Octopath Traveler II Review – Small Big Adventure

At first glance, with static screenshots, this game might seem like one of those understated indie JRPGs with pixel art. But that changes drastically when you see the game in motion, especially if you’re doing it on powerful high-resolution hardware: while the characters are traditional 2D sprites, the environment itself is actually 3D, and the combination of camera angles with dynamic lighting and other Effects incredibly enliven this game. But the biggest trump card up the sleeve of this extraordinary game is the gameplay itself and the overall depth, reminiscent of the greatest Pillars of Eternity-style CRPGs and with an unexpected freedom and richness of the game world, reminiscent of Elden Ring.

• Platform: PS5 (review) PS4, Switch, PC
• Publication date: 24.02.2023
• Manufacturer: Acquisition/Square Enix (Japan)
• Genre: japanese role playing game
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data to download: 5 GB
• Game time: 70+ hours
• Price: 1410 CZK (couples)

Eight travelers

As the series’ whimsical title suggests, the story follows the fates of eight playable characters. At the beginning of the game, you can choose any of them. Subsequently, she will become your main character / heroine, and you will not be able to remove her from the active group (maximum 4 characters) until you have completed all the chapters of her story. Therefore, choose carefully, as there are significant differences between individual characters both in their character and history, and, of course, in their abilities and play style. Octopath is one of the games inspired by the classic “job” system from old JRPGs, so each character has a specific profession and associated equipment, combat style, and abilities outside of combat, such as when interacting with NPC characters.

Solistia is a world consisting of two huge continents separated by an ocean. While the eastern continent has “traditional” desert kingdoms or villages in the forests, the western continent is slightly more technologically advanced and its cities include, among other things, the first steam engines. Between all these locations you will move both with your feet and with the help of boats. The game has a very non-linear structure, but it’s in your best interest to first travel around the home countries of the eight main characters to build your group. At the same time, individual locations and chapters of the story are divided by levels of monsters or enemies, which you have to take into account due to the surprisingly fair difficulty of the game, especially when it comes to monumental boss battles that will test your team’s readiness and your tactical abilities.

The game has a very non-linear structure.

The story of each character is sustained in a pronounced spirit. Here you will find almost everything from a tragic war drama to a promising career as a world-class dancer. So your characters include a samurai warrior, a hunter with the ability to tame animals in the wild, a healer seeking a cure for a terrifying plague, a merchant from a western city, a falsely convicted scientist, a caring cleric investigating a murder, a thief. trying to escape from a crime syndicate, or a good-hearted dancer. Many stories are clichéd and predictable, especially at the beginning, but the non-linear content of the game world and its main and secondary actions can surprise with many unusual ideas and twists. And as with those 100-hour pilgrimages, your characters will grow to your heart’s content, aided by voice acting and musical accompaniment in addition to a rich script.

Fun fights and exciting walks

The basis of the gameplay of every JRPG is the combat system, and here the very successful turn system from the previous part (which the game otherwise does not follow the plot, except for small references) returns. A pair of “Smash” and “Amplify” or “Smash and Augment” functions seem simple at first glance, but in practice it is a very fun combination of mechanics, accompanied by, among other things, great audio-visual effects. Each opponent has a weakness to a certain type of weapon or attack – using them reduces the well-calculated “shield” value. Once the shield is broken, the opponent loses the ability to attack or defend and becomes more vulnerable. It is for these moments that you can save from one to four degrees of “amplification”, which will multiply the number and strength of your attack. However, it is also possible to use reinforcements just to break through an enemy shield. It’s a very intuitive and very enjoyable system that motivates you to constantly think about both mechanics with every move. At the same time, it should be noted that the language of the numbers is adamant here, and sometimes you will have to so-called “grind”, or target training with your characters, before heading to an area with a higher enemy level. Unfortunately, this process is not helped by the fact that the inactive four characters do not improve in any way without your participation.

Where did the seemingly strange comparison with last year’s From Software blockbuster come from? Well, I’m not the first to think about this while playing. This has to do with how the entire game world is revealed to the player more or less from the start, which is also filled with a huge amount of action, story and mechanics that are not only completely optional, but make the game completely optional. don’t even explicitly point them out to you. In practice, it’s worth exploring every corner, as well as trying to talk to every character you meet. This dramatic mechanic is enhanced by the fact that your heroes have unique abilities to interact with NPC characters that you can interrogate, steal, or even add to your party, among other things. By combining all this, you can completely unexpectedly, for example, help a lost pair of characters from two different continents find their way to each other. Discoveries and experiments in this game never cease to amaze.

Discoveries and experiments in this game never cease to amaze.

In terms of how much the game has improved over the previous installment, that’s quite a lot. The new generation of Shared Stories missions focuses on a couple of your characters’ quests together, helping your group feel like more than just a scattered bunch of people. You can switch between day and night mode at almost any time, which subsequently affects not only the types and strength of monsters in the game world, but also the type of interactions with people (“Path Actions”). Your characters’ hidden abilities add an extra layer of unique combat mechanics. Sailing will unlock new parts of the map, as well as forms of exploration and travel. Last but not least, all sorts of visual processing improvements should be mentioned, from the variety of environments to camera performance and the overall level of detail. In short, it has a lot to offer and fans of the first installment or classic JRPGs will be thrilled. As for some of the downsides, as I mentioned, some of the stories are somewhat predictable due to the use of clichés. In addition, I would also prefer the visibility of enemies in the environment, rather than random fights. But that doesn’t change the fact that I was totally engrossed in this extremely large and creative game.