Octopath Traveler 2 dropped final month and was all the pieces you can 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 tooth into.
Because of Sq. Enix we received to have a fast chat with the sport’s Director, Keisuke Miyauchi and Producer, Masahi Takahashi in regards to the sport.
Octopath Traveler II is out there now, we’ve up to date our cut price information, there’s a demo accessible on the eShop as properly. Progress continues onto the principle sport when you resolve to choose it up.
What are the principle adjustments between Octopath Traveler and Octopath Traveler 2?
Miyauchi: When it comes to sport mechanics, the existence of day and night time instances is the key change. Simply having this one new aspect expands most of the programs and different parts within the sport. For instance, NPCs might 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. Whenever you go on a visit in actual life, the identical city or the identical vista can present completely different features when you go to it at completely different instances of day, and I feel 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 all the pieces on the plot writing stage, I used to be in a position 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 identical time, which is why I feel they got here collectively so properly.
The world of Octopath Traveller 2 is rather more trendy than the primary sport. What was the rationale behind this choice?
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 might be dwelling within the subsequent city.
The primary sport was a narrative that befell in a really small space of a medieval European model setting, so to provide 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 sequence?
Takahashi: There aren’t any direct hyperlinks between the tales in OCTOPATH TRAVELER and OCTOPATH TRAVELER II. The second sport is about in a totally new world and encompasses a fully new forged of characters. Accordingly, it’s designed in order that gamers who’re beginning the sequence from OCTOPATH TRAVELER II will have the ability to totally get pleasure from all features 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 2?
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 had been completely different, so relatively than influencing one another, I feel it’s extra a case of the person groups making their video games in one of the best ways for the respective dwelling console or smartphone platforms.
How a lot variation is there within the actions taken through 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 converse in regards to the new additions to the fight system corresponding to Latent Powers?
Miyauchi: Latent Energy is a “tremendous transfer” sort potential that every character can use. We included the system as a result of we wished to inject extra drama into battles. The fundamental stream of battle within the OCTOPATH TRAVELER sequence is to assault an enemy’s weak level to interrupt them, then use enhance and land highly effective assaults whereas they’re weak. If that cycle was all there was, it could 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 best way this offers the participant benefits in fight additionally permits us to make boss enemies with a greater diversity 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 robust boss that was about to kill them as a result of they had been in a position to make use of their Latent Energy at simply the precise second.
Because of Takahashi-san and Miyauchi-san for his or her time.