Each character is distinct, whether it is Temenos’ cleric being focused on healing or Throné’s thief emphasizing daggers and speed. The combat system continues to blend Shin Megami Tensei’s Press Turn battle system with Square’s past work on the Bravely series into something that is reminiscent of those two but wholly its own. While the ending might not fully pay off, the changes to combat and how you interact with the world have expanded in meaningful ways. The finale brings the gang together in a way that makes me more frustrated that the preceding 50 hours were so disparate. Alongside that, there is a “Final Chapter” waiting for you at the end of everyone’s quests, but while the more direct manner of concluding the overall story is a marked improvement from the semi-hidden finale of the original, it still doesn’t come together in a way that makes up for the dozens of hours before that where everyone has their own tales. ![]() You can buy your own ship and explore at your leisure, but all of the sea content is pushed off until late in the game. ![]() In the middle of the world, there is a giant sea that, well, you barely interact with until the late game. The Shared Paths seem to share a similar fate as sailing. The best thing about them is how they make use of two character’s abilities in interesting ways. Largely, these are somewhat throwaway filler side stories. The biggest attempt at solving this are Shared Paths, which put two of the characters together in their own quest. You occasionally have some optional party banter, but most of those feel like opportunities to make jokes or asides, not really adding to anything meaningful. Their individual stories do not involve the other party members. One of the complaints about the original was the fact that none of the cast interacted with each other and that’s unfortunately still the case here. The pacing is good, rarely requiring the level of grinding I had to do in the first game. There is variety in the formats of some of the stories where there are multiple places to go for each chapter, making the individual stories feel a lot longer than they were in the original. Some of the plots are stronger than others, but nothing is bad. Even if some of the stories are kind of silly, like Partitio the merchant trying to get money to end poverty or the dancer Agnea trying to get famous, there’s a good balance between drama and relief. Castti the amnesiac apothecary might hit on some memory-loss tropes, but the way the game presents her slow memory return is really neat. ![]() I’m a big fan of the scholar Osvald, who starts off in prison for his first two chapters and has a compelling quest for revenge after being framed for the murder of his wife and daughter. ![]() Twists and reveals throughout the stories hit the right notes, amplified by the sometimes overserious but always very good voice acting. That being said, the cast is very good with distinct stories. Others, not so much, like the hunters who both have quests to find a rare monster or three. Some of the characters feel very different, like the warrior Hikari, a prince caught in a never-ending war he doesn’t want to participate in, while the warrior from the original was Olberic, an old knight from a lost kingdom. Octopath Traveler II features eight new playable characters, complete with their own stories, that all settle approximately into the archetypes of the original’s eight characters. For the most part, this sequel succeeds at improving on the original, but in some spots, it highlights some of the weaknesses of the first game without dramatically improving the experience. Now, after nearly five years, Octopath Traveler II hits the scene, promising marked improvement over the original while still trying to touch on the same magical retro-inspired feel. Since the game’s debut, Square Enix trotted out the HD-2D look for a number of other games, whether it was the tactical stylings of Triangle Strategy or the stunning remake of Live A Live. When Octopath Traveler was revealed in 2017 and then released in 2018, the unique style made it stand out, conjuring visions of ‘90s JRPGs in a high-def way. Square Enix revisiting Octopath Traveler after a few years feels a little bit like a victory lap over the success of HD-2D games.
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