Octopath Traveler II Review
I've had a rocky history with recent games by Square Enix's Team Asano. The original Octopath Traveler, Bravely Default II, and Triangle Strategy were all full of potential, yet short of greatness. I've enjoyed dramatizing it as a "curse" of sorts, even if most of those titles were fun despite their unevenness. The only one I wasn't able to truly get into was Octopath, and I've spent the last few years attempting to restart playthroughs to give it more chances to impress me.
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Octopath Traveler II is a very confident sequel, knowing what worked with the original game and polishing those aspects. I love the cast, combat, and exploration. It's bigger and better. Simple as that. It doesn't really take much explaining to sum up why this game is so good, and trust me I've tried. It takes a flawed yet enjoyable premise and improves on it so well that it's one of the better Square Enix games they've released in recent memory. Check out the demo, there's really not much more I can say. It also offers one of my favorite open worlds I've explored in a game, a true achievement that is found in the intersection of retro throwback and a modern innovation.
Score: 9/10
