Octopath Traveler 2 review: Stunning JRPG, huge storytelling void

Much Octopus Traveler 2The most memorable moments are about human connection. Castti, the amnesiac apothecary, learns about her lost past from her previous patients; Hikari, the exiled prince, tracks down and reconnects with his allies; Agnea, a dancer, wants to bring joy to everyone by organizing performances in memory of her mother.

There’s much more to the eight characters and their adventures, but it’s those moments of interpersonal concern that stand out, because they raise an inevitable question in the game: Why Why are none of these main characters really friends?

In dozens of hours, some combination of four out of eight will stay together. While exploring the beautiful, meticulously drawn 2.5D world, they run together in neat little rows. When fighting, it’s important to consider their strengths and weaknesses and use their abilities together in turn-based battles. But at a major scene of the story, everyone but the person directly involved will suddenly disappear.

Image: Acquisition, Square Enix/Square Enix via Polygon

Occasional reminder to watch “travel jokes,” in which two characters suddenly stand in a fog-filled void world over their previous location and chat clumsily as if they’ve just met recently, has done nothing to alleviate this problem. The occasional, shallow side story sees the characters’ paths intersect. In fact, these feel more jarring than people disappearing, because they neither grow nor show any reliable connection.

The obvious separation existed in the original Octopath tourists (which I haven’t played), and I wonder if it feels too much at odds with the story the broader game is telling. Each of the eight stories so skillfully interweave the supporting characters that their relationship with the respective protagonists resembles the core of the game. Unlike travel jokes, their brief screen time is well used to build up the main characters’ history and personalities. The textures are worth highlighting here too, with incredible expressive power packed into tiny figures: style, gestures, even actions like smoking, all increase up quickly.

But while the liveliness of the supporting cast is great, it only exacerbates the main crew’s isolation from each other. For example, when the characters from the previous chapter show up to cheer Agnea on at her big ball, the absence of any of her companions makes her feel uncomfortable. Conversely, when someone threatens Castti to apothecary and tells her to go to a shady building alone, seeing the other three main characters suddenly appear next to her relieves the tension.

Image: Acquisition, Square Enix/Square Enix via Polygon

It’s a pity, for ignoring this strange sense of disconnection, Octopus Traveler 2 is attractive. You travel through a vast world, recruiting new characters and plunging into their quests, solving problems big and small for different towns and groups as you go.

The eight stories range from pretty (the Partitio trader’s desire to bring friendly capitalism everywhere he goes is perhaps the most uneven) to cheesy but interesting (the beast hunter Ochette may not have lots of character lines, but she’s cute and fun), to skillful moves (there’s a boss fight in scholar Osvald’s route that uses mechanical storytelling to amazing effect). Taken together, they have a core theme of separating personal ambition from harmful greed, while their diversity creates a world filled with historical, magical, social detail. and religion.

That world is also beautiful to look at, and if navigation becomes complicated at times thanks to winding roads, hazy world maps, and even hazy radar, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. big that it’s an excuse: spend more time looking at the sun-drenched trees, marveling at the snow in the moonlight, or listening to great music. It also doesn’t matter if the move takes longer and leaves you with more enemies, because you’ll need to grind anyway. The recommended levels of the main chapters take a leap in both mid and late game, so the extra XP gained through backtracking would still be put to good use.

Image: Acquisition, Square Enix/Square Enix via Polygon

While this alternate grinding fades towards the end of the game — you stop unlocking interesting abilities at a certain point — the chapters themselves are very fast-paced. Most last an hour or two and involve catching up with a diverse cast of supporting characters who can use some of the protagonist’s special skills to progress, then tackle a massive boss battle.

Puzzled your way through these encounters starts well before you enter the fray: team composition, gear, and skills are all important. For example, Osvald’s mage powers deal different types of elemental damage, but hitting someone with his staff won’t do much physical damage. Hikari, on the other hand, can deal massive damage with a single swing of his sword, as long as he has a strong enough sword and perhaps a summoner spell from Castti. Balancing these elements throughout the fight is very satisfying when it works, although the distraction near the end of these long battles can quickly snowball into something devastating. This is especially an issue late in the game, as difficulty spikes become more common and battles even longer. (I also ran into some UI bugs that prevented important text from telling me the effects of certain abilities and items.)

Image: Acquisition, Square Enix/Square Enix via Polygon

That aside, these boss fights are generally satisfying conclusions to their chapters, especially since most of the bosses’ abilities reflect their characterization in the story. A humorous evil doctor might focus on debugging and poisoning the party, while an enemy general trained in swordsmanship would probably hit very hard and very often.

But even as I enjoyed the thought put into the design of each battle, I found myself returning to the lack of connection between the main characters. When a protagonist must battle a childhood friend, their similarities in attacks and strategies are emotionally effective; and there are several similar examples of this attention to mechanical cause and narrative effect. But those poignant moments are still stifled by the distance between the groups – their momentum is blocked by the silence between the main actors.

Anyone who has spent time joining the fanbase knows that filling the void in the relationships between characters goes a long way. A pat on the shoulder, a fleeting compliment, a small joke – anything can energize the imagination. there was a lot of time in Octopus Traveler 2, during exploration and combat, when my mind was free to roam and most of the work should have been done — if there was any foundation for me to build from. But I couldn’t help feeling that the imaginative energy wasn’t included in the script from the start. Without it, Octopus Traveler 2 beautifully realized, but there is a hole in the center of it.

Octopus Traveler 2 will be released on February 24th on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC. The game was evaluated on Switch using a pre-release download code provided by Square Enix. Vox Media has an affiliate partnership. These do not affect editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information on Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.