It felt strategic and satisfying, and the best part is it only gets better-- all the way up until the game's final moments, may I add. I had countless moments where I would just sit and think 2 or 3 turns ahead to cook up a strategy for big juicy damage. The times where those strategies worked were some of the best feelings I've ever had playing a video game. The amount of options to customize your team and the freedom to create wild build also is incredibly welcomed-- especially the latent power system, which is new to this game. Each traveler has access to a secondary job to help customize their playstyle, but they all have their unique latent power that differentiates them and makes sure they aren't made obsolete by another traveler. Combat is easily my favorite part of this game.

Random encounters always get annoying for me eventually and to be honest it felt like there were a decent amount of them. Fortunately, the combat was so fun that I felt like I wanted to fight for most of those encounters, and in the other times I popped on a skill that reduced encounters, which is very welcome and made me enjoy overworld exploration much much more. On the topic of encounters, there thankfully wasn't too much grinding. The way the game spaces out the traveler stories makes for pretty solid progression if you switch out your party members often. I think I only spent 4-5 hours total out of my 115 hr playtime strictly grinding.

I'm fine with the HD-2D graphics, and there are some moments where the game looks really beautiful. Sprite animation is intentional and fluid, and battle effects are really pleasing to look at. Not astounding, but certainly nothing bad.

One of the best OSTs I've heard, ever, in anything. Each song is beautifully crafted to fit the setting it plays in. There of course are reused, generic songs that play a lot, but even they sound good. Slight spoiler (I guess), the ending credits features a medley of songs from the game, and I found myself humming along while reminiscing my time spent playing . There's basically nothing to complain about here-- sometimes it feels like I paid $60 for an album with a game on the side and I love it.

In my opinion, this is where the game can shine the brightest but also is where the game can become iffy.
I would say not every story was created equally, but in the end I found each traveler's story to be good or even great (besides one). Coming off some games with thoughtful and interesting writing, there were certainly moments that had me questioning "wtf is this." Since the stories progress in chapters (40-50 minute chunks of story), a lot of the time characters have unusual development that make the writing feel really poor and rushed. There might be a side character that is introduced to help develop our protagonist who undergoes a complete character arc in the same chapter. It makes the side character feel super artificial, like they were engineered and produced in a factory specifically to develop our protag in 30 minutes.

And, I think, inherently, the way this game is structured can lead to some disappointing or downright upsetting moments like those. Obviously, the game's structure is incredibly important and is what makes this game special. But if the game wasn't structured the way it was, this would be really easy to fix. The biggest example of this, for me, was one of Throne's chapters that had branching paths (slight spoils ahead). There are full details revealed and explained in one route that get a reaction out of Throne, but the other merely alludes to those same details and still gets a reaction out of Throne. To me, this made the game feel very disjointed and unresponsive to the way I chose to play the game, and it took me out of an otherwise intriguing story. Again, it's because of the way the game is structured, and I'm not faulting it for that, I just can't ignore how these moments hurt my overall enjoyment at parts.

I kind of just ♥♥♥♥ on the story a ton, but let me make it clear that it also left me moved and full. The times I do play JRPGs, which, again, are rare, I play long, long games with overarching stories and memorable characters-- this game is not an exception. I grew to love each and every character (except one) in their own ways. As cheesy as it is, you really are along for the ride on their journey through Solisita. Again, I thought (nearly) every story, overall, was well done and had satisfying conclusions. The variety in the traveler stories were also good, there's a good mix of happy-go-lucky fun and insufferable trauma. There are plenty of moments of joy, sadness, anger, and everything in-between, and the lore actually is quite expansive and well thought out (again, it doesn't always play out smoothly, but in the end you can appreciate it). Seeing the way the travelers' individual stories came together, and how they ended was really satisfying.

It was in the game's final moments when I really realized how special of an adventure I just played through-- there is no other game that contains an experience like this. There is no other game that, despite it's large flaws, has left me this astounded and satisfied. There is no other game like Octopath Traveler II.

besides the first, I guess-- but this game seems better in every way than Octopath 1

On paper, my number scores might look... not great. I would rate it higher if I could, but unfortunately numbers don't care how I feel. Trust me, I feel like this game is worth your time and will bring you enjoyment. The experience is much more than just a score, and I implore you to start your journey.

[h1] I really came to love this game. This is coming from someone who: [/h1] [h2] 1) did not play the original Octopath Traveler [/h2] [h2] 2) is not a huge fan of jrpgs (specifically grinding), but I tried the demo and liked it, and I encourage you do the same. It's there for a reason. [/h2] [h3]I immediately really liked the combat system.[/h3] It felt strategic and satisfying, and the best part is it only gets better-- all the way up until the game's final moments, may I add. I had countless moments where I would just sit and think 2 or 3 turns ahead to cook up a strategy for big juicy damage. The times where those strategies worked were some of the best feelings I've ever had playing a video game. The amount of options to customize your team and the freedom to create wild build also is incredibly welcomed-- especially the latent power system, which is new to this game. Each traveler has access to a secondary job to help customize their playstyle, but they all have their unique latent power that differentiates them and makes sure they aren't made obsolete by another traveler. Combat is easily my favorite part of this game. [h3]The overall gameplay is also enjoyable.[/h3] Random encounters always get annoying for me eventually and to be honest it felt like there were a decent amount of them. Fortunately, the combat was so fun that I felt like I wanted to fight for most of those encounters, and in the other times I popped on a skill that reduced encounters, which is very welcome and made me enjoy overworld exploration much much more. On the topic of encounters, there thankfully wasn't too much grinding. The way the game spaces out the traveler stories makes for pretty solid progression if you switch out your party members often. I think I only spent 4-5 hours total out of my 115 hr playtime strictly grinding. [h3]The visuals were also very nice.[/h3] I'm fine with the HD-2D graphics, and there are some moments where the game looks really beautiful. Sprite animation is intentional and fluid, and battle effects are really pleasing to look at. Not astounding, but certainly nothing bad. [h3]The music is genuinely a masterpiece.[/h3] One of the best OSTs I've heard, ever, in anything. Each song is beautifully crafted to fit the setting it plays in. There of course are reused, generic songs that play a lot, but even they sound good. Slight spoiler (I guess), [spoiler] the ending credits features a medley of songs from the game, and I found myself humming along while reminiscing my time spent playing [/spoiler]. There's basically nothing to complain about here-- sometimes it feels like I paid $60 for an album with a game on the side and I love it. [h3]Finally, the story (I have a lot to say).[/h3] [b]In my opinion, this is where the game can shine the brightest but also is where the game can become iffy.[/b] I [i]would[/i] say not every story was created equally, but in the end I found each traveler's story to be good or even great (besides one). Coming off some games with thoughtful and interesting writing, there were certainly moments that had me questioning "wtf is this." Since the stories progress in chapters (40-50 minute chunks of story), a lot of the time characters have unusual development that make the writing feel really poor and rushed. There might be a side character that is introduced to help develop our protagonist who undergoes a complete character arc in the same chapter. It makes the side character feel super artificial, like they were engineered and produced in a factory specifically to develop our protag in 30 minutes. And, I think, inherently, the way this game is structured can lead to some disappointing or downright upsetting moments like those. Obviously, the game's structure is incredibly important and is what makes this game special. But if the game wasn't structured the way it was, this would be really easy to fix. The biggest example of this, for me, was one of Throne's chapters that had branching paths (slight spoils ahead). [spoiler] There are full details revealed and explained in one route that get a reaction out of Throne, but the other merely alludes to those same details and still gets a reaction out of Throne. [/spoiler] To me, this made the game feel very disjointed and unresponsive to the way I chose to play the game, and it took me out of an otherwise intriguing story. Again, it's because of the way the game is structured, [b]and I'm not faulting it for that[/b], I just can't ignore how these moments hurt my overall enjoyment at parts. I kind of just shit on the story a ton, but let me make it clear that it also left me moved and full. The times I do play JRPGs, which, again, are rare, I play long, long games with overarching stories and memorable characters-- this game is not an exception. I grew to love each and every character (except one) in their own ways. As cheesy as it is, you really are along for the ride on their journey through Solisita. Again, I thought (nearly) every story, overall, was well done and had satisfying conclusions. The variety in the traveler stories were also good, there's a good mix of happy-go-lucky fun and insufferable trauma. There are plenty of moments of joy, sadness, anger, and everything in-between, and the lore actually is quite expansive and well thought out (again, it doesn't always play out smoothly, but in the end you can appreciate it). Seeing the way the travelers' individual stories came together, and how they ended was really satisfying. It was in the game's final moments when I really realized how special of an adventure I just played through-- there is no other game that contains an experience like this. There is no other game that, despite it's large flaws, has left me this astounded and satisfied. There is no other game like Octopath Traveler II. [strike]besides the first, I guess-- but this game seems better in every way than Octopath 1[/strike] On paper, my number scores might look... not great. I would rate it higher if I could, but unfortunately numbers don't care how I feel. Trust me, I feel like this game is worth your time and will bring you enjoyment. The experience is much more than just a score, and I implore you to start your journey. [h2]Combat 9/10[/h2] [h2]Gameplay 8/10[/h2] [h2]Visuals 8/10[/h2] [h2]Music 10/10[/h2] [h2]Story 7/10[/h2] [h1]Overall 8/10[/h1]