Octopath Traveler II Review | TheXboxHub

A sequel to the immensely well-liked JRPG, Octopath Traveler, Octopath Traveler II follows the story of eight completely different characters, every with their very own story, motivations, and ability units. The sport begins with you selecting the primary story you need to hear.

There’s a temporary synopsis of every character that may be chosen, and deciding on them will put you of their opening prologue sequence. I selected Hikari, the noble warrior archetype that seeks a greater future for these he leads. In fact, it doesn’t matter an excessive amount of who’s chosen as the primary character, as each character may be recruited and assigned because the celebration chief.

One of many largest hurdles of moving into JRPGs are the huge storylines. These video games simply push 50+ hours, with some getting as much as over 100 hours. It’s an enormous time dedication and may be off-putting. By telling eight completely different tales, every of which is considerably shorter than what can be present in a typical JRPG, Octopath Traveler II is extra accessible. The sport nonetheless takes round 50-60 hours to finish in its entirety, nevertheless it’s simple to leap again into every story since there isn’t 30 hours of exposition to recollect.

Whereas the storytelling is a bit unconventional, the remainder of the sport may be very a lot an archetypal JRPG. Fight is flip based mostly, with flip order taking part in a key position in how issues play out. Enemies have particular weaknesses to weapons and components, and concentrating on these weaknesses will lower their defend factors. Convey these defend factors all the way down to zero and the enemy’s stance breaks and so they change into extra susceptible to assaults. In addition they lose their subsequent flip.

With every flip your “BP” gauge may also refill. These factors can be utilized to enhance assaults and skills, as much as a multiplier of 4. Every character additionally has particular talents that may be drastically amplified when totally maxed out with BP. In difficult battles, particularly the ultimate battles of every story, utilizing these factors incorrectly may be the distinction between success and failure.

Utilizing these factors with a personality’s primary assault causes them to assault a number of occasions in a sequence. This makes them extremely helpful for concentrating on an enemy’s weak spot to interrupt their defend. Nevertheless, these normal assaults received’t do as a lot harm as a particular skill. It’s a balancing act that retains the fight attention-grabbing.

When you purchase a full celebration, most enemies may have not less than one pretty simple to use weak spot. Totally different character lessons equip completely different weapons and have completely different talents that concentrate on weaknesses. A few of these lessons have extra overlap, so relying on the composition of the staff, fight can change into more durable.

However all through the sport, there are guilds that may grant a license for various lessons. As soon as you discover these, you can begin multiclassing, as your character will get entry to all weapons and skills that the second class has. This can be a very beneficiant strategy as many video games supply watered down talents, or a restricted choice, when multiclassing. This method permits each character for use in any mixture to make a viable staff.

Outdoors of fight, every character has particular talents which can be tied to their backstory. For instance, Partitio the service provider should buy gadgets off any NPC in the course of the day, and he can rent individuals to observe your celebration at night time. Hikari the warrior can problem individuals to duels in the course of the day, or bribe individuals for info at night time. Some characters may have comparable talents that obtain the identical outcomes however with a distinct strategy. This matches in with the theme of giving gamers freedom in assembling a celebration with out lacking out on any content material.

There are some caveats to the format of Octopath Traveler II’s eight character strategy although. Mainly, the preliminary recruitment of all eight characters does drag down the pacing of the sport. Each time a brand new character is encountered, they eagerly ask to affix your touring band of adventurers. At that time, you may have the choice to both proceed taking part in as you have been, or to play by that character’s prologue.

Select to skip the prologue, and it may be accessed later from one of many many taverns within the recreation. That being mentioned, the prologue is an important a part of studying about every character’s motivations and organising their plot line. Ignoring it can make them really feel way more like a typical NPC, as an alternative of one other playable character. Nevertheless, every prologue resets you again to stage one and the gameplay appears like a repeat of the primary half-hour of the sport. It’s a little bit of a slog, however it’s technically optionally available to play by the prologues – though it hurts the storytelling.

The opposite draw back is that there isn’t a system that strongly rewards or encourages swapping out celebration members. There are storylines that observe pairs of characters, and these solely get triggered when each members are within the celebration, which is a marked enchancment over the primary recreation. However there isn’t a solution to rapidly swap out characters in fight, which is limiting.

As a substitute of feeling like a band of eight adventurers, it appears like one essential celebration that often has individuals swapped out. It’s a disgrace as a result of there are a number of situations within the recreation the place the assigned celebration members will speak with one another about what’s going on. Unassigned characters don’t take part in these exchanges, which is unlucky as a result of they construct on these relationships and present the relationships every character varieties.

Regardless of these hangups, the gameplay and fight is extremely enjoyable and interesting. The boss fights are difficult, and even when on the really useful stage, they nonetheless require that you just make the most of the completely different fight mechanics to succeed. In fact, grinding for extra ranges can also be an possibility, and I used to be pleasantly stunned once I found that even after beginning the ultimate chapter of a personality’s story, it’s nonetheless attainable to go away and stage up or observe different tales.

There may be a considerable amount of participant freedom, with optionally available areas and boss fights. There are a number of secrets and techniques hidden all through the world. Simply ending the primary tales doesn’t imply the sport is over, and that’s the mark of a real JRPG. Tons of content material that totally fleshes out the world.

All of this takes place to a fully beautiful set piece. Every area is meticulously crafted, utilizing a mixture of 2D sprites and 3D landscapes that enable for dynamic digicam motion. The music is gorgeous and the extent of care and element that has gone into Octopath Traveler II is clear.

The voice appearing can also be nice. I swapped between the Japanese and English voice actors to see how they sound, and lots of prolific actors lend their voices to the sport. For those who’re a fan of anime, you’ll acknowledge voices from main exhibits like Naruto, One Piece, and Hunter x Hunter.

All of it implies that Octopath Traveler II is difficult but rewarding, stuffed with narrative that you just’ll need to immerse your self in. It might initially really feel a slog, however there are hours of play right here, all of which play out throughout some nice world design.

Octopath Traveler II arrives to Xbox Recreation Move, alongside Octopath bundle – https://www.thexboxhub.com/octopath-traveler-ii-arrives-to-xbox-game-pass-alongside-octopath-bundle/

Purchase or play on Recreation Move – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/octopath-traveler-ii/9n2x3vzw8qnn