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- Square Enix
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- Square Enix
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- Square Enix
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- Square Enix
Octopath Traveler II
Released On: Feb 24, 2023
84
8.6
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 60 Critic Reviews
84
90% Positive
54 Reviews
54 Reviews
7% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 60 Critic Reviews
84
90% Positive
54 Reviews
54 Reviews
7% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
An amazing array of excellent features carried over from the first title, as well as multiple improvements both asked for by fans and added by the creative team at Acquire, lead Octopath Traveler II to be one of the most enjoyable lengthy titles I’ve played in years. Even during some small moments of grinding needed during my 70+ hours, the battle system, sidequests, and character customization always kept me fully engaged in the story and what I was experiencing. There’s little doubt that turn-based RPG fans will find incredible satisfaction from the title, and those who enjoy expansive lore and deep, customizable job systems will fall head-over-heels in love.
Octopath Traveler II surpasses the original in every way. The additions to combat were greatly needed and spiced up battles, the story, characters, and pacing are leagues better, and somehow the music cranks it up another few notches. There are still a few issues to be ironed out, like grinding, but this is a retro-style RPG you won’t want to miss.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 196 User Ratings
8.6
87% Positive
170 Ratings
170 Ratings
3% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
10% Negative
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 196 User Ratings
8.6
87% Positive
170 Ratings
170 Ratings
3% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
10% Negative
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
With beautiful graphics and one of the best ost I've heard, it improves on everything from the first one, with a deeper and more strategic combat and with much more endearing characters and stories than the first one.
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Nintendo Switch
Best jrpg of this year, a deep combat system with a lot of customization that encourages experimentation, beautiful graphics and fantastic OST and stories and characters much better carried than in the previous one.
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Nintendo Switch
If you like the first entry, a series of smart improvements mean there’s a very good chance you’re going to love Octopath Traveler II. This is still a grand, and traditional JRPG adventure, so get ready for nearly 100 hours of turn-based battles and deep, intricate stories. However, with dynamic visuals, addictive combat, and a deep and intertwining story that features all eight of your characters, Octopath Traveler II is an utterly sublime JRPG experience and now sits as one of the best of its kind on Nintendo Switch.
A magnificent combat system and general improvement over the first one makes this a must for fans of classic JRPG.
The main issue I have with OT2 is in its similarities to its predecessor. It’s a fun and excellent example of the genre, but doesn’t really stretch beyond it. I suppose there are worse sins a game can commit than just not feeling much different from its great predecessor. Still, if Octopath Traveler wasn’t your thing, Octopath Traveler II likely won’t be, either.
I give Square Enix and ACQUIRE Corp props for ambition, but there's still a ways to go before the Octopath Traveler lives up to its potential and reaches its final form.
Despite my frustrations with the limited ways that Octopath Traveler II improves upon the original, at its core the game still scratches an itch that no other game can satisfy. I still spent more than 50 hours in the world of Solistia, exploring every part of the map I could and seeking out new stories to immerse myself in...For those who lament the modern state of Final Fantasy, or want something that feels truly inventive in its design compared to many cookie-cutter AAA games, Octopath Traveler II is a journey well worth taking.
By far one of the best JRPGs I’ve ever played! The graphics, battle difficulty, side quests and characters stories have improved a lot since the first game, which is also amazing!
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Nintendo Switch
We don't get a lot of turn-base combat RPGs these days, so I hate to give it low score in fear that publishers will think that the solution is stop making turn-base combat game rather than solve the other issues. It's happened with other games series. Deus Ex got low sales because of microtransactions, so instead of making a Deus Ex game without microtransactions, Square Enix stopped making Deus Ex games. So somehow Square Enix will translate a negative review for this turn-base game to mean any game with turn-based combat is bad and only make action RPGs. I can only hope that Baldur's Gate 3 will show that there is interest in turn-based gameplay when it is done well.
Overall, I didn't enjoy this as much as the first game. The two are essentially the same game, but you lose the novelty of the first game and the character classes have been nerfed so they aren't as satisfying to play. This game also adds more content, which is generally a good thing, but at 95 hours to beat the main story and side stories, it really dragged on for too long. For me 80 hours is the limit before a game starts to overstay its welcome.
My complaints with the first game remain unresolved with the second. The world building is terrible. Each of the towns and each of the characters exist in isolation. The desert nation of Ku is this warlike tribe that repeatedly conquers surrounding nations. But you don't experience this once you leave the Ku's territory. Shouldn't the people in the neighboring towns and nations be terrified of being the next victims of Ku's army? Instead the towns are lifeless set pieces - here's a desert backdrop, here's a forest motif, etc. So much like the first game, you are experiencing 8 mini-stories that are completely independent of each other.
In the future, I hope they aren't beholden to the name "Octopath", and will give us fewer story characters but with a deeper and connected story path. Recruitable non-story characters could be used to help fill out the roster of missing classes. I'd much rather play a game with 3-5 good character arcs in a well developed world, than a game with 8 characters and micro-stories.
So I've ranted about the world building and story, but I also want to mention the combat and gameplay as well, which aren't as good as the first. You have the same classes as the first game, but they've nerfed some classes and given slight buffs to others. Overall, the classes seem much worse since their abilities aren't as cohesive and more general purpose. That helps if you just want to slap 4 random characters into a party, but worse if you're trying pick characters to fulfill a specific role in the party. There are just some weird classes in this game that don't fit into stereotypical roles because of how general purpose their abilities are. The merchant class is worthless unless you want to build around the hired help ability (Good luck figuring that out at the start without a guide or youtube video). The warrior looks like a tank on paper, but functions better as DPS. The hunter class is terrible, but balanced by Ochette's monster capture ability. They really need to put more thought into how these classes play before you've fully unlocked the class's abilities. The descriptions just don't give you enough info to make an informed decision on which abilities should be unlocked before others.
Boss fights are bit of another issue. The first game was a bit easier than I would have preferred. Things are more difficult in this game due to some class nerfs, and sadly some poorly designed boss fights. Some of the bosses will use abilities that take you down to 1 hp and immediately after another enemy can use an AoE to wipe you. RNG just took you from perfect health and buffs to a wipe. This kind of lazy design doesn't make the game more challenging, it just makes it more frustrating. So this really impacted the fun that I was having with the game.
In the end, I'll be playing the next iteration of Octopath (if there is one) just because we don't have a lot of turn-based combat games being developed.
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Nintendo Switch
I bought this game day one because I loved the first one. This one is also good but nothing really changed nor has enough to keep me wanting to play it. Overall it's a good game and hopefully I will go back to it. The majority speaks
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Nintendo Switch
Pain for my eyes due to poor graphic rendition and bad layout infos on screen.. boring gameplay..
Great story as ever for these games, but (for me) it's far to be enough..
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Nintendo Switch
8 characters and not even 1 has a good, deep story. Terribly unbalanced enemies and mechanics, and overall a boring gamethat only gets 3 points from my side for the superb art direction. Iexpected much more fromthis game.
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Nintendo Switch
Summary This game is a brand-new entry in the OCTOPATH TRAVELER series, the first installment of which was initially released in 2018 and sold over 3 million copies worldwide. It takes the series’ HD-2D graphics, a fusion of retro pixel art and 3DCG, to even greater heights. In the world of Solistia, eight new travelers venture forth into an ex...
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 5
- PlayStation 4
- PC
- Xbox Series X
- Xbox One
Initial Release Date: Feb 24, 2023
Developer:
- Acquire
Publisher: Square Enix
Genres:
