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The recent Nintendo Direct has spawned many upcoming titles that fans have been waiting for, including: Octopath Traveler 2. While it may be a sequel to the first game, it’s not really a continuation of the story, with new characters, a new setting, and eight group members all of the same classes as the cast in the first game. From what the trailer showed, people can expect a similar experience as Octopath Traveler‘s first story with a fresh coat of paint.

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Octopath Traveler is the first of Square Enix’s series of titles to follow its HD-2D retro style. The structure of the plot followed eight separate stories of the playable party members. On paper, this idea is a good one to test the waters for a new type of game that harks back to old-school JRPGs from the 90s. However, the execution of such an idea left fans of the game wanting more. commissioned by Octopath Traveler 2 to be a real improvement over the original game, learning from its mistakes and improving the story of the first game.

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The Octopath Traveler Story Structure Problem

The story structure of the first game is set up like an anthology. Every character in Octopath Traveler has individual stories that unfold as the player progresses through the game. As such, the other party members help each other in achieving their own goals. However, the collaboration between characters usually manifests itself in gameplay and is rarely seen outside of combat. Players only see that the party occasionally interacts with “Travel Banter” under the active party.

An anthology of stories can work in a JRPG if there is a satisfying conclusion that ties them all together. Another title that Square Enix released earlier this year was the HD-2D remake of live alive, which follows that exact concept. The stories for each character in live alive are completely separate, with each character coming from a different time in history. Each chapter has something in common that all comes together in the final hours of the game.

unlike live alivethe real boss is only accessible after defeating Octopath traveler. The game’s final boss isn’t suggested enough to give the impression of an overarching presence throughout the story and is even locked behind a side mission. The fight itself is entertaining and a fair challenge, but it leaves the player confused as to why they are fighting them at all.

What Octopath Traveler 2 can do to make its story great

Octopath Traveler 2 can learn from the mistakes of the first game, take its ambitious approach to its story and make it a really great game. The main thing it needs to do is make the group members interact more and their stories overlap to make interacting with the characters more meaningful. When characters talk to each other, deeper connections can be made between party members and a more believable reason given as to why these characters help each other. It seems that Square Enix is ​​already aware of the issue from the first game and is working on making characters more interactive in the sequel.

Although not bad, Octopath Travelerthe stories were completely disjointed from each other. Character stories should be personal to each party member, but there is a kind of commonality between them. These kinds of games are all about unlikely allies coming together to fight a greater evil, and Octopath Traveler 2 could benefit from it. From what fans saw in the trailer, it looks like party members are interacting more with each other’s stories. There are many side missions in Octopath Traveler, and the sequel shouldn’t have its boss chasing one. The game needs a common threat that is present in all these stories coming together in a final dungeon. This could make for a satisfying conclusion to all the characters’ stories and a memorable final act of the game.

The first Octopath Traveler game is a strong JRPG that is unfortunately held back by its story. The game looks great and has some of the most satisfying turn-based gameplay in recent years. Octopath Traveler 2 is almost done with development and it looks like it will keep those features that made the first game great while learning from what kept the game’s story from being great.

Octopath Traveler 2 will be released on February 24 on PC, PS4, PS5 and Switch.

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