Octopath Traveler II - in glorious HD-2D

[Keyboard Koala]

 

Surprised there's no thread about this game yet...

 

While Octopath Traveler II retains the same structure of following eight separate character's stories throughout the game, it follows eight new characters in a new setting separate from the prior games.

It takes place in the world of Solistia, a setting that is more modern than the first game's medieval setting, which is presented more like something from the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries.

 

The game's main cast includes Agnea, a dancer; Partitio, a merchant; Hikari, a warrior; Osvald, a scholar; Throné, a thief; Temenos, a cleric; Castti, an apothecary; and Ochette, a hunter. A character's occupation generally ties in to the character overarching goal; the dancer Agnea is on a quest to become a world famous entertainer, and the merchant Partitio is on a quest to make money and end poverty. Hikari's story follow his quest to return home after being haunted by previous battles, Osvald is on a quest for revenge on a man who ruined his life, Throné is on a quest for freedom, Castti and Temenos are on separate journeys related to personal discovery and truth, and Ochette is searching for creatures of legend. The character's stories intertwine more than in the prior game.

 

Similar to the first Octopath Traveler, the game plays as a traditional JRPG. The player moves between eight separate characters, each with their own purpose for traversing the game world. Once again, each character has their own "path action" - a particular means for the player to have the respective character interact with non-player characters in the game world, often with the goal of getting reward items or characters to fight in support of their cause.

 

New to the sequel are distinct "daytime and nighttime segments" of gameplay, with path actions that will differ depending on the time of day. For example, the player can choose to make the character Hikari duel characters in the daytime, in hopes of learning new skills for battle, but at night, there is the separate option to instead spend in-game currency to bribe characters for information or items.

The game retains the turn-based battle system of the first game as well, including the "break" and "boost" systems. Every enemy has a number of hidden "weakness" attributes related to being weak to particular weapons or elements. Once discovered, an indicator is shown onscreen, and if it is exploited enough times, a "break" occurs, temporarily weakening the enemy. Every turn, "boost points" are accumulated, which can be used for extra moves in future turns.

New to the battle system are the so-called "latent powers", which function similar to limit breaks in Final Fantasy, moves that can only be accessed once a gauge builds up over the course of a battle.

 

 

Announcement trailer:

 

 

 

>> Official website

 

 

Releases on February 24 on all systems except the Xbox series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[b00dles]

I enjoyed the first one so I'll be getting this I think, unless they massively fucked it up somehow. 

[BadgerFarmer]

I assumed it was a Switch exclusive again, so that's a nice surprise. I was going to play it anyway, but may change platform now.

 

I didn't finish the first one, but I was enjoying it as far as I got. The art style is really something.

[p b]

In OT1, I enjoyed the art style, the story... but I thought most fights just went on and on and on and were to slow. I stopped after about 60 hours (yes I know )

[Keyboard Koala]

Demo available:

 

 

[Isaac]

Looks perfect for Steam Deck.

[Cyhwuhx]

My new (D&D) soundtrack for 2023 is just around the corner.

[Keyboard Koala]

Still great it seems:

 

IGN: 7 out of 10

NME: 8 out of 10

Jeuxvideo: 8.5 out of 10

Game Informer: 8.5 out of 10

Nintendo Life: 9 out of 10

Siliconera: 9 out of 10

 

[Popo]

I really think I have to finish the first one before I buy this. 
 

Spoiler

 

[Keyboard Koala]

I still haven't opened the first one but pre-ordered this one nonetheless.

I absolutely love the HD-2D style, and want to support as many games using it, as hopefully we'll eventually see remasters of some real classics like more DQ games and maybe FFVI (or Xenogears) down the line.

 

 

🥰

[Mr. Gerbik]

My Deck is ready

[Keyboard Koala]

Launch trailer:

 

 

 

So many amazing gamze coming out right now!

 

[revlob]

So which character did everyone pick first?

 

I chose Osvald, as I was intrigued by how he was the only one to come with a warning that his tale is a solo affair until later in the story. I'm also hoping for some prison break hijinks.

[BadgerFarmer]

I chose Throné. Great thieving skills.

 

I think Ochette may have been the better choice in terms of having an all-round fighter locked into the party. A bit like H'aanit in the first game.

[the_debaser]

This any good? The demo seemed like more of the same. 

[reprahm]

7 hours ago, revlob said:

So which character did everyone pick first?

 

I chose Osvald, as I was intrigued by how he was the only one to come with a warning that his tale is a solo affair until later in the story. I'm also hoping for some prison break hijinks.

I went with Osvald too, although in my case that warning nearly made me change my mind!  
 

I played the original game with the thief as my starting character and then another play through as the scholar and found having the analyse skill invaluable early on, so that swayed my decision between the two this time.

[Cyhwuhx]

Once again this has a godly soundtrack. 

[Yasawas]

Is there any downside to giving someone a secondary job? Early days and I only have two characters with one sub-job. I guess I’m as well someone having it to broaden their options but want to be sure their progress in their main job doesn’t suffer as a result or anything. 

[jonamok]

Tried the demo of this on Switch, picked the dancer lass. 10 minutes of mostly clicking through twee dialogue, then get to explore and find the very first boss, some big tusked boar thing. Twatting it for what felt like twenty minutes, with no life bar I could see, until it finally got more bored than me and did a party wipe move. Game over.

 

Lol, no thanks. Same problem that saw me bail midway through the first game.

[Jamie John]

37 minutes ago, jonamok said:

Tried the demo of this on Switch, picked the dancer lass. 10 minutes of mostly clicking through twee dialogue, then get to explore and find the very first boss, some big tusked boar thing. Twatting it for what felt like twenty minutes, with no life bar I could see, until it finally got more bored than me and did a party wipe move. Game over.

 

Lol, no thanks. Same problem that saw me bail midway through the first game.

 

Yeah - I had a similar response from choosing the imprisoned character in the Switch demo. Endless, hammily delivered dialogue, and then, when you finally get to the 'gameplay', it involves walking to an objective marker on the minimap and pressing A to speak to someone, triggering some more endless dialogue. I think I fought one battle in 30 minutes, but that was enough for me.

 

I'd heard that this was a good game if you were feeling fatigued by the genre, but I just don't think I can do these sorts of JRPGs any more. Even this one, which is supposed to change up the formula, just feels very played out. It's all stuff I've seen a hundred times before.

[BadgerFarmer]

I do like the combat systems, especially when it comes to some of the bosses, and I still think that visual style is lovely, along with the soundtrack. But it is all rather ordinary beyond that, when it comes to the plots, characters, writing and anything you have to do that isn't combat.

[Jamie John]

6 minutes ago, BadgerFarmer said:

I do like the combat systems, especially when it comes to some of the bosses, and I still think that visual style is lovely, along with the soundtrack. But it is all rather ordinary beyond that, when it comes to the plots, characters, writing and anything you have to do that isn't combat.

 

It mildly annoys me that games like this continue to be so well-received by, you know, presumably intelligent grown-ups who should know better and have higher expectations.

 

Jason Schreier, for example, who's obviously a well-informed, smart bloke, was recently talking about this on a podcast that I was listening to. He was bigging it up as one of his games of the year, complimenting the writing and (apparently) thought-provoking nature of the game. Admittedly, I didn't play this for very long, and it was only the demo, but I couldn't see anything of what he was talking about. I just thought it was uninspired and boring, like the demo of the first game.

 

The same applies to the massive amounts of praise that's lavished on Dragon Quest XI from all corners. I've tried that game about three times, hoping to trigger some sort of epiphany, a realisation about how brilliant it is, actually. Instead, I just get bored and stop playing.

[reprahm]

4 hours ago, Yasawas said:

Is there any downside to giving someone a secondary job? Early days and I only have two characters with one sub-job. I guess I’m as well someone having it to broaden their options but want to be sure their progress in their main job doesn’t suffer as a result or anything. 

There no downside to giving characters secondary jobs other than you will need to spread the JP you earn over the two jobs to open all the skills you want from them, but you should earn plenty enough to open most, if not all, skills from those jobs by the end.

 

75 hours into this now myself and just 3 final chapters to go. Have loved it just like I did the first one and will be sad when it’s all over, these games are the definition of warm cosy blanket gaming for me.

[Yasawas]

5 hours ago, reprahm said:

There no downside to giving characters secondary jobs other than you will need to spread the JP you earn over the two jobs to open all the skills you want from them, but you should earn plenty enough to open most, if not all, skills from those jobs by the end.

Lovely, thanks! The JP sharing hadn’t occurred but given that some seem way more useful then others then I can deal with that. 

[Fierce Poodle]

8 hours ago, Jamie John said:

 

Yeah - I had a similar response from choosing the imprisoned character in the Switch demo. Endless, hammily delivered dialogue, and then, when you finally get to the 'gameplay', it involves walking to an objective marker on the minimap and pressing A to speak to someone, triggering some more endless dialogue. I think I fought one battle in 30 minutes, but that was enough for me.

 

I'd heard that this was a good game if you were feeling fatigued by the genre, but I just don't think I can do these sorts of JRPGs any more. Even this one, which is supposed to change up the formula, just feels very played out. It's all stuff I've seen a hundred times before.

I just don’t think JRPGs are for me. The only one I’ve ever enjoyed was Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast which I completed. I played the demo of this and the first one, as well as the first 5 hours of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 recently and, lovely visuals aside, they all left me cold.

 

For this demo, I think I chose the same character as you, the female thief. Got to the point where you fight your rival on a rooftop. Couldn’t skip the tedious dialogue before the fight. Died both times I tried it despite buying the best available equipment and using all the skills available to me. Fuck this shit.

[Jamie John]

41 minutes ago, Fierce Poodle said:

I just don’t think JRPGs are for me. The only one I’ve ever enjoyed was Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast which I completed. I played the demo of this and the first one, as well as the first 5 hours of Xenoblade Chronicles recently and, lovely visuals aside, they all left me cold.

 

For this demo, I think I chose the same character as you, the female thief. Got to the point where you fight your rival on a rooftop. Couldn’t skip the tedious dialogue before the fight. Died both times I tried it despite buying the best available equipment and using all the skills available to me. Fuck this shit.

 

I chose the bloke on the prison island who wears a muzzle - a mage of some sort, I think. I thought it would lead to some tense, exciting prison break story, but instead it was just a boring, crudely drawn 'prison guards are good, prisoners are saints' narrative that felt as if it'd been lifted from teen fantasy fiction.

 

I dunno. I'm aware that I'm sounding bitter and miserable. I'm glad that lots of other people are apparently enjoying it, and I don't want to stink up the thread. I just get FOMO and find it hard to deal with situations where other people like something a lot and I don't feel the same way.

[Fierce Poodle]

4 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

I chose the bloke on the prison island who wears a muzzle - a mage of some sort, I think. I thought it would lead to some tense, exciting prison break story, but instead it was just a boring, crudely drawn 'prison guards are good, prisoners are saints' narrative that felt as if it'd been lifted from teen fantasy fiction.

 

I dunno. I'm aware that I'm sounding bitter and miserable. I'm glad that lots of other people are apparently enjoying it, and I don't want to stink up the thread. I just get FOMO and find it hard to deal with situations where other people like something a lot and I don't feel the same way.

No, I know exactly what you mean. I feel like I’ve tried to give this genre of game a good crack of the whip, but they do nothing for me. As soon as you go into combat and all those menus appear my cock goes completely flaccid. On the other hand, I can’t get enough of games like Skyrim. Go figure.

[Sarlaccfood]

I hear what you’re saying too @Jamie John

 

I wonder if it’s a US games journalist thing? As you mentioned Schrier has been waxing lyrical and people like Easy Allies have always been big on Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana etc. Feels like they have way more nostalgia for 16-bit JRPG’s over there.

[Gabe]

38 minutes ago, Fierce Poodle said:

No, I know exactly what you mean. I feel like I’ve tried to give this genre of game a good crack of the whip, but they do nothing for me. As soon as you go into combat and all those menus appear my cock goes completely flaccid. On the other hand, I can’t get enough of games like Skyrim. Go figure.

I do often think the problem is that systems get layered over systems and not only does all get confusing, it also sucks out all the fun.

[Jamie John]

7 minutes ago, Sarlaccfood said:

I hear what you’re saying too @Jamie John

 

I wonder if it’s a US games journalist thing? As you mentioned Schrier has been waxing lyrical and people like Easy Allies have always been big on Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana etc. Feels like they have way more nostalgia for 16-bit JRPG’s over there.

 

Quite possibly; this obviously owes a bit debt to FFVI, which didn't release over here until 2002, I believe.

 

I loved these sorts of games when I was a kid - I know most of FFs VII-IX off by heart. Nowadays, though, I don't know what it is, but I just find trad turn-based games dull, and I think my tastes in narratives have matured to the point where I find the cookie-cutter stories in most of these sorts of games so ho-hum that it's not enough to see me through. They just seem like games made for children, or teenagers, which, I suppose, is exactly what they are, and whereas 13-year-old me thought Squall Lionheart was the coolest, angstiest guy ever, 33-year-old me wants a bit more from my fictional characters.

 

That said, if the battle system in a JRPG is good enough, then that can sometimes be enough to keep me playing. I'm a strong advocate for FFXII, for example, and while I couldn't tell you much about what happens in that game's narrative or who the characters are, I adored the battle system to the point where I sunk about 50 hours into the game and did all of the optional boss fights. To an extent, the same applies to FFVII: the story becomes pure hokum after the first disc, but the way that the battle system constantly rewards you with abilities, magic, limit breaks, weapon arts and who knows what else keeps you plugging away.

 

I'd read that the battle system in this was pretty decent and strategic, but I'm not prepared to wade through the mire in order to get there.