A sequel to the immensely common 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 choosing 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. In fact, it doesn’t matter an excessive amount of who’s chosen as the primary character, as each character might be recruited and assigned because the celebration chief.
One of many largest hurdles of stepping into JRPGs are the huge storylines. These video games simply push 50+ hours, with some getting as much as over 100 hours. It’s a large time dedication and might be off-putting. By telling eight totally different tales, every of which is considerably shorter than what could be present in a normal JRPG, Octopath Traveler II is extra accessible. The sport nonetheless takes round 50-60 hours to finish in its entirety, however it’s straightforward 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 may be very a lot an archetypal JRPG. Fight is flip based mostly, with flip order taking part in a key position in how issues play out. Enemies have particular weaknesses to weapons and components, and focusing on these weaknesses will lower their defend factors. Carry these defend factors all the way down to zero and the enemy’s stance breaks they usually develop into extra susceptible to assaults. Additionally they lose their subsequent flip.
With every flip your “BP” gauge may also replenish. These factors can be utilized to enhance assaults and skills, as much as a multiplier of 4. Every character additionally has particular skills that may be significantly amplified when totally maxed out with BP. In difficult battles, particularly the ultimate battles of every story, utilizing these factors incorrectly might be the distinction between success and failure.
Utilizing these factors with a personality’s fundamental assault causes them to assault a number of instances in a sequence. This makes them extremely helpful for focusing on an enemy’s weak point to interrupt their defend. Nonetheless, these commonplace assaults received’t do as a lot injury as a particular capacity. It’s a balancing act that retains the fight fascinating.
When you purchase a full celebration, most enemies could have not less than one pretty straightforward to use weak point. Totally different character courses equip totally different weapons and have totally different skills that concentrate on weaknesses. A few of these courses have extra overlap, so relying on the composition of the workforce, fight can develop into tougher.
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 skills that the second class has. This can be a very beneficiant strategy as many video games supply watered down skills, or a restricted choice, when multiclassing. This technique permits each character for use in any mixture to make a viable workforce.
Outdoors of fight, every character has particular skills which are tied to their backstory. For instance, Partitio the service provider should buy objects off any NPC through the day, and he can rent folks to comply with your celebration at evening. Hikari the warrior can problem folks to duels through the day, or bribe folks for info at evening. Some characters could have related skills that obtain the identical outcomes however with a unique strategy. 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 strategy although. Mainly, the preliminary recruitment of all eight characters does drag down the pacing of the sport. Each time a brand new character is encountered, they eagerly ask to hitch your touring band of adventurers. At that time, you might have the choice to both proceed taking part in as you had been, or to play by means 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 vital a part of studying about every character’s motivations and establishing their plot line. Ignoring it’ll make them really feel rather more like a normal NPC, as a substitute of one other playable character. Nonetheless, every prologue resets you again to degree one and the gameplay appears like a repeat of the primary half-hour of the sport. It’s a little bit of a slog, however it’s technically elective to play by means 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 celebration members. There are storylines that comply with pairs of characters, and these solely get triggered when each members are within the celebration, which is a marked enchancment over the primary sport. However there isn’t a approach to shortly swap out characters in fight, which is limiting.
As a substitute of feeling like a band of eight adventurers, it appears like one essential celebration 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 celebration 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 fascinating. The boss fights are difficult, and even when on the beneficial degree, they nonetheless require that you simply reap the benefits of the totally different fight mechanics to succeed. In fact, 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 depart and degree up or comply with different tales.
There’s a considerable amount of participant freedom, with elective 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 attractive set piece. Every area is meticulously crafted, utilizing a mixture of 2D sprites and 3D landscapes that permit for dynamic digicam 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. In case you’re a fan of anime, you’ll acknowledge voices from main exhibits like Naruto, One Piece, and Hunter x Hunter.
All of it implies that Octopath Traveler II is difficult but rewarding, filled with narrative that you simply’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 Sport Go, alongside Octopath bundle – https://www.thexboxhub.com/octopath-traveler-ii-arrives-to-xbox-game-pass-alongside-octopath-bundle/
Purchase or play on Sport Go – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/video games/retailer/octopath-traveler-ii/9n2x3vzw8qnn
