Octopath Traveler II explained

Octopath Traveler II
Publisher:	Square Enix
Director:	Keisuke Miyauchi
Producer:	Tomoya Asano Masashi Takahashi
Artist:	Naoki Ikushima
Composer:	Yasunori Nishiki
Engine:	Unreal Engine 4
Genre:	Role-playing
Modes:	Single-player

Octopath Traveler II is a role-playing video game developed by Square Enix and Acquire and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to Octopath Traveler (2018), and the third entry in the series after the prequel mobile game (2020), though it features a new cast of characters and setting separate from prior games. It was released worldwide in February 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows; it is the first Octopath game released on PlayStation platforms. Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions were released in June 2024. Octopath Traveler II received positive reviews from critics.

Gameplay

Similar to the first Octopath Traveler, the game plays as a traditional JRPG. The player moves between eight separate characters, each with their own purpose for traversing the game world.^[1] Once again, each character has their own "path action" - a particular means for the player to have the respective character interact with non-player characters in the game world, often with the goal of getting reward items or characters to fight in support of their cause.^[2] New to the sequel is there being distinct "daytime" and nighttime" segments of gameplay, with path actions being different depending on the time of day.^[3] For example, the player can choose to make the character Hikari duel characters in the daytime, in hopes of learning new skills for battle, but at night, there is the separate option to instead spend in-game currency to bribe characters for information or items.

The game retains the turn-based battle system of the first game as well, including the "break" and "boost" systems.^[2] Every enemy has a number of hidden "weakness" attributes related to being weak to particular weapons or elements.^[4] Once discovered, an indicator is shown onscreen, and if it is exploited enough times, a "break" occurs, temporarily weakening the enemy. Every turn, "boost points" are accumulated, which can be used for extra moves in future turns. New to the battle system are "Latent Powers", special abilities unique to a given character which recharge when taking damage or breaking the enemy.

The game retains the 6 weapons from the first game, sword, spear, dagger, axe, bow, and staff, from the first game. It also retains the 6 magical elements, fire, ice, lightning, wind, light, and darkness. Depending of the jobs each character has, it will allow them to use certain weapons and elements. Like the first game, there are 8 standard jobs, which once again are hunter, apothecary, thief, scholar, merchant, dancer, cleric, and warrior. All characters can have an additional job aside from their default one and can gain their skills, except for a few that are unique to the default character. Unlike the last game though, players can have a maximum of three characters aside for the default one on the same job. To get a character another job, players myust finds each of the guilds first. Aside from the eight standard one, there are 4 unique jobs as well, Armaster, Anarchist, Conjurer, and Inventor, who offer more unique skills than the standard once, and require the player to complete unique quests to unlock. Unlike the standard jobs, players can only asing a special job to just one character.

When the player starts the game, they'll have to choose one of the 8 characters to start their journey. The chosen character will then become the protagonist of the story. Said character can't be removed from the active party until their story is completed. The character will also take the lead role in events that do not specify a certain character.

Unlike the first game, all 8 characters will play through their first chapter entirely on their own, and may be joined by the others on the following chapters. However, except for the protagonist, players can choose to skip the first chapter of the other 7 travelers.

Story

While Octopath Traveler II retains the same structure of following eight separate character's stories throughout the game, it follows eight new characters in a new setting separate from the prior games. It takes place in the world of Solistia, a setting that is more modern than the prior game's medieval setting, which is presented more like something from the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. For instance, the steam engine is pioneered during the game's events.^{[1] [5] [6]}

The game's main cast includes:

• Ochette: Ochette is a hunter and a beastling from the island of Toto Haha. She is the aprentince of Juvah, leader of the beastlings. When she was a child, Ochette had too chose between two animals to become her companion. A male jackal named Akala, or a female owl named Mahina. While Ochette bonds with the one she chose, Whoever Ochette does no choose is trapped in a dark aura and attacks her before fleeing the scene. 10 years later, a dark monster attacks the island, which Ochette manages to take down. Juvah warns her this is the signal of a upcoming calamity known as the Night of the Scarlet Moon, which dark monsters will attack the island during the night the moon turns red. In order to fight the calamity, Juvah sends Ochette and her companion to find the three legendary creatures that helped them in the past. Ochette first heads to Coning Creek to find Cateracta, a snake with water powers. However, Ochette finds that Cateracta has been dead for a long time go. However, a woman named Alpione, who used to protect Cateracta, entrusts Ochette with her child so she can take her instead. Ochette names the child Acta. Next she goes to Crackridge to find Tera, a beast of earth and fire. She finds him deep asleep in a cave, and is forced to fight him to calm him down from being awoken. Following the fight, Tera joins Ochette on her quest. She heads to Stormbridge last to find Glacis, a bird like being with the power of ice and lightning. However Glacis is lost in grief following her egg being shattered by hunters, and attacks Ochette. Ochette manages to get threw her and she agrees to join her. With Acta, Tera, and Glacis at her side, Ochette returns to Toto Haha just in time for the Night of the Scarlet Moon. The inhabitants unite and fend off the dark creatures. To her horror, Ochette finds that the monster leading the attack is the animal she did not choose as her companion, who has been tortured into a dark being called the Darkling. With heavy heart Ochette battles the Darkling, eventually defeating them. However, instead of killing it, she comforts it on its last moments as it finally finds peace. Ochette is then named the protector of the island.
• Castti: Castti is an apothecary who has lost her memories. After being found adrift at sea, she is taken to Cannalbrine where people react to her in suspiction, saying her uniform is the same of Eir's apothecaries, a group known to kill their patents. However when the people start getting sick from drinking water, Castti still decides to help them with another apothecary named Malaya, eventually finding the monsters behind the ilness and fending them off, which earns her the people's gratutide. Before they depart, Malaya tells Castti they knew from before, as she was the one that sent her adrift. However she vanishes before Castti can ask her more. Using a journal she tracks down her memoires. She first heads to the town of Sai, which is locked in a civil war. Castti puts her life at risk saving the soldiers of both sides, which earns her the respct of the rebel leader Edmund, who abandons the fight to aid her. She ends up saving everyone from a sand monster. Castti's actions causes the leaders to agree to stop fighting. Next she goes to Wnterbloom to visit an old patient of her's named Rosa, whos's on her deathbed but needs to live a couple days more so she can hand her title to her daughter Melia. Castti helps Rosa stay alive long enough, and rescues Melia when she is taken by bandits. During her travels, Castti remembers that she founded Eir's apothecaries, and worked alongside Malaya. She also remembers Trousseu, a young apothecary she had taken under her wing. Malaya returns and guides Castti to an abandoned village where she finally remembers everything. An encounter with a mysterious man had lead Trousseu to go mad and start killing people with a poisonus rain. The rain killed everyone in the village, including Malaya who's just been a memory all along, as she sacrificed herself to save Castti. Knowing her past now, Castti tracks down Trousseu to Timberain, and with the help of Edmund she evacuates the town while she confronts and fights her corrupted protege. Castti is forced to kill Trousseu to stop him, and manages to create a cure to the poison rain, saving everyone. After that she puts her friends to rest.
• Throné: Throné is a thief and member of the Black Snake clan in New Delsta, a group of thiefs and assasins. Though she hates killing, a colar in her neck keeps her from leaving. The Blacksnakes are lead by two people which she calls Mother, who is very abusive and hatefull towards her, and Father, who she shares a strange bond as he is notably softer with her, and wants her to suceed him. One night she is sent to kill a enemy lord, but instead is confronted by her friend and fellow Blacksnake Pirro, who reveals this was a set up to see who is the best sucessor. Wanting to be free, Pirro attacks Throné, who is forced to kill him in self defense. Before he dies, Pirro asks her to do what she wants. Throné then decides to find Mother and Father, and get the keys to her colar that they keep, so she can get it off and finaly be free. She heads to Oresbush to find Mother, and is forced into a deadly drinking game with a slaver to find her location. Throné wins the game, and the slaver reveals that Mother is in Wellgrove, where she raises her next generation of Blacksnakes in an orphanage. Throné heads to Wellgrove and sneaks in into the orphanage, where Mother is waiting for her. Mother reveals that Throné's birht mother used to be the head of the snakes, before she killed her. However, Mother was never able to kill Throné because Father protected her from her. Throné fights and kills Mother, getting her key. She travels to Winterbloom to meet with Father and help him in taking down a rival gang. But during the mission, Father reveals he knew of her intention of killing him. Instead of fighting her though, he asks her to meet him in an abandoned church in Montwise. Throné travels there, where Father tells her more of her birth mother. A woman named Marietta who he was in love with. However, Marietta ended up falling for another man, Throné's birth father, who is the true head of the Blacksnakes. Father killed Marietta in retalation, but never held anything against Throné, who he loved as his own. Throné and Father fight, but eventually Father allows her to strike him down, as he intended for her to win. Throné realizes that despite everything, she truly loved him as her father, and calls him dad for the first time. Father, pleased with this, hands her the other key, but warns her that those keys won't set her free, and she must seek out her real father now. Confused, Throné travels back to New Delsta to visit Pirro's grave, where she finds a message leading her to a door that the keys unlock. The door takes her to a ruined kingdom named Lostseed, where a man is waiting for her in the castle. He introduces himself as Claude, an imortal man who founded the Blacksnakes to find the perfect succesor, as he did not wish to live forever. Claude tells Throné all of the blacksnakes are his children, including Pirro, Mother, Father, and Throné herself. Claude challenges Throné to a fight, telling her he will set her free if he strikes him down. Despite her angush Throné manages to defeat Claude, who gives her the true key to her colar before he dies. Throné unlocks the colar and is finally free to live as she pleases.
• Osvald: Osvald is a scholar of magic who is wrongfully imprisoned in a prison island for causing the fire that killed his wife and daughter. During his stay in prison, Osvald swears revenge against his former friend Harvey, who is the actual culprit. 5 years later, Osvald teams up with a fellow inamte named Emerald and they try to escape, killing the abusive warden in the process. Osvald and Emerald manage to escape the prison, but split apart when trying to escape the island. Emerald is soon discovered, but chooses to burn the ship he was trying to escape in, prefaring death over being captured again. This makes the guards think Osvald also died, allowing him to succesfully reach the continent. Vent on revenge, Osvald returns to his home in Conning Creek, where he meets his asistant Clarrisa. She informs him that Harvey had payed the head guard Stenvar to cover up his tracks, and kill anyone who tried to expose him, including her husband. Osvald finds Stenvar and beats him into summision, forcing him to confess to his dealings with Harvey, as well as his location. Montwise, where the two met in the past while trying to find the One True Magic. Osvald arrives to Montwise where he goes to Harvey's laboratorty, where he is waiting for him. Harvey reveals that his wife and daughter poccessed special blood that would lead him to the One True Magic, as well as to get back at Osvald who he was intenseley jealous of. Harvey forces Osvald to fight a monster he created out of his late wife's blood. Osvald comes in top, but Harvey escapes. However Osvald learns one last thing, his daughter Elena is still alive and being held captive by Harvey. Osvald goes to Gravel to rescue Elena, saving her just in time before Harvey can sacrifice her. Harvey has aparantly unlocked the one true magic, and uses it to try to kill Osvald and Elena. His love for his daughter allows Osvald to unlock the real One True Magic, which he uses to battle Harvey. In the end Osvald defeats Harvey, who is overcome by his new magic and self destroys. Osvald leaves Elena to recover on Clarissa's care and heads out to find out who helped Harvey on his expirements.
• Partitio: Partitio is a merchant who has worked on his father's, Papp, silver mine since he was a kid in Oresbush. One night, his father's buisness partner, Roque, leaves the mine with the intend of expand the buisness. He however tricks Papp into singing a contract that leaves Roque with most earnings of the mine. This leads to Oresbush to go into heavy poberty. Years later Partitio has had enough and confronts the abusive tax collector Giff, and forces him to give the town back. Partitio then heads on a mission to try to end poberty, as well as find Roque. He travels to Clockbank, where Roque's headquaters are, and tries to meet his old mentor. In the city Partitio befriends a scribner named Ori, and a mechanic named Floyd, who is trying to create the steam engine. Partitio hels him out buy getting the materlials, as well as confronting Roque's assistant Thurston when he tries to take the engine. Roque finally appears and makes a deal. If Partitio gives him 80 billion coins, he will give him the rights to the engine. Ori tells him that a noble in Wellgrove named Arnold could help him out. Partitio seeks Arnold out who agrees to help him if he revives Wellgrove's economy. Partito builds a convience store from items he got on his travels, and then rescues Anrold from a vegeful Thurston, who tries to get revenge from Roque firing him. However Thurston ends up backing down and joins Partitio. Arnold follows threw their deal and gives Partitio the 80 billion coins. Partitio travels to Roque's island, and with Ori's help he gets into the facotry where he presents the check Anrold gave him, which is later supported when the noble himself arrives with the coins. Roque however refuses to back down and challenges Partitio to a fight. Partitio comes out in top, which in turn finally humbles Roque, who is apologetic for his actions. Partitio forgives Roque and they work together to bring the steam engine to the world and end poberty.
• Agnea: Agnea is a dancer in the small town of Cropdale. She wants to follow the steps of her late mother Cuanni and become a star. Her father made a deal with her that she would get his blessing to leave if she got 10,000 coins to leave. Agnea finally gets the leaves during the town's raspberry festival, and after defending it from a beast, her father give her his blessing, as well as her mother's dress. Agnea travels to New Delsta where she watches the current superstar, Dolcinaea, peform. She then meets a tavern owner named Gill, who she dances for to help boost his sells. However the theater owner L'Mani feels threaten by the tavern and destroys it. Agnea cofronts L'Mani and gets in a fight with him. The battle is stopped by Dolcinaea who sides with Agnea, and warns L'Mani to leave Gill's tavern alone or she won't peform for him anymore. Before she leaves the city, Gill gives Agnea the notes of a song he wronte so she can use it to create her own. Next Agnea heads to Toto'Haha where she befriends a peforming group called Giselle's Troup. She helps them get their kart free from the sand, and later helps Giselle overcome her stage fright. Before they depart, Giselle tells Agnea she had heard of her mother, and should travel to Sai to more know about her. Agnea heads to Sai where she meets a troublesome orphan named Laila, who she befriends and helps her overcome her anger by teaching her to dance. Laila's adoptive grandmother tells Agnea that Cuanni used to visit their town a lot and gave them hope, and even taught an oprhan girl to dance. To her shock, Agnea later learns that orphan was Dolcinaea. Dolcinaea herself arrives and tries to buy the town for herself, wanting to erase this part of her past. Agnea confronts her and has to fight her bodyguard Veronica. Veronica is defeated, which leaves Dolcinaea impressed rather than angry. She agrees to leave the town alone and invites Agnea to the Festival of Grace in Merry Hills so they can settle their diferences in the stage. Agnea arrives to Merry Hills, but L'Mani attempts to kidnap her for revenge for his defeat. He is thwarted by Gill, Giselle's troupe, Laila, and Veronica, who help Agnea get to the stage. Agnea and Dolcinaea face off with the stage, with the latter initially coming in top, however Agnea's father comes to cheer her up, which inspires her to finally finish her song, Song of Hope. Agnea's dancing moves everyone, including Dolcinaea, who conceeds her defeat and thanks Agnea for reminding her that fame is not everything. Agnea, now a star, continues to dance in the festival.
• Temenos: Temenos is a cleric and the inquisitor of his church in Flamechurch. One day while waiting for a meeting with the Pontiff, he befriends a knight named Crick, who is member of the Sacred Guard, a group of knights Temenos does not trust. He invites Crick to the meeting but the two find the Pontiff dead, killed by a wolf they are forced to repel. Crick is forced to depart, but promises to aid Temenos if he can. Leaving the church under the care of his friend Mindt, Temenos depart to find the murderer He goes to Cannalbridge where he reunites with Crick, and together they track a man named Vados, who murdered multiple people on the town. Temenos and Crick defeat him, but Kaldena, the leader of the Sacret Guard, arrives to arrest him. She tells Temenos he can interrogate Vados later, and takes Crick back to base. Temenos then heads to Crakcridge to find more about a group called The Moonshade Order. He heads to Stormbridge to interrogate Vados, only to find the arcitect killed. He and Crick believe that someone in the Sacret Guard is responsable and promise to investigate. However Temenos finds Crick dead the next morning. He follows his tracks to a secret room in the Sacret Guard's headquaters, where he is confronted by Deputy Curl, who reveals Kaldena to be the mastermind, as well as Crick's killer. Temenos fights and kills Curl, and after attending Crick's funeral, he vows to stop Kaldena. He goes to Toto'Haha and arrives just in time to witness Kaldena attempt a ritual to gain more power and get her revenge against the ones that slaughtered her people. The ritual however goes wrong and Kaldena is turned into a monster, which Temenos ends up killing. Temenos returns to Flamechurch and reunites with Mindt, but he feels he is still missing something.
• Hikari: Hikari is a warrior and the second prince of the Kingdom of Ku. He's spent his life protecting the Kingdom alongside his friends Ritsu, Kazan, and Rai Mei. Despite being the youngest, Hikari's father chooses him as the next King, Prefering his peaceful ambitions rather than his older brother Mugen's bloodlust ones. Mugen learns of this and stages a coup, with Ritsu, who betrayed Hikari, keeping the prince away for long enough. Hikari defeats Ritsu but arrives to late. Mugen kills his father and takes control, forcing Hikari to flee. He decides to find Kazan and Rai Mei so together they can stop Mugen. He first travels to Montwise to find Kazan. Kazan agrees to aid Hikari but asks him to help settle some debts he had in an figthing arean first. During his time in the arena, Hikari befriends the fighters as he offers them compasion and mercy. During his fight with the champion Bandelam, the fighters reveal and break free from the arena's owner. The fighters then pledge to fight with Hikari in gratitude, whic Kazan reveals was his real plan. Before he can meet Rai Mei, Kazan asks Hikari to stop an weapons transger in Wellgrove, confronting Ritsu once again. Ritsu kills the warrios Hikari spared and uses it to gain favor with Mugen. Hikari then heads to Stormbridge to meet with Rai Mei, who initially refuses his request and captures him. Hikari and Rai Mei both reflect on their shared past, and how both Hikari and Mugen have cursed blood that makes them more violent if preassured. Rai Mei's aid sets Hikari free, as he feels Rai Mei is not loyal to Mugen but just scared. The two friends fight, but eventually Rai Mei breaks down, unable to fight him due to their friendship. He leaves her to decide what she wants to do. Hikari returns to Ku, where Kazan has assembled the arena warrios and the citizens who resist Mugen. Hikari leads his group threw the kingdom to get to Mugen, with Rai Mei joining him and clearing the path to the castle. Hikari fights Ritsu once again and is forced to kill him. Hikari and Mugen finally duel, but the fight is interrupted when the curse gets to both brothers. Hikari manages to overcome it and control its power, but Mugen is overcomed by it and transforms into a monster. Hikari finally kills Mugen and becomes the King of Ku, leading the nation in a peaceful path.

Each character has between four and five story chapters focused solely on themselves, and two "Crossed Paths" chapters, a new feature in which two travelers collaborate on a goal.

• The Apothecary & The Hunter: Ochette and Castti travel to Cropdale where they learn hunters are struggeling to get animals due to something scaring them. After exploring the forest they find the animals. The duo later return to learn that the problem has only gone worst. They venture once again into the woods where a dark entity follows them. The entity briefly takes a hold of Castti, but Ochette, being inmune to her iffects due to her pure heart, breaks her free. Ochette and Castti fight and defeat the entity, saving the forest.
• The Cleric and the Thief: Throné and Temenos go to Flamechurch to discover the truth of an old treassure named Alpates. They use a secret passage on the church where they find a secret room, where a woman is resting. She tells them her name is Alpates, meaning she is the treasure. Before she departs, she gives Throné a broken mirror. Throné later tells Temenos that she never wantes to steal the treasure, just know if it was real, a promise she made to Pirro years back. Later the duo heads to Conning Creek to find Alpates dead on the beach. Temenos investigates her and finds a map to a cavern. The duo head there and find the other peace of Alpates' mirror. Throné puts the mirror together and promises to protect it.
• The Scholar and the Merchant: Osvald and Partitio head to New Delsta where they meet and old collegue of Osvald named Regelus. Regelus in broke and needs to find the materials to complete his telescope. Partitio interested on the idea, helps Regelus gets the materials. Regelu grateful invites the duo to visit him in his lab in Montwise. When they get there, they find debt collectors have taken Regelus's telescope away. Partitio offers to pay his debts, but the duo later learn that Regelus had in fact payed all of his debts and was being scammed. Osvald beats up the debt collector and forces him to give the telescope back. That night the trio watches the night sky, where they notice something off.
• The Dancer and the Warrior: Agnea and Hikari meet a flute player named Yomi, who agrees to play them a song after they pay her, and find the right place to do so. Following Mugen's defeat, Agnea helps Hikari prepare a ceremony to honor the dead in the civil war. They travel to a cavern following a flute sound, only to reunite with Yomi. Yomi reveals her older sister use to be Hikari's friend, and was killed during Mugen's coup. After a brief duel, Yomi accepts her sister's death, and performs on the ceremony alongside Agnea.

Journey for the Dawn: Once all 8 travelers' stories have been completed, as well as the crossed paths, the player will unlock the final story of the game.

The Travelers sit together in a campfire, telling each other about their goals now that their journies are finished. However as the Travelers sleep, four tourches with blue flames are snuffed out. The Travelers wake up to find night has become eternal, and are attacked by dark monsters. The Travelers then head on one last journey to restore the dawn to the world. During this, the Travelers learn more of the Moonshade Order, and how they were tied to their journeys. Kazan, who's true name is Oboro, is a member of the order, and his true motive to aid Hikari was to get Mugen's cursed sword so he could snuff one of the flames. Ori is also a member, as well as Oboro's sister, who used her disguise of scribner to find another flame. However, her friendship with Partiio gives her hope, and ultimately causes Ori to defect from the order. Harvey joined the order, who helped him on his expirements in exchange for creating a tome for them. However the Order cut him loose once his obbsesion with Osvald became too troublesome to handle, and stold his tome just before his defeat. Harvey also helped create the Darkling. Claude is revealed to be an imortal prince who had the dark god Vide's blood, which made him imoortal. He was meant to be the vassal of the god, but he rejected it, choosing to pass it to his best child, which would have been Throné. She however killed him before he could do anything. Claude is also revealed to be the man that made Trousseu go mad, though Castti was his original target. A woman named Petrikov is revealed to be the dark hunter who fought the legendary creates, and was the oen that captured the animal not chosen by Ochette so it could be turned into the Darkling. She had the Darkling kill her to snuff one of the flames before setting the beast loose. Using the mirror Alpates gave Throné, the travelers re ignite the flames. The Travelers learn that all of the Order anwsers to a woman named Arcanatte, who is later revealed to be Temenos' friend Mindt. Arcanatte reveals the Order's plan is to release Vide so they can unleash eternal night, something they see as a mercy. The Travelers manage to defeat Arcanatte, but arrive to late, as Oboro gives his life to finally bring Vide back. The Travelers face Vide in a climatic showdown, where the dark god fights them in its two forms. In the end, Vide is defeated and sealed back, and the dawn is restored. With Vide and the order defeated, the Travelers bid each other farewell and part ways. Sometime later, they reunite alongside all of their allies in New Delsta to watch Agnea peform her new song, Octopath Traveler.

Side Stories

Aside from the main game, there are numerous side stories across the game. This includes helping NPCs, fighting optional bosses, and searching for treasures. One set of quests has the Travelers aid another traveler named Al, which eventually leads them to the Gate of Finis, where the Travelers face off against Galdera, the final boss of the first game who returns as a superboss.

On June 2024, an update was released featuring additional battles. This include fights against the travelers of the first game, as well as a rematch against Vide, who becomes a superboss.

Development

The game was first announced during a Nintendo Direct broadcast on September 13, 2022, with first live gameplay footage being shown a few days later at the Tokyo Game Show.^[7] Like the prior 2 entries in the series, Octopath Traveler and , the game uses a graphical style dubbed as "HD-2D" - an approach that recreates the 2D pixel-based graphics style of the 16-bit era of video games, and portrays it in a high-definition, 3D diorama style.^{[8] [9]} At the time of announcement, the game was already estimated to be approximately 90% complete.^[10] The game was released on February 24, 2023, for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows platforms.^[11] A limited edition of the game with figurines of all eight main characters and an art book was also offered.^[5] A demo of the game was made available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Steam prior its release.^{[12] [13]} Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions were announced during Tokyo Game Show 2023.^[14] The Xbox versions released on June 5, 2024; the June 5 release included a patch for all platforms that included various difficult superbosses to fight in the postgame after clearing the main story.^[15]

Reception

Critical reception

Octopath Traveler II received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

While enjoying the visuals, Polygon criticized the narrative of the main party, "When fighting, considering their strengths and weaknesses and using their abilities in concert during turn-based battles is crucial. But come to a main story scene, and everyone but the single person directly involved will suddenly disappear."^[16]

Others were more positive, with RPGFan asserting that the game improves on its predecessor, "Octopath Traveler II takes everything good about the first game, turns it up to 11, adds a few quality-of-life updates, and is, in fact, the superior game overall."^[17]

Sales

The Nintendo Switch version of Octopath Traveler II was the second bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 53,995 physical copies being sold across the country. The PlayStation 5 version was the eighth bestselling retail game in Japan throughout the same week, with 14,422 physical copies being sold, while the PlayStation 4 version sold 7,269 physical copies in the country, making it the eleventh bestselling retail game of the week in the country.^[18]

The game sold 1 million units by June 2023.^[19]

See also

• Triangle Strategy - a game by Square Enix featuring the same graphical HD-2D style and also produced by Team Asano.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Octopath Traveler 2 announced for Nintendo Switch. . September 13, 2022.
2. Web site: Octopath Traveler 2: Here's What Comes in Each Edition. Chris. Reed. September 13, 2022. IGN.
3. Web site: Octopath Traveler has a sequel, due early next year. Oli. Welsh. . September 13, 2022.
4. Web site: Yang . George . October 1, 2022 . Octopath Traveler 2: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more . Digital Trends.
5. Web site: 'Octopath Traveler 2' revealed with February 2023 release date. Andy. Brown. . September 14, 2022.
6. Web site: Walker . John . September 13, 2022 . Octopath Traveler Gets Switch Sequel, Out In February . Kotaku.
7. Web site: Romano . Sal . September 17, 2022 . Octopath Traveler II - 20 minutes of TGS 2022 gameplay . Gematsu.
8. Web site: Bolding . Jonathan . September 18, 2022 . Here's 20 lovely minutes of beautiful Octopath Traveller 2 . PC Gamer.
9. Web site: Middler . Jordan . September 13, 2022 . Octopath Traveler 2 is officially coming to Switch . VGC.
10. Web site: Norman . Jim . September 22, 2022 . Octopath Traveler II Is 90% Complete According To Square Enix . Nintendo Life.
11. Octopath Traveler II Announced, Releasing Next February. https://web.archive.org/web/20220913142409/https://www.gameinformer.com/nintendo-direct/2022/09/13/octopath-traveler-ii-announced-releasing-next-february. dead. September 13, 2022. Wesley. LeBlanc. Game Informer.
12. Web site: Winslow . Levi . 2023-02-08 . Octopath Traveler 2 Has A Free Demo On Switch, And You Should Play It . 2023-02-10 . Kotaku . en.
13. News: Smith . Graham . 2023-02-09 . Octopath Traveler 2's substantial JRPG demo is out now on PC . en . Rock, Paper, Shotgun . 2023-02-10.
14. Web site: Romano . Sal . September 21, 2023 . Octopath Traveler II coming to Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Windows in early 2024 . September 21, 2023 . Gematsu.
15. Web site: Romano . Sal . Octopath Traveler II for Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Windows now available . Gematsu . 5 June 2024 . 5 June 2024.
16. Web site: Castello . Jay . 2023-02-17 . Octopath Traveler 2 is eight good stories in search of a great one . 2023-02-23 . Polygon . en-US.
17. Web site: Wilkerson . Zach . February 17, 2023 . Octopath Traveler II Review . RPGFan . February 25, 2023.
18. Web site: Romano. Sal. March 2, 2023. Famitsu Sales: 2/20/23 – 2/26/23 [Update]]. Gematsu. March 5, 2023.
19. Web site: Romano . Sal . 2023-06-07 . Octopath Traveler II shipments and digital sales top one million . 2023-06-08 . Gematsu . en-US.