Octopath Traveler II, the long-awaited sequel to one of Team Asano's finest games, launched last week to positive reviews across the board, cementing it as a worthy successor to the 2018 original.
In our own review of the game, we called it "a triumphant and confident follow-up to its predecessor, building on the established foundation with welcome new ideas and tweaks that make for an overall excellent experience". We heaped praise on the strategic combat, the excellent characters and story arc, the wonderful HD-2D visuals, and the beautiful orchestral soundtrack. Our only quibble is that the experience may feel a bit overly familiar for fans of the original. Check out our full thoughts below:
You're not here to listen to our opinions, though, you want to give your own! Well, you're in the right place. What score would you give OT2 (as precisely nobody is abbreviating it)? You can give the game your own rating from 1-10 below, so feel free to let us know what you like about Octopath Traveler II and what you're not so hot on. Do you agree with our own assessment, or do you think it deserves a slightly different score?
If you've not gotten very far in the game yet, don't worry. We know it only came out a week ago, but the good news is this article will still be here waiting for you. When you've spent enough time with Octopath Traveler II and feel confident enough to pop your own score on it, come back when you're ready. Alternatively, pop down your preliminary score now, then come back later and change it if need be.
Given your score? Why not take to the comments to elaborate a little on your personal pros and cons...
Comments 75
Who on earth has given Octopath Traveler a 1 for Abysmal? Clearly someone who hasn’t played it, that’s who!
@The_Pixel_King Someone in need of a hug?
Between a 9-10, but I will admit it’s right up my street. I love the first game but this evolves on everything the first did right and wrong.
Saying that, If you didn’t like the first game you won’t like this either.
Just here to see the results, I didn't play the game.
Edit: No I didn't vote.
I give it a 9, best rpg in a longgg time. Gameplay wise, story, music, sound effects, graphics. They really did some magic on this one.
@The_Pixel_King Edgy people that think they look cool voting with "1"
Too soon for this poll, imo.
@The_Pixel_King I did! Is that a problem? -rips off shirt sleeves- Then do something about.
So far, it's great. The music is outstanding.
But I gotta say, I wish it was harder! Once you start reclassing everyone, you have so many options at your disposal that you can really start to cleave through everything.
My gut says 9/10 right now.
Honestly, Square Enix should have marketed this a little harder - this is such a weird experience. I’ve never seen so little effort put into the initial marketing by such a big publisher when they actually have a GEM of a game. I’ve only seen ads for it post-release.
Man, I wish I could be playing this now, but I'm set on waiting until I've finished my backlog AND I get an opportunity to buy a physical version.
@The-Chosen-one Agreed! Best OST I can think of in a while. I’ve put about 20 hours in so far, and really think this game is a polished gem in every domaine.
I'm still only about ten minutes ago I dunno yet. Would have liked to be well stuck into it by now but I need to put down Theatrhythm first.
@The_Pixel_King Are people not allowed to dislike things?
I can't take part in this. I haven't gotten arounf to buying it yet. Honestly...giz chance!! Lol
@The_Pixel_King In my defense there isn't a -100 option.
I gave this game a 10, and I don't care if others don't agree with me!
@The_Pixel_King A Dunkey viewer?
8 or 7. For the English release anyway, since they neutered some dialogue whereas the spanish and german translation remained much more faithful.
Still have to play it (and let's be honest, even those who started it as soon as it came out are far from finishing it, not to mention complete it so I agree with @the_beaver that it's too soon), but from all I've seen and heard, including Nintendo Life's review, a 9 - Excellent for me, it's like the first one but even better although I'd say not enough to call it Outstanding!
Really who puts an abysmal to this? Just by considering the visuals it is already above that, and if the gameplay is the same or better than the first then it can't be below a 6, unless of course you don't know what an jrpg is and you were expecting call of duty. Couldn't agree more with @Enigk, some people really need a hug. Hope they get well soon.
@Porky Sigh not this again, we've just had Engage going through it.
Oh well, I'll eventually play it in my mother language Italian, but with Japanese voices (like I always do when they're available since I usually prefer them and to further polish my knowledge of the language) so I'll be able to tell if that version is based on the English one and so there are inconsistencies.
I would like to hear from those who gave it a 1 why it deserves a 1...
@BrazillianCara How many years will you need to finish your backlog?
What are the top 5 .ust play games in your backlog?
@WreckitRyan I gave it a 1 because the option is there. It was eazy peazy lemon cake squeezey.
@The_Pixel_King Xbots for obvious reasons
heh, always amusing to see the kids giving stuff a 1 or a 10 xD for me it was a solid 6. Nice game, but nothing I'll play twice.
@WreckitRyan you know how some people like anime and other people know it's boring, the animation quality is low, alot of grunts & moaning and there's no frame rate? That's an analogy of why I don't like the game. Boring characters, dumb stories and terrible gameplay in my opinion.
I'm only a couple of hours in and it's better than what I expected, I voted a 9 but it could change based on me playing it more, it feels different than the first one.
It’s an easy 9/10 for me. The only thing really holding it back to becoming a 10 is the lack of information regarding completing some side quests. Some of them are quite vague. Aside from that, this game is an utter masterpiece, in my humble opinion.
I gave it an 8. I enjoy the combat, and some of the storylines but not all.
I'd like to see the art style applied to a game with a bigger and better story.
I gave it a 9/10, same as the first game. It's just as good, and even does wow me in new ways.
votes 1 because game is terrible
...
Okay seriously though I'm not voting, maybe I should do it anyways just for the lulz. But yeah I just could never get into Square games. Think the only ones I could get into was (of course) Super Mario RPG, and Chrono Trigger. (though I couldn't really bother with the multiple endings.
@The_Pixel_King an Internet troll. Or trolls
Does anyone feel this game is a little easier than the first one. Otherwise, id give this a 8.5 great game.
I'm teetering between a 6 and a 7, just like with OT1 even though overall I'd say this is the better game between the two.
Compared to OT1 the world is considerably more vibrant and interesting to explore and the storylines feel a bit less formulaic. the art's nice to look at and the music's at least as good as the soundtrack on OT1 which was already quite good.
However the game does fall into many of the same trappings as the first OT, the dungeon are still as dull as they ever were with really nothing to differentiate them from each other, no events or traps or gimmicks or set pieces or anything, the break system largely encourages sweeps which are particularly sad with the boss encounters when the bosses barely even get a chance to do their thing, similarly while the game's open ended nature is nice for how you can explore at your own leisure it's also inevitably going to trivialize large portions of the game since there's no level scaling of any kind, it's pretty lame honestly. Also while it is fun to run around pickpocketing NPCs and whatnot I do feel like there really should some bigger concecuences for failing the rolls than just having to pay a small price at a bar to completely clean the sheet, I donno really how it should be done but I'd like to see the entire system revamped somehow if they do plan on making more sequels.
I'm so sad, but I really didn't enjoy the first one despite being a massive JRPG fan so I've skipped this one, and somehow I still have fomo but I really tried to like it and it just didn't gel with me, I hope they make a Triangle Strategy 2 though, I loved that game.
@Nanami_Ataraxia
Oh yeah, Triangle Strategy was superb, one of the best turn-based strategy games ever made in my books. I'd love to see a sequel to that one.
@Expa0
I'm still trying to decide whether FE Engage or TS was the better SRPG, and I think Triangle beat it out just a smidge just because of how good the story was and how polished the gameplay was. It was just fantastic, I literally don't have a bad word to say about it, so I can see why you'd hold it in such high regard for sure, and I'd have to agree!
Not sure on how much it sold without googling, but hopefully it did enough to warrant a sequel, and I hope they don't trim the story down too much either, I know that was a complaint a lot of people had but I loved that about it.
@John_Deacon Look what we got here mates. A troll hater we do!
You gotta problem with us trolls? Get a jolly good go outta slurring our race do ya?
How would you like it if me and my mates went around calling any opinion we we don't like "human". Wouldn't feel good now would it? Quite demeaning eh?
This is exactly why we trolls don't get along with you lot. Always blaming us for everything.
@WreckitRyan maybe because they cant count pass 1.
It looks beautiful and probably the cleanest HD-2D game so far! But with the huge influx of JRPGs on the Switch console at this time, the saturation of the genre is just too high. It doesn't do enough to stand out, so I can't give it more than an 8. Better off spending your time on Persona 5 or Xenoblade Chronicles if you had to pick.
@Nanami_Ataraxia Still think the demo's worth a try if you ever want to!
Those that give it less than 6 should be automatically banned from Nintendolife.
i just played like 5,5 first chapters but man this is maybe square enix best game since Final Fantasy 10 (if they can hold the quality of writing etc).
really under rated by reviewers
Definitely one of those games on my radar but just the fear of getting it and only playing less than a quarter of the game is one of my main fears from not getting it. (Skyward Sword HD, Metroid Dread, Xenoblade 2, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land I’m looking at you).
Ready for octopath 3. Octopath forever and ever! More caits! Less caits!
Just here for the results, not voting. I've barely touched the first game and really need to try and get into it...I do love the art style.
#8 for me as if you play each character chapter and finish and join your level is so low it's not funny. They should have the character level-up to the lowest player level so it's worth going through each character chapter. So if my players are at level 22 when the other join even if they were only level 10 they should just up to level 22 as well. Or have potions or scrolls or temple or something to allow them to level-up as the other players.
I’m enjoying it, but I feel like it has pacing issues... the map is littered with objectives, making it hard to decide where to go, and I feel directionless. Plus, by the time I get anywhere, I’m always OP, so there’s rarely any challenge. Good game, but feels disorganized or something.
I’m enjoying the demo but don’t have a sense of the big bad and that mildly concerns me. The first game was a centuries old plot with threads that impacted all the travelers. So far the chapters feel more focused on party interaction than the overarching plot. Granted it is the demo but it is concerning since a lot of the complaints were because folks skipped over the plot.
Right now it’s a 10, I’m 40 hours in. I bounced off about 15 hours into the first game.
I pretty much agree with the review, it’s a 9/10 for me. More of the same, sure, but it has much better stories to tell than the first game. Amazing visuals, fantastic soundtrack (even better than the first!) and the gameplay is as good as ever, with some good tweaks to the formula. Great game, and I can’t put it down.
No clue. Just getting started. Already love the music
What's the difficulty like? I know they improved a ton of things from the first one, and I'm given to understand the first one was a hard game, so I'm wondering if this new one is more approachable.
Review scores in the video game enthusiast space are pointless anyway. Review outlets like NL have a 10 point scale but only give scores in the 6-10 range. No one dares to score a game as low-average.
@illmatic20xx I feel like this too. My advice is to go out of your way to avoid getting overleveled. I am currently running 2 out of 3 battles. It is annoying to do this but I prefer to have a challenge than steamroll all enemies.
@Ryan_Again I share your sentiment. This is the curse of nonlinear games. In all honesty, this game shares a lot of things with SaGa games in their open pacing. However what Octopath does not do is to level enemies along your party. If that is good or not is debatable... but not doing it makes for a weird situation of getting too strong by accident when you are exploring the world. I reccommended a comment ago to go out of your way to avoid getting too much levels by running from battles.
@Dr-M No idea, but I'm currently halfway through Bravely Default II and still want to play Trials of Mana, Metroid Dread, and Xenoblade. The last one in particular might take me a while, what with my job and other obligations.
@Deviant-Dork aside from the fact that you gave this a 1 because you don’t like anime, the gameplay is fantastic. I’m sorry you have to actually think instead of mash square like you probably do in your mindless western games.
Even the most unattached person would give this an above average rating for the visuals and audio alone. You’re just here to hate. Go do something productive
@UltimateOtaku91 Most Xbox fans don't even like JRPGs in general, so I don't know what you're on about.
Won't vote because I haven't played it yet, but it feels like I am actually going to skip it... I am very afraid that I just don't feel like playing JRPGs anymore...
Could just be depression and an overload of work speaking at the moment, but I don't know... From what little I have seen of it, I just don't feel like giving it a try.
Maybe I should download the demo and see how it feels compared to the first.
@Wisps Yeah, I might have to avoid battles, like you suggest. But also, I feel overwhelmed by all the tasks on the map. Like of course I can just choose one and go for it. But it feels less purposeful than the original game.
I gave it a 7 because compared to the great rpgs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, it's very average in it's storytelling and the character don't interact nearly as much as they should...but compared to modern rpgs, it's an 8
@ItsATM Ah yes the classic snobbish "you are just too uncultured to understand" attitude. Sorry not everyone thinks highly of your favorite game. Now please by all means continue to whiff your own farts.
@Ryan_Again You might be on to something. They have added so much optional content and side missions that it feels bloated to say the least. Maybe if it helps you (a big if), you could try splitting the experience in 4 of the 8 characters. Just focusing on their quests and leaving the other half for a second playthrough. Not the best solution either but maybe it can work for you.
Oh I never mentioned it but I gave the game a personal score of 8. To me it feels like a great game, it has mostly positive things and for people who like turn based RPGs its a great choice. It gets two minus points because it is not a game for everyone (which is not a bad thing per se but I consider it for the 10 score), and another minus point for the somewhat weird pacing and challenge. You are encouraged to explore a lot, but doing so will make you very powerful which can lessen the gameplay experience for me. The rest of the game (gameplay, visuals, music, story) is quality so an 8!
@NinjaNicky
Is that really your definition of 10/10? So perfect as to be impossible? I think it makes the whole rating chart useless if one of the possible ratings is so strictly forbidden.
I would say a 10/10 game doesn't need to have literal perfection.
Even some amazing amazing critically beloved games that were culturally and technically significant upon release and still to this day, which I would give 10/10 scores to, can still have major, major flaws.
For example Chrono Trigger is a 10/10 amazing game RPG that has a fun story, amazing pacing, no bloat and is generally considered a masterwork of RPG design. ...however it is possible to softlock your game if you bring up the save menu while walking toward wall. The game saves your coordinates incorrectly and can save you inside a wall, trapped forever.
Ocarina of Time is a groundbreaking, genre-defining 10/10 game, however it has a bug that makes one of the deku nut upgrades missable if you don't get it before doing the biggoron trade sequence.
I don't doubt that many people consider Chrono Trigger and Ocarina of Time to be no-brainer 10/10 games. Yet they still have some very definite flaws.
I've played like 6 or 7 hours, so I don't feel like I can comment much yet but I am liking it quite a bit. I never played the first but I don't think I will based on comments friends and others have made comparing the two
@ItsATM I didn't say what you think I did. Reread and you'll see.
I gave believe they are charging $60 for this too, that's another thing.
@Deviant-Dork $60 hours for 50-100 hours is such an insanely good experience though, so I don't know what you're getting at here
I picked this up on launch from my local GAME (as I did for the first game too), which sadly closed down last week, so it's a weirdly meaningful final purchase from there for me.
Anyways once I'm done with Pokemon Scarlet, this is on the list immediately. Octopath is my favourite Switch game, sunk about 145 hours into it somehow, so absolutely got my money's worth. From what I've seen this sequel has improved on A LOT of aspects of the original, plus I love the more modern world setting compared to Orsterra, so really excited to get started.
@ItsATM it's not a good game for most people that play games, that's all I'm saying. Not controversial.
@Deviant-Dork there is unfortunately no accuracy in your statement, I'm sorry lol. They just don't play your version of games, so that makes the other games not good? Get out of here with that
@ItsATM it's okay if you don't understand sales numbers but that's the truth.
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