Video: Square Enix Shares 20 Minutes Of Octopath Traveler II Gameplay Footage

I do have my share of problems with Octopath at its base which likely'll make their way into this game as well, but If nothing else it's a pretty nice showcase on how far the HD2D look has come since the first Octopath, this one looks so much more vibrant and the set pieces looks a whole lot less generic in comparison.

Yes, an amazing game got even better, loving the battles, didnt watch the whole video, skipping to the battle part. Will buy this game day one.

My liege?!
My liege?!

Man this looks so good! I absolutely loved the original and can't wait to play this.

Really enjoyed the first one on a gameplay level but the storytelling was dull as dishwater.

So excited for this! My backlog will have to wait, I'm going to be playing this one as soon as I can get my hands on it

It will really make you feel like Your Excellency.

Can't really put why into words, but those "campfire" moments in old school RPGs were some of the most memorable for me. The one in the cavern early in Final Fantasy II (SNES), with the sound of the water dripping in the background. Or the one in Chrono Trigger. Such scenes have been common in RPGs even up until now, such as in Tales of Arise. There's just something about companions on a journey having a quiet moment around that fire that part of me wants to linger for as long as possible and kind of makes me wistful for a similar experience in real life.

The first Octopath Traveler was a spectacular debut for the HD2D engine, and the early indications seem to be that this installment will be even more impressive. The biggest improvement I personally hope to see, however, would be some actually meaningful changes in dialogue and story progression when other members of your party are present. The first game kept the character arcs so completely disconnected that it really didn't matter who you chose to bring along on a mission; it was as if your secondary party members weren't even there when there would be dialogue. Now, having your decisions in one character's arc directly influence what happens in another's, THAT would be a great start toward making both the choices and the dialogue feel more interconnected and meaningful.

@AtlanteanMan

True. Final Fantasy X even starts with a campfire scene. I love that game.

I loved the first one…..until I got I think about halfway through and the difficulty got too much for me. I’m don’t have much experience with turn based rpgs though.

Started watching this cuz very excited about this game. Stopped watching this cuz it’s just spoiling things and I’m already sold. Let the wait begin...

I'm not watching it (no need for any more hype) - this was probably the best thing about the Direct! It looks even better than the first, which I spent an unreasonable amount of hours on. Plus more ambitious in intertwining the stories, and something that looks like a playable overworld... fantastic!

Loved the first one and stoked that the series will continue on console. Still trying to decide if I want the CE or if I should wait on the OST to come out normally.

@AtlanteanMan @Jhena And FF15, and Xenoblade 3 Even Pokemon Sword/Shield contains a camping mechanic! And for Japanese car commercials I see them advertising their usage for camping quite a lot, so it clearly seems like a very popular theme for Japan.

@Ulysses

Do you think they fish a lot too? Feels like every game has fishing.

Looks even better than the first one. Hope I can start with Warrior and stack damage bonuses to one-shot almost everything again.

Wished the video had subtitles/Cc the girls was kinda quiet or stuttery

But I'm glad that there is a faster speed and more dynamic attacks because right now I'm rushing to finish the first game and I find myself accidentally falling asleep.
But I do got to question the night and day cycle, I hope it is 2 minutes, in the video it was never mentioned, plus I don't think we could estimate since they was using admin powers so often.
And how I scream at the shops being accessible, I'm saying nothing else but about freaking time they did that.
Though glad with all the changes I'm still waiting 5 months for reviews that aren't saying its good because of the HD2D (is it even that anymore? That super move look totally broke the 2d wall)

This looks great. I still need to play the first one, but it'll shoot up in the backlog thanks to this game.

The button prompts in the video suggest this is the PC version, i am hoping we see some extended switch footage down the line.

@Jhena Oh definitely! Fishing is huge in Japan. Fishing has been a critical pillar to Japanese history for thousands of years, and it's still popular as a pastime to this day.

As you noticed, not only does almost every Japanese life/farm sim features fishing, but also even some games where it might seem a little out of place, like Okami, Monster Hunter, some Final Fantasy games, etc.!

@Ulysses

That explaines everything. There is a very romantic fishing scene in Dragon Quest XI. I wish to someday find similarly peaceful places to fish. I am sure I will love it too.

Those shadows. Gorgeous game.

@DiggleDog I think some of the individual stories were interesting, but the "final story" where it tried to tie everything together really flopped hard for me. Here's hoping to a better overarching storyline this time around.

@AtlanteanMan I remember this feeling from the old personal computer game, Ultima 5. And that game had some significant story events happen when just deciding to "(H)ole up and camp". Shovel Knight stirs up this feeling, as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_X-gFpohsw

@Kvnc77 there's huge level gaps between chapters. So I got distracted when I got round to everyone's second chapters, you need to grind a bit to get everyone on the same page again there!

@DiggleDog This feels like an exaggeration.

That's way too much spoilers for me to watch. I'll wait till February.

I am very much looking forward to it. It's gorgeous.

@BrazillianCara I'm guessing you haven't played it?

@Dr_Corndog I played it 100%, and I certainly found the stories more interesting than they did.

@PerishSong Yeah the final story was awful. Awful and unnecesary. Up to that point, I thought it was actually refreshing that they didn't try to hamfist everything together. I was perfectly fine with everyone having their own tale to live through.

It looks beautiful, but so did the first. Hopefully the second game has better, decent writing.

I'm a massive fan of the first game so I'm excited for this one. I think I prefer however the medieval fantasy setting of the first game to this more modern setting. This game also seems to have more of a Live A Live vibe with all the different culteral settings. Think I prefer the more cohesive world setting of the original.

(Not so) hard pass. Its crazy how Octo 1 had awesome battle system, graphics, music but the writing and character development were so bad. Stories and premise are fine, but when every character is this chippy caricature and all characters go through the same arc (you could time it, honestly), the map for this adventure suddenly became instructions on a packet of mac n cheese.

I'm glad the stories intertwine and they might even talk to each other. It was disjoining to have 8 solo stories in the first one and as much as you had a party, there wasn't any conversation. Even in the towns the NPCs with dialog never registered any of the names of the characters. It was the most disappointing thing. Unless you were doing their story the rest of the characters were just "hired mercs" with no real substance.

Loved the first game, have finished each of the 8 stories. Really looking forward to this sequel!

This brings me joy like the Blackstreet song.
Long live the Octopath series.

... Wun can only hope.

Still playing the first one, loving it but struggling to find the time, id better get on with it!