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StarTopic Octopath Traveler II |ST| Boosted Journey Day & Night

Holy moly, Castti's third chapter hits hard. Been digging her whole story a lot more than I was expecting to.
 
Wait, there are Chapter 5s? That explains why some Chapter 4s are lower level, I guess.

While I appreciate how quick and snappy a lot of these Chapters are, I feel like some of them could actually stand to be longer. Osvald in particular I feel like hasn’t gotten a ton of focus other than his very initial part in prison (haven’t done his Chapter 4 yet).

Standouts to me so far (nearly finished all Chapter 3s): Temenos, Cassti, and Throne. But really they’re all pretty good and interesting, definitely improved from the first game a lot.
 
Wait, there are Chapter 5s? That explains why some Chapter 4s are lower level, I guess.

While I appreciate how quick and snappy a lot of these Chapters are, I feel like some of them could actually stand to be longer. Osvald in particular I feel like hasn’t gotten a ton of focus other than his very initial part in prison (haven’t done his Chapter 4 yet).

Standouts to me so far (nearly finished all Chapter 3s): Temenos, Cassti, and Throne. But really they’re all pretty good and interesting, definitely improved from the first game a lot.
It’s variable per character- some of them don’t have a chapter five if they had an earlier chapter split into multiple routes/scenarios.
 
Me "hey look, it's shark in the sea, surely its no as strong as a super boss like in 1"
Sharks proceeds to destroy my party in 1 turn
Me "uh.... interesting"
 
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Me "hey look, it's shark in the sea, surely its no as strong as a super boss like in 1"
Sharks proceeds to destroy my party in turn
Me "uh.... interesting"
Yeah I’m coming back to it, I nearly beat it and then it aced my whole party at once, lol.
 
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It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the guy waiting for someone in Canalbrine isn’t the same guy who’s there at night
I only noticed when literally changing it from day to night multiple times while standing right next to them
 
Seems like the game isn’t doing as well as the first. Which was expected and still doing best on switch.

Wonder if it could’ve done better as an exclusive with Nintendo’s marketing. I’ve noticed a few blindsided. By its release. But I also think the novelty helped the first game a lot
 
Seems like the game isn’t doing as well as the first. Which was expected and still doing best on switch.

Wonder if it could’ve done better as an exclusive with Nintendo’s marketing. I’ve noticed a few blindsided. By its release. But I also think the novelty helped the first game a lot.

Probably, Nintendos marketing push was definately less. The question is whether the extra sales on Switch from it being exclusive would be more than the never-Nintendo gamers who got it on Steam/PS4/PS5 instead.

Even if it were exclusive i would assume a certain portion of gamers would expect 1 year exclusivity and just decide to wait it out. This wasn't so clear with the first Octopath when most people just assumed it would be exclusive for longer.
 
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It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the guy waiting for someone in Canalbrine isn’t the same guy who’s there at night
That happened to me too lol, I think I was already into 25 hours and just decided to look at a FAQ because it was bothering me
 
Seems like the game isn’t doing as well as the first. Which was expected and still doing best on switch.

Wonder if it could’ve done better as an exclusive with Nintendo’s marketing. I’ve noticed a few blindsided. By its release. But I also think the novelty helped the first game a lot

How many copies is it selling?
 
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I bought OT1 and hated it after a few hours. Based on Jason's comments, I bought OT2 and haven't been able to put it down!

About 17 hours in and finished all 8 Chapter 1s and have explored as much as I can. Main party is at level 33...whoops.

A bit overwhelmed about who to focus on first for Chapters 2/3. They are all super interesting characters, even if some of the first chapters were a bit meh. Hm...
 
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Managed to do more sidequests and get some really broken weapons, and now Hikari is a killing machine and that shark didn't knew what hit it
 
Maybe doing Cassti’s Chapter 3 and then Osvald’s Chapter 4 so close together was a bad idea, oof. I need something happy and uplifting like Agnea next to mentally recover
 
Dolcinea stealing my overpowered Hikari to have him nuke my own team was not a pleasing experience. Good thing she settled for Castii in my second attempt.
Lmao, thank god she went for Castti in my playthrough, Hikari would have hurt!

Know you have my sympathies ;p
 
Yea this is Xenoblade 2 level good. Like 10x better than DQ11 and somehow improves in so many ways over Octopath 1. GOTG tier. Hope I can beat it before RE4 arrives :ROFLMAO:
 
I wrapped up all of the 8 stories + 4 crossed paths and unlocked the finale!

I'm glad that they've knocked it out of the park for all of the travelers' final chapters. They know you've got to step up the drama and spectacle while delivering a satisfying and strong conclusion to a character(s) arc, and they've nailed it. Obviously some are a little/decently stronger than others, but that's par for the course.

I found the game so incredible that it's easily my favorite turn-based RPG ever. Now, I won't pretend to be an RPG connoisseur, far from it! But if I pit it against other well-regarded titles in the genre that I've actually played (e.g. DQ XI S), I think it blows them out of the water honestly (well, on par with XC.DE, if we consider that to be a turn-based RPG?). Not to shit on DQ XI specifically but it's a game you'd cut a third of and would be better off for it (P5 Royal I haven't played, but from what've heard of gives me similar vibes), Octopath 2 is "lean" and mean by comparison (even being a 60-80 hour game), and does everything really fucking well. It's pretty immaculate in its execution.

Gotta say that in 2 they've made the story connections way clearer, though maybe my view is slightly tinged by the fact that I went in expecting them to be there, and so far I've found them to be well executed without feeling too forced, so I'm curious to see if I'll be mixed on the ending as @PixelKnight seems to be (which, goes without saying, is a perfectly OK viewpoint! Don't want to sound like an absolute shill, I'm just excited to see what they've done with it and to be able to look at those spoilers with other players' thoughts on it!).

And so the threads have been spun, time to see what hides behind the curtain.
 
I wrapped up all of the 8 stories + 4 crossed paths and unlocked the finale!

I'm glad that they've knocked it out of the park for all of the travelers' final chapters. They know you've got to step up the drama and spectacle while delivering a satisfying and strong conclusion to a character(s) arc, and they've nailed it. Obviously some are a little/decently stronger than others, but that's par for the course.

I found the game so incredible that it's easily my favorite turn-based RPG ever. Now, I won't pretend to be an RPG connoisseur, far from it! But if I pit it against other well-regarded titles in the genre that I've actually played (e.g. DQ XI S), I think it blows them out of the water honestly (well, on par with XC.DE, if we consider that to be a turn-based RPG?). Not to shit on DQ XI specifically but it's a game you'd cut a third of and would be better off for it (P5 Royal I haven't played, but from what've heard of gives me similar vibes), Octopath 2 is "lean" and mean by comparison (even being a 60-80 hour game), and does everything really fucking well. It's pretty immaculate in its execution.

Gotta say that in 2 they've made the story connections way clearer, though maybe my view is slightly tinged by the fact that I went in expecting them to be there, and so far I've found them to be well executed without feeling too forced, so I'm curious to see if I'll be mixed on the ending as @PixelKnight seems to be (which, goes without saying, is a perfectly OK viewpoint! Don't want to sound like an absolute shill, I'm just excited to see what they've done with it and to be able to look at those spoilers with other players' thoughts on it!).

And so the threads have been spun, time to see what hides behind the curtain.
Looking forward to discussing it when you’re done! There’s so much in the game I want to talk about, and my criticisms don’t stop it being one of my favourite rpgs in a very long time- It took me 68 hours to finish and I’m just surprised I could find so little to criticise really. I’ve been raving about it over the last few days, it’s a masterful game and the quality is, on average, really high throughout. The music is wonderful too, I keep going back to listen to ‘song of hope’.
 
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It just occurred to me thinking to myself “Crick is the Watson to Temenos as Holmes” - is Crick being the “Watson” character a weird reference to Watson-Crick (the DNA scientists)? I don’t know why it would be, but it’s now stuck in my head :p
 
Me everytime I got to new city / town to learn the juiciy gossips and secret lives of the people:

d5NftrW.gif


Like how in Clockbank the old guy who is a thief at night and thinks its outsmarting his famliy but the granddaughter also knows and eveybody is faking it, or in Timberlain how the Princess is in love with the royal gardener (who is also a woman)
 
It just occurred to me thinking to myself “Crick is the Watson to Temenos as Holmes” - is Crick being the “Watson” character a weird reference to Watson-Crick (the DNA scientists)? I don’t know why it would be, but it’s now stuck in my head :p
Nah it's probably intentional. The localization team had fun with this one

This is the game with a city called Ku that has a coup and a villain called Roque

I remember seeing somewhere that you can tentatively connect Temenos' name to "home" which seems more of a stretch but would also kinda fit
 
Me looking at the lost tribe weapons "man this could be game breaker if the stat reductions weren't that big"
Found the accesory Blessing in Disguise
Me looking at the description "turn all negatives..... OOOOOOH"


DfYCxkx.gif


The game never cease to surprise me after 40 hours
 
When I come across dungeons and am appropriately leveled, is it best to just explore them immediately? I'm wondering if maybe some sidequests make use of them and I'm better off waiting until I trigger that if there's nothing really else to see, but if there's good treasure and whatnot anyway, I may as well go in.
 
When I come across dungeons and am appropriately leveled, is it best to just explore them immediately? I'm wondering if maybe some sidequests make use of them and I'm better off waiting until I trigger that if there's nothing really else to see, but if there's good treasure and whatnot anyway, I may as well go in.
There's a handful of side quests (and main story chapters) that will make things appear in certain dungeons/areas, but it's far from all of them. Just like that, I would estimate it's maybe around half of them or so? Maybe even less?

I would say it's worth going in anyway though, since you can use the loot right away, and when you come back you can just beeline for the end of the area and it's not a huge time loss.
 
When I come across dungeons and am appropriately leveled, is it best to just explore them immediately? I'm wondering if maybe some sidequests make use of them and I'm better off waiting until I trigger that if there's nothing really else to see, but if there's good treasure and whatnot anyway, I may as well go in.
A lot of them don't have anything in specific, there are just there with better loot
 
Oh god I was worried that

the girl was being abused by her mother, but it turned out that the lady was thief.
 
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When I come across dungeons and am appropriately leveled, is it best to just explore them immediately? I'm wondering if maybe some sidequests make use of them and I'm better off waiting until I trigger that if there's nothing really else to see, but if there's good treasure and whatnot anyway, I may as well go in.
Always worth at least sticking a toe in so it appears on your map with its listed threat level as a reminder. None of them are that long, so I usually had a bash at them to see if I could handle it. Sometimes the random battles killed me in one round, sometimes I could handle them even though they were ten levels higher.
 
I think I'm gonna get this game. I didn't buy the original because it looked visually uneven and the reception was kinda mixed, and these days if I'm gonna spend 60h in an RPG I want it to be nothing short of excellent. But II definitely seems to reach those highs, the game looks absolutely gorgeous and everyone agrees it's a huge improvement.

Also since this one wasn't published by Nintendo, I hope it goes on a good sale in a while.
 
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About 20 hours into it now. Finishing up Chapter 2s but trying not to go too fast because there is some great questing to be had in this game. The menu-free, waypoint-free way they coalesce just feels so rewarding. I especially love the false endings where you get the quest completed message with a big fat question mark at the end haha. I forget if that was in the first game or not, but the massive step up in writing and the awesome cast makes it so much fun to poke and prod at everything you see
 
That post-credits scene is really sweet... and I'm definitely feeling that "great game gone" emptiness right now.

Now what? How do I live?

I guess OCTOPATH TRAVELER sort of, kind of, also wants to answer that question ahahah

I'm rambling, aren't I? Though maybe not really for those who have finished the game?

Anyways, I'm trying to word this pathetic excuse for a joke in a non-clumsy way, and it's not working! So game gud, would recommend.
 
Got this as a surprise gift while quarantined, and damn has it been a blast. 20 hours in already, and while it's been a long time since I played the first game, it's still very easy to see that this is a big improvement. Not perfect, there are still some annoyances that I wish they had ironed out (recruiting characters is still awkward, swapping gear between party members is a headache, and unvoiced travel banter are probably my three biggest complaints at the moment), but it's so much better overall that it's easy to look past all of that. Game is goddamn huge too, feels like there's significantly more story content across the board. Absolutely love that they broke away from the structured story segments of the first game. I didn't even mind them that much compared to others, but these shorter chapters are such a lovely breath of fresh air. Throne's chapter in Oresrush was damn near perfect for what it was, give me more of that please.

I dunno how I'm gonna balance this and Trails to Azure at the same time, but dammit I'll find a way.
 
Got this as a surprise gift while quarantined, and damn has it been a blast. 20 hours in already, and while it's been a long time since I played the first game, it's still very easy to see that this is a big improvement. Not perfect, there are still some annoyances that I wish they had ironed out (recruiting characters is still awkward, swapping gear between party members is a headache, and unvoiced travel banter are probably my three biggest complaints at the moment), but it's so much better overall that it's easy to look past all of that. Game is goddamn huge too, feels like there's significantly more story content across the board. Absolutely love that they broke away from the structured story segments of the first game. I didn't even mind them that much compared to others, but these shorter chapters are such a lovely breath of fresh air. Throne's chapter in Oresrush was damn near perfect for what it was, give me more of that please.

I dunno how I'm gonna balance this and Trails to Azure at the same time, but dammit I'll find a way.
Yeah that was a minor nitpick of mine- needing to go a tavern to swap gear with reserve party members. There’s taverns everywhere but even so.

The pacing of the game is fantastic. Some scenarios are longer than others, some have barely any combat, some are cut-scene heavy and some involve exploration of new areas. The boat and the sea is waiting for just about the right time to expand your options, and there’s a variety of low level, mid and high level areas all over the place. The side quests are nicely varied as well, with some of them being head scratchers and some requiring that you interact with the NPCs. Which you should anyway, as thats what the path actions are for. Being able to change from day to night instantly is great too, putting all the tools in the players hand rather than making it an awkward ‘go to the inn and set a wake-up time’ to do exactly the same thing.

Just a wonderful rpg. There’s always a range of big and small things to do, there’s new towns waiting for you all over the place, and, when it ends, it feels ‘right’. Not too long or too short. It just ends at the right time and sticks the landing too.

I’ve got a handful of minor things I didn’t like to balance the posts of gushing praise I’ve written about this, I’ll set them out below-

-
The general ickiness of the latter half of Throne’s story, everything to do with Claude, felt, I don’t know, voyeuristic. Particularly the woman fleeing after giving birth.
-The ending linking all the stories together, particularly the Dark Hunter from Ochette, in a couple of scenes and some journal entries and then largely wrapping it all up apart from the main antagonist before the party catch up with them felt a bit rushed.
-I felt the stories still could have a few more links between them, and perhaps could have used those to lead into the crossed paths which could have felt a little more elegant than the isolated vignettes.
-all recruited characters should be able to swap equipment at any time, rather than having to wait to juggle them at the tavern and forgetting that there’s now a better weapon available for them.
-when swapping jobs, maybe a reminder to equip new/optimised weapons for them would be good.

But they all feel fairly minor criticisms compared to the sense of adventure and warmth and exploration in the game as a whole. I loved all the characters, and the variety in those stories and the way they were told (well, apart from one chapter, see above). I loved the path actions, night and day, that the sea held secrets and small things and big challenges but also wasn’t ludicrously huge and empty.
Easily one of the best RPGs I’ve played in years, probably one of the best I’ve ever played.
 
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Oswalds story is a nice change of pace. It feels very different from the other ones as I happened to stumble on his story as last. I didn’t even notice him lying in the snow at first but then I saw him and his story is one I want to see concluded asap. Damn Harvey.
 
Oswalds story is a nice change of pace. It feels very different from the other ones as I happened to stumble on his story as last. I didn’t even notice him lying in the snow at first but then I saw him and his story is one I want to see concluded asap. Damn Harvey.
I actually walked straight past him once. I aimed to recruit him and wandered straight past him (I had the minimap off) and ended up in Stormheim. There’s another timeline in my game where he just died of exposure I guess :D

But yeah I was on board with his quest, very interesting. Particularly as I did his and Temenos’s tales last, and their tales felt like they were heading more into magic and ritual and conspiracy, so it made for a fun lead to the endgame.
 
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The pacing of the game is fantastic. Some scenarios are longer than others, some have barely any combat, some are cut-scene heavy and some involve exploration of new areas. The boat and the sea is waiting for just about the right time to expand your options, and there’s a variety of low level, mid and high level areas all over the place. The side quests are nicely varied as well, with some of them being head scratchers and some requiring that you interact with the NPCs. Which you should anyway, as thats what the path actions are for. Being able to change from day to night instantly is great too, putting all the tools in the players hand rather than making it an awkward ‘go to the inn and set a wake-up time’ to do exactly the same thing.

Just a wonderful rpg. There’s always a range of big and small things to do, there’s new towns waiting for you all over the place, and, when it ends, it feels ‘right’. Not too long or too short. It just ends at the right time and sticks the landing too.
Yep. Don't want to sound like a broken record... but absolutely yes to all of this.
I’ve got a handful of minor things I didn’t like to balance the posts of gushing praise I’ve written about this, I’ll set them out below-

-The general ickiness of the latter half of Throne’s story, everything to do with Claude, felt, I don’t know, voyeuristic. Particularly the woman fleeing after giving birth.
-The ending linking all the stories together, particularly the Dark Hunter from Ochette, in a couple of scenes and some journal entries and then largely wrapping it all up apart from the main antagonist before the party catch up with them felt a bit rushed.
-I felt the stories still could have a few more links between them, and perhaps could have used those to lead into the crossed paths which could have felt a little more elegant than the isolated vignettes.
-all recruited characters should be able to swap equipment at any time, rather than having to wait to juggle them at the tavern and forgetting that there’s now a better weapon available for them.
-when swapping jobs, maybe a reminder to equip new/optimised weapons for them would be good.

But they all feel fairly minor criticisms compared to the sense of adventure and warmth and exploration in the game as a whole. I loved all the characters, and the variety in those stories and the way they were told (well, apart from one chapter, see above). I loved the path actions, night and day, that the sea held secrets and small things and big challenges but also wasn’t ludicrously huge and empty.
Easily one of the best RPGs I’ve played in years, probably one of the best I’ve ever played.
-To me the trope-y voyeur-ish part feels more relevant when talking about Throné's first story-half, with the whipping and all the rest; whereas with Calude I'd say the whole thing is unsettling and a bit glossed over in general, like, I'm genuinely curious as to what is supposed to happen to the women that give birth, are they killed or what, turned into vessels? In general the writers always go for that grimdark which coupled with trope-y female portrayals of its ilk result into... that? Honestly I feel like I'm not equipped well-enough to address in full this point, as such I can't give much insight on it, and I try to look only at the rest of what's there (i.e. Throné's own journey)
- Haven't had too much time sit on my thoughts but it does feel a tad rushed, though I don't know how I'd address the issue personally. Patrichor, or whatever her name is, specifically doesn't get much screen time, but does she need it? Maybe yes as I already forgot why she joined Arcanette in the first place lol (was she seduced by her as well?), but personally I like having some figures come out of nowhere. You get to realize that it's her actions that scarred so badly the body of the animal companion you rejected, and to see why its mouth was drenched in blood (yuck) well after you had figured out that these are things that happened to it.
I am a bit mixed on Ori though. Was her inclusion in the broader narrative the right choice? And was saving her after she tries to sacrifice herself the right move? I guess yeah, it happens due to Partitio's influence, though it does leaves me a bit cold, the whole thing felt a tad too melodramatic. I don't know, it's still a fun twist I'll give them that.
-So as you know from the previous part of my post I was personally satisfied with the links already present, mostly because I feel like having more, likely ham-fisted ones, wouldn't necessarily help the characters' singular narratives... that said! Don't know if you've noticed but, thanks to reddit users pointing this stuff out, we also know that
  • The words Roy, Temenos's friend, says to the cleric, in his chapter 3 flashback, are the exact same Ochette's chapter 1 boss (the cursed beast) says, meaning that is most definitely Roy in the flesh! Poor guy.
  • Ori and Clarissa are present in Osvald's courthouse flashback
  • A more inconsequential but fun detail: Malaya appears in Partitio's chapter 1 (prior to her death)
All of this stuff is hard to notice on a first playthrough and I kind of love it honestly.
-Agree on the gear swapping. I don't think having all of the 8 characters' equipment always at the player's disposal would be cumbersome in any way; feels like an easy fix and a leftover from the previous game, though it very much is a minor nuisance.

If I am to "complain" about something then I have to change my stance on puzzles, I think the game could've done with having some, though not many. Add a few of them sprinkled throughout the travelers' stories and the side-content and they'd positively add to the experience. I'd still want them to be approachable and bite-sized, so as to keep in touch with the general pick-up and play nature of the series. (which is how Octopath was conceived in the first place, and probably one of the reasons why I find it so enjoyable)

Moreover for the next game (please be a thing that happens),
don't repeat the same plot for a third time in a row ;P. I know you specifically haven't played 1 but crikey are they structured similarly, it almost feels deliberately done? I understand it's probably the story set-up that made the most sense when they made 1, but having evil cult spearheaded by charismatic bewitching figure (well, this time more than one I guess) pulling the strings to awaken an evil God is gonna get old if they do it again. The "man turned beast" thing they pulled in OT2 was also lifted from 1, where it even was a touch cooler, and just as subtle too. I bet 99% of the players didn't even notice. (I sure didn't without stumbling upon it on the internet)

Oof this is a long post, but the game deserves it!
 
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