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

[Dcubed]

4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Wait, does Sony not have Octopath 1?

That can't be right...

Yup.  Only Octopath Traveller 1 content that Sony fans will find are the DLC songs in Theatrhythm.  They got OT2, but no OT1.  Yes it is as bizarre as you’re thinking.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

I was itching to play a JRPG and decided to finally fire this up. I wasnt huge on the first game, mainly due to the overall narrative being poor. However, I loved the story in Triangle Strategy (one of my fav games I played this year) and I'm looking for that kind of quality here.

I wasn't really sure who to start with but eventually landed on Throne. What a bleak but interesting start to the game.

Spoiler

Man, that was brutal. Her getting whipped about because they failed the mission. I thought for sure it was Mother who sold them out and was surprised to see it was Mother and Father who were playing them against each other.

I'm currently hunting the both of them down when...

...I came across Osvald, my second character. I'm happy this happened as he was one of the characters I was contemplating starting with. Again, very bleak start.

Spoiler

Being on trial reminded me of Chrono Trigger.

I quite enjoyed the prison setting. There wasn't much to do other than move the plot forward and I was more than happy with that. Poor Emerald though.

With both characters in my party, it was time for some grinding. There are a couple of areas in the snowy region that are around the level 15 area and so my aim is to raise my levels to that so I can go explore. There looks to be another character to the south, so once done here I will head that way.

Loving Osvald and the damage he can dish out with his spells, as well as seeing the weaknesses of enemies. I usually dish out the pain with him and then have Throne steal to nab some extra goods.

It's been a good time in the 4-5 hours I've put in so far.

[Glen-i]

10 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

With both characters in my party, it was time for some grinding. There are a couple of areas in the snowy region that are around the level 15 area and so my aim is to raise my levels to that so I can go explore. There looks to be another character to the south, so once done here I will head that way.

Do yourself a favour and get a full party before you start exploring places in the double digits, level wise. The game rightly assumes you have at least 4 characters by then. You also don't double the EXP by halving your party. So grinding now is inefficient.

You can warp around all over the place, so it's not like it'll take long to go back there.

[Hero-of-Time]

8 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Do yourself a favour and get a full party before you start exploring places in the double digits, level wise. The game rightly assumes you have at least 4 characters by then. You also don't double the EXP by halving your party. So grinding now is inefficient.

You can warp around all over the place, so it's not like it'll take long to go back there.

Yeah, I figured this was the case. Entered a couple of areas where level 14 was recommended and still got a beating even though I met the requirements. I ended up venturing down south and left the game just as I was starting Temenos storyline. 

[Hero-of-Time]

My party is 3 strong now, with a fourth member just encountered. I've only briefly heard Ochette speak and I already find her voice grating. I may switch to Japanese audio for her quests.

Took a while to get to her as I couldn't figure out how to make my way south. I completely forgot about the boat! It wasn't until I was scrolling around the map that I realised what I needed to do.

I'm hoping by the end of the day that I have recruited her and have my team around the level 20 mark. That should leave me in a good place to move the story forward.

[drahkon]

Keep the impressions coming.

I may want to give this a go, but need more information form someone who has a similar taste in game

[Hero-of-Time]

9 hours ago, drahkon said:

Keep the impressions coming.

I may want to give this a go, but need more information form someone who has a similar taste in game

It seems pretty much like the first game. Battle system, graphics and music are awesome but the character narratives are very hit or miss. I'm having the same issue as I did with first game where I get invested with a characters story but then have to detour to tackle another characters story. The stop/start nature of it all really hinders the storytelling.

Picked up another two more characters on my travels. I may try go and get the remaining ones before the night is over.

[Hero-of-Time]

Nabbed the final party members. 

Also came across these two SOBs

Sadly they escaped before I was able to kill either of them. 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Well, that was quicker than expected.

Took down the next Cait that popped up and got me a nice amount of exp. 

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Well, that was quicker than expected.

Took down the next Cait that popped up and got me a nice amount of exp. 

I hope you're not just sticking to the same four characters. Because that will come back to bite you in the future.

[Hero-of-Time]

21 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I hope you're not just sticking to the same four characters. Because that will come back to bite you in the future.

Nah. Keeping Throne and Osvald as my two mains (both level 25) and switching the others out as they level up. I have the those at levels 18-20.

Gonna grind to level 30 so I can knock out some old lady who is guarding a Cait accessory. Equipping at least one of those will help with exp grinding as I go about the game.

Currently have chapter 1 completed for everyone. I don't think I've started anyone's second chapter yet.

[Hero-of-Time]

I got in an early morning session, finally reached level 30 and nabbed the accessory I was after.

In doing so I also maxed out my first job.

I've only got the Inventor class unlocked as a secondary and so I switched to that to give it a whirl. It's pretty cool, especially the catapult move. Comes in handy for simultaneously breaking the enemies.

Quite tempted to try and obtain the other cait accessory before I carry on with the story. At least my characters should be OP for their next chapters. Just the way I like it.

[drahkon]

14 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It seems pretty much like the first game. Battle system, graphics and music are awesome but the character narratives are very hit or miss. I'm having the same issue as I did with first game where I get invested with a characters story but then have to detour to tackle another characters story. The stop/start nature of it all really hinders the storytelling.

Hm...then it's definitely a "wait for sale or PS+" game for me.

47 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

At least my characters should be OP for their next chapters.

[Hero-of-Time]

Ended up getting that other accessory.

With this in hand, I've managed to raise my team to the levels 38-40. This means that I'm able to run around towns and steal some great equipment, as well as element stones that come in handy for the Cait enemies.

Doing all of this grinding has left me with a lot of spare cash and so I bought me a boat.

I swear I'll progress the story at some point...

EDIT: Oh, I also unlocked all other standard jobs for the characters. Got me a couple of magic users on the team now that makes quick work of groups of enemies.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Hero-of-Time

[drahkon]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

I swear I'll progress the story at some point...

The game sure looks gorgeous

[Glen-i]

23 minutes ago, drahkon said:

The game sure looks gorgeous

You should see it in stereoscopic 3D.

Absolutely breathtaking.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

I finally moved the stories forward. I think I'm up to chapter 4 on most of them now. Just like the first game, some are good and others are boring...looking at you Agnea and Partitio.

I had to stop grinding exp because the areas I had access to were no longer viable. A lot of time would need to be spent for minimal rewards. Luckily, I came across a nice area this morning. Having defeated a giant sea monster, I went sailing around the east side of the map and landed on The Lost Isle. This houses one of the secret job types but also is home to some enemies that dish out 2000+ exp and can be taken down pretty quickly. I can see me farming this area for a while to get my team up to level 60+.

I have to say, the Cait accessories have proven to be garbage. You could probably count on 1 hand the times I've seen them since acquiring them. Still, this new area looks far more promising for exp at the moment.

[Hero-of-Time]

Well, I did end up staying on that island and levelled everyone up to at least level 60.

Throne and Osvald are a lot higher as I never switched them out.

Not bad going, especially as I've yet to pull off any exp bonuses. I had read about a NPC you can hire to make it pretty easy to get x100 exp but he's late game material. Turns out I didn't need him anyway thanks to some hard graft.

I've scouted the map and I'm further behind than I thought. I've not started any of the Crossed Path quests yet and as for the main characters...

• Agnea is on Chapter 5
• Osvald is on Chapter 4
• Hikari is on Chapter 4
• Ochette is on Chapter 2
• Temenos is on Chapter 2
• Castti is on Chapter 3
• Throne is on Chapter 4

I look forward to now decimating the missions.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Finished everyone's main stories and their Crossed Path side missions. This allowed me to nab all the Battle-Tested Weapons and unlock all the EX skills.

As expected, I butchered the bosses. I used the same setup for each fight. Get the bosses close to breaking point, cast Armor Corrosive with Therone, buff Ochette and Hikari's attack, break the bosses shield and then unleash with a combo of Aeber's Reckoning, Brand's Blade and Shinjumonjigiri. This was more than enough to destroy each of the boss fights, so much so that they only got to go into their second forms purely for the dialogue. A simple hit after they had finished yapping brought each of them down.

There's still plenty to do for the platinum. I need to finish every sidequest, get the last secondary job, defeat the secert boss, grab all the records and get get the true ending. Think I'll take a break from it for a little while though.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Hero-of-Time

[Hero-of-Time]

Man, these sidequests...

A lot of them are just fetch quests as well.

I did get into a couple of scrapes though, one of which was with this fella.

Took him down easy enough but was laughing when doing so purely because the following Chappelle sketch popped in my head.

 

 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

True final boss has been defeated!

Spoiler

I was honestly surprised that I beat it the way I did. I thought I would have a quick go of it to see how things played out and I ended up killing the thing. My party, especially the second one, wasnt even set up at all. 

Hikari, Partitio and Castti were my MVPs. I was basically just doing damage with Hikari's Limb from Limb and Partitio's Hired Help move. Castti was there constantly using concoctions that gave the whole team full BP. This allowed me to constantly unleash these 2 attacks while the rest of the team either healed or done multiple standard attacks to break the shield.

Very happy with how this turned out. Granted, my characters were all in the level 80-90 range and so those high stats done a lot of the heavy lifting.

Still need to take on the secret boss though. Hopefully it will go as smoothly...

 

[Glen-i]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Still need to take on the secret boss though. Hopefully it will go as smoothly...

It won't.

[Hero-of-Time]

10 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

It won't.

I may have a go of it tonight, just see how I fare with it.

[Hero-of-Time]

3 hours ago, Glen-i said:

It won't.

 

Spoiler

 

The boss took me a few attempts but once I got the pattern down it wasn't too difficult. The most difficult part was trying to manage the RNG when it came to my characters order. Hate it when JRPGs do this. Once I got the hang of manipulating my turn order everything went fine.

Very good game and a fun platinum to nab. I'm still not keen on how the story is told but they certainly done a better job with the sequel in terms of linking everything together. The battle system, music and visuals more than make up for this though.

The first game I finished this year was another 2D HD game and that was Triangle Strategy. Both of these games are up there with the best I've played this year but I think I preferred Triangle Strategy. Again, good battle system, gorgeous visuals and amazing music but it also had a ridiculously good narrative to go with it.

I honestly wish S-E would churn out more of these types of games. The engine could be put to great use for things like classic FF games or Chrono Trigger. I wonder what's taking them so long with the DQ3 remake?

Edited November 13, 2023 by Hero-of-Time

[Glen-i]

19 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

 

Oh, really? It took you more then one attempt, therefore, it didn't go as smoothly. I estimated your power precisely!

Kudos though! It's not an easy fight even at a high level. I should know.