Octopath Traveler II is the most underrated RPG of 2023
The Journey for a New Dawn
First unveiled in September 2022, Octopath Traveler II released on February 24, 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows. It is the fourth HD-2D game released by Square Enix, and the first to be a sequel.
This was a title I originally had not planned to look at launch this year. I hadn’t played the first Octopath Traveler from 2018, and fearing that I would be missing crucial information by playing the sequel first, I planned on playing it later in the year. With its release date approaching, I decided to play it regardless, and it ended up being one of the best games I played this year.
The story, characters, and locations in Octopath Traveler II are completely different from the first game. There are eight different storylines to experience depending on which character you choose to play as. A story like Osvald’s, a scholar imprisoned after his family’s death, completely differs from Agnea, an aspiring dancer spreading happiness across Solistia. Whomever you choose first will be locked into your party until later in the game.
Following a precedent set by the previous game, the travelers first initials spell out “OCTOPATH,” referencing the title. It is not necessary to play the first game before this one, which is exactly how I went about it. Octopath Traveler II’s story also does not change regardless of which character you play as first. Throné was my initial party leader, and I added Osvald and Temenos shortly after encountering them across the continent. As more travelers joined the party, I would occasionally switch stories to avoid over-leveling some characters from others, as well as to freshen up the experience ever so often. Your inventory even reflects the current path you’re taking.
Each character’s story progresses independent from the other characters, but further into the game, they’ll experience small shared narratives. They rarely interact with each other outside of travel banter and during combat, although they can be found across Solistia when not in your party. I would have preferred a bit more interaction with the characters, but what you get in the end is a satisfying alternative.
Combat in the game is fairly straightforward. Each encounter is randomized, with the exceptions being story-related battles. Each enemy has a set of weaknesses that can include both physical attacks and magic. These weaknesses are hidden from the player, although some characters’ abilities and classes can reveal them at the start of an encounter. Along with this comes an enemy’s shield. Hitting an enemy with an attack they’re vulnerable to will deplete their shield. When it’s completely broken, the enemy is stunned and cannot fight for the remainder of the turn.
Boost Points and Latent Energy are two important concepts to understand very early on. Boost Points allow the player to attack multiple times with a physical attack, or strengthen a magic attack. These help deplete an enemy’s shield and dispel enemies quicker. Latent Energy on the other hand is a slow-building gauge that, when full, can be used to unleash a character-specific ability. For instance, Throné’s latent attack allows her to move a second turn, and Partitio’s can refill his BP. These abilities differ from character to character regardless of class, so it’s good to know which ones are necessary for each occasion.
While each character has their own combat ability, they also have individual path actions. Throné can steal items during the day, and ambush people during the night. Temenos can guide NPCs for use in side quests and battles during the day, or question them for information at night. Hikari can challenge NPCs to learn new battle tactics during the day, and bribe NPCs for information during the night. Most characters’ path actions are similar, but serve different purposes throughout their stories. They can be useful for carrying additional characters into battle, or even for completing certain side stories. I always recommend carrying additional guests into boss battles, especially if you’re worried about healing your party or dealing extra damage.
To make the battle system even more complex, you can tack on an additional job to your party members as you gain them. Want another Merchant? Give it to Ochette. Need another Cleric? Give it to Osvald. You can create some deadly job combinations with this system. You’ll initially start with just one slot for each job, which is taken up by the character that job is originally assigned to. You can get more by finding each job’s Guild across Solistia and completing tasks associated with the Guild.
I don’t particularly find the combat difficult, but enemies can quickly overwhelm you if you’re not careful. I found myself struggling early on in Throné’s chapter due to me not realizing that I could use BP to attack more than once in a single turn, as well as venturing outside the story to grow the party out. What I found more complicated was navigation, as the map and compass didn’t exactly help when trying to find certain routes to new areas. They give a good general idea of where to go, but it’s not great. However, considering the amount of hidden treasure chests and secrets across the game’s map, it’s not a bad idea to spend time venturing across the world.
You can partake in optional side stories around the world as well. These aren’t too difficult to do, although many of them are borderline fetch quests that probably won’t net you too many valuable rewards depending on how early you choose to do them. Some are more complicated, requiring you to have a certain party member present, lead a specific NPC to accomplish a task, or solve convoluted puzzles.
After completing each traveler’s initial story, you’ll unlock the game’s epilogue, bringing all eight travelers together. The difficulty increases here, and some side quests may be unavailable after proceeding with the epilogue. Even with the late-game difficulty spike, I can’t really say the game is challenging. Losing battles consistently can be frustrating, but you gain knowledge of an enemy’s weaknesses so you can prepare better. This goes for the game’s bosses as well, some of which I had trouble with. Of course, you could just spend a lot of time hunting down Cait Sith and Octopuff Travelers, which expel a ton of EXP and JP. But you’ll naturally become stronger by spending time across the world.
I enjoyed the game’s setting. Forests, wastelands and snowscapes are typical here, but the game’s HD-2D visuals and soundtrack really make these areas shine with dynamic lighting and ambience. You can manually change the time, which changes the background music as well as available NPCs in towns and cities.
Octopath Traveler II feels dark and dreary, but it’s a gorgeous game overall. Industrial cities like New Delsta and Clockbank benefit greatly from this visual style, featuring lively characters and amenities that give the impression of bustling cities that never sleep. Working in tandem with the game’s soundtrack, these became some of the more interesting areas to explore.
The game’s soundtrack is underrated, and arguably the most memorable aspect of the game. The opening theme just exudes grand adventure vibes, and its battle themes (namely ‘Critical Clash I and II’) feature a perfect mix of blood-boiling energy and caution during the game’s more intense battles. Each traveler has their own unique theme, with Partitio’s and Hikari’s being standouts for me.
Octopath Traveler II kept me hooked even through its toughest battles and underwhelming moments. What it lacks in interesting side quests and extra content, it makes up for in unique storylines and strong character development. From revenge to emancipation and the pursuit of happiness, it’s better to have fellow travelers at your side no matter which path you’ll walk down. It is, by far, one of 2023’s best.
Total Playtime: 118 Hours
Total Completion: True Ending
