after the Live A Live remake. Mind, this isn't a slight of a "lazy dev" / "asset flip" accusation as Final Fantasy used to do it fairly often, I'm just curious from a "how did this get made?" perspective.

Can't believe we're less than 4 months out from this launching. I can totally get behind this tread of more JRPGs getting announced when they're mostly complete rather than dragging out the hype cycle for years.
 
That was a really interesting promo video, I’m really excited for this! Octopath 2 and Fire Emblem back-to-back is really starting next year off with a bang for me
 
SirArthur said:
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Before release I want do a comparison of the marketing strategies between 1 & 2. Not necessarily with this game, but I've never been a fan of how SE does marketing for their games in the west.
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Pretty much

Square Enix have a rough time marketing any games that doesnt have someone do it for them.
I feel both Nintendo and Sony for the most party does a really good job with marketing the games for them.
 
Someone pointed it out that in japanese Partitio is voiced by Zoro (One Piece) and what seems to be Osvald's archenemy is Dio lol. I still need to get used to their names.
 
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mazi said:
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I'm liking both Partitio and Osvald a lot from what little we've seen so far; thinking I'm going to start the game with Partitio. Also still liking how they've mixed things up with an industrial revolution setting in this one. Certainly gives it a different vibe from the first game!
 
Now all I want to do is get to that part of the plot and then sail the high seas with my misfit pirate crew. Customizable sails and colors, too!
 




Double post
Guess I should also confess that, despite being the user with the largest post count in this thread, I won't be playing the game day 1 ahah. That's (obviously) not on OT II though. I just don't play stuff on release outside of mainline Pokémon and spare vouchers.
 
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