Octopath Traveler 2 review: gorgeous JRPG, huge storytelling void

lots of Octopath Traveler 2‘s most memorable moments have to do with relationships. Casti, an amnesiac pharmacist, learned about her lost past from a previous patient. Hikari, the exiled prince, tracks down and reconnects with the allies. Dancer Agnea wants to put on her mother’s memorable show and bring joy to people.

There’s a lot more to the eight characters and their adventures, but it’s the interpersonal moments that stand out. Because they pose inevitable questions to the game.

Several combinations of 4 of 8 come together for dozens of hours. Run in a line while exploring a gorgeous 2.5D world that has been precisely drawn. When fighting, it’s important to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each and coordinate their abilities in turn-based battles. However, when it comes to the main scene, all but one person who was directly involved suddenly disappears.

I’m occasionally prompted to watch “Travel Jokes” where two characters suddenly stand in a misty world of nowhere overlapping their front positions and awkwardly chat as if they’ve only recently met, but this problem nothing to mitigate Neither do the occasional shallow side stories where the characters’ paths intersect.

The same separation seems to have existed in the original Octopath Traveler (I haven’t played it), and I wonder if that, too, felt so inconsistent with the story the wider game was telling. Because of this, the relationship with each protagonist feels like the core of the game. It’s worth highlighting here. Incredible expressiveness packed into a small figure.

But while the side cast’s vibrancy is great, it only exacerbates the isolation between the main crew. For example, when the characters from the previous chapter appear to be cheering Agnea on with her big dance, the absence of her traveling companion feels awful. When she told her to go to the building alone, her tension eased when she saw the other three protagonists suddenly appear beside her.

Image: Acquisition, Square Enix via Square Enix/Polygon

It’s a pity, but setting aside this weird sense of disconnection, Octopath Traveler 2 Persuasive. Travel a vast world, recruit new characters to dive into quests, and solve problems big and small in different towns and groups.

The eight stories range from passable (Merchant Partitio’s desire to bring friendly capitalism everywhere he goes is probably the most uneven) to cheesy but fun (Beast Hunter Oschett doesn’t have much of a character arc). Maybe, but she’s cute and fun) and deftly moving (Scholar Osvald’s route has a boss fight that uses mechanical storytelling to incredible effect). Taken together, they have a fixed thematic core about separating personal ambitions from pernicious desires, and their diversity is a world full of historical, magical, social, and religious detail. will produce

Its world looks great and can be complicated to navigate thanks to its winding trails, blurry world map and even blurry radar, but that’s an excuse so it doesn’t really matter. Marvel at dappled trees, moonlit snow, or listen to a stellar soundtrack. It also takes longer to move, and it doesn’t matter if you come across more enemies. Because you need to grind anyway.Main His chapter recommended level increases significantly both in the mid- and late-game, so the extra XP earned from backtracking will still be put to good use.

Image: Acquisition, Square Enix via Square Enix/Polygon

This intermittent grind thins towards the end of the game, though it stops unlocking interesting abilities at certain points, but the pacing of the chapters themselves is snappy. Mostly her one hour or he two hours, the different sides catch up with her cast of characters, progress perhaps using some of the main character’s special skills, and then tackle an epic boss battle.

Team composition, equipment, and skill are all important. For example, Osvald’s mage His powers do different types of elemental his damage, but hitting someone with a staff doesn’t do much physical harm. Hikari, on the other hand, can do a lot of damage in a single swing, as long as she has a sufficiently powerful sword and possibly the Castti buff. It’s very satisfying when it works, but losing focus near the end of these long battles can quickly snowball and become devastating. Spikes become more common and become a problem towards the end of the game when battles are even longer. The text didn’t tell me what a particular ability or item did.)

Image: Acquisition, Square Enix via Square Enix/Polygon

Excuses aside, these boss fights are generally a satisfying conclusion to the chapter, especially since most of the bosses’ abilities reflect story traits. It may concentrate, but an enemy general trained in swordsmanship will probably attack very hard and very often.

However, even though I enjoy the thought put into each battle’s design, it still comes back to the lack of connection between the main characters. target. And there are some similar examples of this attention to mechanical cause and narrative effect. Their momentum was halted by a silence between the main actors.

Anyone who’s spent time in fandom circles knows that little things go a long way when it comes to bridging the gaps in character relationships. A hand on the shoulder, a little compliment, a little joke, anything can fuel your imagination.I had plenty of time Octopath Traveler 2, when my mind was free to wander between exploration and combat and would have done most of the work—if only I had a foundation to build upon. However, I can’t help but feel that the script didn’t have the fuel of imagination in the first place. Without it, Octopath Traveler 2 Beautifully realized, but with a hole in its center.

Octopath Traveler 2 It will be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC on February 24th. The game was reviewed on Switch using a pre-release download code provided by Square Enix. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.