Is Octopath Traveler 2 fun if you’re new to JRPGs? There’s an entire generation of gamers that grew up on Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and other turn-based RPGs in the 90s—and there are a lot of games today that pander to that crowd. You might think I’m in this target audience, but I’m actually immune to the nostalgia because I was never into Japanese-style RPGs until recently. But now I’m trying them out left and right, and Octopath Traveler 2 may be my favorite one yet.
The first Octopath Traveler charmed my socks off on Gamepass back in 2018, but I didn’t know what I was doing and I kept losing battles I was pretty sure I should’ve been winning, so I didn’t stick with it.
This time around, I was able to grasp some basics in the combat and it’s made all the difference.
Basically, you have break an enemy’s armor and stun them before you can do significant damage, and you can only break their armor if you attack with the weapons and magic that they’re weak towards. And then there’s the boost system where you can build up extra oomph for your attacks. So when you combine proper boosting with efficient armor-breaking, you’ll be slashing and magic-ing your way through the stories with style.
It follows the stories of eight separate characters (hence the name Octopath) and each one has their own backstory and 4-chapter arc to follow. These characters can join up and level up together, but you can only work on one story at a time and you can only have 4 characters in your party, so there’s a LOT of stuff to do here to beat all the different storylines and their level requirements.
There are a few crossover stories as side missions that are meant for a specific pair of characters, which is a pretty cool addition that wasn’t in the first game. But all in all, these characters are mostly just companions along for each other’s rides. There’s not a lot of interaction here.
But back to those eight characters—the stories and character designs are really amazing. Each one feels like they could be the star of their own game, and they each have vastly different skills and abilities.
And where the first game mostly used typical character tropes, in this one the personalities are more subversive. The wizard is gnarled prison escapee, the assassin hates killing people and is trying to free herself from her circumstance, and the cleric is a condescending douchebag. I can’t tell if douchebag was actually what the writers were going for, but that’s what I got from it. 😂
Characters can interact with NPCs to gather info, learn new skills, or even pick their pockets clean. But new in the sequel is the addition of daytime and nighttime, and each character’s ability to interact changes with the time of day. Throné, for example can pick pockets during the day but can straight ambush an NPC at night. Each of these interactions with each of the eight characters has their own uses, so it’s really helpful to spend a lot of time in town.
The Octopath games are known for their pixelart mixed with modern 3D graphics and lighting, something Square Enix calls HD 2D. The effect is not just beautiful, it’s also the perfect representation of what this game is: it has one foot in retro gaming nostalgia and one foot in modern innovation. And that’s the trick, it somehow looks back while looking forward. It brings a fresh take on the games it so obviously adores, and in the process earns it’s place alongside them, as far as I can tell.
Because like I said before, I didn’t even play these games back in the day so I’m not just huffing nostalgia fumes here. It’s a genuinely great game on every front: it has engaging stories, stylish scenery, and to say it has an amazing soundtrack is a gross understatement.
I found it to be slower-paced than most modern games, and I had to get past an initial learning curve. I’m not an expert on this style of game, but it seems like Octopath Traveler 2 has a depth and complexity that’s a cut above, even if it’s a little intimidating for a newcomer like me. But I did get the hang of it, and once it clicked I started enjoying the hell out of this game, and it’s probably my favorite gaming experience so far this year.
I give it a heavily-pixelated thumbs up.
