• Developers – Square Enix, Acquire, Creative Business Unit II
• Publisher – Square Enix
• Initial Release Date – February 24, 2023
• Available on – PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
• Reviewed on – PC
• PC Hardware – Windows 11, GeForce RTX 3090, Intel i9-11900K, 32GB RAM

Square Enix recently announced in December 2024 that Octopath Traveler and Octopath Traveler II have sold more than five million total units, which is more than Dragon Age: The Veilguard. No further comment on that. Those are some serious sales for the games not being a well-known franchise, and after my recent time with the sequel I understand why they have sold so well.

I am a huge fan of the Xbox Game Pass because it gives me access to a ton of games to fuel my addiction and I don’t have to pay for them…directly at least. A couple months ago when I was looking to scratch that new game itch, I stumbled upon Octopath Traveler II. While I haven’t played the first game, I had read some good things about it and a JRPG seemed like the perfect kind of game to sink my teeth into for the foreseeable future.

Yeah, I ain’t reading all that. TLDR:

• Nostalgia-inducing but modernized graphics in Square Enix’s trademark HD-2D, blending exceptional pixel art with 3D worlds.
• Easy to learn but ultimately complex JRPG combat mechanics for those that want to min-max builds.
• A choose-your-own-adventure style of story that does not seem to have missed a beat and even has a couple rim shots (be careful Googling that).
• The best damn music I’ve heard in a game in a while. Seriously, it may be the main reason I put so much time into it.

Visuals and performance

Right from the start of Octopath Traveler II, you get a sense of the fantastic art direction Square went for. With the announcement of Octopath Traveler II, Square Enix had a larger focus on their enhanced HD-2D art-style; a beautiful blend of clean pixel art and 3D environments. The art and animations are vibrant and clear enough to actually see what’s happening too, so no more six-pixel character facial expressions. When running around as your Traveler, the world is isometric with boxy high fidelity pixel art 3D structures and has a tilt-shift kind of vibe to it. From the trees to the buildings, everything has this modern take on old school pixel art environments. Light filters through the environment and foliage naturally which gives a sense of scale and realism to the 2D world as well. Overall, Square did a fantastic job using their older pixel art technology and managed to keep it fresh and modern. Everything looks both simple and stunning.

Performance wise, the game is not very resource intensive, as it can run easily on the Nintendo Switch, so my computer did not have any issues. The HD-2D graphics are low impact, even with an uncapped frame rate and the highest rendering settings. Your mileage may vary depending on your rig, but there’s nothing too crazy going on and I didn’t notice any performance drops or graphical glitches in my play time. Octopath II has a large map and takes you from snow covered villages to sandy beaches, and everything in between, so there is a lot of variety when it comes to visuals too. It has a wonderful, charming art style paired with equally wonderful and charming animations that won’t melt your computer. Which is surprising, given how much casting FIREBALL pops. I mean seriously, FIREBALL’s exploding graphics scorching your enemies looks amazing. As do the other spells, but FIREBALL really does feel extremely satisfying to use. From the bright graphics and impactful sound FIREBALL is my favorite spell. FIREBALL. FIREBALL. ONLY FIREBALL.

Audio and sound design

The music. Oh my God, the music. Octopath II’s soundtrack has 131 fantastic, orchestrated pieces to fit the mood and energy of whatever situation you might be in. The composer, Yasunori Nishiki, will be familiar to fans of Kingdom Hearts 3, Granblu Fantasy, and the original Octopath Traveler. While the music does a fantastic job of setting the tone of a situation, the sound design really punches up any of your actions. For those who choose to party up with Wizards…err Scholars, the sound of FIREBALL crisping your opponents is extremely satisfying.

From your character’s footsteps to the menu interaction sounds, the game has a satisfying sound for everything which helps provide some nice auditory feedback. The characters have voice-acted combat lines to go along with your FIREBALLS and their character-to-character interactions. Cut scenes utilize the same graphic and sound quality you see in the rest of the game as well, which keeps the quality and tone consistent. The voice acting is emotive and layered with fitting background music and ambient noise. Cut scenes feel serious and each aspect of the included audio lends to that feeling. Tone of voice, crisp ambient noise to match actions, and crescendo’s of music all play their part. So far, Octopath II has been one of the few games I did not have Spotify running in the background for, and it has been very refreshing. If you ever need background music for something, I recommend giving the Octopath II soundtrack a go, because it has a little something to fit every situation.

Gameplay, story and everything else

Good news for those who haven’t played the first iteration, Octopath Traveler II is a standalone story, so you do not need to have played the first one to enjoy it. The game is big on letting you pick your own poison. At the start of the game, you are given the opportunity to pick your main character and begin their story. The game is split into Chapters for each individual character that can be done in the order of your choice.

The wonderful tale takes place in Solistia, an industrial revolution-ish world that combines magic and technology. From the scholar’s office and their intense magical research to the bustling modern city center, you will get to see a lot of different instances of this mashing of magic and technology. After selecting your main character (or “Traveler”) and completing their first chapter, the world is your oyster. You have a large map to freely explore, though you may run into some tougher enemies if you are not paying attention to the area levels. Each chapter will send you to a new city to continue the story, with some crossover between stories, and interesting travel banter between your party members to fill downtime and quiet moments.

If you are interested in another Traveler joining your party that you did not pick at the start, don’t worry, you can return to each character’s main starting area to complete their starting chapter and add them to your party. A combination of classes (or “jobs”), secondary jobs, talents and equipment give you ample opportunity to have your party members fill the roles of your choosing. Each character will have two separate “Path Actions” that utilize their background to interact with the NPCs in town. For instance, Throné, my primary Traveler and thief of the group, can steal during the day and ambush at night, allowing you to “borrow” items as needed and remove certain obstacles from your path. The Traveler’s talents provide additional boons, I’ll refer here again to my main mommy…uh…character, Throné. Her talent, Blessing of Darkness, provides increased speed and attack stats for battles occurring at night. A great combination with the corrupt-ish priest Temeneos and his nighttime debuffing talent, Moonlight Judgement. It is an interesting additional level to the standard min-maxing in a JRPG.

As you explore, you will find additional customization in the form of Secondary Jobs. These are sub-classes for your travelers that are unlocked by finding training stations throughout the world. You can turn your young Dancer into a Scholar, Thief into an Inventor, grizzled old Scholar into a Dancer, whatever you desire. There is enough variation to scratch that sweet, sweet min-maxing itch. I particularly enjoyed trying to fit my favorite characters into my party to maintain combat effectiveness, usefulness while in town, and my own made-up reasons for the characters to be sticking together.

A familiar equipment and stat system that is common within most JRPGs is also present. Choose your weapons and armor carefully, or don’t, but you might regret it. Gear comes with stats to improve your character. More max health to die less, more speed to attack first, evasion to not get hit, pretty typical RPG gear mechanics. Stack your stats to allow each traveler to fill their role in your party. New gear is found throughout the game within the open world (you loot whores will enjoy exploring), as part of the main quest, via shops, and as part of the side quests, so there is plenty of motivation to go off the beaten path.

After having nitpicked your new party and equipment to death, there is even more to explore. Each job has additional passive and active abilities (“skills”) for you to unlock and choose from. In combat, the objective is to break enemy shields to stun them and allow time to do additional damage. Breaking shields requires smashing enemies with their specific weaknesses, which you will need to figure out and exploit. Focusing on specific weapons or elemental damage types can be great, but I made sure to not forget my buffs and de-buffs either which was helpful in tougher battles. Boss fights add additional mechanics for you to keep track of too, introducing even more chaos to the equation.

Final Thoughts

Octopath II had me hooked from the start. I got everything I needed from this neat little package and more than I could have asked for. The story is gripping and never feels stale, the humor hits my funny bone, the combat is familiar but excellently done, and the game just sounds fantastic in every facet. For JRPG fans or for someone looking for an introduction to the genre, I cannot recommend this game enough. If you have the Game Pass or you can get your hands on Octopath II on sale I would certainly recommend adding it to your backlog of games you may or may not ever finish.

I hope you enjoy your travels.

10/10

All images courtesy of Bad Habit Gaming and Square Enix. All screenshots featured are captured live during gameplay.