Support NeoGAF

[Draugoth]

Octopath Traveler II's protagonists will now interact with one another on a deeper level

How about a chat?

gonintendo.com

While Octopath Traveler was a fantastic experience, it’s not like the game didn’t have its faults. One thing fans kept bringing up was the fact that the 8 protagonists didn’t have much to say to each other outside of a few comments while traveling. That’s going to change quite a bit for the sequel.
In an interview with Famitsu, Octopath Traveler II producer Masashi Takahashi and director Keisuke Miyauchi spoke about the push to have the sequel’s protagonists interact more, so you can expect a much deeper connection and back-and-forth between the cast this time.

Miyauchi: We received a lot of feedback from players of the first game saying “We want to see dialogue between protagonists beyond travel banter.” We thought the same while playing the first game, and adding dialogue would make people fall in love with the characters more, so we put that into this game.
Takahashi: There are eight characters with strong personalities, so it’s natural that people would want to see some dialogue between them. They say each other’s names and their stories cross paths, so it actually feels like these characters are traveling together. Of course, the eight individual stories of each character are still the main focus, but we’d like it if people could enjoy the cross stories as supplemental tales.

 

[AJUMP23]

But will all their stories come together for a larger narrative? I think that was the only thing missing from the first one.

 

[Mr Hyde]

They will fuck each others brains out after every battle won.

 

[Gallard]

Of course, the eight individual stories of each character are still the main focus...

Ruh Roh. It still sounds like their interaction will be light - optional - so that it can work for the most situations. Going to wait on reviews.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Cool. I think that’s kind of what was missing from the first game. It would be cool if they all have their stories, then there was an end game where you make a party of ones you prefer to complete an overarching storyline.

Crossing my fingers for it to be on game pass one day, like the first.

 

[Shifty1897]

But will all their stories come together for a larger narrative? I think that was the only thing missing from the first one.

The true ending sort of does this, but you almost have to use a guide to unlock it, unless you're the kind of player who routinely visits all the past villages and talks to everyone. But yes, the rest of the game's stories feel one dimensional because the rest of your party never chimes in at all.

Glad to see that they took that criticism to heart.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

The criticism was unwarranted in the first place. OT was very open-ended and each character was essentially on a quest of their own. I actually enjoyed the group was basically a band of rogues just guarding each others’ back. The game was huge as it was without a big interarching story and deep character interactions. It being as it is greatly limited the development of otherwise inevitable cringe dialogue and tropey situations that no JRPG can do without.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Lock the chapter 2 plotlines until all characters are gathered, problem solved.

FFS Star Ocean 2 got character interaction right 2 and a half decades ago.

 

[Labadal]

I loved the first one. I have had an itch to replay that, so the announcement of a sequel is perfect for me.

I have this pre-ordered.

 

[Pedro Motta]

 

[Bruno_Arrais85]

What a revolution

 

[-Zelda-]

Good. I never did like how the first game would take you to a seperate screen to talk to a character for a minute or two before going back into the game proper instead of dialogue scenes playing out right there. The combat was fun, and parts of the story was good, but it all felt disconected from one character to the next, so I had a hard time caring for them.

 

[Captain Toad]

But will all their stories come together for a larger narrative? I think that was the only thing missing from the first one.

That did happen in part one. But, only post-game and was extremely difficult compared to the base game.

 

[Pejo]

Lock the chapter 2 plotlines until all characters are gathered, problem solved.

FFS Star Ocean 2 got character interaction right 2 and a half decades ago.

Well the character recruitment was essentially the difficulty slider in the first one. The more characters you got, the harder the battles got. You could beat the game without recruiting any additional party members, iirc.

Anyways, I'm really excited to see what they do for this one, it sounds like a big improvement.

Only thing is, so far the characters aren't as good as the ones from the first game, to me at least.

Primrose and Therion had really cool/unexpected backstories, especially Primrose which is the first time I think we've ever gotten a playable slave/prostitute in a major release. It was suitably dark, just not fleshed out enough and after her initial chapter not really discussed moving forward.

 

[Cao Cao]

Well that's the minimum you should excpect from a RPG!

 

[Graciaus]

It was a main flaw everyone pointed out. Now just write the stories better and we could have a great game.

 

[Deerock71]

They will fuck each others brains out after every battle won.

That's what I was thinking the way the thread was titled. It'll be pixelated Game of Thrones!

HD2DDP

 

[Topher]

Hope the music is as good as the first one

 

[Danjin44]

Even with disconnected story I really enjoyed the original game but if they can fix that one issue then Octopath 2 becomes hell of a game.

 

[Nautilus]

The criticism was unwarranted in the first place. OT was very open-ended and each character was essentially on a quest of their own. I actually enjoyed the group was basically a band of rogues just guarding each others’ back. The game was huge as it was without a big interarching story and deep character interactions. It being as it is greatly limited the development of otherwise inevitable cringe dialogue and tropey situations that no JRPG can do without.

There was an overarching story, it just was an afterthought and badly told.

 

[Corian33]

Absolutely couldn’t get into the first one because of this design decision. Would much prefer to have either
A) a more linear experience that is actually tied together into one central story, or
B) a true anthology where the stories are connected only in that they happen in the same world.

The half-way thing they did where the stories don’t connect, but the characters are inexplicably traveling together just killed it for me. Why is the noble knight helping this random thief rob people? If you talk to the shopkeeper girl’s parents after she joins the party they don’t even acknowledge her. And so on.

 

[reinking]

I'm on my second attempt to play the first game. So far I am into it more than my first attempt. If they make these changes I hope it does not interfere with the core mechanics of how current parties work.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Can't wait to see these award winning brilliantly written characters in an JRPG.


/s

 

[hangdang69]

It sounds like they still won't connect into an overarching narrative. Outside of presentation and music, the first game was really such a boring slog for me

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

The first game was easily one of my favorite jrpgs of all-time. Can't wait for part two.

 

[Topher]

The criticism was unwarranted in the first place. OT was very open-ended and each character was essentially on a quest of their own. I actually enjoyed the group was basically a band of rogues just guarding each others’ back. The game was huge as it was without a big interarching story and deep character interactions. It being as it is greatly limited the development of otherwise inevitable cringe dialogue and tropey situations that no JRPG can do without.

I agree. I just started chapter four of the characters. I am enjoying the multiple questlines and the individual stories. Just a great game. Hopefully the changes in the sequel will end up being improvements while not taking away the charm of the first game.

 

[Pejo]

Can't wait to see these award winning brilliantly written characters in an JRPG.


/s

Imagine posting this with a WoW avatar after Shadowlands

 

[Fuz]

wow so revolutionary

 

[Exentryk]

The point is still 8 different stories. That's what this series is, and it doesn't need to all combine into one big story.

Some more side stories between each character sounds good.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Imagine posting this with a WoW avatar after Shadowlands

but i posted this with a Warcraft avatar after WC3.

 

[remember_spinal]

Cool i get to play this on playstation. Even Triangle Strategy was blurry as hell on my tv

 

[EDMIX]

Even with disconnected story I really enjoyed the original game but if they can fix that one issue then Octopath 2 becomes hell of a game.

True. I like the gameplay of Octopath much more then the story.

If its solid, I'd still run thru it and enjoy what I'm playing, but I still want a story that is enjoyable too, so nice to hear they are correcting that and making some connection with the main narrative or something.

I was ok with them just all having disconnected lives, but if it didn't work out for everyone, then maybe changing this makes sense.

 

[Labadal]

New trailer for two more characters.

 

[saintjules]

But will all their stories come together for a larger narrative? I think that was the only thing missing from the first one.

This. This was the only gripe I had with the game AND SaGa Frontier I. I was hoping you would all come together for one major story after you get through each character's origin story. Alas, it never happened. I think things like that kept it from being a masterpiece imo.

 

[Danjin44]

The game is looking gorgeous, Octopath has AMAZING turn based combat, we might never get turn based combat in mainline FF but as long as we continue get games like this then I'm happy.

 

[Filben]

Great. I didn't want to finish part one when I noticed it's more like eight different short stories that only share the same world but aren't really connected. Maybe part two will suit me better.

 

[Danjin44]

Great. I didn't want to finish part one when I noticed it's more like eight different short stories that only share the same world but aren't really connected. Maybe part two will suit me better.

For me the combat and mixing jobs was enough for me to finish the game, also the characters all well developed but their story are disconnected from each other because the freedom of which party member you get first and which one you play as in the beginning of the game.

 

[Kimahri]

Please don't be talky talky like tales

 

[Mexen]

They will fuck each others brains out after every battle won.

SA TE TO!!!!

 

[Topher]

For me the combat and mixing jobs was enough for me to finish the game, also the characters all well developed but their story are disconnected from each other because the freedom of which party member you get first and which one you play as in the beginning of the game.

I don't mind the disconnected stories. Kind of a Canterbury Tales take on JRPG.

 

[Mr Hyde]

SA TE TO!!!!

Is that what they scream after climaxing?

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

But will all their stories come together for a larger narrative? I think that was the only thing missing from the first one.

They did toward the end.

 

[UnNamed]

Good.
Octopath 1 had some interaction between the characters, but they seemed an afterthought since it was only in some cutscenes, they felt completely detached from the story.

But it's not true characters weren't connected to each other.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

I don't mind the disconnected stories. Kind of a Canterbury Tales take on JRPG.

I liked it because it felt like the entire game was just nothing but fun side quests.

 

[JohnnyTropics]

The first game was easily one of my favorite jrpgs of all-time. Can't wait for part two.

I am 10 hours into the first game, and have made the decision to abandon it.
I searched for some opinions on here, and happy to have found this thread with others who share my view:
The tales not joining together into a satisfying story resolution bothers me on a (GM) level so deep that I am almost offended they're making a sequel.
I am genuinely curious, though, which JRPGs you would rank below this title.
If you don't mind responding: what are 3 JPRGs you think are better than this, and 3 that are worse--and why they're better/worse.

 

[jaysius]

Something that a AAA game developer should have done in the first place.

Now that they're "adding that feature" we're supposed to treat them like they learned a new trick?

NO they've just stopped shitting on the floor indoors and eating it off the floor.

 

[Topher]

Something that a AAA game developer should have done in the first place.

Now that they're "adding that feature" we're supposed to treat them like they learned a new trick?

NO they've just stopped shitting on the floor indoors and eating it off the floor.

Did you play the first game?

 

[jaysius]

Did you play the first game?

Yup, it was terribly boring.

None of the stories connected, it was 8 shitty stories that didn't amount to anything. 8 slow starts too was fucking awful.

It was like restarting a bad JRPG with awful writing 8 times.

 

[Pejo]

I am 10 hours into the first game, and have made the decision to abandon it.
I searched for some opinions on here, and happy to have found this thread with others who share my view:
The tales not joining together into a satisfying story resolution bothers me on a (GM) level so deep that I am almost offended they're making a sequel.
I am genuinely curious, though, which JRPGs you would rank below this title.
If you don't mind responding: what are 3 JPRGs you think are better than this, and 3 that are worse--and why they're better/worse.

I think that the individual stories are interesting and pay off well enough, the complaint was that the characters basically have no interaction once they join your team. It's like 8 mini stories with NPCs in the background. I really enjoyed Primrose's story quite a bit.

I'm sure the budget for the first game wasn't huge, since they had no way to gauge its success, so given that, and the fact that the narrative style was fairly unique, I think it was pretty good.

 

[Topher]

Yup, it was terribly boring.

None of the stories connected, it was 8 shitty stories that didn't amount to anything. 8 slow starts too was fucking awful.

It was like restarting a bad JRPG with awful writing 8 times.

I disagree. I enjoyed the stories. Oh well.