Octopath Traveler 2is quickly surpassing its predecessor, Octopath Traveler, in popularity, with some fans even hailing it as the best JRPG to come out in a while. Even the best still have room where they can improve, however. Octopath Traveler 2 is an amazing game, but it isn’t perfect.
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Some changes could be made that would improve the overall quality and experience of the game, both in the small details and in some larger gameplay and story elements. Sometimes, it might seem like nit-picking, but even the smallest details can drastically change how something is received.
10More Dungeon Variety
The dungeons in Octopath Traveler 2 aren’t great. They’re short and formulaic, with a handful of chests that may-or-may-not contain decent items, a handful of random encounters, and an end boss that you can either reach from the very beginning or that you can make a beeline toward.
The number of dungeons that require extra effort, like the Sunken Maw dungeon, is less than stellar. Unlike the Sunken Maw, where you have to buy or steal some bait from the Old Fisherman in the cave to summon the end boss for a fight, most of the Octopath Traveler 2 dungeons just require showing up. While each dungeon has different layouts, their lack of nuance hinders each area with the same disappointing experience. More variety in dungeons would make for an overall better experience.
9Collecting All Eight
There isn’t much reason to collect the other eight travelers except to make your life easier and fora handful of side quests. The only time the travelers interact is if you spot them in the tavern or if Travel Banter pops up. This makes them practical to collect the others, but not necessary.
Octopath Traveler 2 would thrive if it were necessary, though. If, in the later chapters, you needed a specific member of your party to break past a puzzle or answer a question, the game would feel more complete. The travelers would have a reason to stick together and continue through the rest of the journey together. The double-traveler side stories are a great start to this, but they shouldn’t be the end.
8Traveler Interactions
Although Octopath Traveler 2 improves on its predecessor by offering more character interaction with more frequent Travel Banter, it only occurs between the travelers you currently have in your party. While this might prevent being regularly interrupted by the prompt to listen in on the Travel Banter, it is limiting and disappointing not to hear from the others in the group.
Part of what makes the game good is the increased interaction between characters with their dialogue exchanges, but the game could be just that much better if the characters staying at the tavern in town weren’t non-entities for the entire time they’re not part of your party.
7In-Game Tracking
At this time, Octopath Traveler 2 has no way to detect your completion percentage, leaving you to guess if you’ve found every side quest, what dungeons you’ve missed, which chests still need to be found, and while areas have been completely cleared out.
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A simple solution to this dilemma would be to add an in-game tracker, checking off more than just side quests. A small sidebar for completionists to let them know that, yes, they did find and clear every dungeon in the region without having to reference outside sources.
6The Minimap Is Almost Useless
The minimap is good for only a handful of things, notably finding save points and the nearest town. When you’re in a town, it’s helpful for finding side quests but little else. Other than that, the minimap takes up space on your screen. However, if the minimap had icons in town directing you to the tavern, the inn, and the shops, its usefulness would exponentially improve.
Understandably the point of not having them is to explore the town, but it wouldn’t hurt if you could buy a map of each town. Running around in the late game because you forgot where the inn or the tavern is at in each city is infuriating. Perhaps, at one point in the game, you could even purchase a “treasure detector” to see where the nearest unopened treasure chest is on your minimap.
5The Grind
Grinding is part of JRPGs. Almost everyone will walk into Octopath Traveler 2 knowing that, at some point,you will have to grind for XPto get different party members up to level - especially because those sitting at the Tavern don’t gain XP. But there are points where the grinding in Octopath Traveler 2 can become excessive and dull - especially with a handful of extremely over-leveled characters and one or two below-level characters.
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Fortunately, there’s a simple fix: EXP Nuts. There are ten different types of Nuts in the game, each one boasting a stat. So why not a Nut that gives a little bit of XP? You’ll still have to work for them, possibly through a handful of side quests, but it gives you a way to earn experience that isn’t just through excessive fighting.
4Better Character Stories
Some of the stories in Octopath Traveler 2 aren’t great, and when compared to the rest, you may find yourself disappointed with their lack of nuance or attention to the small details. They either start in comparatively lackluster manners or end in the same lackluster light.
Most of the stories in Octopath Traveler 2start off by giving you a reason to keep going, to stay hooked, and to want to solve the mystery, like Castti’s amnesia or the murder of the Pontiff. Others, like Agnea’s, fail to reel you in during Chapter 1. When there is no reason to invest in the story, compared to others that have a clear hook, it falls flat and appears uninteresting.
3Difficulty Settings
There’s a dividing line between different types of players: those who prefer a challenge and those who are just here for the story. Octopath Traveler 2 doesn’t provide the ability to pick either; instead, you’re left with the standard game difficulty. That may be fine the first time you play, but when you’re trying to replay the game, having a bit of an extra challenge is great.
The perfect way to improve Octopath Traveler 2’s appeal to more people and increase its replayability is to add different difficulty modes, whether that’s something like New Game+ or providing a “Normal, Hard, Veteran” mode.
2Equipment Swapping
One of the most frustrating things in Octopath Traveler 2 is moving equipment around between characters. If a piece of equipment you want is on a character in your party, you have to go out of your way to switch the characters around at the inn before switching equipment.
The best solution to this is to let equipment swap freely between travelers, even if they’re staying at the inn and aren’t in the party. Even better would be if you could still equip items to characters not in your party.
1Control Over Random Encounters
At some point, you just want to get through the story and not bestopped every five feet by a monsteryou can demolish without batting an eye. Or, on the other hand, you’re just trying to get to a guild, and you’re exhausted of being interrupted every two feet by some piddly ant.
Sure, there are some abilities that allow you to avoid random encounters, like the Scholar’s Evasive Maneuvers support skill, but it’s not enough. A better alternative might be something like the Pilgrim Protection side quest, where you collect (or steal) candles to place on Pilgrim’s Way, which subsequently prevents any random encounters on that path. Although, instead of doing this for every area, a better option would be to get an amulet or item that will prevent random encounters on your travels.
