The journey we embark on together.

When Octopath Traveler launched back in 2018, I thoroughly enjoyed it despite some notable flaws and despite its success, I was afraid that it would never receive a sequel due to the experimental nature of its structure.

Afterall, having eight protagonists, any of which can be used as a starting point- while the rest can be recruited in any order was a daunting task narratively and to be frank, it didn’t exactly work out all that well in the original.

Thankfully, my fears proved to be unfounded when the sequel was finally announced and I’m happy to report that they have not squandered this second opportunity as the sequel manages to take meaningful steps to shore up the notable shortcomings of the original, providing a superior experience in almost every way.

The 2D-HD graphics are beautifully realized once more.

MSRP: $59.99 (PC)
Platforms: PC, PS4/5, NSW
Played on: PC Specs i7 9700K 4.6GHZ/GTX 3080
Steam Deck Status: Verified, played perfectly.
Length: 60~ hours

The structure of Octopath 2 mirrors the original without much deviation to the formula where I was free to choose my starting protagonist and recruit the remaining characters in any order that I desired. My journey began with Throné, an orphan who was raised by the Blacksnakes- an influential group of thieves and assassins. Despite being one of the favorites to succeed as the next leader of the guild, Throné yearned for a life free from the Blacksnakes, where she no longer had to take the lives of others just to survive. In order to achieve this, she plots to assassinate the current leaders of the guild, each of which hold a key to her freedom.

Each of the eight characters had their own place of origin and a reason to travel the world, which I could experience by playing through their prologue as they were added to the party. While there weren’t any story/plot elements I haven’t seen before, the earnest way that it presents itself made me feel invested in them all the same.

This is helped along thanks to a cast of likable characters, Partitio the merchant easily being my favorite of the bunch. A merchant with a heart of gold, eager and determined to bring prosperity to all after experiencing the devastation poverty reaped in his beloved hometown.

When he exclaimed, “I’ll be back once I eliminate that devil called poverty from the world!” and his jazzy theme song kicked in, I believed his impossible dream and couldn’t help but root for him all the way.

Temenos the priest was another standout as an inquisitor for the church who had become disillusioned with the inner workings of the holy order. His frequent sarcastic remarks and devil may care attitude hid a whirlpool of doubt and turmoil deep within as he desperately tried to piece together the truth.

While some of the characters lacked the depth and charm of the best in the roster, each of them resonated with me through their sheer determination and force of will- the driving force of their journey.

The cold atmosphere of a new land… it fills you with determination.

While the original also had a solid cast, the thing holding it back was the lack of interactions between the characters during the course of the adventure. Until basically the very end of the game, none of the characters really took part in the events actively. In Octopath 2, there are new chapters called “Crossed Paths” where two of the characters paired up for their own adventure and while it’s not a replacement for having characters being present in each other’s story arcs, it’s a step forward in making these wayward travelers feel more like a group.

After all individual stories and “Crossed Paths” are completed, the curtain rises to the final chapter where every character participates in the final story arc that takes elements from previous story arcs and it was a satisfying note to end on.

There is still room to improve in making the characters feel like they’re truly traveling together but these chapters are a step in the right direction.

As for the combat, not much has changed as it plays like a traditional turn-based combat with “BP” opening up the possibility for enhanced attacks/multiple actions in a turn. Breaking the enemy by attacking their weapon/elemental weakness while building up a large pool of BP to unleash all my strongest attacks when the enemy was broken was a surefire way to victory. However, that was easier said than done as there’s no guarantee that I would have access to exploit the enemy’s weakness at all times.

Each of the characters came equipped with a unique class with active/passive skills that could be learned through earning “AP” through fights. By earning additional class licenses and locating some secret ones hidden throughout the world, I was able to equip my characters with their unique skill as well as a main/sub class. Given I was able to equip any passive skill I’ve mastered and further customize my loadout with different types of weapons/accessories, there was a lot of room to experiment.

Thanks to this deep level of customization, I ended up spending a lot of time trying out different combinations of classes and passive skills resulting in some truly powerful combinations. For example, Castti the apothecary was a staple in my party with her ability to combine items for more powerful effects- like giving my entire party a bunch of BP. As BP was a crucial element to combat, just having her as a BP battery meant that I always had my resources ready to go, allowing my other characters to focus on DPS. Castti also doubled as a Dancer to provide powerful buffs to allies when she wasn’t refilling BP/SP for everyone else.

After spending hours experimenting with different builds, finally putting it all into practice is as satisfying as ever.

Outside of combat, each of the characters also brought a unique “Path” action like being able to steal items or hiring an NPC to join them in battle. While the path actions shared some commonalities in their effect, how they were activated and when they could be used was determined by the day/night cycle.

While that might seem like a hassle initially, the day/night cycle could be toggled instantly by a simple press of a button and played a large part in solving some of the quests that required clever use of the mechanic.

Random encounters were also less frequent during the day time which was a nice touch since they were quite frequent overall. Luckily, there were methods to lower the encounter rates and it was quick enough to run away from encounters that I overleveled if I felt so desired. However, given I was always in the market for more AP to unlock new skills, I found myself taking on every encounter the game threw at me through its 60~ hour playthrough.

Perhaps as a result of that, I found that after about half way through the adventure, I was overleveled for the content and entirely too optimized for anything to really stand a chance against me which was a shame as I so enjoy close, thrilling battles. It’s unfortunate but I understand due to the open-ended nature of the game’s progression, it’s no easy thing to balance the difficulty.

Outside of that, the only other area where I didn’t see any improvements were the various dungeons which all felt very straight forward, some of them taking only a few minutes to fully explore and plunder. I would like to see more involved dungeons with unique mechanics to break up the pacing a bit.

Just a nice night out, camping with your friends.

While there are still some improvements to be made in terms of difficulty balancing and dungeon designs, Octopath Traveler 2 makes meaningful improvements over the original and manages to realize most of its lofty ambitions, culminating into an experience not to be missed by any JRPG fan.

Fun Tidbit: People often exaggerate by saying “this entire OST is good”. In the case for Octopath 2, that would be an understatement.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.