A sequel to the immensely well-liked JRPG, Octopath Traveler, Octopath Traveler II follows the story of eight totally different characters, every with their very own story, motivations, and ability units. The sport begins with you selecting the primary story you wish to hear.
There’s a transient synopsis of every character that may be chosen, and deciding on them will put you of their opening prologue sequence. I selected Hikari, the noble warrior archetype that seeks a greater future for these he leads. After all, it doesn’t matter an excessive amount of who’s chosen as the primary character, as each character could be recruited and assigned because the social gathering chief.
One of many largest hurdles of entering into JRPGs are the large storylines. These video games simply push 50+ hours, with some getting as much as over 100 hours. It’s a large time dedication and could be off-putting. By telling eight totally different tales, every of which is considerably shorter than what can be present in an ordinary JRPG, Octopath Traveler II is extra accessible. The sport nonetheless takes round 50-60 hours to finish in its entirety, but it surely’s simple to leap again into every story since there isn’t 30 hours of exposition to recollect.
Whereas the storytelling is a bit unconventional, the remainder of the sport could be very a lot an archetypal JRPG. Fight is flip primarily based, with flip order enjoying a key function in how issues play out. Enemies have particular weaknesses to weapons and components, and focusing on these weaknesses will lower their protect factors. Carry these protect factors all the way down to zero and the enemy’s stance breaks and so they turn out to be extra susceptible to assaults. Additionally they lose their subsequent flip.
With every flip your “BP” gauge can even refill. These factors can be utilized to enhance assaults and talents, as much as a multiplier of 4. Every character additionally has particular skills that may be drastically amplified when totally maxed out with BP. In difficult battles, particularly the ultimate battles of every story, utilizing these factors incorrectly could be the distinction between success and failure.
Utilizing these factors with a personality’s fundamental assault causes them to assault a number of occasions in a sequence. This makes them extremely helpful for focusing on an enemy’s weak spot to interrupt their protect. Nonetheless, these normal assaults gained’t do as a lot injury as a particular capacity. It’s a balancing act that retains the fight attention-grabbing.
When you purchase a full social gathering, most enemies can have no less than one pretty simple to use weak spot. Completely different character courses equip totally different weapons and have totally different skills that focus on weaknesses. A few of these courses have extra overlap, so relying on the composition of the staff, fight can turn out to be more durable.
However all through the sport, there are guilds that may grant a license for various courses. As soon as you discover these, you can begin multiclassing, as your character will get entry to all weapons and talents that the second class has. It is a very beneficiant method as many video games provide watered down skills, or a restricted choice, when multiclassing. This technique permits each character for use in any mixture to make a viable staff.
Exterior of fight, every character has particular skills which might be tied to their backstory. For instance, Partitio the service provider should purchase objects off any NPC in the course of the day, and he can rent folks to comply with your social gathering at evening. Hikari the warrior can problem folks to duels in the course of the day, or bribe folks for data at evening. Some characters can have related skills that obtain the identical outcomes however with a distinct method. This suits in with the theme of giving gamers freedom in assembling a celebration with out lacking out on any content material.
There are some caveats to the format of Octopath Traveler II’s eight character method although. Mainly, the preliminary recruitment of all eight characters does drag down the pacing of the sport. Every time a brand new character is encountered, they eagerly ask to affix your touring band of adventurers. At that time, you might have the choice to both proceed enjoying as you have been, or to play by way of that character’s prologue.
Select to skip the prologue, and it may be accessed later from one of many many taverns within the sport. That being mentioned, the prologue is a necessary a part of studying about every character’s motivations and organising their plot line. Ignoring it’ll make them really feel way more like an ordinary NPC, as a substitute of one other playable character. Nonetheless, every prologue resets you again to degree one and the gameplay looks like a repeat of the primary half-hour of the sport. It’s a little bit of a slog, however it’s technically non-obligatory to play by way of the prologues – though it hurts the storytelling.
The opposite draw back is that there isn’t a system that strongly rewards or encourages swapping out social gathering members. There are storylines that comply with pairs of characters, and these solely get triggered when each members are within the social gathering, which is a marked enchancment over the primary sport. However there isn’t a strategy to shortly swap out characters in fight, which is limiting.
As an alternative of feeling like a band of eight adventurers, it looks like one fundamental social gathering that sometimes has folks swapped out. It’s a disgrace as a result of there are a number of situations within the sport the place the assigned social gathering members will discuss with one another about what’s going on. Unassigned characters don’t take part in these exchanges, which is unlucky as a result of they construct on these relationships and present the relationships every character varieties.
Regardless of these hangups, the gameplay and fight is extremely enjoyable and interesting. The boss fights are difficult, and even when on the beneficial degree, they nonetheless require that you just reap the benefits of the totally different fight mechanics to succeed. After all, grinding for extra ranges can be an choice, and I used to be pleasantly stunned after I found that even after beginning the ultimate chapter of a personality’s story, it’s nonetheless attainable to go away and degree up or comply with different tales.
There’s a considerable amount of participant freedom, with non-obligatory areas and boss fights. There are a number of secrets and techniques hidden all through the world. Simply ending the primary tales doesn’t imply the sport is over, and that’s the mark of a real JRPG. Tons of content material that totally fleshes out the world.
All of this takes place to a completely beautiful set piece. Every area is meticulously crafted, utilizing a mixture of 2D sprites and 3D landscapes that enable for dynamic digital camera motion. The music is gorgeous and the extent of care and element that has gone into Octopath Traveler II is clear.
The voice appearing can be nice. I swapped between the Japanese and English voice actors to see how they sound, and plenty of prolific actors lend their voices to the sport. Should you’re a fan of anime, you’ll acknowledge voices from main reveals like Naruto, One Piece, and Hunter x Hunter.
All of it signifies that Octopath Traveler II is difficult but rewarding, filled with narrative that you just’ll wish to immerse your self in. It might initially really feel a slog, however there are hours of play right here, all of which play out throughout some nice world design.
Octopath Traveler II arrives to Xbox Recreation Cross, alongside Octopath bundle – https://www.thexboxhub.com/octopath-traveler-ii-arrives-to-xbox-game-pass-alongside-octopath-bundle/
Purchase or play on Recreation Cross – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/video games/retailer/octopath-traveler-ii/9n2x3vzw8qnn