Growing up I always loved playing RPG's, role playing games, and experiencing what the characters experienced. Putting myself into their shoes, and tribulations.

With grand storylines like Legend of Dragoon, or interactive gameplay like Secret of Mana or LoD during combat. It was all really engrossing, and not any RPG can satisfy that need. I played Octopath Traveler 1 on the Xbox Game Pass back in the day, and even played the OT2 DEMO when that was released.

I had to wait until it went on sale eventually to play OT2 fully, but I ended up really enjoying it even more than the first game. It added on almost everything, and even branched together storylines a lot better too. For those who don't know, the game is essentially this:

You get together 8 people, they each have about 4-5 chapters in their own story, they come together at the end. That's end.

Really simple, but beautifully executed; From the stories/paths, to the wonderful music, and of course the characters themselves. One aspect in particular that caught me was the battle mechanics of both games.

Being relatively simple in design, i.e. break and enemy's defense, and then damage them. However it quickly becomes a game of chess, where you try to predict the opponent's next action, and try to prevent it with your actions. Do you focus on breaking the enemy, or simply doing damage enough?

Warning, there are spoilers in this post.

Thoughts on Gameplay

I haven't this much fun trying to be creative in an RPG during combat since Legend of Dragoon, as the combat in both games takes a more interactive approach. In Octopath you find yourself deciding between a few options:

  • Standard Attack
  • Magic Attack
  • Latent Powers (each character has their own unique one)
  • Special sets (Hikari's Learned skills or Ochette's Provoke beasts)
  • Concocting and more.

There are so many options when you are fighting an enemy, and when you get secondary jobs it changes up the gameplay even more. Your once DPS, or damage focused class, now does healing? Your once healer is now a full blown mage, and is casting strong spells.

You turn your support character into either a fighter or a double support.

It all culminates in what I can only describe as this Chess-like experience where you try to outthink your opponent. It is hard because you have to think turns ahead, and strategize priorities. Do you focus on breaking the enemy first, so that you do more damage. Do you break them over time, so that you can prepare for a more powerful damage attack later? ETC.

Thoughts on Jobs

I added this section in last minute, as I realized there was a lot to say on this. They sort of neutered the warrior job, but Hikari as a character is extremely powerful. His Latent power has a few powerful attacks, and his learned skills can be one of the most broken things in the game.

They buffed the apothecary 5x, and I'm all for it. I finally see myself using the character more, and the latent power for her is to not use any ingredients. Which is helpful cause some people are item hoarders.

The special jobs are an interesting mix, as while I do think some aspects are an improvement over the first game. I don't think the Inventor is a good replacement for the Starseer for example, which it did take its spot.

The Armsmaster and Warmaster are basically the same thing, and in fact I can't remember which game had which. That's how close they are, but the Sixfold strike in the second game I think works out more often. However it is how the class is handled outside of battle that I think is peculiar.

The skills are gained not by leveling up and unlocking them, but by simply finding the weapons in the world. Making you have to explore for them, which is good, and they did the same thing with the Inventor. However a few one them aren't even guarded by a boss, and some are hidden in weird areas.

The conjurer is a better version of the runemaster, but it is hidden away behind Hikari's story. Making it inaccessible to other characters (especially in solo runs).

Finally you have the Arcanist which is an interesting choice to replace the sorcerer, as they made the Scholar a lot more powerful. The Arcanist is really hard to find if you don't know where to go, and it works with a lot of characters surprisingly.

Story Arcs and Culmination

Despite my issue with the chapters (see next section), there are some redeeming qualities to the story chapters. Firstly there are more of them than in the first game, which for someone who gets engrossed into them I enjoyed.

There are some options for you this time, both Temenos and Castti basically have a choose your own adventure, and you can go between two chapters. Throne is similar, but the two paths have two chapters each. Making it a bit more complicated. Ochette I found out is the most open of them all, as all of her chapters in the middle can be done in any order.

Meaning if you find that you are overleveled for her first chapter off the island, then you can just skip to the other two. Which are more fun anyways, and then go back to the easier one later.

I mention in the Octopath Traveler 3 post I made that I think the crossover chapters were a good idea. However they played it too safe in OT2, and you literally go from a chapter 1 crossover where both people are weak, then straight into a chapter 4 where you've beaten their stories already and they're strong.

My one issue

Is how the chapters are laid out, as they got experimental, which is great mostly. However in a lot of cases it makes for some weird situations. Spoiler warning (obviously)! Osvald's first story takes up two chapters, and I'm not sure if it really needed to, or if they had to stretch his stuff so long.

Castti has two chapters at the same time, and they don't scale to your level. By the time you get to the OTHER second chapter, then you're already at least 10+ levels too high.

Temenos has a chapter that requires you to use a path action of another character, which makes it practically impossible to do a solo run with him. They also sort of gave up on the solo run idea, which they had implemented into the first game. I think it is a fun challenge.

The way the chapters are laid out I feel like are intentional, and sometimes that is good and it works. Other times it feels lazy, and that the levels don't scale. The curve for growth in the game can sneak up on you quick. Meaning you are overleveled for practically everything but the final boss.

I recently created a post about what I thought the next game would entail so check that out!

Octopath Traveler 3 - Predictions
Learn all about Octopath Traveler 3, or at least my predictions for the game. I come up with the classes of each character and their job, The remixed secret jobs, and even doubling the chapter amounts in the end.
Official Website for Dustin Miller PolyInnovator [LLC]Dustin Miller | PolyInnovator

In the end what do I think?

I think this is a game that most people should play, and that is sometimes hard for people to hear. It is like saying everyone should play Mario right, but not everyone cares about platformers. However Mario is part of the culture zeitgeist of the world, and so it is important to play.

Zelda is another example where even if you don't like the Zelda series (which what is wrong with you lol), the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom games are so unique compared to every other open world out there. That I think everyone should play them, at least one of them.

Octopath to me is one of those games like that, and every bit in this game adds. I don't feel like anything detracts from the overall experience. The music is so phenomenal, I'm even listening to it as I write this. The character arcs are powerful, and not nearly as predictable as the first game. The game is a worthwhile experience for all.

Here is a video where I discussed both games!