Octopath Traveler II is an ideal sequel. It builds upon the foundations of the original by improving on what worked. #gaming #OctopathTraveler2 #gamespot
Glad this game is getting praised for improving the story & gameplay. Two things you really look for in a sequel. Also, I really appreciate that he mentioned the Saga series.
They improved NOTHING but the music. The game is still JUST a visual Novel with some rpg elements. all you do is unlock stories... There is no ARC... The stories are trite and one dimensional. It just LOOKS cool and SOUNDS Amazing. But playing it is dull and lifeless right until you are stuck in cut scenes.
Played through it for eight hours straight. Something of a feat for me in this age. And it doesn't disappoint not one bit. Story and gameplay is a marked improvement esp story telling.
This game was pretty much made for fans that loved the first game. They didn’t want to change too much but just enough so that fans can dive right in and feel at home.
Pretty much what you need to do when you're a new franchise. They found something appealing and instead of trying fix something that wasnt broken, they expound on it. The game started as a Switch exclusive and ended up getting ports to the Playstation ans PC. The game deserves the success as it's my favorite series this gen.
Pre-ordered and have 25hrs already. Been having a blast. I was looking for a classic JRPG and this has so far been perfect. The combat, visuals, narratives, characters, and music. Great way to set off my gaming year.
I wasn’t going to play part 1 because 2 had a release date coming soon. But I put 100 hours into 1 (amazing game). Im glad I did. It makes me appreciate part 2 even more. This game was made by a team that actually cares about their game. The changes to part 2 are even sweeter when you realize why they made them in the first place. This game is a genuine work of art. Osvald is my series favorite so far, dude is awesome. He has that hard edge Cyrus was missing.
I had to take a break from playing to post this comment. Game is off the chain. They made tons of enhancements ALL around and the stories are actually really good!!! You guys gotta get this one!! One of my favorite changes was that the characters interact with each other while fighting, a cool feature that makes the game feel more cohesive
My biggest complaint with Octopath 1 was that it felt like 8 stories and characters that had zero connection to each other. Do the characters and stories in the sequel combine and interact, or is it just minor banter between party members?
Is the final area locked behind side quests like the first game, wasn't a fan of that. Wasn't a fan of how the side quests were done in the first game anyway, just a bit too vague on how to complete them for me at least.
Lack of hand-holding is "off-putting"? Do RPG fans just love to read endless explanations? I hated Xenoblade Chronicles 3 because the game constantly told me what to do with endless pop-up instructions. I enjoyed the demo for Octopath Traveler II.
My least favourite trope in JRPGs is that they tutorialise hours and hours of the game. Just give me the basics and let me either figure the rest out or give me a decent in-game manual.
Octopath 2's story seemed lacking overall. It didn't get me going like the first one did. The story seemed like an inferior rehash of the first Octopath. The main villains were completely predictable after playing the first one (always suspect the least likely npcs). The gameplay was improved which i liked as well as the visuals. Just the story was lackluster.
I’ve started and gotten bored with the first game 3 times now. It’s a fantastic game I honestly don’t know why I can’t hold my attention, but maybe this sequel will fare better
Just a word here about the music of this opus. While i didnt know how to improve on the already fantastic one of the first game, clearly the composer outdone himself with this one. Not a note, a beat l, a melody or sound feels out of place, in fact it realise the unbelievable feat of being even more beautiful and appealing.
The original has been in my backlog for a while. I just never got to it. It is next on the list and if it is to my liking I will go ahead and grab the sequel so it can be ignored for a few years until I get around to playing it. 🤣
I don't know. It looks beautiful, but the original just didn't hold my interest. It felt grindy and the story just wasn't that interesting. Maybe I'll try this if/when it gets a hard sale
I also had a crash where my ps5 completely shut down, and its a new console. The crash happened during the cutscene for the next chapter with Osvald. Fans immediately, for unknown reasons started to spin like crazy and the console shut itself down without any warning.
It’s not like a big overview of an open world more like you traverse through sections. Like FF10 kinda comes to mind. You are free to go wherever you want though.
It does not. It has a static map screen from which you simply choose various field maps to enter, which are level-gated areas in themselves. It is not open world.
I’ve enjoyed it. It was a great way to get me to play an 8/16 bit style game again. I do wish so many characters didn’t have a “get towns person/creature to help” skills though
All i want for Octopath Traveler 3 is equipment crafting, and choosing difficulty option and more class, more characters, 10-15 chapters for each char 😁
For many, like myself, the few changes are more than enough. If it doesn’t gel with you just look elsewhere. I am currently forcing myself to finish P4 Golden and P5 Royal. The life sim aspects are currently not enjoyable to me. However, I do not wish to change the game for my personal tastes: I love Shin Megami Tensei (aka Persona w/out the heart lol) so that works for me. Likewise the aspects like separate stories are a part of Octopath’s dna. It would be like any other jrpg without its wrinkles.
Do all the characters gain 100% experience when leveling up? Because the previous game didn’t level up the characters that didn’t participate in battles and that was annoying
@@xerpp2 Its an old school JRPG for fans of old school JRPGs, that means lts of grinding, if you don't enjoy that then the games just not for you. That's okay though, not every game should be made for everybody.
Agnea has the second best story only to Castti, who has the best.......sorry Gamespot. While no story is below good, I find Throne's story at its end, frustrating.
@@TheKillerPingu understandable, i was surprised it made its way to steam early this time around also.. I just noticed someone already mentioned it being one pc, srry for repeat. happi gaming
Octopath is definitely one of my favorite RPG series. about 15 hours into the 2nd one, it's definitely better than the 1st one. However, I wish there are more relevance among the different character's story arc. So far I've yet to see many.
Can anyone tell me if this game is a little less punishing then the first? I loved it but found it to be really grindy at times and as a new father I don’t have much time for the big grind. Thanks
There is still quite a bit of grinding necessary, as new areas are all still level-gated. Not sure yet if it is less punishing than the original tho. At this point at only a dozen hours in, I'd say it's pretty similar so far, IMO. May change later tho.
Well I started as Hikari and grinded for 90 minutes in the first chapter, was level 13 already which as far as memory serves was considerably higher than I got in the first game at that stage. I put almost 200 hours into the first game and in my small amount of time so far in the sequel it seems like leveling up is a little faster.
I played 6 hours straight yesterday, I go in 40lv danger areas with a lv 30 party (Ochette, Partitio, Throne and Agnea) and I could beat a lot of encounters and level up fast My Ochette is a Warmaster, Throne as Cleric, Partitio as Scholar and Agnea as Merchant... Until now the combats are well balanced, with the right strategie you can pass battles with just bit struggle ( I use a lot of Hired Help, Heal Wounds and Dreafend Bows)
They have to add one major feature for saves. Octopath Traveler 2 does not feature any cross-save feature that allows you to transfer game data between different platforms, and this is very much needed.
Since they didn’t improve the tedious dungeon design or asinine reputation (path action) system… or listen to much other feedback for the sequel, I doubt they will for part 3 either. This review reminded me how heartbreaking my 50 hours with the first game were, desperate to like it but always being put off by silly little things that could have been changed for the sequel
@@jdk67 It got really tedious in many ways... However, after listening to Jason Shreier's review of Octo 2, I really want to play it when I can! It sounds like they solved a lot of that. I think a lot more changes were made than some of these reviews lead one to believe. Still not much interaction between characters, but some more, and it sounds like the stories themselves involve more side characters, which I think would help a lot.
@@jdk67 Its a love letter to old school JRPGS, all the classic JRPGs are filled with grinding, infact the games are 90% repetition/grinding/dungeon crawling. To anyone who geneuionly loves old school 8 and 16 bit JRPGs, both Octopaths are amazing, but especially the second one, because it has that great old school JRPG comfort play but with a newer and cool battle system and much more in depth writing
@@karebushmarebu233 oh I’m familiar, JRPGs are my favorite genre and I’ve played a ton of them. I just found octo 1 to be very tedious and not that fun. Surprisingly through I loved octopath 2. The characters, story, world and everything else was very much improved in 2.
All reviews should avoid to give any numbers / score or at least split it into categories. This never shows how good or bad a game is. It would be the same if you would rate vegetables against softdrinks...
I like games like this but as I got older I don't have time anymore, my OCD makes me level every character equally before moving onto a different area, so it's time consuming
Maybe play it with the Japanese, since its a Japanese game, the Japanese voice actors are amazing. Its the same as anime, if you watch the dub you're ruining it for yourself. Western actors seem to have a very hard time with Japanese writing (or maybe its jsut that dub actors get paid like dirt, so many dont put a lot of effort in, plus in Japan they have litteral voice acting schools, its taken very seriesouly there and they are paid properly) so just do the sub man
Glad this game is getting praised for improving the story & gameplay. Two things you really look for in a sequel. Also, I really appreciate that he mentioned the Saga series.
I'm actually curious about the SaGa series myself...also this review made me want to go back and finish the stories from Octopath 1.
Agreed, good review. And the SaGa series is my favourite of all time so good shout
They improved NOTHING but the music. The game is still JUST a visual Novel with some rpg elements. all you do is unlock stories... There is no ARC... The stories are trite and one dimensional. It just LOOKS cool and SOUNDS Amazing. But playing it is dull and lifeless right until you are stuck in cut scenes.
Played through it for eight hours straight. Something of a feat for me in this age. And it doesn't disappoint not one bit. Story and gameplay is a marked improvement esp story telling.
This game was pretty much made for fans that loved the first game. They didn’t want to change too much but just enough so that fans can dive right in and feel at home.
Pretty much what you need to do when you're a new franchise. They found something appealing and instead of trying fix something that wasnt broken, they expound on it. The game started as a Switch exclusive and ended up getting ports to the Playstation ans PC. The game deserves the success as it's my favorite series this gen.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Pre-ordered and have 25hrs already. Been having a blast. I was looking for a classic JRPG and this has so far been perfect. The combat, visuals, narratives, characters, and music. Great way to set off my gaming year.
If you want another classic, check out Live A Live on the Switch. Great game as well.
Did you play part one?! I one time (couple of times) went from 8 pm to 8 AM straight. Fkn willlddd.
I wasn’t going to play part 1 because 2 had a release date coming soon. But I put 100 hours into 1 (amazing game). Im glad I did. It makes me appreciate part 2 even more. This game was made by a team that actually cares about their game. The changes to part 2 are even sweeter when you realize why they made them in the first place. This game is a genuine work of art.
Osvald is my series favorite so far, dude is awesome. He has that hard edge Cyrus was missing.
Octopath's combat is some of the best in any JRPG. I'm glad they kept everything great about it and then gave it even more
How so? Based on the 3 hour demo the gameplay is very basic and repetitive.
Such an attractive concept; really, this is a blessing
I had to take a break from playing to post this comment. Game is off the chain.
They made tons of enhancements ALL around and the stories are actually really good!!! You guys gotta get this one!!
One of my favorite changes was that the characters interact with each other while fighting, a cool feature that makes the game feel more cohesive
My biggest complaint with Octopath 1 was that it felt like 8 stories and characters that had zero connection to each other. Do the characters and stories in the sequel combine and interact, or is it just minor banter between party members?
Is the final area locked behind side quests like the first game, wasn't a fan of that. Wasn't a fan of how the side quests were done in the first game anyway, just a bit too vague on how to complete them for me at least.
Lack of hand-holding is "off-putting"? Do RPG fans just love to read endless explanations? I hated Xenoblade Chronicles 3 because the game constantly told me what to do with endless pop-up instructions. I enjoyed the demo for Octopath Traveler II.
My least favourite trope in JRPGs is that they tutorialise hours and hours of the game. Just give me the basics and let me either figure the rest out or give me a decent in-game manual.
One of my favorite RPGs of all time
Ew
Can’t wait to play this during this weekend 🎉
I didn't even know it has a part 2. I'm playing it tonight after my office job.
same - I played the first one, but never even heard of this one until yesterday! What a nice surprise!
Ikr snuck up on me too
looks promising and amazing very well detailed
This game is absolutely amazing
i want the black/white remakes to be in this engine
I need it desperately
That would make sense
Thanks for actually playing and not speedrunning the game and skipping half the content. Tell IGN your arcane secrets sometime.
So excited oh also I'll buy the 1st one to if you ever port it to playstation sqaure
Is this a game or more an audiobook?
Octopath 2's story seemed lacking overall. It didn't get me going like the first one did. The story seemed like an inferior rehash of the first Octopath. The main villains were completely predictable after playing the first one (always suspect the least likely npcs). The gameplay was improved which i liked as well as the visuals. Just the story was lackluster.
I’ve started and gotten bored with the first game 3 times now. It’s a fantastic game I honestly don’t know why I can’t hold my attention, but maybe this sequel will fare better
That soundtrack is 🔥 🔥
Partitio’s theme slaps hard
Just a word here about the music of this opus. While i didnt know how to improve on the already fantastic one of the first game, clearly the composer outdone himself with this one. Not a note, a beat l, a melody or sound feels out of place, in fact it realise the unbelievable feat of being even more beautiful and appealing.
I’ve got the demo and I’m really liking it but should I play the first one or just go with this?
Thanks in
Just go with 2. The story isn’t connected. 2 is basically the same as 1 but with improvements in key areas
The original has been in my backlog for a while. I just never got to it. It is next on the list and if it is to my liking I will go ahead and grab the sequel so it can be ignored for a few years until I get around to playing it. 🤣
I have a few Steam games to get through so I understand what you imply. 😏
I don't know. It looks beautiful, but the original just didn't hold my interest. It felt grindy and the story just wasn't that interesting. Maybe I'll try this if/when it gets a hard sale
the best thing to me is the game is much more harder and love that change because the first one (i liked a lot) is a walk in a park
I agree except the secret boss at the end which I never went back to beat.
* Stares in Galdera *
@@Mgkamiolonoob
I thought the first game was hard. Especially the 4 special bosses
@@gabrielike1370 I remember 2 of them being a challenge. One in particular.
for anyone wondering... this game is on Steam
The music in this game is fantastic too
Can you jump into this, without knowing the first one? Or am I story wise lost?
Just saw on the ign video that you can drop right into this one. Has its own fresh story.
Yes, you can. It’s totally 8 new story of “traveller” which not related with the first one
It’s like Final Fantasy where you can jump in to any specific game because they aren’t connected
I also had a crash where my ps5 completely shut down, and its a new console. The crash happened during the cutscene for the next chapter with Osvald. Fans immediately, for unknown reasons started to spin like crazy and the console shut itself down without any warning.
It’s not the game it’s the console. Mine has done it twice with 2 different games
I had a crash during the true ending credits.
I havent played the first one but this game looks amazing, right up my alley
So I never played the first game, but does this have an overworld like in classic JRPGs such as FF6, Dragonquest, etc?
Not in the same way but it is open world lol
@@supermac1749 That's good to hear but I'm curious what you mean by not in the same way?
It’s not like a big overview of an open world more like you traverse through sections. Like FF10 kinda comes to mind. You are free to go wherever you want though.
@@MegaTyler93FF10 but in 2D lol
It does not. It has a static map screen from which you simply choose various field maps to enter, which are level-gated areas in themselves. It is not open world.
I’ve enjoyed it. It was a great way to get me to play an 8/16 bit style game again. I do wish so many characters didn’t have a “get towns person/creature to help” skills though
It's really all optional anyway..
All i want for Octopath Traveler 3 is equipment crafting, and choosing difficulty option and more class, more characters, 10-15 chapters for each char 😁
Another 5 years of Wait
For many, like myself, the few changes are more than enough. If it doesn’t gel with you just look elsewhere.
I am currently forcing myself to finish P4 Golden and P5 Royal. The life sim aspects are currently not enjoyable to me. However, I do not wish to change the game for my personal tastes: I love Shin Megami Tensei (aka Persona w/out the heart lol) so that works for me.
Likewise the aspects like separate stories are a part of Octopath’s dna. It would be like any other jrpg without its wrinkles.
Why are bodes giant?
Great game and great reviewer thank you for the detailed review
Dragon Quest III HD 2D Remake when, SE?
Square Enix does it again. OP1 has a soundtrack that I listen to. I hope OP2 leaves a lasting impression like OP1.
OP1 OST hit so hard. So far, IMO, OP2 OST isn't hitting as well. It's still good and I'm still enjoying it, but it just isn't hitting it just right.
Looks great!!
Do all the characters gain 100% experience when leveling up? Because the previous game didn’t level up the characters that didn’t participate in battles and that was annoying
No. Anyone not in your party receives no exp. So when you have all 8, the benched four receive nothing.
It would be weird if the characters you aren't using gained exp when sitting on the bench...makes no sense
@@taemeister9302 it’s just better accessibility you know. Not having to grind too much
@@xerpp2 Its an old school JRPG for fans of old school JRPGs, that means lts of grinding, if you don't enjoy that then the games just not for you. That's okay though, not every game should be made for everybody.
Agnea has the second best story only to Castti, who has the best.......sorry Gamespot. While no story is below good, I find Throne's story at its end, frustrating.
Apples...
Just waiting for FedEx! Hurry up FedEx!!!
Music awesome
Cant wait for the game to arrive on PC..one year later.
It's on PC right now.
@@adambatchelor9822 sweeet! Thought it was going to be same as the prequel.
thing is.... this game already IS on steam
@@BIGREDXXXL I thought it was going to be the same as the prequel, where it only arrived almost one year later.
@@TheKillerPingu understandable, i was surprised it made its way to steam early this time around
also.. I just noticed someone already mentioned it being one pc, srry for repeat.
happi gaming
I hope they redo do final fantasy 6 like this.
Octopath is definitely one of my favorite RPG series. about 15 hours into the 2nd one, it's definitely better than the 1st one. However, I wish there are more relevance among the different character's story arc. So far I've yet to see many.
Same problem with the first and why I put it down.
I'll be skipping this one then.
the stories are literally linked in this one lol@@InnerRise
Man these games are so similar to the saga games! With 8 different heroes to the open ended scenarios, etc......
Can anyone tell me if this game is a little less punishing then the first? I loved it but found it to be really grindy at times and as a new father I don’t have much time for the big grind. Thanks
There is still quite a bit of grinding necessary, as new areas are all still level-gated. Not sure yet if it is less punishing than the original tho. At this point at only a dozen hours in, I'd say it's pretty similar so far, IMO. May change later tho.
Well I started as Hikari and grinded for 90 minutes in the first chapter, was level 13 already which as far as memory serves was considerably higher than I got in the first game at that stage. I put almost 200 hours into the first game and in my small amount of time so far in the sequel it seems like leveling up is a little faster.
I played 6 hours straight yesterday, I go in 40lv danger areas with a lv 30 party (Ochette, Partitio, Throne and Agnea) and I could beat a lot of encounters and level up fast
My Ochette is a Warmaster, Throne as Cleric, Partitio as Scholar and Agnea as Merchant...
Until now the combats are well balanced, with the right strategie you can pass battles with just bit struggle ( I use a lot of Hired Help, Heal Wounds and Dreafend Bows)
Aight, I loved Octopath Traveler. I am hyped for the sequel. But this scoring over their Atomic Heart score hurts. The game is fantastic
It's cool looking but is don't know if it's worth 60 bucks
IT is. Every dmgod penny
Worth every penny
I would have paid double
They have to add one major feature for saves. Octopath Traveler 2 does not feature any cross-save feature that allows you to transfer game data between different platforms, and this is very much needed.
Since they didn’t improve the tedious dungeon design or asinine reputation (path action) system… or listen to much other feedback for the sequel, I doubt they will for part 3 either. This review reminded me how heartbreaking my 50 hours with the first game were, desperate to like it but always being put off by silly little things that could have been changed for the sequel
80 hours for me. I desperately wanted to like octo1 but good lord that game is a grind fest
@@jdk67 It got really tedious in many ways... However, after listening to Jason Shreier's review of Octo 2, I really want to play it when I can! It sounds like they solved a lot of that. I think a lot more changes were made than some of these reviews lead one to believe. Still not much interaction between characters, but some more, and it sounds like the stories themselves involve more side characters, which I think would help a lot.
@@jdk67 Its a love letter to old school JRPGS, all the classic JRPGs are filled with grinding, infact the games are 90% repetition/grinding/dungeon crawling. To anyone who geneuionly loves old school 8 and 16 bit JRPGs, both Octopaths are amazing, but especially the second one, because it has that great old school JRPG comfort play but with a newer and cool battle system and much more in depth writing
@@karebushmarebu233 oh I’m familiar, JRPGs are my favorite genre and I’ve played a ton of them. I just found octo 1 to be very tedious and not that fun. Surprisingly through I loved octopath 2. The characters, story, world and everything else was very much improved in 2.
idk the individual stories and structure felt very bland in the first one.
Must agree on that allthough I enjoyed it overall must say that it's hard to really get invested when constantly jump from story to story.
All reviews should avoid to give any numbers / score or at least split it into categories. This never shows how good or bad a game is.
It would be the same if you would rate vegetables against softdrinks...
Guys I need your help! This game just got out where I live but it’s 60 euro..is it worth it ?
Very
Definitely worth every penny
Try the demo before you buy
This looks awesome!
niiiiice
HD2D engine?? Octopath Traveler 1 was built on Unreal Engine 4. HD2D is just the style.
This game would be dope as an anime. Esp hakari story
More like OctTwoPath Traveler
$60 seems steep for this game
I said this out loud by myself. This game is $60!?!?
Thankfully noone is forced to buy it.
I have been thinking the same thing about call of duty and the assasins creed games for a decade. 😉
just wait a couple of years for it to go down to $20
1 person wrote the review?
And a whole different person provided the gameplay?
How?
8
I like games like this but as I got older I don't have time anymore, my OCD makes me level every character equally before moving onto a different area, so it's time consuming
Is the reviewer an AI voice?
I only buy square Enix pixel games
Can someone point me to a better review? Dude said they played 60 hours and gave me a commercial
Review sounds like a 9.
Souls like?
Voiceover sounds too robotic
A Visual Novel that is basically a DLC for the first game. at 60$... This ONLY encourages mediocrity...
Is this game $20?
More like 65
Noooooo I thought dunkey killed that game sadly not 😫
The 2D animations could be miles better.
Earthworm Jim looked better
You're comparing oranges to apples here.
Looks like a lady's game
Grow up kid
So it's a 2D game that looks afar more awful than Maplestory, a 20 y/o game. Nice.
Nope. This is an 8.5 - 9.0, so once more here's another BS review score by LameSpot.
The reviewer sounds like one of the voice actors in the game. Totally bland, reading a script, injecting fake emotion.
That was just a narrator, sadly, not the reviewer.
Maybe play it with the Japanese, since its a Japanese game, the Japanese voice actors are amazing. Its the same as anime, if you watch the dub you're ruining it for yourself. Western actors seem to have a very hard time with Japanese writing (or maybe its jsut that dub actors get paid like dirt, so many dont put a lot of effort in, plus in Japan they have litteral voice acting schools, its taken very seriesouly there and they are paid properly) so just do the sub man