Octopath Traveler II Gives Game Pass A Must-Play RPG For Classic Final Fantasy Fans
Old meets new in Game Pass’ latest RPG.
For decades, Final Fantasy was one of the most popular turn-based RPG series in the world. While the series is of course still around and still popular, it seems to have left its turn-based format behind for real-time gameplay, but that doesn’t mean developer Square Enix is done making RPGs in the classic style. This month, Xbox Game Pass Standard tier gets a Square Enix RPG that brings back the joy of early Final Fantasy and even improves on it in some ways.
In recent years, Square Enix has been putting out a steady stream of bangers in its HD-2D style, which combines old-school pixel art with modern lighting effects to fantastic effect. The gorgeous art style might be the first thing you notice about Octopath Traveler II, but the rest of the game is just as impressive.
Octopath Traveler II shines in Square Enix’s HD-2D style.
Octopath Traveler II follows the stories of eight protagonists spread across its fantasy world. That might sound overwhelming, but the game lets you take your time recruiting them and following their individual stories, rather than trying to pile them all into the main narrative. And don’t let the fact that it’s a sequel keep you from diving straight in — the original Octopath Traveler uses the same eight-character setup but the second game features a new story with a totally different cast.
At the game’s outset, you choose one character to follow, which could be unorthodox cleric Temenos, aspiring dancer Agnes, imprisoned scholar Osvald, or five others all with their own plotlines to untangle. No matter which you choose, you’ll start with a prologue chapter establishing their goals before being set loose into the game’s grander story. Along the way, you can pursue the rest of the party members at your leisure. Each time you encounter one, by traveling to their origins marked clearly on the map, you’ll have the choice of whether you complete their prologue chapter or simply add them to the party and move on from there. Even if not every prologue is equally engaging, it’s worth playing through them all to understand exactly what motivates each of the game’s leads and get familiar with their abilities.
Each character has unique abilities in and out of combat. These non-combat abilities range from temporarily recruiting NPC sidekicks to opening new paths by knocking out guards. Adding to your party gradually gives you new ways to interact with the world as the game goes on, making each new member a crucial addition. Octopath Traveler II may not be the best story ever spun in a Square Enix RPG, but it’s still satisfying to see how its steadily growing cast works together, especially in short sequences where multiple characters share the spotlight as their stories intersect.
Octopath Traveler II is as engaging as any Final Fantasy game in combat.
Where Octopath Traveler II really proves itself as among Square Enix’s recent best games is in combat. Since each character has significantly different abilities, building the right party for the job is a satisfying bit of strategy on its own, and even things like the time of day can impact who you should bring along. Even before considering any of that, the core of Octopath Traveler II’s battle system is excellent. Each enemy is weak to one or more kinds of attack, based on either weapon type or the elemental alignment of spells. Breaking an enemy by using its weaknesses cancels their turn and makes them take vastly increased damage. Allies also build a pool of Boost points each turn, which can be unleashed bit by bit or all at once to add additional attacks or damage. Exploiting both of these systems is key to Octopath Traveler II’s combat, adding a satisfying tactical decision to each turn even in the game’s simplest encounters.
As Square Enix embraces real-time action combat more with each new Final Fantasy release, Octopath Traveler II instead builds on the foundation of its turn-based cousins, essentially serving as an example for what a new turn-based Final Fantasy could be. Both its graphics and its combat are inspired by the classic RPGs before it, without sacrificing originality for the sake of nostalgia. Even if the more hack-and-slash flavor or recent Final Fantasy games is more your style, Octopath Traveler II is worth checking out to see just how fresh a turn-based RPG can feel in the right hands.
