Octopath Traveler II dropped final month and was the whole lot you would ask for in a sequel. It improved on the unique sport, added extra to the world and gave everybody one other 80 hours to sink their enamel into.
Because of Sq. Enix we acquired to have a fast chat with the sport’s Director, Keisuke Miyauchi and Producer, Masahi Takahashi concerning the sport.
Octopath Traveler II is offered now, we’ve up to date our discount information, there’s a demo accessible on the eShop as effectively. Progress continues onto the primary sport should you resolve to choose it up.
What are the primary modifications between Octopath Traveler and Octopath Traveler II?
Miyauchi: When it comes to sport mechanics, the existence of day and night time occasions is the key change. Simply having this one new ingredient expands most of the programs and different parts within the sport. For instance, NPCs shall be doing various things within the day and at night time and the heroes can all use completely different Path Actions relying on the time of day. Once you go on a visit in actual life, the identical city or the identical vista can present completely different points should you go to it at completely different occasions of day, and I believe we efficiently managed to seize that feeling and pleasure within the sport.
How did you go about managing eight separate storylines and having them intertwine?
Miyauchi: As I used to be in sole management of the whole lot on the plot writing stage, I used to be ready to make sure that not one of the tales went down the identical path or used the identical themes. I additionally deliberate out how the eight tales would relate to one another on the similar time, which is why I believe they got here collectively so effectively.
The world of Octopath Traveller II is far more fashionable than the primary sport. What was the rationale behind this resolution?
Takahashi: As implied within the title, it is a sport about travelling and having fun with a journey. We felt that it was important to set OCTOPATH TRAVELER II in a totally new world in an effort to give the participant that feeling of pleasure and anticipation when exploring it, questioning what lies down the following path or who could possibly be residing within the subsequent city.
The primary sport was a narrative that happened in a really small space of a medieval European model setting, so to present gamers a brand new and completely different feeling journey, we took care to make the setting for OCTOPATH TRAVELER II extra expansive, include completely different cultures and present an extra advance of civilisation.
Will there be any crossover within the story between this sport and the earlier video games within the collection?
Takahashi: There aren’t any direct hyperlinks between the tales in OCTOPATH TRAVELER and OCTOPATH TRAVELER II. The second sport is ready in a totally new world and encompasses a utterly new forged of characters. Accordingly, it’s designed in order that gamers who’re beginning the collection from OCTOPATH TRAVELER II will have the ability to absolutely take pleasure in all points of the sport and don’t want to fret about occasions which have already occurred.
How a lot of an affect did Octopath Traveller: Champions of the Continent have on Octopath Traveller II?
Takahashi: Simply as there aren’t any hyperlinks between the tales in OCTOPATH TRAVELER and OCTOPATH TRAVELER II, we additionally didn’t work in any hyperlinks with CHAMPIONS OF THE CONTINENT both. The event construction for the 2 video games have been completely different, so quite than influencing one another, I believe it’s extra a case of the person groups making their video games in the easiest way for the respective house console or smartphone platforms.
How a lot variation is there within the actions taken in the course of the day versus at night time?
Takahashi: Every of the eight characters have completely different Path Actions to make use of within the day and at night time, so there are a complete of 16 completely different actions accessible.
Are you able to communicate concerning the new additions to the fight system corresponding to Latent Powers?
Miyauchi: Latent Energy is a “tremendous transfer” sort means that every character can use. We included the system as a result of we needed to inject extra drama into battles. The fundamental circulate of battle within the OCTOPATH TRAVELER collection is to assault an enemy’s weak level to interrupt them, then use enhance and land highly effective assaults whereas they’re susceptible. If that cycle was all there was, it will generally turn out to be repetitive, so we added the Latent Energy system that enables the participant to proactively change the battlefield scenario to their benefit. The way in which this provides the participant benefits in fight additionally permits us to make boss enemies with a greater variety of assaults and battle logic patterns. We aimed to create alternatives for gamers to expertise their very own particular person dramatic moments, corresponding to taking down a strong boss that was about to kill them as a result of they have been ready to make use of their Latent Energy at simply the suitable second.
Because of Takahashi-san and Miyauchi-san for his or her time.