Overview

Square Enix sold over 3 million copies of Octopath Traveler, but never on PlayStation. Now, Octopath Traveler II comes to PlayStation 5 and PS4. In addition to the striking HD-2D graphics of the first game, the sequel expands on what its predecessor offered, creating an enjoyable experience. In addition, the game is completely standalone, so you don’t have to finish the first game first.

The first Octopath Traveler offers eight protagonists: Osvald, Castti, Throné, Ochette, Partitio, Agnea, Temenos, or Hikari. When you choose a protagonist, that character stays in your party forever, but on your journey through Solistia, you’ll unlock everyone else, so you won’t have to start over if you miss anything.

Obtaining party members allows you to play the first chapter of a character’s story. You can choose to play right away when you encounter a character or choose it from the menu at an inn. You can play immediately or later; playing immediately inhibits progress and interrupts the flow of action, but you gain EXP, items, and money for the chapter. If you skip the chapter, your character joins the party at level 1 (or the bench if you already have 4).

Characters

Characters come in different classes, from Temenos the cleric to Osvald the scholar, and everything in between. Each class comes with their own combat style, and a Path Action. As an example, Temenos, a dutiful cleric, can guide townspeople by day, causing them to follow him wherever he goes until otherwise advised, but by night, he can coerce information out of them by battling them, causing them to reach their break.

With fully developed and nuanced plots, each character is a game in and of itself. The plots are fully developed and nuanced, making it appealing to explore more and keep going as long as possible. A constant feeling of ‘just a little bit more’ is testament to how much fun Octopath Traveler II is, and how much we wanted to invest time and energy into creating each character. As you travel, you’ll often get the option to ‘Hear Travel Banter’, where you’ll watch characters interact.

It is also important to find a strategy to beat the massive health pools in some battles, especially boss battles. Some of these encounters lack a visible HP bar, so we wondered if the end would ever come. Enemies are labelled white for high HP, yellow for mid-range HP, and red for low HP.

Although the combat mechanics themselves are enjoyable, we don’t want to sound negative about them. Enemies have icons underneath them that indicate their weaknesses. Each shield will show how many attacks they must take on their weak spots before they reach Break Point. In the current round, enemies who haven’t already acted will forfeit their turn if they are broken. Enemies that are broken take more damage.

A character has a Latent Power, which they unleash by pressing triangle. Using these Latent Powers is a tactical element of combat that really engages players. Battles can feel incredibly smooth and nuanced in short bursts, but they can become more like button pushing exercises as time goes on.

Summary

Octopath Traveler II has enough turn-based action to compensate for minor shortcomings of the combat system. This masterfully crafted RPG is filled with story and adventure, bolstered by a cast of incredible characters that will leave you wanting more.

Pros:

• Characters are excellent.

• Stunning visuals.

• Combat in shorter bursts.

• Improved sequel.

• Music perfectly suited.

• Engaging plots.

Cons:

• It can be boring to fight longer.

• The game slows down later.

Score: 9 / 10