Octopath Traveler II
Windows - Released - February 24, 2023
Octopath Traveler II is a role-playing video game developed by Square Enix and Acquire and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to Octopath Traveler (2018), and the third entry in the series after the prequel mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent (2020), though it features a new cast of characters and setting separate from prior games. It was released worldwide on February 24, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows; it is the first Octopath game released on PlayStation platforms.
Similar to the first Octopath Traveler, the game plays as a traditional JRPG. The player moves between eight separate characters, each with their own purpose for traversing the game world. Once again, each character has their own "path action" - a particular means for the player to have the respective character interact with non-player characters in the game world, often with the goal of getting reward items or characters to fight in support of their cause. New to the sequel is there being distinct "daytime" and nighttime" segments of gameplay, with path actions being different depending on the time of day.
The game retains the turn-based battle system of the first game as well, including the "break" and "boost" systems. Every enemy has a number of hidden "weakness" attributes related to being weak to particular weapons or elements. Once discovered, an indicator is shown onscreen, and if it is exploited enough times, a "break" occurs, temporarily weakening the enemy. Every turn, "boost points" are accumulated, which can be used for extra moves in future turns. New to the battle system are "Latent Powers", special abilities unique to a given character which recharge when taking damage or breaking the enemy.
While Octopath Traveler II retains the same structure of following eight separate character's stories throughout the game, it follows eight new characters in a new setting separate from the prior games. It takes place in the world of Solistia, a setting that is more modern than the prior game's medieval setting, which is presented more like something from the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. For instance, the steam engine is pioneered during the game's events. The game's main cast includes Agnea Bristarni, a dancer who sets out to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a star; Partitio Yellowil, a merchant who seeks to end poverty; Hikari Ku, a warrior prince who sets out to reclaim the throne of his kingdom and usher in an age of peace; Osvald V. Vanstein, a scholar who escapes from prison to kill the man who framed him for murdering his family; Throné Anguis, a thief trying to leave her assassins' guild by taking keys from its leaders; Temenos Mistral, a cleric attempting to solve the mystery of his archbishop's murder; Castti Florenz, an apothecary with retrograde amnesia trying to discover her past; and Ochette, a hunter, who needs to capture three legendary beasts to stop a prophesized calamity. Each character has between four and five story chapters focused solely on themselves, and two "Crossed Paths" chapters, a new feature in which two travelers collaborate on a goal.
In the course of each character's story, players become aware of a shadowy organisation called the Moonshade Order, which worships the dark god Vide the Wicked, and is attempting to bring about eternal night based on Vide's teachings. After all travelers' stories have been completed, an epilogue becomes available in which the Order's plans come to fruition and Vide is resurrected, only to be thwarted by the travelers. If an optional side story is completed, players can also fight Galdera the Fallen, the final boss of the original Octopath Traveler, as a superboss.
