The recent Nintendo Direct delivered a lot of upcoming titles that fans have been waiting for, one of them being Octopath Traveler 2. While it may be a sequel to the first game, it is not actually a continuation of the story, featuring new characters, a new setting, and eight party members who all have the same classes as the cast in the first game. From what the trailer has shown, people can expect a similar experience to Octopath Traveler's first narrative with a fresh coat of paint.
Octopath Traveler is the first of Square Enix's series of titles that 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 idea for testing the waters for a new type of game that harkens back to old-school JRPGs of the 90s. However, the execution of such an idea left fans of the game wanting more. In order for Octopath Traveler 2 to be a true improvement over the original game, it has to learn from its mistakes and improve on the story of the first game.
The Issue With Octopath Traveler's Story Structure
The story structure of the first game is set up like an anthology. Each character in Octopath Traveler has individual stories that play out as the player progresses through the game. As such, the other party members help each other out in accomplishing their own goals. However, the cooperation between characters is mostly expressed through gameplay and is rarely seen outside of combat. Players only see the party interact occasionally with "Travel Banter" among 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 A Live, which follows that exact concept. The stories for each character in Live A Live are completely separate, with each character being 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 A Live, the true final boss is only accessible after beating Octopath Traveler. The final boss of the game is not hinted at enough to give the impression of an overarching presence throughout the story and is even locked behind a side quest. The fight itself is entertaining and a fair challenge, but it leaves the player confused as to why they are even fighting them in the first place.
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 turn it into some truly great. The major thing that it has to do is make the party members interact more and have their stories overlap to make character interactions more meaningful. Having characters talk to each other could make for deeper connections between party members and give a more believable reason as to why these characters are helping each other. It seems that Square Enix is already aware of the first game's issue and is working on having characters interact more in the sequel.
While not bad, Octopath Traveler's narratives were completely disjointed from one another. Character stories should be personal to each party member but have some sort 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 that. From what fans have seen in the trailer, it looks like party members are interacting more with each other's stories. There are many side quests in Octopath Traveler, and the sequel should not have its final boss locked behind one. The game needs a common threat present in all of these stories that converge into 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 has a great look and has some of the most satisfying turned-based gameplay in recent years. Octopath Traveler 2 is nearly done with development and looks to be retaining those features that made the first game great while learning from what prevented the game's story from being great.
Octopath Traveler 2 releases on February 24 on PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch.
