At a time when remakes and retro-inspired projects are trying to recreate what classic games feel like, Octopath Traveler II accomplishes something impressive. While rooted in modern design with a host of amenities, it effortlessly captures the spirit, style and sense of adventure of the best RPGs from the SNES era, while still innovating and showing that turn-based battles are still alive have. The feat is even more remarkable considering that Octopath II’s major changes are small and subtle.
On the surface, Octopath Traveler II looks like a clone of the original. You first choose one of eight adventurers, collect the remaining seven over time, and eventually see how their stories are connected, albeit somewhat loosely. A number of improvements, including refined storytelling and more complex characters, make Octopath II feel deeper and more exciting, like the fulfillment of what the original game set out to achieve.
Even a narrative structure that should be mundane has enough nuance to keep it interesting and the characters relatable. Osvald’s story, for example, is your usual revenge story, but he’s so broken inside that he rarely speaks except in internal monologues. The evil that Ochette, the lucky slayer, faces is an ancient force that threatens to destroy the world – but also a deep-rooted racism against her people.
The characters are deeper, but their actions outside of combat are still at odds with the world. Among other things, you can commit a violent robbery against an entire city and face no consequences, giving the impression of an RPG playground rather than a living world.
The basics of combat also remain the same, although that’s not a bad thing. Enemies have weaknesses that, when exploited, reduce their shield points until they break and go into a stunned state. Allies can save up Boost Points and spend them to increase their attack power, and you can mix and match secondary profession classes to create powerful hybrid warriors.
While the structure remains the same, Square Enix has made some welcome changes to most profession classes, including a few new abilities that change the flow of combat and manage to make combat feel fresher. One of these new improvements is each character’s Latent Power, an ability that powerfully augments their other abilities. Encounters feel more balanced, with a tense rhythm of smart decisions at the right time, and they don’t stay longer than welcome.
Grinding to level up is now easier thanks to a day and night system where stronger monsters appear at night. It’s worth wandering around in the dark anyway just to see the world changing.
Octopath II’s map is a significant improvement over the original. Square Enix has secrets big and small stuffed into almost every corner of the continent, and they’re always worth tracking down. For every common treasure and recovery item you find, there’s a hidden dungeon, secret job, or abandoned village with an intriguing new night-only quest line.
Square Enix’s HD 2D visual style has grown as a medium, and the proof is demonstrated through the game’s highly detailed environments and interesting levels. It’s literally on display too, as thankfully the filter that blurred everything not immediately around you is gone. The result of all this is a beautiful, rich world that is truly a joy to explore.
Octopath Traveler II does what an excellent sequel should do. Rather than breaking new ground left and right, it improves on the original in almost every way and feels more confident about the stories it tells. There is still room for improvement in some of its stiffer areas, but Octopath II is an excellent performer all round.
