Square Enix’s hits of 2018 Octopath Traveler It sold over 3 million copies worldwide, but never reached the PlayStation. Now the series heads to his PS5 and PS4 for the first time with Octopath Traveler II. While retaining his impressive HD-2D graphics from the first game, the sequel builds on what its predecessor did, creating a unique gaming experience that leaves you wanting more. It’s also a fully standalone game, so you don’t need to power up the first title.
Like the first game, Octopus Traveler II offers eight main characters to choose from: Oswald, Casti, Slone, Ossiette, Partio, Agnea, Temenos, and Hikari (Octopath Do You Know?). Choosing a main character puts that character into your party permanently, but you can unlock the rest of the characters and their stories in Solistia’s journey through new worlds, so there’s no chance of missing anything. new playthrough.
As you travel and collect party members, you will be able to play the first chapter of each character’s story. This can be done by playing immediately upon encountering a character, or by visiting an inn in any town and selecting “Listen to the story” from the menu. Playing right away can often feel like it’s slowing you down and interrupting the flow of action, but it means you’ll gain experience, items, and money for that chapter and carry it over. If you skip a chapter, the character will join your party (or bench if you already have 4 party members) at level 1.
Octopath, introduced in this sequel, has a day and night cycle. This can be triggered by pressing R2 or naturally waiting. Characters have different skills for day and night, and NPCs move and appear depending on the time.
Each character has its own class, whether it’s Temenos the Cleric, Osvald the Scholar, or everything in between. Each of these classes has its own fighting style and passing actions for each character. This is a special action that can be used outside of combat. For example, Temenos, a loyal cleric, can guide the townspeople during the day. That is, they follow him wherever he goes until told otherwise, but at night he fights them and can force information from them by letting them reach their resting place. can.
Each character has a story so deep that it could be a game in itself. Each fully developed and nuanced plot drives the desire to know more, to keep going, to explore more, to go further. There’s always that “just a little bit more” feeling. It’s a testament to how much fun Octopus Traveler II is and how much we wanted to put the time and energy into progressing all the characters. Occasionally while traveling, the option becomes “Listen to Travel Jokes” and a small scene with the party members is played.
There is a story of “Crossed Paths” besides the main chapter. These are short missions involving his two travelers and are highlighted on the map. Both travelers must join the party to trigger the story. Or you can add it later and start the story from the inn. Similar to the Travel Banter elements, these plot threads are a lot of fun and give us a great opportunity to see the two characters interact and work towards a common goal. Members join each other’s chapter parties, but do not interact with past main her characters who appear to support them in combat.
The characters themselves are incredibly well-written, and their respective voice acting is top-notch, bringing layers to the dialogue. They are often reused and may be copied and pasted into each other. Octopath Traveler II succeeds in introducing her eight characters full of personality, each with their own quirks and their own motivations. Their storylines are all completely different too, which makes things even more diverse. Take a break and focus instead on becoming a world-class dancer. There is so much variety here that I often feel spoiled for choice.
Characters aren’t the only things that change. Every location in Solistia has a different atmosphere. From wild western towns to frozen tundra, the environments all change with different aesthetics and unique soundtracks. Enemies have specific weaknesses and require different tactics to be the best in turn-based combat. On the other hand, moving from place to place is easy. There’s fast travel on the world map to visit places you’ve been to before, and loading screens between areas are virtually non-existent, so everything feels seamless.
Octopus Traveler II builds on its already aesthetically pleasing predecessor and is visually exquisite. With the coined term HD-2D, which combines retro pixel art and his 3DCG, this sequel is drawn in even more detail. Everything looks crisper and more expressive than before, which really heightens the feeling that this is better than the property’s first outing.
However, Octopus Traveler II feels a bit stumbled in its story progression. Open the world map to see where each chapter takes you and the recommended level to complete that chapter. While useful, reaching that level can feel daunting at times and otherwise put a dent in the story’s perfect pacing. However, the further I went and the higher the required level, the slower I felt getting there.
This is somewhat reflected in the repetitive nature of some battles, especially boss fights. It’s an example of finding, rinsing, and repeating strategies.In some of these encounters, you may feel like you’re on autopilot and don’t see your HP bar. Enemy names are white for high HP, yellow for medium HP, and red for low HP. The end is in sight.
However, this doesn’t mean it sounds like a complaint about combat. The mechanics themselves are really fun. Below the enemy is an icon that must be dug up, indicating the enemy’s weakness. The shield has a number that indicates how many times the weak point must be hit before the breakpoint is reached. When an enemy is “destroyed”, it forfeits the current round’s turn if it has not yet acted. The same goes for the next turn. Broken enemies also take increased damage.
Each character has a different potential, which can be unlocked by pressing the triangle once the gauge is full. Using these latent powers can really turn the tide of battle, making them a particularly compelling tactical element of combat. It’s about being able to feel the nuances, but the longer the fight lasts, the more it feels like you’re practicing pressing buttons.
