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Octopath Traveler II

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Octopath Traveler II
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Square Enix
Director(s)Keisuke Miyauchi
Producer(s)Tomoya Asano
Masashi Takahashi
Artist(s)Naoki Ikushima
Writer(s)Takashi Hino
Kakunoshin Futsuzawa
Composer(s)Yasunori Nishiki
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
Release
  • Switch, PS4, PS5, Windows
  • February 24, 2023
  • Xbox One, Series X/S
  • June 5, 2024
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Octopath Traveler II is a role-playing video game developed by Square Enix and Acquire and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to Octopath Traveler (2018), and the third entry in the series after the prequel mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent (2020), though it features a new cast of characters and setting separate from prior games. It was released worldwide in February 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows; it is the first Octopath game released on PlayStation platforms. Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions were released in June 2024. Octopath Traveler II received positive reviews from critics.

Gameplay

[edit]

Similar to the first Octopath Traveler, the game plays as a traditional JRPG.[1] The player moves between eight separate characters, each with their own purpose for traversing the game world.[2] 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.[1] New to the sequel is there being distinct "daytime" and nighttime" segments of gameplay, with path actions being different depending on the time of day.[3][4] 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.[4]

The game retains the turn-based battle system of the first game as well, including the "break" and "boost" systems.[1][5] Every enemy has a number of hidden "weakness" attributes related to being weak to particular weapons or elements.[5] Once discovered, an indicator is shown onscreen, and if it is exploited enough times, a "break" occurs, temporarily weakening the enemy.[5] Every turn, "boost points" are accumulated, which can be used for extra moves in future turns.[5] New to the battle system are "Latent Powers", special abilities unique to a given character which recharge when taking damage or breaking the enemy.[5]

The game retains the six weapons from the first game, sword, spear, dagger, axe, bow, and staff. It also retains the six magical elements, fire, ice, lightning, wind, light, and darkness. Depending on the jobs each character has, it will allow them to use certain weapons and elements. Like the first game, there are 8 standard jobs, which once again are hunter, apothecary, thief, scholar, merchant, dancer, cleric, and warrior. All characters can have an additional job aside from their default one and can gain their skills, except for a few that are unique to the default character. Unlike the last game though, players can have a maximum of three characters aside from the default one on the same job. To get a character another job, players must find each of the guilds first. Aside from the eight standard ones, there are four unique jobs as well, Armsmaster, Arcanist, Conjurer, and Inventor, which offer more unique skills than the standard ones, and require the player to complete unique quests to unlock. Unlike the standard jobs, players can only assign a special job to just one character.

When the player starts the game, they will have to choose one of the eight characters to start their journey. The chosen character will then become the protagonist of the story. Said character cannot be removed from the active party until their story is completed. The character will also take the lead role in events that do not specify a certain character.

Unlike the first game, all eight characters will play through their first chapter entirely on their own, and may be joined by the others on the following chapters. However, except for the protagonist, players can choose to skip the first chapter of the other seven travelers.

Story

[edit]

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.[6] It takes place in the world of Solistia, a setting that is more modern than the prior game's medieval setting and is presented more like something from the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. For instance, the steam engine is pioneered during the game's events.[2][4][7]

The game's main cast includes:

  • Ochette: Ochette is a hunter hailing from the island of Toto'haha. Aided by one of the two animal companions she had selected as a child, she sets out to capture three legendary beasts in preparation for a prophesied calamity. During her quest, she learns of a mysterious figure known as the Dark Hunter, who had agitated the beasts in the past, sparking Ochette's present-day conflicts. After capturing the beasts, Ochette returns to her village in time for the calamity, during which she finds the animal companion she did not choose leading the attack on Toto'haha. She is forced to kill the animal to bring peace to the island.
  • Castti Florenz: Castti is an apothecary with retrograde amnesia. Awakening in the town of Canalbrine, she visits two other towns she had written about in her treatment log in order to rediscover her past. Guided by her fragmented memories, Castti visits an abandoned village that was destroyed when Trousseau, a former member of her apothecary guild, killed all of the villagers with poisoned rain. The rain brought Castti to near-death and erased her memories. With her memories restored, Castti confronts Trousseau, who is planning on using his poisoned rain to destroy another town. She is forced to kill Trousseau to stop his plans and save the town.
  • Throné Anguis: Throné is a thief and a member of the Blacksnakes, an assassins' guild based in the city of New Delsta. Desperate to free herself from the guild, she sets out to steal the keys to her collar from its two leaders. After discovering the keys she stole did not unlock her collar, Throné returns to New Delsta and discovers a pathway leading to an abandoned city. In the city, she finds a man named Claude, who reveals himself to be the true leader of the Blacksnakes and Throné's biological father. She kills him and unlocks her collar.
  • Osvald V. Vanstein: Osvald is a scholar of magic who was falsely convicted of murdering his wife and daughter. He escapes from prison in pursuit of Harvey, his former friend and true culprit of the crime. Tracking him down to a library in the town of Montwise, Osvald discovers a laboratory Harvey used to conduct illicit experiments. Harvey appears and summons a monster formed using the blood of Osvald's wife, and he reveals he had kidnapped Osvald's wife and daughter for use in his experiments. Osvald defeats the monster and discovers that his daughter is alive and being held captive by Harvey. He chases Harvey into a shrine within the town of Gravell, where he is planning to sacrifice Osvald's daughter in a dark ritual. Osvald defeats Harvey and rescues his daughter.
  • Partitio Yellowil: Partitio is a merchant hailing from the town of Oresrush. After a businessman named Roque Brilliante places the town under extreme poverty, Partitio sets out to eliminate poverty from the world. In the town of Clockbank, he discovers that Roque holds the rights to the steam engine and makes a deal to buy the rights so he can share the benefits. To this end, he is aided by a scrivener named Ori, who helps him procure the necessary capital and informs him of a business presentation Roque is planning to hold on his private island. Partitio sails to the island, interrupting the presentation, and forces Roque to uphold his deal.
  • Agnea Bristarni: Agnea is a dancer hailing from the town of Cropdale. She sets out with the intention of following in her late mother's footsteps and become a star. She is opposed by Dolcinaea Luciel, a long-time star who invites Agnea to participate in a dance competition. Through the towns she visits, Agnea receives inspiration for a new song, which she uses to defeat Dolcinaea in the competition and become a star of her own.
  • Temenos Mistral: Temenos is a cleric hailing from the town of Flamechurch. An inquisitor for the church, he sets out to solve the mystery of his archbishop's murder. He is aided by Crick, a knight working for the Sacred Guard but is murdered after discovering the Sacred Guard's secrets. Temenos discovers the existence of the Moonshade Order, a cult worshiping the dark god Vide the Wicked, and confronts Kaldena, the captain of the Sacred Guard who oversaw the archbishop's murder and orchestrated Crick's murder. Temenos defeats Kaldena and stops a ritual to harness a dark power.
  • Hikari Ku: Hikari is a warrior and crown prince of the kingdom of Ku. He is forced to flee after his tyrannical elder brother Mugen stages a coup d'état and murders the current king, taking over the kingdom in the process. Hikari sets out to recruit his former allies Kazan and Rai Mei, after which he takes the battle back to Ku. He overthrows Mugen and reclaims the throne, ushering in an era of peace.

Each character has between four and five story chapters focused solely on themselves, and two "Crossed Paths" chapters, in which two travelers collaborate on a goal.

  • The Apothecary & Hunter: Ochette and Castti travel to Cropdale and investigate reports of animals fleeing the nearby forest. They venture into the forest and learn that a dark entity has recently taken up residence. They return to the forest after some time has passed and find out that the entity has completely overtaken it. Ochette and Castti expel the entity and save the forest.
  • The Cleric & Thief: Throné and Temenos travel to Flamechurch to investigate rumors of a treasure by the name of "Alpates". The search leads them through a hidden passage in the cathedral, and they find a woman who introduces herself as Alpates. She gives Throné and Temenos a mirror fragment before leaving. Later, they find Alpates dead in the town of Conning Creek. They follow a map she left behind to a nearby cavern, where they find the other mirror fragment. Temenos and Throné reassemble the mirror.
  • The Scholar & Merchant: Osvald and Partitio travel to New Delsta and meet a scholar named Regulus, who tells them of a new invention called the telescope. Osvald and Partitio procure the necessary materials to complete the invention. Regulus invites them to his lab in Montwise, where they retrieve the telescope from a corrupt moneylender and observe the stars. Regulus remarks that the nights have recently been getting longer than usual.
  • The Dancer & Warrior: Agnea and Hikari meet a lute player named Yomi, who performs a song for them under the moonlight. After the restoration of Ku, Agnea and Hikari hold a festival in the city and invite Yomi to perform with them.

Once all eight travelers' stories have been completed, as well as the four "Crossed Paths" chapters, a new chapter is unlocked called "The Journey for the Dawn". While camping outside, the travelers each receive visions of the Sacred Flames of Solistia going out. They wake up to find that the world has been placed under eternal night. Using Alpates's mirror, they set out to restore the Sacred Flames.

Through visions provided by the Sacred Flames and a journal written by Ori, the travelers learn the truth regarding the Moonshade Order's plans and the circumstances surrounding their respective journeys. The Dark Hunter, whose real name is Petrichor, is revealed to have captured the animal companion Ochette did not choose and commissioned Harvey to conduct experiments on it, mutating it into a monster known as the Darkling. Trousseau received a tome from Claude containing humanity's past and went insane as a result. The leader of the Order is revealed to be Temenos's friend Mindt, whose real name is Arcanette. Arcanette orchestrated the archbishop's murder, manipulated Kaldena into attempting to harness dark power, and ordered a member of a theater troupe Agnea befriended to locate the Sacred Flames.

Ori is revealed to have overseen the travelers' separate journeys, relaying information to the other members of the Order. Kazan, whose real name is revealed to be Oboro and is Ori's brother, manipulated Mugen's rise and fall to gain access to a cursed weapon, with which he uses to sacrifice Mugen's former general to snuff out one of the Sacred Flames. To snuff out the other Sacred Flames, Petrichor uses the Darkling to sacrifice herself, Arcanette sacrifices the theater troupe member, and Ori attempts suicide but stops short of completing it; Partitio's actions had restored her faith in humanity.

Arcanette reveals her plans to revive Vide and bring about eternal night based on his teachings. The travelers confront and defeat Arcanette before chasing Oboro to an altar on an island, at which he sacrifices himself to restore Vide. The travelers defeat Vide and restore the dawn to Solistia.

Development

[edit]

The game was first announced during a Nintendo Direct broadcast on September 13, 2022, with first live gameplay footage being shown a few days later at the Tokyo Game Show.[8] Like the prior 2 entries in the series, Octopath Traveler and Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, the game uses a graphical style dubbed as "HD-2D" - an approach that recreates the 2D pixel-based graphics style of the 16-bit era of video games, and portrays it in a high-definition, 3D diorama style.[9][10] At the time of announcement, the game was already estimated to be approximately 90% complete.[11] The game was released on February 24, 2023, for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows platforms.[6] A limited edition of the game with figurines of all eight main characters and an art book was also offered.[4] A demo of the game was made available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Steam prior its release.[12][13] Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions were announced during Tokyo Game Show 2023.[14] The Xbox versions released on June 5, 2024; the June 5 release included a patch for all platforms that included various difficult superbosses to fight in the postgame after clearing the main story.[15]

Reception

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Critical reception

[edit]

Octopath Traveler II received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[16][17][18]

While enjoying the visuals, Polygon criticized the narrative of the main party, "When fighting, considering their strengths and weaknesses and using their abilities in concert during turn-based battles is crucial. But come to a main story scene, and everyone but the single person directly involved will suddenly disappear."[31]

Others were more positive, with RPGFan asserting that the game improves on its predecessor, "Octopath Traveler II takes everything good about the first game, turns it up to 11, adds a few quality-of-life updates, and is, in fact, the superior game overall."[32]

Sales

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The Nintendo Switch version of Octopath Traveler II was the second bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 53,995 physical copies being sold across the country. The PlayStation 5 version was the eighth bestselling retail game in Japan throughout the same week, with 14,422 physical copies being sold, while the PlayStation 4 version sold 7,269 physical copies in the country, making it the eleventh bestselling retail game of the week in the country.[33]

The game sold 1 million units by June 2023.[34]

See also

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  • Triangle Strategy - a game by Square Enix featuring the same graphical HD-2D style and also produced by Team Asano.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Reed, Chris (September 13, 2022). "Octopath Traveler 2: Here's What Comes in Each Edition". IGN.
  2. ^ a b "Octopath Traveler 2 announced for Nintendo Switch". Eurogamer. September 13, 2022.
  3. ^ Welsh, Oli (September 13, 2022). "Octopath Traveler has a sequel, due early next year". Polygon.
  4. ^ a b c d Brown, Andy (September 14, 2022). "'Octopath Traveler 2' revealed with February 2023 release date". NME.
  5. ^ a b c d e Yang, George (October 1, 2022). "Octopath Traveler 2: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more". Digital Trends.
  6. ^ a b LeBlanc, Wesley. "Octopath Traveler II Announced, Releasing Next February". Game Informer. Archived from the original on September 13, 2022.
  7. ^ Walker, John (September 13, 2022). "Octopath Traveler Gets Switch Sequel, Out In February". Kotaku.
  8. ^ Romano, Sal (September 17, 2022). "Octopath Traveler II - 20 minutes of TGS 2022 gameplay". Gematsu.
  9. ^ Bolding, Jonathan (September 18, 2022). "Here's 20 lovely minutes of beautiful Octopath Traveller 2". PC Gamer.
  10. ^ Middler, Jordan (September 13, 2022). "Octopath Traveler 2 is officially coming to Switch". VGC.
  11. ^ Norman, Jim (September 22, 2022). "Octopath Traveler II Is 90% Complete According To Square Enix". Nintendo Life.
  12. ^ Winslow, Levi (February 8, 2023). "Octopath Traveler 2 Has A Free Demo On Switch, And You Should Play It". Kotaku. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  13. ^ Smith, Graham (February 9, 2023). "Octopath Traveler 2's substantial JRPG demo is out now on PC". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  14. ^ Romano, Sal (September 21, 2023). "Octopath Traveler II coming to Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Windows in early 2024". Gematsu. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  15. ^ Romano, Sal (June 5, 2024). "Octopath Traveler II for Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Windows now available". Gematsu. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  16. ^ a b "Octopath Traveler II for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  17. ^ a b "Octopath Traveler II for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Octopath Traveler II for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  19. ^ Yang, George (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler 2 review: improved RPG sequel still has some lingering issues". Digital Trends. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  20. ^ Romano, Sal (February 21, 2023). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1786". Gematsu. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  21. ^ Broadwell, Josh (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler II Review - Two Is Better Than One". Game Informer. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  22. ^ Faulkner, Jason (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler 2 Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  23. ^ Shive, Chris (February 17, 2023). "Review: Octopath Traveler II". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  24. ^ G. Macy, Seth (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  25. ^ Vogel, Mitch (February 17, 2023). "Review: Octopath Traveler II - A Confident Follow-Up And One Of Switch's Finest RPGs". Nintendo Life. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  26. ^ Ronaghan, Neal (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler II Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  27. ^ Brown, Andy (February 17, 2023). "'Octopath Traveler 2' review: a wondrous slow-burn". NME. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  28. ^ Sayers, Jade (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler II Review (PS5)". Push Square. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  29. ^ Wilkerson, Zach (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler II Review". RPGFan. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  30. ^ Mejia, Ozzie (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler 2 review: Eight is a crowd". Shacknews. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  31. ^ Castello, Jay (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler 2 is eight good stories in search of a great one". Polygon. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  32. ^ Wilkerson, Zach (February 17, 2023). "Octopath Traveler II Review". RPGFan. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  33. ^ Romano, Sal (March 2, 2023). "Famitsu Sales: 2/20/23 – 2/26/23 [Update]". Gematsu. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  34. ^ Romano, Sal (June 7, 2023). "Octopath Traveler II shipments and digital sales top one million". Gematsu. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
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