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[LakeOf9]

I was interested in the first Octopath when it was announced, but I didnt have a switch at the time. by the time it launched on pc, I'd heard enough criticism about it from switch peeps that I lost all interest in it. as a result, I had no interest or intention in octopath 2 when it was announced. when it came out this year though, everyone loved it, even though the reviews were pretty much in line with the first game. but people on podcasts and forums wouldnt shut up about it, and on steam, its actually one of the highest rated rpgs of all time.

so I decided to buy it when it was on sale earlier this year and ive been slowly playing my way through it since then, until I finally finished it earlier today, and what the fuck. what an amazing, amazing game this is. as far as classic rpgs go, I am actually not sure a better one than this exists (yes that includes Dragon Quest too). it gets everything so right, the battle system is amazing, the characters will stay with me for a very long time, the world is great and I love exploring it, he dungeon design is awesome, the towns are great, and that soundtrack, holy shit, that soundtrack.

I've been a long time fan of final fantasy, and I was super excited for ff16 this year. but when it came out, I ended up not really liking it that much, and ff16 did not scratch the itch for a classic ff game that I had. octopath traveler 2 does that, and I will be bold and say it actually does this better than almost every FF game I can think of. it's just so good.

If you have not yet played this game, please do it right now. its out on pretty much everything except xbox, and apparently is coming to xbox next year too, so no one has any excuse. it's one of the best games in a year full of great games and a genre full of great games. I honestly dont think it can be recommended enough.

 

[Dacvak]

How much of a slog is the combat and grinding? That’s the thing that keeps me from playing a lot of classic rpgs.

 

[LakeOf9]

How much of a slog is the combat and grinding? That’s the thing that keeps me from playing a lot of classic rpgs.

It has random battles, but it also has a speed up option (as well as in game toggles to lower encounter rate).
I honestly never had to grind, the game seems to be more about your party/equipment/class load out than about pure levels. I actually beat Level 65 enemies at under level 40 by properly equipping my characters with the right gear and classes.

 

[ByWatterson]

I bounced off the first game, hesitant on this. First one had a bizarrely disconnected story structure, insane combat spikes, and was overall far too grindy.

Maybe on a deep sale.

 

[Raven117]

I bounced off the first game, hesitant on this. First one had a bizarrely disconnected story structure, insane combat spikes, and was overall fat too grindy.

Maybe on a deep sale.

Same.

 

[SantaC]

Very little interaction between the party members

 

[Kings Field]

My personal GOTY. Such a great game, characters, and stories!

 

[Danjin44]

and that soundtrack, holy shit, that soundtrack.

Now you see why I'm baffled why it never got nominated as best soundtrack of the year....

 

[BennyBlanco]

Squares small budget games >>> their AAA schlock

I highly suggest you check out Bravely Default 2 OP. It’s basically modern FFV with an amazing take on the job system and very tough bosses.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I skipped the first one but the cast look so much better. I own it on Switch... Might actually get around to it when I'm 40.

 

[Pagusas]

any need to play the first to get a full experience out of the 2nd?

 

[Danjin44]

any need to play the first to get a full experience out of the 2nd?

No, you can play this without ever playing the first game. Entire new casts and even different time periods since in Octopath 2 they use steam technology.

 

[Labadal]

My game of the year, and my OST of the year. When this was announced at the Nintendo Direct, I was grinning like a happy little kid, and punched the air. It lived up to my expectations.

I'd kill for Octopath Traveler III.

 

[Bruno_Arrais85]

Octo 2 is truly great

 

[Topher]

Now you see why I'm baffled why it never got nominated as best soundtrack of the year....

Yeah, that is a travesty.

 

[Bruno_Arrais85]

any need to play the first to get a full experience out of the 2nd?

No need. In fact, I think you should skip the first one.

 

[RoboFu]

Nah it has a horrible break system. Puts it way down on my jrpg list.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Check out the Star Ocean Second Story Remake too. It's amazing.

 

[DragoonKain]

I think Octopath 1 is a better game. I enjoyed the characters a and stories a lot more. Having played 1, 2 started to get tedious to me because it's essentially the same damn game. They changed very little. But it was still enjoyable. Random battles are insufferable though.

If you like this, try Live a Live. The game is a masterpiece.

 

[Gallard]

Do any of the playable characters share any romantic subplots or things like that? That's my litmus test for a good cast and party banter

Not a fan of spokewheel character relationships (looking at you trails of cold steel)

 

[Dynasty8]

Really liked the first one, but I heard they made this one very easy without a hard mode. That's been the only thing keeping me away from playing it. Square Enix just refuses to give players a challenge anymore.

 

[King Dazzar]

Having gamed for way too many decades. I get the retro thing going on. But at the same time, the non HDR, antiquated, pixelated art style, whilst endearing. Just doesn't do it for me. Its like looking at an abstract art piece and thinking "yeah OK, thats interesting", but then moving on. I appreciate for many that's heresy. But hey, I at least tried it and I thought the gameplay had a charm to it.

 

[Topher]

Having gamed for way too many decades. I get the retro thing going on. But at the same time, the non HDR, antiquated, pixelated art style, whilst endearing. Just doesn't do it for me. Its like looking at an abstract art piece and thinking "yeah OK, thats interesting", but then moving on. I appreciate for many that's heresy. But hey, I at least tried it and I thought the gameplay had a charm to it.

You are giving yourself away as an old ass like myself. So...how many decades are you talking about?

 

[wvnative]

I bounced off the first game, hesitant on this. First one had a bizarrely disconnected story structure, insane combat spikes, and was overall fat too grindy.

Maybe on a deep sale.

This is me. First one disappointed me for all the same reasons, so despite an excellent demo, and glowing reception online i am really hesitent.

Is this game truly better?

For reference i really prefer live a live

 

[AzekZero]

Went from Octopath 1 to Star Ocean 2 Remake. Saving Octopath 2 in case 2024 is a dry year for HD-2D games.

 

[Zheph]

First one was quite disappointing and I feel the 2nd was fairly similar with little improvements... bounced out eventually which is a shame as JRPG is my favourite genre

 

[ADiTAR]

I bounced off the first game, hesitant on this. First one had a bizarrely disconnected story structure, insane combat spikes, and was overall far too grindy.

Maybe on a deep sale.

It's Nintendo published, so $40 is the deepest it'll get I think.

I'm also contemplating.

 

[mcjmetroid]

It has random battles, but it also has a speed up option (as well as in game toggles to lower encounter rate).
I honestly never had to grind, the game seems to be more about your party/equipment/class load out than about pure levels. I actually beat Level 65 enemies at under level 40 by properly equipping my characters with the right gear and classes.

This was a major problem for me. Was the in-game toggle rate added later or did I stupidly just never see it?
By Default it's way too much.

 

[STARSBarry]

Now you see why I'm baffled why it never got nominated as best soundtrack of the year....

Yeah, that is a travesty.

As with most GOTY awards many of the games released too late in 2022 to be nominated or early on seem to mostly get forgotten about.

Also the game needs to be a critical success, the game needs to be actually played so people can experience the soundtrack, that means a shit or medicore game with the best soundtrack ever won't win best soundtrack for GOTY.

For example this year's actual best OST of the year Darktide, was never nominated for anything despite having a once in a decade level of soundtrack quality, because the game was bad/average on release. This is the same for niche titles, JRPG's especially suffer with this.

 

[GymWolf]

As with most GOTY awards many of the games released too late in 2022 to be nominated or early on seem to mostly get forgotten about.

Also the game needs to be a critical success, the game needs to be actually played so people can experience the soundtrack, that means a shit or medicore game with the best soundtrack ever won't win best soundtrack for GOTY.

For example this year's actual best OST of the year Darktide was never nominated for anything despite having a once in a decade level of soundtrack quality, because the game was bad/average on release. This is the same for niche titles, JRPG's especially suffer with this.

Darktide ost was incredible yeah.

 

[PanzerCute]

Squares small budget games >>> their AAA schlock

I highly suggest you check out Bravely Default 2 OP. It’s basically modern FFV with an amazing take on the job system and very tough bosses.

100% agree, I adore this game.

 

[BadBurger]

How much of a slog is the combat and grinding? That’s the thing that keeps me from playing a lot of classic rpgs.

IMO:

1. Only a few boss battles are a slog

2. The grind is pretty typical of a Square Enix game. I think it's rewarding though. It feels good building your characters up to steam roll areas

 

[King Dazzar]

You are giving yourself away as an old ass like myself. So...how many decades are you talking about?

Lol... I started gaming on a half broken Sinclair ZX80 iirc. I think that would have been maybe around 1980. Though I had a hand held pac man clone too, called Ogre Eater. Maybe 1982? First true slice of gaming that took over my life was Mike Singleton's, The Lords Of Midnight in 1984.

Those are great memories and magical times for gaming. But with retro stuff I often find they're best left as just that - great memories. Having said that, I'd love to play Asteroids on a BBC micro again, with its superb vector graphics...

Anyway, apologies Octopath Travellers!

 

[Fabieter]

Squares small budget games >>> their AAA schlock

I highly suggest you check out Bravely Default 2 OP. It’s basically modern FFV with an amazing take on the job system and very tough bosses.

The writing on BD 2 was way worse than their 3ds parts. It's ironic to think breavly default 2 is a good example that sqaures small games are better than their big ones.

 

[Exentryk]

My GOTY.

Now go back and play OT1 and also try other Team Asano games like Bravely Default.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

I bounced off the first game, hesitant on this. First one had a bizarrely disconnected story structure, insane combat spikes, and was overall far too grindy.

Maybe on a deep sale.

Eh... It fixes the story structure criticism, to a certain extent. But more than that, it just has so much more variety to the structure of the game, that you aren't likely to be bored at all by it. But as far as difficulty spikes and general grindiness, I think you either enjoy those in a good 'ol crunchy JRPG or you don't.

EDIT: Sorry for the horrid necro-bump. But this game slaps, you guys. It's so good.

 

[Puscifer]

How much of a slog is the combat and grinding? That’s the thing that keeps me from playing a lot of classic rpgs.

Pixel Remasters aren't nearly as grindy but their easier, but that's strictly based off japanese roms vs english ones because of the rental industry (yes, that's an actual thing)

 

[Mister Wolf]

Waiting to play it in 3D.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Waiting to play it in 3D.

Huh? it is 3D.

The character sprites are 2D, but it's an artistic choice. It's what makes it OT.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Huh? it is 3D.

The character sprites are 2D, but it's an artistic choice. It's what makes it OT.

Stereoscopic 3D

SpatialLabs TrueGame

spatiallabs.acer.com

I have to wait on the monitor to release this year.

 

[SolidQ]

But this game slaps, you guys. It's so good

Playing currently it's very good, non linear game. Grind? Osvald can help reduce battles. I'm fine for now with grind, because it's help get faster level and fast battles. Then on low lvl zone i'm reduce battles.

 

[IAmRei]

I wish square makes something like this more. Rather than milking FF and FF

(Although im still hoping that someday there will be true FF tactics psx sequel, or FF9R)

Tried first one, felt good, until i got 8th member, hanif or something, i lost my interest. Havent continue eversince. but the musics of the first are usually played during my work time. The music kind of relaxing and gives some boost of imagination buffs for my work time

I havent tried octopath2 yet.

Anyway, if you want to find something like this, Bravely Default 2 is very cool as well. Alive a Life i heard also cool (havent try it yet) another one is saga series. But i'm not to fond with the art style.

I wish there is more games like those i mentiones above.