Octopath Traveler 2 Review (PS5, also on PS4, Switch, PC) | Backlog Battle

[@BacklogBattle]

Like what you see? Buy it here and support the channel! i.try.games/OctopathTravelerII/jnpg03

[@VDAband]

I loved octopath 1, but the sequel genuinely makes the first game feel like a proof of concept. It improves every single facet from the first game. I can't get enough of it. I've honestly barely put it down since it came out.

[@BacklogBattle]

I think it's absolutely fair to say that this game makes the first feel like a proof of concept. As soon as I booted the first game to play for this review, I was shocked how parts of it poorly ran on the Switch. Like when I got into the battles, I noticed that the sprites were doing this weird "wave" effect, almost like blinds were being turned around to reveal a frame or two. We've come so far since then!

[@d_shuffles]

100%

[@themountainradio]

100% agreed

[@BacklogBattle]

@@ataridc I said it in my review 😉

[@SliderFury1]

One of my favorite thing about this game is how Boost affects literally everything. Your percentage chance to steal or capture goes up, you can target more enemies with multi-target skills, hit more times, do more damage, inflict more or stronger status effects, etc., etc. So satisfying.

[@ivarandresosorio6461]

This game has been a very sweet surprise, makes you think the SquareSoft days are finally back

[@Ock_mantis]

You can't go wrong if you're a fan of rpgs when playing this game. I've enjoyed it so much.

[@BacklogBattle]

There's so much good stuff in this game that it NEEDED a 20 minute video. And it STILL wasn't enough time imo LOL

[@jaspatrick]

Awesome review! I especially like the part about the merchant! (what do you mean "biased"?) ;P Cheers and thank you for the kind words! :)

[@BacklogBattle]

I’ve been really behind catching up on all the comments and I just want to say how awesome it is to get a comment from PARTITIO HIMSELF! And I’ll hop on that “biased” train if you got room for one more! 😂 In all seriousness, the moment I heard your voice and how you captured Partitio’s wholesome, upbeat and cheery perspective on life warmed my heart and served as the fire that made me want to see his story through. Thank you very much for lending your talents and making our journeys all the better, by having such an unforgettable character join our travels. ❤️

[@jaspatrick]

@@BacklogBattle Wow--what an awesome thing to say! Thank you so much! Yup, ol' Partitio is quite the charmer! ha ha! I call him Partitio Gump for their similarities in attitude and lives! :) Cheers and thanks again!

[@leasting]

My copy of Octopath 2 only arrived a couple of days ago, but I'm so looking forward to digging in! This review has me even more excited, I loved the first game and hearing that this is a step up in nearly every respect is amazing. My jaw actually dropped when you showed the visuals from the original side by side!!

[@BacklogBattle]

Thanks for the comment! I'm so happy to get you excited to play this game! And I'm also happy that the visual comparison helped you out too! I had the exact same reaction when I saw the differences myself!

[@morriganrenfield8240]

Also, i looooooved the first game, it actually brought my love for gaming back to me. But this definitely has more than one upped it!

[@TheGodofweak]

I loved the first one because of its combat system, team building, and soundtrack, but I did feel that the narratives were mostly just vehicles to dungeons with good bosses as the reward. Beyond the obvious improvements from its predecessor, Octopath 2 has really surprised me with its writing, I'm following all these threads closely, paying attention to oddities and small details that feel important, and overall it feels much more engaging. The original game had be replaying due to its combat system, but this one is so much more exciting to progress through, its not just one of my favorite turn-based combat systems anymore, Octopath 2 is probably one of my favorite turn-based RPG's period.

[@BacklogBattle]

I know I spent 20 minutes saying the same thing, but I really appreciate reading your experience with this game. There’s nothing more satisfying to me as a KZbinr than to see the happiness that a game like this gives people.

[@SecondWindStories]

This is easily one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen.

[@BacklogBattle]

I don't have a 4K TV, but this is one of those games that make me wish I did!

[@leonc9760]

Currently spoiled for jrpg’s and I love it! Octopath 2 and live a live were a breath of fresh air for me, both traditional but so well made I enjoyed every minute with them. Can’t wait for like a dragon 2 and persona 3 reload in a couple of months

[@jaythompson5102]

As soon as you said it was all about one game - FF6 - I knew I found the right channel. I have been playing OT2 and I believe the game developers succeeded in bringing that feeling we all had as kids playing FF6 and other games around that time period. While I do feel the story never reaches the full potential like FF6 did, it still has so many powerful elements and in some ways pushes what was an old, decrepit genre forward in a cool and unique way. So far I'm 16 hours in and I am finding the gameplay very enjoyable, almost meditative. The music also is really great stuff, all in all it's a 9/10 for me and I'll play a game like this ALL DAY over stuff like Xenoblade.

[@BacklogBattle]

Thanks for your comment! I really appreciate a fellow FF6 fan’s comments! The way I see it, FF6 and OT2 do very different things very well based on the time periods they were made in, which makes me appreciate both in very different ways! That said, I also appreciate that there’s such a rich variety and flavor to the genre that we’ve never had before. The choice is absolutely incredible! And I don’t foresee it changing any time soon!

[@HybridAngelZero]

Asano and the team's work has been simply excellent. I still need to finish the first one, but I'm excited for when I do get to this one

[@BacklogBattle]

They have certainly more than proved that they’re a team that knows their strengths!

[@rafaelrodriguez8922]

Convinced me on the preview. Review sealed it purchased! Story was good in the demo can't wait for more

[@BacklogBattle]

That's awesome! I hope you enjoy it once you get it!

[@jgreysquirrel]

I put over 60 hours into the first game but didn't beat it. The changes to the sequel seem like huge pluses! Thanks for the video

[@Anni_ka]

I've been really having a great time with this game so far! I loved the first one, and I think they improved upon a lot of things while still keeping to the original formula. I know it still won't be for everyone, but personally I'm very happy! My only criticism so far is that, while the game is definitely more gorgeous in general, I miss the sparkling effects in snow and sand areas from the previous game. And I'm not sure whether the soundtrack beats the first one (which was an 100/10, so hard to follow up on), but I've only done most chapter 1s so far, so maybe my judgment is too hasty 😅

[@BacklogBattle]

Interesting you point out the sparkling effects! A good number of people actually pointed that out in the previous game as effects that negatively affected their experience, not because of aesthetic reasons, but for health reasons. Someone on the Discord for example mentioned how the effects from footage from the first game hurt their eyes. And just you wait - more great songs coming!

[@Anni_ka]

@@BacklogBattle Oh wow, I didn't know! But I can see that it might be problematic then. Maybe there could've been a slider or something to say how sparkly you wanna have the game?🤔 I'm sure I'll get over it eventually, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed when I noticed. Snow especially misses the little bit of extra pizzazz that I loved before, at least in my opinion. And good to know! I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the game!☺️

[@makasete30]

Glad you mentioned FFVI. On release on the SNES FFVI pretty much scored a lot higher than CT in all publications with CT being praised but called a lighter story than FFVI and not as deep. However, after the huge success of FFVII many people looked for other high quality square soft games and played CT for the first time on the PS1 whilst the FFVI release on PlayStation had horrible load times for the battles. Thus, many saw it as a better game, and now see CT as the best all time RPG of that era. It didn’t help that random battles dropped in popularity and CT was seen as more modern. I agree though that FFVI has the better story, characters, music score, and Octopath traveler 2 brings back a lot of what makes FFVI a great game. FFVI is still hugely popular after all years, being voted the 3rd best FF in 2021 in a national Japanese TV channel and number 2 in a yahoo Japan vote last year(yahoo is still a popular search engine in Japan). In the west many see FFVI as the best FF still, and I`m glad the pixel remasters of 1-6 are being released on console soon. I wish FFVI would get a HD2d remaster though (they did the opera scene in HD2d for the pixel remaster).

[@Buff_Cupcake]

Fantastic review! I'm definitely going to pick this up. I wonder why they didn't release Octopath Traveler 1 onto console too. I would have loved to have played that too with trophy support.

[@BacklogBattle]

Funny thing is that Octopath Traveler 1 was released on Xbox and Switch and not PlayStation! Isn't that weird?

[@VincentVanBro]

Hot _DAYUM_ this game is good so far. I’ve just finished everyone’s first chapter.

[@morriganrenfield8240]

Currently it’s definitely in my goty contender list…while i REALLY liked fire emblem engage and the combat is amazing, this has amazing gameplay and storytelling plus characters. Wild hearts is sick but OMG did it launch buggy lol.

[@BacklogBattle]

Oh man that’s unfortunate about Wild Hearts! I was looking forward to trying that game out!

[@morriganrenfield8240]

@@BacklogBattle its mostly running good now, but specifically on ps5

[@emilykline8586]

I don’t have a lot of classic JRPG experience, but I am intrigued by this game and might try it out sometime! Thanks for the review!

[@BacklogBattle]

If you have time, I highly recommend trying the demo out!

[@Adam.C]

Been playing it on my steam deck and absolutely loving it.

[@jamestkirkcameron9189]

Just started the first Octo on switch. I’m new to Turn based RPGs. This is only my second one. First being DOS2. I’m enjoying it a lot and love the portability of the switch to play this game. It’s a perfect handheld game.

[@d_shuffles]

Another fantastic review video, fitting for a fantastic game!!! Im still only several hours in with only 4 party members but I can confidently say this is a gem. Going to be a strong contender for many categories come time for the Backlog Battle Awards

[@BacklogBattle]

I hope you’re having a blast! Who’s your favorite character so far?

[@d_shuffles]

@@BacklogBattle That’s a great question if I could pick 😭 haha. My starting character was biased with Hikari, especially as I went 1st with Olberic in the last entry. At the moment I might say Ochette 🤔 She’s light hearted even in heavy moments, i liked picking between the owl and fox at the start, I love that they changed the summons to unlimited use (I hardly used them in the 1st game, fear I’d need them later) and when she says “Awooo” when finishing a battle haha.

[@corefunstudios]

Thanks for this video, you really covered everything well with great detail and enthusiasm--you made me want to buy it. But, I decided to try the demo first. I love everything about it except one thing that is often a deal breaker for me with RPG's: I can't stand the automatic random battle generator that happens every 8 seconds of wandering the world! I want to explore, and sometimes I don't feel like fighting but would rather advance the story. Modern RPG's have addressed this traditional system in a variety of ways, my favorite being the little enemy avatars that wander the open wield and begin a battle IF you bump into them. At least I can try to avoid them if I want to. Now, I'm really on the fence about buying this game, as amazing as everything else in the game is. Excessively frequent and forced random battles really ruin it for me. 😢 But thanks for the great review, it was a very fun and balanced look at the game!

[@BacklogBattle]

This probably isn’t the perfect solution, but Osvald has an ability that slashes random encountered by half! Also, make sure to do your explorations during the day!

[@corefunstudios]

@BacklogBattle Good to know! I'll try that on the demo to see if it helps, thanks! Btw, is there a good way to contact you? I'm an indie developer designing an RPG, and I wanted to ask you for your opinion about something.

[@vouksis4657]

SquareEnix has been very hit and miss the past 10+ years (more miss than hit in my book). However, team Asano has consistently delivered game that range from very good to excellent. I have just finished the first of each character’s but this looks like an excellent game that is better in all aspects than OT

[@BacklogBattle]

Team Asano is incredible! That's definitely one of the teams within SE that I can count on to deliver some quality games!

[@Sinn0100]

So....I finally decided to pick this up for our PS5. I planned to buy it new but many other games got in the way and my plate is not just full it's overflowing. However, the sale price for Octopath Traveler 2 was just to damn good too pass up. I got it for free, 100% lock, stock, and barrel free from GameStop (buy 1, get 1 free). Addendum- While I loved Chrono Trigger it was Final Fantasy III that made me into the JRPG player I am today. I got it for my Snes on a whim and never looked back. I still call Summon, Espers from time-to-time. Although I don't consider Octopath Traveler a 16-bit esque title. No, for me it is very 32-bit hand drawn sprite era...Suikoden 1+2, Dragon Force 1+2, Star Ocean, ect... For reference- The first Octopath Traveler is available for the Xbox One, Xbox One X, Series S, Series X, PS4, PSPRO, PS5, and Switch. It has been widely available for everyone for a very long time.

[@JamesBantz]

I really really want to play this now! I have to finish soul hackers 2 and then play Trails to Azure. However this review has jumped this to my queue after azure. It will be a nice break between azure and cold steel 3.

[@BacklogBattle]

What happened to 13 Sentinels? lol

[@JamesBantz]

Not forgotten lol

[@WaruiDeshou]

You have convinced me. Despite the issues I had with OT1, I need to get this game.

[@BacklogBattle]

Have you checked out the demo by chance? It’s a generous one!

[@WaruiDeshou]

@@BacklogBattle I haven't because I don't want to distract myself from my current gaming 😅

[@LeonSilver23]

Ah, my wallet will not be able to keep up with these games! Excited to get this one when I have the budget 😊

[@BacklogBattle]

It'll be worth the wait! It's fantastic!

[@shisuiki]

I'm definitely going to play this, just for adjusting my expectations: Do purple chests still need to be opened by the thief? I kept Therion in my party just for that.

[@BacklogBattle]

NOPE!

[@shisuiki]

@@BacklogBattle whoooo!

[@Zabasu]

Thank you alex for teh Review as Always ! Are you planning a review of "PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo"? I know you rarely have VN here on the channel, so I'm interested if you might be interested

[@BacklogBattle]

I wanted to! But I’m already in the middle of my next game, which is HUGE!

[@Zabasu]

@@BacklogBattle I already thought so. I'm already looking forward to the next review

[@danaobera4207]

You got me at "beloved FFVI".

[@MrDarksol]

I'm gonna be Blunt, I was not the biggest fan of the 1st octopath traveler as I found it to be pretty boring. And pretty overhyped for what it was. So I did assume that 2 was gonna be more of the same until I played the demo, realize that I like 3 characters in the cast that they feel more compelling than the characters from the 1st game and I'm like you know this is definitely better than the 1st game. I mean yeah the combat is still exactly the same but the differences are strong for me to not be that disappointed in it and at least leveling won't be that much of a problem. The sprite work is definitely improved from the 1st and again I love the characters I have played with. The cute jungle girl is a sweet gentle soul, the sexy thief gave me so much Primrose vibes that she is my favorite girl and Hikari...... He is my favorite male character simply due to the fact that when he starts off his story. it is incredible and leading up to the start of it made me go I want to play through his story and go through it. I will admit that it does suck that they still haven't fixed the issue of the characters don't really interact with each other all that much and are only limited to being in the shadow realm but at least the crossed path system kind of fixes it a little bit for 2 characters that are a pair. And like I said there's like 3 characters I like out of the initial 8 and it's only those 3 but I see that as an improvement over the 1st game where the only character I liked was Primrose. Overall, I may buy this game because I enjoyed the demo that much so fantastic review of the game Alex!

[@BacklogBattle]

I actually think that the party not showing up in the character chapters might be a good thing in this game. I can't really say much because spoilers, but it really works to the game's favor in several instances!

[@MrDarksol]

@@BacklogBattle As long as they were able to do it better than the 1st game then it's fine lol.

[@amarg7657]

Just beat the last characters story partitio last night Genuinely enjoyed every second of every story and every side quest etc still not done with post game and side quests but I cant drop this game love the art style love the voice acting love the stories and interactions genuinely so happy to have experienced this with you all as well thank you to the community

[@zachmongoe]

Whhat an amazing review for an amazing game. You are one of my favourite content creators at the moment..thank you! 🙏☯️

[@BacklogBattle]

Thank you so much for the compliment! I really appreciate it!

[@jaydee758]

My sister in law let me borrow OT1 2 years ago..due to other game commitments i never played it. Finally those commitments were broken and i finally decided to try it. Holy. Crap. I was never so invested in a game. Then i got 2 and honestly its the only game ive been playing for the past 3 weeks. I love exploring and before i knew it..i was 42hrs in, lv75-80 with my main team and realized "oh crap..i havent done any story past chapter 1" This game is EASILY one of the best games of this generation.

[@Lulleebee]

My only complaint is that the map has so many places to go that at some point you lose track of which places you’ve visited and which ones you plan to visit in the future, since you can’t put any markers on the map

[@keegan289]

Great review and great game i loved the first one but this one is amazing i kinda regret not getting it on the switch feels weird playing it on a ps5 i don't know why

[@BacklogBattle]

I have it on both! I'm playing through it on Switch right now when I've got time!

[@BionicThiago123]

Just super bummed it’s not coming to Xbox 😢. Loved the first game. While I do have access to other systems, I’d prefer to play the sequel on the same platform so I’m going to hold out a little to see if there’s any news of an eventual port.

[@BacklogBattle]

It baffles me that it doesn’t have an Xbox port

[@Shagrath06]

Great review! Sold me the game 🤣 Greetings from Croatia.

[@BacklogBattle]

Dobar dan! Thank you for being a subscriber for such a long time!

[@JustJulyo]

Feels like that banner has continously been expanding since Xenoblade Chronicles 3 came out

[@BacklogBattle]

Just shows how many great games we’ve been getting, right? 😉

[@JustJulyo]

@@BacklogBattle all these masterpieces very little time

[@MBulldog1979]

Yeah, yeah this is all fine and dandy but THE key question wasn't answered: is there that sweet dancer skill exp×100? :) Nice review!

[@BacklogBattle]

There IS an Exp Augmentator accessory that you can get in the game! But no dance exp skills

[@comfyshiro3136]

They meant "spinning the wheels of fate", so to speak, a x100 exp/jp multiplier from Dancer's Bewildering Grace. It is in the sequel and I have gotten the multipliers, but there are other ways to get it that don't rely on a method so inconsistent you have to save after every battle for fear of "oops, you died, tough luck"

[@daft990]

I want this game so bad right now, ngl.

[@marcw2604]

I friggn hope they remake ff6 like this

[@darkobrodski1453]

Octopath traveler 2 is causing my PS5 to shut down at the beginning of chapters at random. This is happening to some other players I found. And no, my ps5 is not dusty and I reinstalled game. Mostly happens with Osvald when starting chapter and text rolls.

[@BacklogBattle]

That's really strange! I was able to play through it from beginning to end with absolutely zero shut downs, crashes, or freezes on the PS5. What region are you in, if you don't mind me asking? Apart from region, the only difference I can think of is that I have a different SSD installed on my PS5.

[@darkobrodski1453]

@@BacklogBattle Osvalds first chapter.

[@BacklogBattle]

@Darko Brodski as in the real world, not in Octopath Traveler 2

[@strwrbttlfrnt]

Ive played halfway through the first one and loved only stopped do to lack of interest of story and the grind now that i am played secind now it is so much better game because you don't really need to grund that much and i have only 3 hkurs or so and ive notice a massive improvements with the game i can definitely see why this game is people's favorite this year

[@diamadragonz]

is healing in octopath traveler very hard ? how can I heal my team ? what If I don't have a healer in my team ? what's the way to heal in boss fights ?

[@BacklogBattle]

I don't think healing in Octopath Traveler is hard, as long as you have an Apothecary or Cleric in your party. And even then, the game gives you a sufficient amount of Items you can use to heal people.

[@Celebelena]

Great review. So much better than IGN's review.

[@firepenguin38]

Can someone help me? Is this game 8 seperate games with how tge characters work. Or just 8 seperate ch. 1 with over arching story im new tp this debating on buying it

[@georgelopez-zt4qz]

Graphics wise, this is what Mario RPG remake should have been

[@Randhrick]

I played about 40 hours of Octopath Traveler, then I got bored with it, the lack of interaction between characters and the heavy grinding made me quit the game. Looks like the sequel is more of the same with some improvements, hmmmm, I'm a bit on the fence for this one. Graphics, music, and the combat system are great in this series though.

[@BacklogBattle]

Check the demo out if you’re still on the fence!

[@ricardassteckas6620]

I love this review 👍

[@BacklogBattle]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@GeorgeZimmermen]

I had my complaints with the first one, but it was still a good game. Not great. I really can’t do random battles anymore though. When I was a kid playing Jrpgs it didn’t bother me, but the first game was wayyy to long and this still has random battles and it’s the main thing holding me back from buying.

[@BacklogBattle]

At the very least, this one does have a battle speed option to make things go by quicker - as well as ways to alter the encounter rate through abilities

[@GeorgeZimmermen]

@@BacklogBattle good to know. All modern jrpgs should have the option to turn random battles off. It was a hardware limitation issue back in the day but now we shouldn’t be forced

[@MrRovoLova]

Is it ok to play Part 2 if i've never played 1? I only have the ps5 and have no wish of playing it on pc. Don't have a switch either

[@BacklogBattle]

The answer is literally in the video and in the chapter markers 2:24

[@MrRovoLova]

@@BacklogBattle sorry didn’t watch the video with audio on as I’m at work lol

[@evrys3221]

I'm honestly a little disappointed in the game. While I do feel like the story is a massive improvement, a lot of the gameplay elements in Octopath feel dated. It's very slow moving, and can get a little boring at times.. I don't know if I've grown out of games like this or just have evolved with the times, but Random Encounters... especially low level ones.. feel so annoying these days that it makes me not even want to play. I think a lot of companies have done a good job of modernizing their older franchises and changing with the times, but Square Enix is stuck in the past. I feel like they hardly added anything new to the game to make it feel fresh. To me, it just feels like the first game.

[@BacklogBattle]

It does sound like you might’ve outgrown the genre a bit or are burnt out. Whenever I personally feel too critical of a particular game or genre, I find that it’s more on myself than it is the games I’m playing. This isn’t a bad thing though - it just means that the game/genre and the player aren’t matching at this time. The fun part about this is discovering new genres and games to play in those genres! I recently started playing PowerWash Simulator to change things up and it’s a blast, for instance!

[@karlshaner2453]

The experience gain per character killed it for me. Grinding,....No.

[@BacklogBattle]

There’s ways to make grinding minimal in the game. I highly recommend looking up guides or taking advantage of certain abilities to gain a strong advantage during battles.

[@karlshaner2453]

@@BacklogBattleIt should not be required...

[@tylamcgilverson3923]

Please fix your title. That group worked really hard and put a game on the Switch. That's this games home. Not the Ps5. SWITCH should have top billing.

[@BacklogBattle]

Sorry. I don't care about console wars.

[@d_shuffles]

Having more people exposed to the game across all systems is what this game truly deserved. Personally I play it on switch for portability AND it makes me happy knowing more people will be playing it on which ever system is their home. Its about inviting the game into the hearts and homes of people.

[@tylamcgilverson3923]

Not what my issue is at all guys.

[@baltazarriosdelbarco4230]

Can't wait until they release the soundtrack, the first game's was amazing but I've heard the second one's even better!

[@BacklogBattle]

I've been hoping for a digital release on iTunes or Amazon but I haven't seen it yet! I'll definitely buy it when it comes out!