Octopath Traveler II (Switch, PS4/5, PC - 24th Feb 2023)

[Hero-of-Time]

S-E are really cranking out these 2D-HD games. Bring them on.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Hero-of-Time

[Glen-i]

Awww yeah! That mobile gacha prequel can suck it!

All in for more job based, "4 slots is not enough" shenanigans!

[Dcubed]

Interesting that the 8 base jobs remain the same as the original.  Figured they’d change it up.

Anyway, game looks amazing! So glad that this game finally exists; it was announced like 3-4 years ago!

[Glen-i]

On 14/09/2022 at 12:06 AM, Dcubed said:

Interesting that the 8 base jobs remain the same as the original.  Figured they’d change it up.

Funny you mention that, because I had a read through the Press Kit, and it seems that each character has a few extra nuances to help make them more distinctive.

For example, the Warrior? Well, he can can actually learn skills from NPCs he challenges! The guy is a mother effing Blue Mage! The other 7 don't get access to this, even if they were to use the Warrior Job as a secondary one!

Meanwhile, the Dancer's skills get additional effects depending on which NPC she has allured.

Some other details I gleamed from it...

- As well as the unique skills I mentioned above, each of the 8 characters get a sort of "Limit Break". This guage gets built up by taking damage or breaking enemies. Which Limit Break you get depends on who uses it. Dancer, for example, can use it to make her dances affect the entire party for a while.

- As hinted in the Direct, Field Actions change depending on the time of day. The Warrior can challenge NPC's during the day, but at night, this changes to Bribery, where you can pay them for information.

- In response to the "These characters don't interact" criticism the first game got, there are optional side stories where two of the 8 characters join up for an adventure.

- You could see this in the trailer, but the animation has gotten a lot more elaborate, with party members doing far more acrobatic feats, and enemies having actual attack animation.

Can I have this game now, please? I need it!

Edited September 15, 2022 by Glen-i

[Julius]

A Collector's Edition was also announced for Switch, PS4, and PS5:

Quote

The Collector's Goods Box includes a set of gorgeous bust figures depicting the game's eight travelers, a lavishly bound art book with a full-page spread of illustrations, and a CD containing extended music not included in the soundtrack. These limited items will be packaged and delivered in a Collector's Box which prominently features the game's package art.

Seems to only be available at the moment from the Square Enix Store, priced at £169.99. 

Looks good, but it was always to struggle to live up to the first game's pop-up:

[Sméagol]

51 minutes ago, Julius said:

Looks good, but it was always to struggle to live up to the first game's pop-up:

I prefer the new one (I don't like the pop-up book and I do like the artbook), but I'll skip this one as well as I have no use for the busts.

This is simply what I want from a CE: artbook, physical soundtrack, and a nice box around it. I don't need anything else. Small trinkets like a pin are fine though I can do without. If you do a figure (and thefore increase the price by a lot), it needs to be high quality, and most aren't I believe.

[Mokong]

I wonder will the Dancer still have that move that give random effects including EXP x 100 I managed to hit that a few times in the first game, it was ridiculous and I loved it haha.

[Dcubed]

46 minutes ago, Mokong said:

I wonder will the Dancer still have that move that give random effects including EXP x 100 I managed to hit that a few times in the first game, it was ridiculous and I loved it haha.

That’s like the entire reason why the Dancer job even exists lol. Bewildering Grace had better be in this game!

[Hero-of-Time]

 

[Dcubed]

So err... demo's out and err... yeah... it's amazing!

I want the game now

Edited February 9, 2023 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

They nerfed Thief! SP Thief is MIA! Nooooooo!

God, the game is amazing though. That music is obscene in how good it is!

[S.C.G]

Octopath Traveler II Launch Trailer

Now up on the main page.

- - - - -

[Glen-i]

Right, so I've finished all eight first chapters, and I'm gonna jot down my thoughts on the 8 base jobs and how I think the tweaks may help or hinder them.

Spoiler

Cleric - Heal More is gone, while Heal Wounds costs almost twice as much SP. Luminescence costs more too. And it seems Saving Grace, one of the best passive skills in the first game is missing too. That would squarely place cleric in the "Hardest nerfed" category if it wasn't for the fact that Steal SP, that Thief skill I mentioned in my previous post, has been rebadged and given to the Cleric, making it insanely self-sufficient! Having a move that hits twice for virtually no cost is very helpful! Revive costing 10 less SP is also much appreciated.

Temenos's unique talent isn't all that, only giving enemies a few debuffs at the start of a fight during the night. His Latent Power of lowering shield points with any attack can be handy in a pinch though.

Scholar - The actual "Hardest nerfed" base job. On top of the massive SP cost of the standard spells, the scholar has lost the double hitting spells for some buffing skills and "Elemental Barrage", a spell that hits 3 to 5 times (More when boosted) with randomly chosen elements. It has the potential to be more effective at breaking, but is far less reliable in practice. It is relatively cheap though, so might be useful for bosses. Of note, is that "Extra Experience", a very late game support skill is available on this job now. Allowing for some power leveling much earlier, about the only true buff the job has.

Osvald's talent is still Study Foes, except it reveals two weaknesses if you see the same enemy a second time. His Latent Power is similar to the Scholar Divine Skill from the first game, which is pretty great, because I could never justify the BP and SP cost, so having it use it's own dedicated resource will mean I'll actually use it.

Thief - Oh Steal SP, how I'll miss you... Share SP is also gone, but without Steal SP, I don't mind too much. This Thief has a dark spell instead of a fire one, but not much has fundamentally changed. It's still gonna be valuable for debuffing dangerous bosses, while also using HP Thief to melt shields and keep themselves healthy, you just have to mind your SP now.
There's some potential with using "Surprise Attack" in conjunction with the defend command to really lay on the hurt, I'll have to see how effective that is.

Throné's talent is similar to Temenos', except it buffs the party at night. Meh. Her Latent Power lets her take two actions though. Which I can already tell is amazing! Useful in all sort of situations!

Hunter - Oh boy, Hunter got some nice upgrades here! The least useful job in the first game is now quite the force. "Precise Shot" replaces the previous multi hitting moves. It hits less times (2 normally, but 5 with full boost), but is far more accurate, and most importantly, allows you to choose the targets for every hit. If an enemy formation is weak to bows, Hunter is going to be insanely effective at breaking! Leghold Trap is still great, if a tad more expensive. Two new skills also allow Hunter to nullify postive buffs on an enemy, as well attack and buff themself in one action. I'm looking forward to these new toys! The only real nerf is that Patience is not here. Replaced with a less effective skill.

Ochette's talent is still Capture, except that monsters have unlimited uses, and whenever Ochette defeats an enemy, there's a 25% chance she automatically captures it! That's so much more useful now, that I'll actually engage with the mechanic more! Being able to convert unneeded monsters into items is also appreciated. Her Latent Power gives her a number of heavy hitting attacks on tap, which is always useful.

Apothecary - Oh dear, this was easily the best base job in the first game, what horrid nerfing are we in for here?

Sorry? It didn't get nerfed, it got buffed? Wait, it got the most buffed!? WHY!?

Yeah, for some mad reason, Apothecary is even more effective at what it does. The reviving and healing skills got rolled into one convenient skill at a measly 6 SP. Last Stand, a gimmicky and expensive axe attack has been replaced with a more straight forward version that's a bit cheaper. Granting a regen buff replaces the now unneeded revive skill, and the poisoning move now packs an extra attack on top of it.

But all that pales in comparison to Castti's talent, Concoct. Just as effective as the first game, except it can be boosted now, letting you mix up to five ingredients at once for absolutely insane results, she can do anything. "But Glen!" I hear you cry, "Isn't that a massive waste of resources?"
Well yeah, except, her latent power lets you concoct for free! That's bonkers! Giving 4 BP to the entire party, at just 3 BP cost!? That's stupid! I don't know what they were thinking, but I'll be abusing that mishap throughout!

Warrior - Thousand Spears is gone, replaced by a 3 hit, more accurate and cheaper, version that uses Swords instead. That's about it for the nerfs, as Warrior has a few more tools to distinguish from the first game. It can nullify positive buffs while attacking, and also take up a stance that counters physical damage. Pull off a counterattack, and it reduces shield points too. Nifty!

Hikari's talent gives him Blue Mage style capabilities, you can equip 5 extra skills that Hikari has learnt from NPC's he's beaten up, giving Hikari a lot more flexibility and helping negate one of the main weaknesses of the Warrior. His Latent Power is similar to Ochette's in that it gives 3 powerful skills to choose from, affording even more flexible strategies.

Merchant - The Wind Spell has been replaced by a Fire one, and there's no version that hits all foes, but other then that, Merchant is pretty much unchanged, which is strange, because it was one of the better jobs out there. Donate BP is a little more expensive though. Sidestep is also still there, I'll have to see if a certain utterly broken combo is still doable... Arrow of Fortune replaces Tradewinds, allowing for a heavy hitting bow attack that gives you extra JP. 1 JP for every 50 damage seems to be the formula. Awesome!

Partitio's talent lets him get various benefits based on the NPC he has hired, I went with 25% more money from selling items. Best 1,800 I'll ever spend! His Latent Power just gives him 5 BP, on the spot, and it still lets him attack that turn. It's not flashy, but boy, is it effective!

Dancer - Bewildering Grace is still here. Haven't gotten much chance to use it, so the jury's still out on whether the glorious EXP X100 is still there, but I'll be trying.

...What? You want more reason to use Dancer? What's wrong with you? Fine. The dark spell has been replaced with a wind one, and there's no hit-all version. Instead, we have Ruinous Kick, an attack that always lowers the enemy's shield point, which is good, because Dancer is quite limited in that aspect. There are no defensive buffs, but we have a dagger hit all attack and something that can move another party member up some spots on the turn timeline. That one might have potential.
The support skill Second Wind is gone, which is a shame. But the JP Up skill from the first game takes it's place. Very nice, considering how late it was on that.

Agnea's talent triggers additional effects when using dance skills depending on the NPC following her, allowing for more effective buffing. Important to note that this doesn't use up the NPC's summon counter. So there's no reason not to have someone following her at all times. Her Latent Power lets her spread the effects of single target skills to everyone. Sorta similar to a Divine Skill from the first game, it doesn't work on skills that only target the user though, so no Sidestep shenanigans here.

And that wraps that up. Now this is just my early impressions, each character appears to have 2 "EX Skills" which could change things up, and there's bound to be new secondary jobs and Divine Skills to go with them (Hell, I already have one of those new jobs). So I'm looking forward to seeing what brokenness the game has in store.

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

The actual best thing about Octopath Traveler II is that it supports the Switch Capture feature, which means you can record all your Bewildering Grace shenanigans!

It's not all been killing myself in amusing ways, though. I got my first EXP X100! Well haps! Went on to fight the boss of the dungeon I was in, only to get another EXP X100 on the boss! Absolutely floored! Although it has caused a biiiiit of a gulf in levels.

Basically not using three of the characters for the rest of the main game, am I?

Edited March 11, 2023 by Glen-i

[EEVILMURRAY]

I've not played the first @Glen-i - which would you say is the better one to play?

[Glen-i]

17 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

I've not played the first @Glen-i - which would you say is the better one to play?

They're not connected in terms of plot, so I'd say the second game based on the various improvements they've made.

Give the demo a go, it lets you play the first three hours of a fresh file. You can transfer save data if you decide to bite.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Spoiler

This "Not Warmaster" job is interesting. In that the only skill even resembling Warmaster was the only one worth using in the first game. And it got nerfed (Hits a single target randomly 6 times instead of all targets 6 times) and buffed (Costs 20 SP less, and doesn't require full boost)

What's really strange is that 6 of the 8 skills flat out can't be used unless you equip very specific weapons. While these weapons aren't quite as good as the Battle Tested stuff, they're damn close! And they have some very nice secondary effects to make up for it. Kill an enemy with the spear? You get 1 BP! The staff recovers SP with every attack, and the axe just flat out increases your max HP by 50 with every attack for the battle.

Vast improvement from the job it's blatantly replacing.

I've finished Temenos' story now, meaning I can remove him and let all the other characters start catching up. Time to start exploring all of these optional level 45-ish dungeons in the hope I stumble another new job.

BTW, I previously said that Scholar was the most nerfed job. I was wrong! Advanced Magic is a skill that "increases the intensity of spells". I didn't quite realise what this meant until I tried it. And then realised that it makes his spells become the 2 hit versions I believed were cut. The downside of having to use a turn to set up is mitigated by the fact that the SP cost of these spells don't go up! Which makes it cheaper then using them in the first game! And then the Divine Skill goes one step further and makes the spells the 3 hit versions! You know? The Latin spells from the first game that were restricted to a superjob and cost an eye watering 35 SP to use? Three of them are here, on Scholar, for a measly 14 SP! Broken!

Sorry, Thief, you're the most nerfed job now.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Spoiler

Oh god! Transfer Rune is back! Merchant back to being utterly OP again!

What were they thinking!?

EDIT: OH NO! The Divine Skill makes a random positive status effect indefinite!?

Can you say "Infinite Transfer Rune"?

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

I've done all 8 stories now. Mostly spent this week running around and doing all the optional dungeons and looting them.

Spoiler

Interesting that a lot of the late game accessories specifically have the same effect as a support skill that was cut from Octopath 1. The upside, naturally, is that you don't have to spend one of your 4 precious support slots on it, the downside is that only 1 character can use it at a time.

I've already talked about the Armsmaster, but I can confirm that the Axe skill is the best one. Bonkers damage if you reveal all the weaknesses on your target. And it hits twice! The support skills here are kinda lame.

The Inventor is probably the least useful superjob by the endgame. It's neat that it doesn't use SP, but the cool down on some of the skills limits it. It wouldn't be so bad if it happened in the background, but you have to spend a turn initiating that cool down in the first place. Turn efficiency is very important in Octopath, so that really hurts it here.

The support skill "A Step Ahead" is noteworthy, as it lets that character get an extra turn at the start of battle. What's really great is that when the battle starts proper, everyone gets that 1 BP at the start of a turn. So it's effectively Boost Start for everyone, and only one person needs A Step Ahead equipped. Considering how early you get Inventor, that gets some real mileage in random encounters.

Arcanist is a superjob all about the buffs and debuffs. "Seal of Diffusion" is basically the same thing as "Transfer Rune" from the first game. And just like the first game, giving it to the Merchant is completely broken. What it does is amplify skills that only target the user, and applies the effect to everyone. Merchant happens to have Sidestep, a skill that makes the next physical attack from an enemy miss the user. So Arcanist Partitio can constantly stack Sidestep when needed and effectively be invincible to all physical based bosses. Which is about half of them. Lovely. Rest affecting everyone as well is also nice, just a shame that you have to reapply Seal of Diffusion now and again. Oh what's that? The Divine Skill, "Seal of Eternity" makes a single random positive status effect permanent!? Well, that's that problem sorted.

Other notable characters who perform well with Arcanist (Basically anyone with a skill that targets the user) are Osvald (Stroke of Genius), Ochette (Her first EX Skill), and Hikari (Far too many to mention).

Despite all that, Arcanist doesn't have the runes that Runelord enjoyed, Hikari can learn some though, but he can't do Sidestep, so it'll never be quite as busted as Runelord Tressa.

Then I got the final superjob, Conjurer...

Hidden behind a difficult set of bosses, and for good reason. Those runes I mentioned? They're here. I initially was a bit let down by this, because I thought it meant you wouldn't be able to pull off Transfer Rune shenanigans. Well, I was right, but it doesn't matter, because you don't need to. Conjurer applies the element to the entire party at once! It effectively cuts out the middle man of Runelord for some ridiculous reason! There is a downside, there's no light or dark rune, and they only last for 5 turns at max boost instead of 9, but who cares? This is beyond useful!

And just to really hammer home that this is the best job, 2 of the support skills it gives you are very useful. SP Saver returns from the first game, letting you cut the SP cost of everything by half, considering how expensive things can be, this is much appreciated. But that's just the starter. BP Regeneration is so good, I'm amazed it's a support skill. Whenever you use up BP, there's a 25% chance you'll get that BP refunded! There is not a single job that doesn't benefit from this. What's that? Partitio just stacked 4 Sidesteps at once and then BP regeneration kicked in? Guess I'll go ahead and get him to stack another 4 immediately!

I love this game!

At this point, I've unlocked all of the EX Skills, so I'm gonna revisit each base job and give my thoughts on whether they've gotten better from them or not.

Spoiler

Ochette the Hunter gets Indomitable Beast, which boosts her Physical Attack, Speed and Evasion. Basically, the Warrior's Abide on steroids. Nice on it's own, amazing if she's an Arcanist and uses Seal of Diffusion to apply it to everyone. Her second EX Skill allows her to provoke 3 monsters at once (6 if max boosted). This is great for weeding out weaknesses on the first turn, and can utterly demolish shields with the right monsters. Top it off with one of the Cait monsters for random healing, and you've got even more reason to capture monsters! Downside to this being that specific monsters that need a max boost to be provoked can't be selected this way.

Casti's first EX Skill Drastic Measures removes an enemies status ailments and debuffs and whacks them hard with an axe, the more negative effects you get rid of with this, the more damage you do. I normally debuff things for a damn good reason, so I never use this. Remedy, on the other hand, tosses around random positive status effects. At full boost, this can be quite the drastic swing in your favour.

Throné's first EX Skill is Veil of Darkness. A move that hits all enemies with a dark spell and guarantees their next physical move will miss. A reverse Sidestep? Interesting. It can't be stacked multiple times with boosting though. So not super broken. It's definitely saved my butt against hard to break bosses though. 25 SP is a bit expensive without SP Saver though. The second EX Skill, "Disguise" is very interesting. The description is wrong, mind. What it does is transform Throné into another party member for a bit. She then gets all the skills that character has. Can you say "2 of the same superjob"? She can't copy Divine Skills or Latent Powers though, so keep that in mind.

Osvald probably gets the lamest EX Skills, in my opinion. Teach has him copy and paste his stat buffs on to another party member. Situational really. His second EX Skill is an attack that lowers the enemies shield points regardless of weaknesses. It can also be affected by Advanced Magic, so it can hit or 2 or 3 times with a bit of setup. This sounds great, until you realise it costs 75 SP!? That's just way too much, even with SP Saver! Good thing Scholar is solid enough already.

Partitio gets Negotiate Schedule, which lets him pay an enemy to give Partitio their turn. Wow, that's broken! Oh wait, it doesn't work on bosses? What's the point then? His second EX Skill is Share SP. Yeah, that Thief skill from the first game. Weird. In the first game, it donates SP to another character. Well, there's a key difference with this version. It donates 25% of Partitio's current SP to everyone! And it's not split up, if Partitio spends 50 SP to do this, then everyone else gets 50 SP. Oh, and this can make their SP go over their max threshold, just like the first game. Yeah, that skill is great, considering Partitio can use Rest to get his own SP back.

Agnea gets Windy Refrain, a wind spell that hits everyone. But it also moves everyone up to first in line on the next turn. Definitely useful. Her second EX Skill extends the duration all of a single ally's current positive status effects by 1 turn (4 at max boost). Eh, it's OK, I suppose. Quite situational though.

Temenos has "Prayer of Plenty" a healing spell that ignores Max HP, letting the recipient go over their Max HP. Seeing as Saving Grace is not in this game anymore, this is an absolute godsend! The only bad thing about it is that only Temenos can use it, and he can't be everywhere at once. Heavenly Shine consumes all of his SP and whacks every enemy with a light spell. The more SP used up, the stronger the spell. It's Magic Burst from Dragon Quest, and just as unnecessary here.

Hikari gets Ultimate Stance, which lets him attack all foes at once with the attack command. Eh, too situational. If it affected all of his skills, then we'd be talking, but alas. His second one, Shinjumonjigiri, on the other hand, functions as a nice alternative to Brand's Blade, hitting every enemy once, then a specific enemy really hard. Good if you aren't running Deal more Damage, or you need to hit everyone.

 

[Julius]

The game is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows early next year. 

Yup, that's a standard Xbox @ TGS announcement 

[Glen-i]

Square are to XBox what Atlus are to Nintendo.

"Ugh FINE! We'll release it on your dumb console!"

[Dcubed]

33 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Square are to XBox what Atlus are to Nintendo.

"Ugh FINE! We'll release it on your dumb console!"

At least they actually got both games, unlike a certain competitor’s console

[Glen-i]

7 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

At least they actually got both games, unlike a certain competitor’s console

Wait, does Sony not have Octopath 1?

That can't be right...

[Julius]

8 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

At least they actually got both games, unlike a certain competitor’s console

How dare you suggest that Xbox are money-hatting to keep the Octopath games off of the Ouya! 

[Glen-i]

God, every time someone makes an Ouya joke. I crack up laughing without fail!

It's so easy, yet so effective!