In a recent interview with Famitsu (kindly translated by the folks over at Nintendo Everything), Octopath Traveler II developers Masashi Takahashi (Producer) and Keisuke Miyauchi (Director) talked about how the game's HD-2D visuals have been improved, stating an aim to make "art that would be picture-perfect no matter when you screenshotted it".
It's no secret that Octopath Traveler's visuals struck a chord with fans worldwide, with the artistic style subsequently implemented in games such as Triangle Strategy and Live A Live. Takahashi and Miyauchi know that gamers harbour a sense of nostalgia for older pixel art games, and so aimed to take Octopath Traveler II's visuals beyond the "rose-tinted" affection that fans have for older titles.
Here's the full interview segment, courtesy of Famitsu and Nintendo Everything:
We talked about HD-2D a bit earlier, so I’d like to ask about the graphics in detail. When you say “pixel art with higher density and size,” I am reminded of Super Nintendo games released late in the console’s life… Would this game’s graphics be similar to Chrono Trigger’s, for example?
Miyauchi: Yes. Last time, we had in mind an inclusive nostalgia that many people hold on to, but we thought that not much would change if we used the same method again. We needed to expand the scope this time.
By envisioning the beautiful pixel art scenery they drew back then – the trial scenes in Chrono Trigger, for example – we aimed to raise the bar of expressiveness with HD-2D by making art that would be picture-perfect no matter when you screenshotted it.Takahashi: Octopath Traveler was released, then came Triangle Strategy, and then Live A Live… Several HD-2D games have been released, but of course Octopath Traveler is still the original, and I think Acquire was its parent. When we first started talking about aiming for Super HD-2D, we had a lot of debate about what kind of graphics would be best.
Miyauchi: Yes. After Octopath Traveler came out, I was invited to host a few talks about technical matters, and what I talked about regarding art was that everyone has rose-tinted glasses on for old pixel art. Things from the past tend to look prettier in our head, after all.
And by now, I think people have rose-tinted glasses on for Octopath Traveler as well. Therefore, we have to make something so pretty that it surpasses what people see through those glasses. That was partially our goal.If we are talking about presentation, unlike the last game that only had a top-down view, it seems this time a variety of camerawork arrangements have been prepared.
Miyauchi: Yes. It’s processed differently internally as well, since while we used scripted events last time, this time we used the Unreal Engine’s features, doing things like we would for a 3D scene.
Takahashi: Really, last time it was like a battle between Octopath Traveler and nostalgia for Super Nintendo games, and this time it’s a battle against nostalgia for the previous game. I think I finally understand after listening to everyone here today.
This time the characters all appear to be taller, and I wonder if this is also a new attempt relating to presentation.
Miyauchi: If we only increased the resolution of the background, the characters would look strange, and we also thought that it would be nice to be able to express emotions in story events.
But the main reason is for battles. Increasing the characters’ height changes the presentation in combat a lot. While last time we reused the same animations to some extent, this time there are different animations for every skill, so you can say we upped everyone’s height to facilitate that.The camerawork during battles has changed too.
Miyauchi: Yes. We made things flashy when they should be, and kept some things the same from last game when appropriate, and I think we managed to make the presentation very varied.
You can check out exactly how Octopath Traveler II's HD-2D visuals have improved in the announcement trailer below; you'll notice the more varied camera work on display along with the "flashy" battle presentation. The game itself will launch on Nintendo Switch on February 24th, 2023.
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Are you looking forward to Octopath Traveler II? What do you make of the improved visuals? Tell us in the comments below!
[source nintendoeverything.com, via nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 24
It's looking amazing tbh, and I keep wondering what happened to the DQ 3 HD-2D remaster. I love the style and I hope it can benefit from all these improvements aswell. An update on that would be nice though...
I really gotta try these sometime. Weird name though. Sounds like octopus or something. Of course i guess chrono Trigger is a weird name too.
it could look exactly like octopath 1 and i would still day one buy it
I just hope they focus a lot more on a unified, overarching story and better writing this time around. I enjoyed the first game, but felt essentially no emotional connection to the story or characters. It was all very simple and bland. The only part that got me interested was the final segment when story shifted to be grander and character-spanning. That was good stuff, but came way too late and was too abbreviated.
They should keep practicing until they feel like making a chrono trigger HD2D remake.
I think a way to perfect HD2D is changing the perspective to Orthographic.
Octopath Traveler is a good game. If they improve on that game, this will be great. Looking forward to it.
Day that ends in y so it's mandatory that at least one person inevitably brings up the "disconnected story" even though this post is all about the visuals.
Love it, and so happy they’re making the sequel!
@Truegamer79 Octo = eight different characters you can play as. I do agree it's a weird name all the same, but since when has Square Enix used normal naming conventions recently?
@Tyranexx
Oh i thought it was like eight paths to take or something. I knew octo meant 8 obviously. Yeah square has some weird names for things and even weirder characters.
@Truegamer79 Each character has "their" respective path as well and can be joined by other characters in the narrative. So that's essentially correct too.
@Tyranexx That was a temporary name that stuck.
If their goal was to was to outperform my memories of the original, I'd say they've succeeded. Octopath Traveler is still a pretty game in its own right, but everything we've seen of the sequel so far looks like a step up to me.
@MarkyVigoroth I've periodically found it funny that both Octopath and Triangle Strategy received their final title from knocking "Project" off the name lol.
I hope that this means resolution and performance on switch will be improved...
I had no issues with the "disconnected stories". Sometimes you want an RPG that is more about personal stories instead of the "destroying a tyrannical god" trope from JRPGS. The battle system in Octopath Traveler was the best part about it. I just hope the 2nd part has more QoL improvements, like being able to change the party outside taverns, or traveling to dungeons from the menu. It was annoying to return to a town, equip a thief so you can return to a dungeon and open the last chest.
@Tyranexx “Octopath” is also an acronym representing the first letter of each protagonist’s name. Sort of a double entendre.
@HeroOfTime32 Correct! And I suspect the second game will do the same.
I can't wait for an action rpg using the hd2d visuals. As for remakes they could do the obvious Chrono Trigger but I'd be happier with Super Mario RPG in hd2d.
@garzuit except Octopath was about destroying the tyrannical god. That’s literally the point of the game.
@Ryu_Niiyama Is it? I have finished 5 out of 8 stories, and I'm about to finish the rest, but all I saw was some personal stories, no grandiose arc or anything, and no mention of destroying gods or anything, unless you're talking about post endgame content.
I would had play this (and the original) even without the 2DHD visuals but since they want to pixel perfect this I'm all aboard for it.
@garzuit keeeeep playing. Don’t get me wrong there is a connection between all stories but it does it in a way that seems like coincidence or seemingly unrelated ways. Some people liked that (me) and others felt it made the story weak. I’ve played 100% and while it is meant to be a big story its a domino picture that when it lays flat it becomes the big bad. Just keep in mind that the givers of jobs are the gods of that world. This is an ancient conflict so to speak. But it’s subtly told.
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