Octopath Traveler II Evaluation (PS5)

Sq. Enix’s 2018 hit Octopath Traveler bought over 3 million copies worldwide, however by no means made it to PlayStation. Now, the collection heads to PS5 and PS4 for the primary time with Octopath Traveler II. Nonetheless with the putting HD-2D graphics of the primary sport, the sequel takes what its predecessor did and builds on it, creating a singular gaming expertise which is able to depart you wanting extra. It’s a totally standalone sport as effectively, so there is no have to energy via the primary title.

Like the primary sport, Octopath Traveler II provides a alternative of eight protagonists: Osvald, Castti, Throné, Ochette, Partitio, Agnea, Temenos, or Hikari (OCTOPATH, get it?). Selecting a protagonist ties you in to having that character in your occasion completely, however you may unlock the remainder of the characters and their tales on the journey via the brand new world of Solistia, so there’s no likelihood of lacking something and having to start out a brand new playthrough.

Amassing occasion members as you journey on will let you play the primary chapter of every character’s story. This will both be accomplished by enjoying right away if you’ve encountered the character, or by visiting the inn in any city and selecting ‘Hear a Story’ from the menu. There are advantages and disadvantages to every means; enjoying instantly typically feels prefer it inhibits progress and interrupts the move of motion, however it does imply that you simply achieve EXP, objects, and cash for that chapter which then carry over. Skipping the chapter signifies that character joins the occasion (or the bench if you have already got 4 occasion members) at stage 1.

Launched for this sequel, Octopath now has a day and night time cycle. This may be triggered with a press of R2, or naturally by ready it out. Characters have completely different abilities at night time and at day, and NPCs will transfer round or seem relying on the time.

Every character has their very own class, whether or not that’s Temenos the cleric, or Osvald the scholar, and every thing in between. Every of those lessons comes with their very own fight fashion, and a Path Motion for every character. This can be a particular motion that can be utilized exterior of fight; for instance, Temenos the dutiful cleric is ready to information townspeople by day, that means they’ll observe him wherever he goes till advised in any other case, however by night time he can coerce data out of them by battling them, and inflicting them to succeed in their Break.

Every of the characters has a narrative which feels so deep it might be a sport by itself. Absolutely developed and nuanced, the plot of every drives a want to seek out out extra, to maintain going, to discover extra and to push additional. There’s a continuing feeling of ‘just a bit bit extra’, which is testomony to how a lot enjoyable Octopath Traveler II is, and the way a lot we wished to sink time and power into progressing with every character. Sometimes all through your travels, the choice will come as much as ‘Hear Journey Banter’, and just a little scene will play out with occasion members. This can be a actually enjoyable aspect that provides to characterisation.

Exterior of primary chapters there may also be’“Crossed Paths’ tales. These are quick missions which contain two travellers, and will likely be highlighted on the map. Each travellers have to be within the occasion to set off the story, or they are often added later, and the story could be began from the inn. Just like the Journey Banter aspect, these plot threads are actually good enjoyable, and provides a fantastic alternative to see pairs of characters interacting and dealing in the direction of a typical purpose. While the members will likely be within the occasion for one another’s chapters, they don’t work together with the primary character previous showing to help in fight — so this provides a welcome sense of comradery.

The characters themselves are extremely effectively written and the voice appearing for every is high tier, bringing layers to the dialogue. The hazard with such a big forged is that sure aspects of the forged’s personalities typically find yourself getting reused, and so they can typically be a duplicate and paste of each other. Octopath Traveler II manages to current eight characters who’re wealthy with persona, every having their very own quirks and their very own motivations. Their storylines are all fully completely different, too, which makes issues much more diversified. Don’t wish to proceed this path of revenge? Have a break and give attention to changing into a world-class dancer as a substitute. There’s a lot selection right here, and it typically looks like we’re spoilt for alternative.

It’s not simply the characters which might be diversified; all of the locations in Solistia have a distinct vibe to them. From a wild west-esque city to an icy tundra, the environments are all diversified with completely different aesthetics and distinctive soundtracks to them. Traversing Solistia throws diversified enemies on the occasion, which have particular weaknesses and require completely different techniques to finest in turn-based fight. In the meantime, hopping from place to position is straightforward — there’s quick journey on the world map to go to locations you’ve been earlier than — and cargo screens between areas are nearly non-existent, so every thing feels seamless.

Constructing on its already aesthetically interesting predecessor, Octopath Traveler II is beautiful by way of visuals. Mixing retro pixel artwork and 3DCG, coined HD-2D, this sequel is much more detailed. Every part simply seems so crisp and extra expressive than earlier than, which actually heightens the sensation of this being a lower above the property’s preliminary outing.

Nonetheless, it does really feel like Octopath Traveler II stumbles barely with its story development. Opening up the world map exhibits the place to go for every chapter, and what the really useful stage is to finish that chapter. Useful, however attending to that stage can actually really feel like a grind at instances, placing a dent within the story’s in any other case immaculate pacing. Firstly, we have been finishing chapters left, proper, and centre, however the additional alongside we obtained — and the upper stage we have been required to be — the extra of a slog it felt to get there.

That is additionally echoed considerably within the repetitive nature of a few of the battles, particularly boss battles. A few of the bosses have gargantuan well being swimming pools, and it truly is a case of discovering a technique that works in opposition to them, rinse and repeat. It’s going to really feel such as you’re on autopilot throughout a few of these encounters, and with no seen HP bar – enemy names are white for top HP, yellow for mid-range HP, and purple for low HP – we have been left questioning if the tip would ever be in sight.

We don’t imply this to sound like a gripe in regards to the fight, although – the mechanics themselves are actually satisfying. Enemies have icons beneath them which you have to unearth, signalling what their weaknesses are. They’ll have a quantity in a protect, which exhibits what number of assaults they should tackle their weak spots earlier than they attain Break Level. As soon as the enemies are ‘damaged’, their flip is forfeited for the present spherical in the event that they haven’t already acted, and the identical is true of the following flip. Damaged enemies additionally take elevated injury.

Every character has a distinct Latent Energy, which, as soon as the gauge is crammed, are unleashed by urgent triangle. Utilizing these Latent Powers can actually flip the tides of battle, enjoying into an particularly partaking tactical aspect of fight. The underside line right here is that fights can really feel extremely slick and nuanced in brief bursts, however the longer the battles go on, the extra it will probably really feel like an train in button pushing.