OCTOPATH TRAVELER II

I decided to play this game on the strength of a Steam review that described it as "You fight capitalism and then you fight god." A pithy statement that actually captures well the grandiose themes of a game that, through cute graphics and a few storylines about being a great dancer and eating lots of jerky, tackles some truly complex and difficult questions. Can the wealthy ever be anything but greedy? Can the oppressed ever truly be free? Why do we value life, when so much of it is strife and sorrow? Octopath's main charm, for someone like me who plays RPGs mostly for their plots (and subplots, and side quests) and world-building, is its premise of offering a stunning eight parallel plotlines, evolving side by side as your travellers explore a world that is beautifully crafted and detailed, full of wonders and dangers. In fact, Octopath is a much more immersive experience than I had anticipated, and even with its relatively simple graphics and mechanics manages to create a vast world where every town has its own quirks and tensions, and memorable characters evolve alongside your gaming experience. As in all RPGs, the balance between character interaction, exploration, and fights is crucial, and I would say that in OTII this balance is quite good: simply by exploring the world and leaving no stone unturned I was able to level up my characters, and equip them with powerful enough items, to make it all the way to the end and beat the (very challenging) final boss. I have read opinions of players who found the game way too easy or, conversely, too hard at times, but I would say that (as a fairly casual gamer, and even though a couple of fights kept me on my toes) I thought the balance was alright. Back to the plots and characters, I would say that all eight protagonists are compelling and well-crafted, and that the game's mechanics, which forces you to play with all of them at various points, actually pushes you out of your comfort zone and encourages to explore the full gamut of what Octopath II can offer. The eight plotlines felt, perhaps, a little bit disconnected for most of the game, which made the final stretch feel slightly jarring - but this is a fairly minor complaint. The random encounter dynamics is one of the most tedious aspects of JRPGs for me, and it did feel a little boring at times (especially when you have to cross areas that are wildly below your characters' level), but this didn't happen often, and I rarely had to travel back and forth just to level my characters up. I think this is first and foremost a beautiful, moving game - alternately touching and silly in the manner of much Japanese storytelling - that will reward anyone looking for an immersive RPG. It's easy to pick up and the complexity curve is quite slow, so that, by the time the really hard bosses start appearing, you should have mastered most of the game's mechanics. A couple of twists were really unexpected, a few plots really packed a punch, and I found myself deeply invested in this game and its world, much more than I expected. It's proof of a great story when, after 85 hours of it, you are left wishing that you could experience more of it. Highly recommended!

This game is better than the first in every way, and iterates on the first game's combat in really good ways as well. The soundtrack is phenomenal. The art direction is beautiful. The voice acting is good, the writing is good. To me the "bad" voice acting of the first game just was as a result of weaker stories, but genuinely I think they nailed it this time. This game is almost a masterpiece. I did not feel that about the first game. In comparison, the first game feels very soulless. It's almost really sad that a lot of people felt the soullessness of the first game and didn't give this game a try. This game definitely has all the soul missing from the first game.

The extremely intricate (and somewhat complex) mechanism both in and out of combat really bring out the role-playing aspect of this JRPG, though it is very much still a JRPG with all its trappings, strange and convoluted stories included. For people who love JRPGs - like me - this game is truly magnificent; for those who don't like JRPGs, they will not be having a good time here; for those of you who are interested in getting into JRPGs, I'd suggest put this on the back-burner first, it's not a good introductory game to the genre, though if you do end up liking JRPGs, definitely come back to this one, it'll be well worth it.

both myself and my daughter love this game. it is well made and both challenging and entertaining. well done enix

Great story, great art, great battle.

Octopath Traveler 2 is a neat jrp where you follow 8 character stories separately. As an enhancement off the 1st game, you actually have joint quests that also bring the character stories together to a final end boss. The final boss does add some new mechanics - amazing how it took ~40 hours of game play to finally see something new: you get to fight with all 8 characters, which is kind of neat. However, [spoiler] you also can't rez your party members at a certain part of the fight, which means the boss spams aoe and huge single target spells wrecking your group without a way to bring them back into the fight. I absolutely hate the final fights in Octopath 1 and 2. [/spoiler] My 2 big gripes with this game: 1) the characters and jobs aren't evolved a lot from the first game. The same weapons, spells, and weaknesses are the same without any major changes. 2) Just like the first game, the end boss requires a ton of grinding on top of the story quests that you've completed. I don't like grinding for hours just to beat 1 boss. Anyway, I didn't really enjoy this one like I did the first or other rpgs that I've played this year so I can't recommend this game over others in the store. Even on sale, it's not I'm hopeful that if they make a third Octopath, that they evolve some of the neat systems and do a better job world building than they did in the first 2 games.

A great 'old-school' JRPG experience that builds on the familiar mechanics that make the genre so enjoyable. In my opinion, the only downside is how the different character storylines feel disconnected from each other. If they were more intertwined, the overall experience would be stronger. That said, the stories are still fantastic.

Both Octopath games i've got 200+ hours on. Stories are amazing, the exploration is fun and it's easy playing for the most part where you can watch something alongside it

Actually fire in every way. The story is phenomenal and the combat is fun. This game also introduced me into the entire turn-based genre. HIGHLY Recommended that you play.

It really comes together when you finish all the character's main story and do their joined quest. The characters have dual episodes but I really wish the next game have you start as pairs and have them branch off to their respective endings so we can have more chemistry. That or have some NPCs that are more relevant to the 8 characters as a whole. Still, a strong recommend from me who didn't like the Bravely Default 1 and BD Second.

Fantastic JRPG. Great pixel art, music, and gameplay.

It's more easy side for the main game bosses, but it got side bosses which will test your mechanic within this game and get your ass whopped.

Fully beat the game and gotten all achievements. This may be the best game I have played in recent memory, the story? A+, the music? A+, the Gameplay? A+, combat? A+. The game is fairly straightforward in the beginning and quickly makes it challenging without farming a bit. Mid game is a great pace and then the end game can be quite challenging. The Superbosses? Banger fights that take a ton of prep and strategy. Very Very Fun.

Words cannot express how much I love this game. 10/10.

This game is leaps and bounds better than the original. I hope they make a third one. The fact that Throne references Kill bill alone is enough for the price of admission

currently at the 80 hour mark and I need a break before I go back and look for all the little things i missed and tie up the story lines for the characters I didn't focus on. If you liked the fist game this is more of that.

I want to recommend this game because there are good points but the bad points overshadow them, a lot. The GOOD - great visuals - unique art style - classic job system - good battle system - decent world building - cool looking enemies and bosses - good soundtrack that changes subtly depending on if it's day or night The BAD - shallow story - shallow characters - battles are often too easy, even during boss fights - lore of the game is too simple Basically it has promise but the story is just meh, the entire time. There is little to no character development. None of the characters have to make any hard choices, there are no moral grey areas. The characters barely show emotions and they sound like it too. The villains are simplistically evil with little to no reason to be so. They just are or they are one diimensional. It makes the game very boring. I never really thought "ooo I really wanna see what the mystery behind this is" or "I wonder what's gonna happen next?" It's an RPG, the main draw is supposed to be a good story. twists and turns. relatable, interesting characters. EMOTIONS. There is no depth. I'm really wondering what went wrong. It looks high budget. Did they spread themselves too thin with 8 different storylines? The combat is just too easy with not much strategy needed. after certain jobs are unlocked it's very easy. I was consistently winning battles with one action using the Inventor. Late game I was easily winning boss battles by negating all physical attacks, their magical attacks did not hit hard enough. They almost needed to give the bosses several actions in a row to be dangerous, or something. In a word. Dissapointing

Fun pixel RPG. It's what I've been looking for after playing Sea of Stars in the recent-ish past. If you like good pixel art turn based combat, look no further.

* RATING AFTER 100% ACHIEVEMENTS * - Game’s pixel art was *chef kiss. - Grindy (If you wish to get all the trophies) - All stories were great. I like Temenos. - Satisfying ending. - Can be repetitive sometimes. WOULD RECOMMEND!

The way this game presented as a recreation of the retro feel of the jrpg genre is actually a double edge sword. Still, those who love it will love it. And I am on the side of nitpicking every details this game has except for the art style and music because they are the very first factors that are directly presented even before opening the game. I am not finishing this game anymore and just accept the sunk cost I incurred at this point of time. Mildly spoiler warning here but i want to point out the negatives that break this game play experience ------ ------ ------ -the old fashion level grinding here while still wasting so much time, the need to gather certain setups in order to grind faster seems to me like the devs are gaslighting us that they helped you in a way to grind level faster but in reality the game itself just don't have a better alternative to grind past level 45 above. On top of that, i heard that beating the game requires two separate teams which means i have to grind two seperate teams which double the amount of time i have to waste on this game. -the world map and the environment despite being big and rich, having no other interaction with the scenes and objects other than chest or specific statues is a such a waste and so hollow. I know the focus here is on the characters and NPCs but i couldn't resist to ask "is that it? is that all i can do here?" -While i only finished Throne's chapter 1,2&3 on father's route, I can already predict what's coming on other characters. This predictable rinse and repeat character story telling mechanic despite being the very identity of this game, does not sell me well when i have other expectations arise during the game play. I'd wished that it should have been the MC entering into other playable characters' story and not just having presented like starting other 7 characters from zero, at the point of almost finishing the chosen MC's chapters. -the battle system here just gets old real quick here as you encounter more bosses and it's like your dealing a final end game boss every time when sets of choices are becoming limited and fixed. I hate the problem-solution feel here when you have to gather and experiment certain setups in order to increase your damage output just to be able to beat the bosses before they wipe your party in only few turns. It's like your always at the disadvantage and the only way here is to cheese the opponent with those one or two kinds of setups that people will always recommend. -while listing down the 4 different aspects to complain about, i realized that the 5th one is actually the "nothing else to complain". This game even if they improve the art style in 3D modern graphics, the emptiness can be still feel whenever you stopped what your currently doing. While it's a retro-feel game, i wished that the game might as well include some other side mechanics which modern games have even if it will destroy the retro feel of jrpg game play experience.

The best Pokemon game I have played since Black/White 2. But for real, this game is GORGEOUS. Feels like it was made to be played on an OLED handheld screen like the Steam Deck. I love how bite sized it is and how easy it is to complete a little chapter in an hour. The characters are enjoyable. The turn based combat is engaging with the break and boost methods. Music is amazing. Just such a fantastic game. I am glad I finally played i!

I've had the hardest time getting trying to get myself to really enjoy this game and it hasn't worked. It's got some major flaws for me, at least. I don't need a game to hold my hand for me but it's really hard to figure out just what I'm supposed to do next which leads me to just walking around aimlessly for a while. That brings up the second problem, the encounter rate. Every few steps is excessive for any game. I've been playing JRPGs for, well since FF1 on NES so it's not that I'm not used to a bunch of random encounters. It's just there's so damn many. Like others have stated 8 separate story lines is a different idea but it doesn't work for me. I can't get invested in my party as a whole which is usually the point in this type of game. Characters not leveling unless their in the party blows. I get why, they want you to play each ones story but I'm not interested in stretching out the game that long. The game looks and sounds great but that's not enough for me. After playing Clair Obsure I realized I need to just cut my losses with this game. My time is too valuble to waste trying to enjoy a game that isn't for me.

I had a lot of problems with Octopath Traveler I, and they accumulated to the point where I dropped the game after completing all Chapter 3 segments and only one Chapter 4 segment. To keep it brief, the story was generally lacking, the characters were bland and shallow, and the general strategy for enemies boiled down to "buff your allies, then deal damage until you need to heal" just like any other JRPG--the Break system offers some variety, but not enough to remain engaging after 50 hours. Octopath Traveler II fixes almost every problem that I had with the first entry. The characters regularly undergo change and actually show the player how they're not bland templates of their class. Most of their stories not only excel in telling an actual story that ties to the narrative, but also in a way critiques the faults of OT1's stories (such as Tressa focusing only on treasure, Olberic on blind revenge, and Ophelia on blind trust in faith) without sacrificing the story itself. There are more ways to deal strong damage than "use the expensive attack with 3BP" here than in OT1. Unfortunately, this game still chose to force the first selected character to be in the party until you complete their story. I didn't like that in OT1 and I still don't like that in this game. I was forced to complete other characters' chapters who were 10 levels behind my Osvald and had no way to even out everyone's levels. Despite this, Octopath Traveler II is a must-play for any JRPG fan. If you felt burned by the first entry, then give this one a try and you'll be impressed by how much everything has improved.

The story was written for children, plot holes so big you have to actively restrain yourself from thinking about it. The 'plot' feels like watching kids tv show. Gameplay: I enjoyed the first bits of level grind, but it can get annoying to travel and having to fight things much lower level than you without being able to stop it. Then went into a lvl 16 dungeon to finally fight things my level again (all team was ~16) and every fight was a massive slog, having to spend tons of resources to fight. Then the xp you get out of it feels very low compared to the real world time you have to spend fighting. Feel like it's more worthwhile to grind levels on incredibly low level things only, and never take on a real challenge as it gets later (and level 16 is early in the game, max level is 99) Characters: Some of the characters just feel incredibly useless. I only have 4 currently, but 2.5 of them feel incredibly useless and not fun to use, and am trying to get the other characters so I can get rid of them. I like the hunter. I like the unique day/night traits with the different characters Example story issues: [spoiler] There is a main character who is a merchant/trader. And the beginning story is all about how capitalism is good and his dad and business partner own the mines and essentially create a company town where they own everything and everyone loves them. Capitalism good. But then, there was a clause in the contract when they bought the mine and the original owner got to buy the land back after they developed the area (Ok... Pretty big problem with the contract, but fine) then all of a sudden the owner of all the land is a bad person and they are now poor, and the town is in the slums. Ignoring the fact that previously they thought everything was great when they owned everything, ignoring that this is capitalism and they are now on the receiving end of what they were just doing. No reflection on anything they've been doing, just main character capitalism good, other people bad (when doing the same thing). Then they go and beat up the people who took over the city who were previously thugs that you fight earlier. Ignoring the fact that they are actually law abiding citizens now, and the main character is now the thug beating up the people running the town. No introspection. No character growth/arc. Just plain good guy, bad guy. Then... It turns out the original owner who sold them the land and bought it back was... The dad's business partner... who bought the land with the dad... WTF? So the business partner sold the land... to himself, but was then splitting with the dad, then he abandoned his share and left, then bought it all back? Why would he have sold the land to himself? And it was some big reveal? His name would have been on the contract! None of it makes sense and it's all just elementary school dumb. And if losing the deed causes the dad to immediately go broke and the town completely collapse, then maybe the dad was actually a terrible merchant / leader all along, but no reflection on that either. Just main character and their beliefs good, people standing in their way are bad. And this is just one of the character's intros. [/spoiler]

Okay its 100% achievements. I have no regret now. 10/10 RPG.

[h1] Octopath Traveler II – Steam Review [/h1] ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ As a fan of turn-based games, Octopath Traveler II really hits the spot. The art style is stunning — that HD-2D look is beautiful and nostalgic at the same time. The battle system feels satisfying and strategic, especially with the Boost and Break mechanics. I also love how each character has their own unique story and path actions, which gives a lot of replay value. The music? Absolutely amazing. I can literally just sit and vibe to the soundtrack. If you liked the first one or just enjoy JRPGs in general, this one is a must-play. Totally worth it on Steam.

Nice and easy, pure joy.

Love everything about this game

Good game, cozy, vibes on high.

im octopathing it!

I love this game so much.

Great game

Great game.

Love it

better than the first

Love it

gud gud

Great!

Captivating story.

worth every penny

jrpg good awesome amazing

great!

I LOVE OCTOPATH TRAVELER

PLAY WITH OCHETTE

8path

Good jrpg