Octopath Traveler II Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Speedrunning Tips

Octopath Traveler II from developers Square Enix and Acquire has the not-so-easy task of following up on a beloved first entry that took the video game landscape by storm.

Like its predecessor, Octopath Traveler II again tackles the eight-person story in a beautiful throwback visual style with a rewarding battle system that remains one of the best in the JRPG landscape in this modern era.

While this sequel at face value might seem almost too similar to the first game, there's something to be said for keeping all of the things that made it a breakout hit.

Smart, subtle modernizations in gameplay systems and sheer convenience—never mind gripping stories—make Octopath Traveler II a threat to not just surpass the original, but most in its genre today.

Graphics and Gameplay

It's hard to take the eyes off Octopath Traveler II.

The first game was a stunning throwback to the 16-bit glory days of SNES RPGs, with the same 2D style brought to life in modern times with full HD and stunning details.

This sequel is more of the same visual goodness with some notable improvements to things like dynamic camera angles, particle effects and character animations atop the expected overall detail and fidelity bump.

Like its predecessor, the result is a stunning effect that almost presents a watercolor painting on the screen, something magnificent turned even more impressive once the game goes in motion.

Exploring the world is never not fun, visually speaking. There's an Industrial Revolution coat of paint to each of the game's many different areas, be it stunning castles or a steampunk-styled location. So much so, it's almost easy to overlook the fact that there aren't many complex puzzles and such while out and about.

Fittingly, Octopath Traveler II boasts one of the best JRPG soundtracks in years, one that weaves an epic tale of highs and lows representative of what's happening on screen. The voice acting is very dynamic too, and it's nice to see all big cutscenes and important moments have it now, never mind an uptick in mid-battle banter between party members.

This visual-audio blend of throwback greatness meshes perfectly with the already-great turn-based battle system.

Like in the first game, upon entering a battle, the weaknesses listed below an enemy's name remain unknown until the player's party experiments with different weapons and elemental magic attacks. While doing so, the players whittle down an opponent's shield meter while simultaneously building up their own boost points.

The break-boost system was brilliant in the first game, and it returns here. It's not totally unfamiliar to those with JRPG experience or similar genres, but breaking a shield just in time to buff attacks that will exploit weaknesses with boost points remains an engaging system.

What isn't engaging, however, is trying to anticipate the actual weakness of an enemy. This isn't Pokemon—a very icy-looking enemy might be weak to ice instead of fire or something that might make more sense. It feels a little tacked on and random in this sense to keep the player guessing, a video game-ism that some players might consider a drawback to immersion.

Still, it's hard to bemoan that one notable blemish that will vary greatly by player anyway, especially when old and new things combine to add serious depth.

Talents return too and are specific to each character. The basic example is one character's talent afflicts enemies with negative status effects in battle, but only at night. That means eight different talents to think about and lean into when assembling a party.

A new latent power gauge is brilliant in the way it adds extensive layers of strategy to team composition and fights. One character, for example, can use a skill when this gauge fills to transfer a single-target attack to all enemies on the field for major damage.

The result is a borderline addicting battle system that feels like a greatest-hits sort of thing for the genre. It helps that it rewards players for smart combinations, decisions and strategy with excellent pacing to the point one almost looks forward to the next battle, even while grinding out experience.

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Story and More

The world of Solistia plays host to a grand tale that captivates from the opener.

At face value, little has changed from the original. The characters are new and fresh of course, but players pick which one to start their journey with, then collect the other seven throughout the journey.

But these characters are more dynamic in their moralities and goals than in the first game. One wants to take back a throne, a grand thing one might expect from a JRPG. Another is a hunter staring down an ancient evil. More grounded stories—like those of the merchant or the performer who wants to be famous—manage to hit just as hard in captivating ways despite "smaller" stakes. It's genuinely difficult to pick and choose which one is a favorite and at times, it can be overwhelming to choose what to do next and why.

There are little wrinkles of player agency once a party assembles, too. It's a small touch, but being able to choose which track of two a character takes first is a nice little bonus.

One of the complaints of the first game was the rigid nature of how it unfolded for eight different characters. That's largely resolved here with what the game calls Crossed Paths, little sidequests featuring two or more party members that let them interact with each other and fleshes out backstories.

It's not often a game exhibits this much care and love for storytelling and worldbuilding, either. Nearly every NPC a player encounters will have a noteworthy tale worth thinking about. We won't spoil, but this is one of those simple flexes of what modern gaming hardware can do—there aren't copy-and-paste NPCs from back in the day, and each one has motivations and behaviors to match.

The world itself is a character too. It oozes secrets at every turn that players will want to spend time unearthing. We're not talking an extra potion or something mundane that will take up space in inventory—we're talking secret jobs, day- or night-based questlines and entire dungeons to explore.

Octopath Traveler II doesn't hold the player's hand when it comes to exploration. Players don't need to find all of the hidden stuff. They also don't need to follow the exact storylines in order. They're welcome to tread into higher-level areas, but trekking into territory under-leveled is a good way to hit a game-over screen very quickly. But...it's also a great way to uncover critical loot, too.

A day-and-night cycle is a feature that used to be a major headline item of a release but has become almost expected of any game. Octopath Traveler II indeed has one, but with a critical twist. For one, the player is in charge of when day turns to night and vice versa. No waiting around or prompting the change through meditation or finding an inn.

There are a lot of strategies involved in players having control of this. The types of enemies encountered change, and so do the actions of player characters when interacting with NPCs. One, for example, can challenge citizens in towns to duels during the day, while at night, the only option is to pay them bribes. One character outright steals from citizens, but only at night. That equates to 16 total different character actions, adding more options and variety to the fun strategy involved. More ways to interact with a world are never a bad thing.

Granted, this might sound like the game has a bit of a morality system going on, and it kind of does, but the reactions to player choices don't always make consistent sense (mugging citizens isn't always bad?).

As for progression, Octopath Traveler II presents what most would expect from a fine-tuned JRPG. Players level up and juggle multiple systems, having what feels like an endless number of options in front of them when combining gear, items, abilities and party compositions.

Also new is the guild system, the game's way of letting players unlock secondary classes that make characters even more versatile in battle. Earning more than one license requires an actual time investment via goals to accomplish, so earning multiple secondary classes feels, well, earned.

By the time the proverbial dust settles, players can file down party members into very niche roles that still somehow mesh in splendid fashion on a battlefield.

One thing worth a major note: Grinding is still a thing, as it was in the first game. But the day/night cycle has made this less of a problem because enemies are stronger at night, meaning more experience points and faster leveling up. Tack on well-paced battles that reward quick thinking and strategy, and grinding in this game isn't nearly as big of a problem as it could be. Rather, some might just find it enjoyable.

A strong number of options and tweakable settings round out the list of features. The game is technically sound as expected, too, with only minor noticeable slowdowns in handheld mode on the Nintendo Switch.

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Speedrunning Tips

As a JRPG, Octopath Traveler had a healthy speedrunning community just like its contemporaries. Multiple main characters and ways to compete the game only helped this.

Like its predecessor, this sequel should thrive in this area. It's also safe to expect something similar to the single-story world-record marks that checked in at under one hour from the first game, as well as an "all main stories" category that landed at just over three hours.

Outside of the usual items like skipping cutscenes, spamming through dialogue and avoiding battles unless doing a burst of grinding, some specifics should start to make their way to the forefront of best runs.

One likely candidate is the character skill that lets the party recruit helpers to assist in battle. More help, faster fights. Another is the proper stacking of skills. For example, an Apothecary passive ability that gives back 30 percent of a party member's HP and SP right after a battle might be a big element of world-record runs.

In battle, an obvious one seems to be the skill that takes an attack sure to hit multiple enemies and condenses it into one big-damage attack on a solo target—a perfect thing to use on big-HP bosses.

In time, yet unheard-of routing, strategies, team comps and fast menu navigations will emerge. But the fun of the journey to that destination is just getting started.

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Conclusion

Octopath Traveler II is an undeniable blend of smart, modernized gameplay, menus and systems while perfectly capturing the glory days of a bygone era.

Thank the stunning art style and a best-in-class soundtrack, too. The high-quality branching paths, strong storylines and characters will lead gamers to become emotionally invested in what would otherwise just be another RPG with a fantastic battle system.

In a way, Octopath Traveler II navigates the sequel tightrope better than most games out there. It doesn't veer too far off the path of experimenting for the sake of surprise. Rather, it sticks to the strongest foundational points, wisely adding new layers to improve the experience.

Octopath Traveler II is the perfect introduction for players to modern JRPGs. For everyone else, it's another praiseworthy ride of the best the genre has to offer.