5/5 ★ – Lord_Hazenberg's review of Octopath Traveler II.

Octopath 2 hearkens to the sequels of old. Keeps the spirit of the original while improving everything else. 2023 continues to make its case as one of the strongest years in modern gaming when games like this go completely unnoticed by many major outlets or content creators. I played this on Series X via game pass and it took me around 70 hours to beat. I very nearly have 100% completion, but the secret mega boss is the bane of my existence. This statement is overused to death, but this is one of the most gorgeous games I’ve ever played. Keeping the retro art style while expanding the environments, animating the character sprites, and adding in a dynamic day/night cycle all give off a much more refined presentation compared to its predecessor. So many quality of life improvements were added in Octopath 2 as well. A toggle for 2x battle speed, adding in duo character chapters where the party will interact more, latent power moves give the player more options in combat, & including the endgame in the main story instead of hiding it behind side content. Although it did take time to get used to the new/revamped classes as I had perfected my Octopath 1 party. The new 8 party members are all great with stories ranging from gut wrenching to tear jerking. I played with the Japanese voice acting, because I can’t do the anime dub sounding stuff anymore. I won’t spoil any character story stuff here, because going along each ride blind is a lot of fun. There is a big time jump and location jump compared to the first game as this takes place on a different continent and features a more industrial era setting. The map is huge and full of dungeons & towns, and they added in a ship with an ocean map to traverse as well. While more grandiose than its predecessor, the soundtrack for this game is stellar work all the same. Yasunori Nishiki has proven himself as one of the best composers in the business with both Octopath scores under his belt. The party character themes reflect their story & lands wonderfully, the normal battle & critical clash boss themes are great, working in each character theme into the main theme for their boss fights was always satisfying to hear, & Song of Hope might be the finest offering of them all. TLDR; Octopath Traveler 2 is a modern all timer. All the positives of the series’ retro JRPG traits with a modern budget & presentation. Easily a contender for the best game of 2023, and one of the best Square Enix published games in decades.