8 Issues I Want I Knew Earlier than Beginning Octopath Traveler II

In quite a lot of methods, Octopath Traveler II can really feel like a reasonably easy turn-based RPG, however once you keep in mind its eight characters’ authentic mechanics, its non-linear storytelling, and the way unapologetic it may be about throwing you into the deep finish, there’s quite a lot of complexity below the hood. Whether or not it’s prioritizing recruiting social gathering members early or making probably the most out of sure programs, listed below are some tricks to get you began in your Octopath Traveler II journey.

Normal PSA: You gained’t miss out on any content material by beginning with one character

The primary choice you’ll make in Octopath Traveler II is which of its eight playable characters you wish to play first. This has a couple of penalties in that it’s going to act as an anchor level to your introduction to its world, and can decide the primary set of weapons, talents, and particular abilities you’ll have initially of the sport. Every character has a narrative introduction that takes about an hour or so to finish, however the first one you play by means of does set a sure tone for the start of your journey. Nonetheless, as you recruit the opposite seven characters throughout the sport, you’ll have a chance to listen to their origin tales as nicely. So whereas choosing your first character is an enormous choice, don’t fear about lacking out on any story content material alongside the best way.

New characters gained’t scale to match the extent of your outdated ones

There’s quite a lot of facet content material to do in Octopath Traveler II, nevertheless it’s in all probability a good suggestion to prioritize gathering the total social gathering as early as you’ll be able to. Whereas some RPGs will guarantee your social gathering’s ranges are about the identical as you battle by means of the world, new characters in Octopath Traveler II will begin out at degree 1, no matter what degree the remainder of your social gathering is at. Due to this, it’s price listening to each character’s origin story once you’re prompted to at first assembly, as a result of it will provide you with each some context as to who this new social gathering member is, and provides you a chance to degree them up a bit towards enemies they’re scaled to battle. Fortunately, in the event you make a degree to recruit characters early, they are going to seemingly degree up pretty shortly and catch as much as characters you have already got with minimal grinding.

The origin tales are each narrative and mechanical intros, so do them as quickly as doable

Once I first began Octopath Traveler II, I didn’t play by means of the origin tales once I recruited new social gathering members, as an alternative planning to play them by visiting a tavern and selecting to hear again to an outdated story later. I used to be busy and had tunnel imaginative and prescient on enjoying by means of Partitio’s story, who I selected once I began the sport. Nonetheless, once I lastly obtained round to listening to new characters’ tales on the tavern, it was not solely useful to lastly have funding in a number of tales, nevertheless it helped me contextualize how characters like Agnea and Castti’s authentic mechanics, similar to soliciting for info from a neighborhood or charming them into serving to us out, could possibly be helpful. So whilst you won’t be instantly considering a personality upon first assembly, it’s nonetheless price interrupting your quest to listen to their story, as it would enrich your general expertise with each story context and data of the sport’s programs.

Rewatch earlier cutscenes to refresh your reminiscence concerning the story

Man, extra RPGs ought to allow you to do that. As a result of Octopath Traveler II focuses on eight anthology tales, it may be simple to lose observe of threads as you’re enjoying and zigzagging by means of completely different characters’ chapters. Fortunately, the sport has a useful characteristic that may aid you refresh your self on massive occasions, characters, and motivations: rewatching cutscenes. To do that, pause the sport, go to the Journal tab, and discover the character whose story you want a refresh on. Right here you’ll be able to learn summaries of every chapter’s scenes, or rewatch them fully. Plenty of RPGs hold observe of issues by means of quest logs and codex entries, however Octopath Traveler II permits you to simply rewatch an entire storyline proper from its pause menu, and given its construction, it’s a welcome addition price profiting from as you come again to tales all through the sport.

Crank up the sport velocity

Octopath Traveler II is a beautiful recreation, however you gained’t lose any of that visible aptitude by making its battles go by a bit of quicker. Throughout a battle, press the Begin/Choices/+ button and it’ll velocity up the battle animations. That is particularly useful throughout stretches of grinding, as it would reduce down on the time for every fight encounter, and because it nonetheless exhibits all of its beautiful animation, you’re probably not dropping something by flipping the change.

Prioritize recruiting characters who can fill gaps in your arsenal

Once you’re choosing your first character, it is not going to solely set you on a selected path for the story, however it would additionally play a significant position in what talents and weapons you will have within the early recreation. For instance, in the event you select to start out as Agnea, your early fights are going to be with a dagger, and that’s the enemy weak spot you’ll most simply exploit. However as is the case with each character, one social gathering member can’t strike each weak level on their very own. As you discover new additions the world over, you’ll naturally discover teammates who fill out these gaps, however some characters can assist you make up for these deficiencies by bringing NPCs alongside for the experience for a restricted time. Agnea and Partitio each have talents that help you recruit NPCs you meet in your travels as momentary companions, full with their very own talents and weapon units. You possibly can see these earlier than you rent them, so that you gained’t be getting in and utilizing assets merely hoping a possible recruit can accommodate to your shortcomings. It’s a great strategic play to acknowledge what weapon weaknesses you’ll be able to’t strike (or can perhaps solely strike with one character who may use some assist protecting your bases), and both beginning with these characters or recruiting them early on will aid you exploit weaknesses you in any other case wouldn’t have the ability to with out social gathering members you will have but to fulfill.

Take the guesswork out of discovering weaknesses

Plenty of battles in Octopath Traveler II begin with some guessing and prodding as you attempt to reveal enemy weaknesses throughout elemental injury and weapon injury. This may take up a couple of turns relying on which characters you will have, and is a recreation of means of elimination. Nonetheless, sure characters have talents that may aid you take away among the thriller. Two characters specifically, Ochette and Osvald, have talents that may reveal weaknesses early on so you can begin utilizing them to do further injury, tearing down defenses, and gorgeous enemies. Ochette’s is extra exact and a bit restricted comparatively, however remains to be useful. As a Hunter, Ochette is ready to summon a companion that you just’ll choose initially of her story. Whether or not you select the lājackal Akalā or her malamaowl Mahina, Ochette may have a capability that reveals weapon weaknesses or elemental weaknesses respectively. Osvald’s isn’t restricted to both weapons or components, as a result of as a Scholar, he can use Analyze, which each reveals an enemy’s HP, in addition to one weak spot. Having not less than certainly one of these two in your crew always will shorten battles since you gained’t spend early turns making an attempt to determine what weak factors to strike.

Stagger your Breaks and use BP strategically

The core technique in Octopath Traveler II’s battles is to assault weaknesses and take down an opponent’s defenses. These are referred to as Breaks, which is able to stun an enemy for a flip, and trigger any subsequent assaults to do further injury. Every enemy has a sure protection degree proven by a numbered protect icon, with the quantity exhibiting what number of extra instances it’s important to strike at a weak spot earlier than their defenses will break. On high of this, as every character reaches a brand new flip, they’ll obtain one BP level that permits them to do another assault in a flip per level used. As tempting because it could be to make use of a number of BP in a single flip to interrupt an enemy’s defenses, surprised enemies take extra injury than enemies do commonly, so generally it’s price it to spend extra time utilizing single assaults on a flip to slowly break down defenses after which use BP to unleash a number of stronger assaults whereas an opponent is surprised. Breaking defenses is without doubt one of the key components of succeeding in battle in Octopath Traveler II, however doing quite a bit with the brief period of time it provides you is the distinction between chipping away at an enemy’s well being for lengthy stretches of time and doing chunks of harm in a short time.