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In the first Octopath Traveler, the story of the dancer, Primrose, was a dark tale of deception and revenge. For Octopath Traveler 2, the developers decided to go in the completely opposite direction.
The dancer in Octopath Traveler 2 is Agnea, a young woman from a small town who wants to make it as a star in the big city. Her background isn't completely free of tragedy, but overall her story is about bringing hope and joy to all the people around her. And, as her Chapter 1 begins, Agnea is still in her hometown, raising the money she needs to fund her travels.
Humble Beginnings
Chapter 1 begins with Agnea dancing for a local audience in her hometown's tavern. When her performance ends, the tavern keeper, Gus, tells her to collect her tips. This is to introduce the player to Agnea's nighttime action, Entreat.
Entreat works like Purchase and Steal from the first game by letting Agnea collect items from NPCs. However, while Purchase uses money to buy the items and Steal has a chance to ruin the party's reputation, Entreat is guaranteed to work so long as Agnea's level is high enough. Level 1 is good enough for this section, so players should Entreat the two tavern patrons with green dialog balloons and collect their tips.
After that, Gus will have a private talk with Agnea. Players should note that despite what they say about 10,000 leaves, Agnea's starting cash is 2,500 leaves, and players can freely spend this money without any story consequences.
Once Agnea leaves the tavern, players can explore the town of Cropdale before heading home. Every NPC with a dialog balloon has items Agnea can Entreat for, and players should make a point to collect the Bottle of Poison Dust and Shadow Soulstone from the woman on the bridge and the Stimulating Earring and Tough Nut from the villagers standing next to the inn.
Cropdale also has a couple of treasure chests. If players take the staircase leading down to the river, a canoe will appear below Agnea and let her go across to an island on the right. The chest on this island has a Healing Grape inside. Next, travel up the river and underneath all three bridges to reach an isolated spot with an Olive of Life.
Once players have collected everything they can, they can head to Agnea's home. This is the flower-covered house in the bottom-left corner of town.
Festival Day
The next day begins with preparations for a festival. Agnea is scheduled to dance at the festival, so players should leave town by the Forest Path in the upper-left corner of the map. The Forest Path is normally an area with enemy encounters, but for now, nothing will happen no matter how much time Agnea spends here. In fact, the right path is blocked by crates, and Agnea will refuse to go much farther than the bridge if players try to go left. As it is, be sure to collect the Healing Grape from the path Agnea will go down and then head north to the Festival Grounds.
As it turns out, the festival's organizer is having trouble rounding up enough people to help, and he needs Agnea to get more hands. This is the player's introduction to Allure, Agnea's daytime action. Allure lets Agnea bring an NPC with her into combat, but it has a chance of failure based on how tough the NPC is on a scale of 1 to 10.
If Agnea fails, it will damage the party's reputation in town, and if she fails too often, she can only try again by going to the local tavern and paying to restore the party's reputation. Players can also try again by saving and reloading, but this is often more trouble than it's worth.
Still, in Chapter 1, Agnea's Allure chance is always 100 percent. To get the help the festival needs, players should return to the Forest Path and Allure the person standing on the side road. The second person Agnea must collect is an NPC standing in front of the inn back in town. Once Agnea has brought both followers to the festival, the story will continue.
Unfortunately, something may have happened to Agnea's sister, Pala. Gus, the tavern keeper, volunteers to go with Agnea as a temporary party member, and Agnea can get some extra help by Alluring someone at the festival. The Minstrel is a good choice for this since he's a level 2 NPC and can perform elemental attacks. Before leaving the festival, be sure to open the chest to the right of the stage to get 500 leaves.
How to Fight with Agnea
Now that Agnea has to search the woods for her sister, random encounters will start popping up. This makes it a good time to explain how Agnea works in combat.
- The only weapon type Agnea can use is daggers.
- Agnea's Job is Dancer. Like other RPGs with bards and dancers, most of her skills focus on buffing the party. These buffs can be extended by Boosting.
- One of Agnea's starting skills is Ruinous Kick, which breaks enemy shields no matter their vulnerabilities. The skill is relatively expensive, but it works on everything. Its biggest downside is that it only hits one target once, no matter how much Boost players give it.
- Agnea also gets the purchasable skill Sweeping Gale, which is a cheaper Wind attack that gives her a bit more traditional versatility.
- Overall, Agnea isn't a good choice for a player's first party member. Ruinous Kick does a lot to improve her versatility, but in general, she's much better at buffing the party than she is at dealing damage on her own. Even the game gives her a temporary party member for her solo dungeon.
- Agnea can call a follower into combat by spending a turn to Summon them. A Summoned NPC will act immediately and again after each of Agnea's turns. However, after 3 rounds, the follower will leave, and Agnea will have to Summon them again. Agnea can Summon an NPC a number of times equal to their Summonable stat, which players can see when they attempt to Allure someone.
- Followers have no HP or SP and can't be targeted in combat. However, their free actions can be a big help, especially since they often use weapons and elements Agnea can't. Followers will also sometimes take hits meant for Agnea.
- Agnea can only have a single follower at any time. If she Allures a new follower, the old one will have to go home.
- Agnea can't Summon and Boost at the same time.
- Agnea's Talent is Dance Session. If her follower is currently Summoned and on the battlefield, they'll join in when she uses a Dancer buff skill and add something else to the usual bonus. This bonus depends on the follower, and players can see what it is when they choose a target to Allure. However, the Dance Session bonus doesn't extend even if Agnea Boosts her skill.
- Agnea's Latent Power is All Together Now. When it's active, all her single-target skills will instead target every ally or every enemy. This can include her Dance Session bonus.
The Forest Path
Now that Agnea can explore most of the Forest Path (the right path is still blocked), players can pick up a few more chests. Players will also encounter the Woodland Birdian 1, which is weak to daggers and wind attacks.
Players can also take stock of Gus's skills. He doesn't have a proper job or purchasable skills, but he knows Chop Wood, a two-hit axe skill; Bottle Toss, a debuff that hurts enemy accuracy; and Special Brew, a skill that restores both HP and SP. Even without Boosting, Special Brew restores more SP than it costs, so players can use it to avoid spending consumable items.
To get the first new chest in this area, cross the bridge and then go down the path that goes back to the water. The chest at the end contains a Wind Soulstone. Next, use the stairs to enter the water and cross to the building with the waterwheel. Inside is a chest with Fur Armor. Players can then enter the Veil of Trees by staying on the water or going back to land and walking.
The Veil of Trees
The enemies in the Veil of Trees are more varied and dangerous than on the Forest Path. The Woodland Birdian 2 is vulnerable to daggers and wind, the Mossy Meep is vulnerable to axes and wind, the Marmot is vulnerable to daggers and axes, and the Spud Bug is weak to axes.
Before doing anything else, players should enter the Veil of Trees by boat. This is the only way to reach the island near the start and pick up the Sprightly Ring in the chest. After that, players can take the land path up some stairs and find a Healing Grape behind a log.
Just past the grape is a log bridge, and if players descend the stairs on the far side, they'll find a chest with an Inspiriting Plum. Later on, there's another set of stairs that go up and curve to the right; just past them is a log ramp that leads down to a chest containing a Slippery Nut.
The last chest is just to the right of the save point, and it holds an Olive of Life. There's also a peddler nearby, and players should buy and equip everything he offers if they didn't get anything better from town. They should then save and heal if necessary because the boss fight is just to the left.
How to Beat the Duorduor
- The Duorduor has 5 shields, but it's weak to daggers, axes, and wind damage.
- Gus's Special Brew is essential for keeping himself and Agnea going during this fight. Make sure Gus always has enough SP to use this skill, and remember that Boosting will increase how much this skill restores.
- Agnea's summoned NPC should be out at all times for this fight, so make sure she still has around 5 or 6 summons left and go back to get a new follower if she doesn't.
- When the Duorduor reaches half health, it'll summon two Forest Marmots to help. These Marmots are vulnerable to both daggers and wind.
- The halfway point is also when Agnea's All Together Now unlocks. Take advantage of this and unleash a Boosted Sweeping Gale or Ruinous Kick that will erase both Forest Marmots from the field.
- When the text "The Duorduor looks agitated" pops up, make sure Agnea is Defending before it takes its next turn.
- Once defeated, the Duorduor drops an Inspiriting Plum Basket.
After the fight, Agnea and Pala reunite and head back to town. They meet her father along the way, and to continue, Agnea must Entreat him. Finally, to end Chapter 1, Agnea must go to the town exit on the east side, where everyone is waiting to send her off. So begins Agnea's quest for stardom.
Octopath Traveler 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch.
