Octopath Traveler 2 - 8/10 GS, 84 MC

Nice... wish I had played the first, but maybe I'll just jump to this one. Will you be checking out Octopath Traveler 2, SW? Surprised they snubbed Xbox.. the original is about to leave GamePass.

@SolidGame_basic: "Surprised they snubbed Xbox" The power of money hatting. Not surprised at all.

@HalcyonScarlet: For this game? Everyone paid SE to keep it off xbox?

"Everyone"? :-S

Love the art style and overall aesthetic of these games. I just don't think I have the patience for the slow gameplay. Glad to see it doing well, though.

@Chutebox: Sony is probably single handely keeping Square Enix alive with all the money they throw at them to keep their games off Xbox!

Played the first one as long as I could before wanting to move on. Everything is great about octopath except the length. Let's goooooo! I don't have all day here! Very happy it got a sequel and there are people hungry for it.

@HalcyonScarlet: So Sony doesn't care that it's on pc and switch, Xbox is where they draw the line?

Very nice. I did enjoy the first game and definitely plan on getting this one as well.

Honestly I have no patience for random encounters every couple of steps, it's just something that with the years I've become completely intolerant to. I do love the art style and played about 10/15 hours of the first one.

Xbox is their competition.

PC clearly isn't impacting them, that's why they release games on it. Switch neither.

Xbox they're requesting developers skip it or skip gamepass, pay for one year exclusivity.

You think Jim Ryan flew all around the world to regulators, because Xbox is nothing to them? :-S

You think they've been money hatting their asses off all this time for who? Switch can't even run half the games they money hat.

If this game is on the PC, how long do you think it would have taken to port it to Xbox given that MS has worked to make porting between the PC, a fairly simple endeavour. A digital release on Xbox would have been an effortless way to make more money.

Too many games to play so little time.

I think I will purchase this game and play as its more stress free. I haven't even put hours into hogwarts as I am very focused to platinuming Rise... Just about 500 monsters more to kill and around 12 crown left... And rampage. Sigh rise have terrible endgame...

@HalcyonScarlet: OK, let's get real. You believe sony is worried about octofreakingpath traveler on Xbox?

If this were a larger game, I get you. But an old school turn based jp right? Really? Nah, not biting.

That's good to see. I haven't finished the first one, but I do intend to buy this.

Yep!

It's not the size of the game, it's the quality and the brand and keeping new Square games off Xbox. Plus it's even easier to keep the "smaller" games off platforms.

I actually suspect the the lack of an Xbox version is more centered around parity clauses with respect to physical publishing, they don't want to be burdened with extra costs but can't publish on Xbox otherwise if they do physical on PS and Switch, whereas if there were an option to only release it digitally on Xbox they'd have done it, the first game came to Xbox as a digital only release but it also came via Game Pass which likely helped bypass this. MS should rewrite their terms in this area given digital accounts for 80-90% of sales these days.

Excluding a system seems less about recovering money for that system's development costs, it's the cost of fronting royalties on physical copies that's a bigger pain, more a reason to focus on systems with larger user pool. This isn't such an issue with digital as royalties are accounted for at point of sale, hence why I think MS should be flexible there if this is a parity issue.

@SolidGame_basic: I'll be honest, most Xbox players could care less about some movie games and boring rpgs. This is why gamepass is a good thing...the thinking that Xbox fans will expand their tastes more as time goes on. Sadly, it seems their tastes are expanding, but not towards jrpgs.

This looks like OT2 was once again, victim of gamer reviewer-isms, that being it "played it too safe, so lets take off points".

Literally the most common criticism, its stupid.

IGNorance is the worst offender.

Reading it basically makes a lot of the same mistakes as the first is a bit of a turn off since I wasn't a big fan of it. I'll wait for a sale to find out if it's as tedious as the first.

Seems a waste of money for Sony to keep OT2 off Xbox when game sales will be mostly split with PS, Switch and PC userbase. Xbox is irrelevant in jrpg space.

No, it doesn't

The characters not only interact a lot more, they share chapters. Also, their is now a clear final chapter that all 8 share.

I'll take the opinions of people who played/reviewed the game over a fanboy who hasn't. As I said, I'll grab it on sale and find out for myself eventually.

Except that it does, facts are facts. there is a final chapter and their is a final boss. And once again, there are shared chapters between characters.

The first game lacked a lot of this and the final boss was too hidden.

You're arguing with yourself.

Look at you.......can't even accept clear facts.

All I said is I'm reading the game is still tedious, you have said nothing that changes that. You're arguing with yourself.

Except it isn't. The leveling system is more balanced and success is less about grind and more about strategy. Bosses can even kill overleveled parties easily.

According to people who actually played it... It is.

Except many reviewers said it wasn't.

Whatever you need to tell yourself, bud. I think we're done now, have a good one.

I love being right......lol

That's the spirit.

Yet you though we were done......lol

I also like you being wrong.

Well I said I think we are, you don't want to be though clearly. I'm sorry your preconceived GOTY isn't all tens across the board and is being labeled tedious. You're even crying about the reviews in other threads, sad really.

There are more random encounters if you sprint, but there is also skills that let you decrease them.

Osvald's first skill does just this, and any scholar secondary class.

Yet that isn't the common criticism....its that it "plays to safe". Try again.

@HalcyonScarlet: Nice conspiracy theory. You think America is making frogs gay?

It is a common criticism though... So is "more of the same", The only place I've seen say "plays it safe" is IGN. Which coincidentally I found you in the comments being a little baby as well.

"more of the same" sells many of copies.

Fans want "more of the same".

Lol, I'm sure you'll love it then. I didn't like the first all that much so I'll wait for a sale.

@nintendoboy16: What is it with you and “making frogs gay”? 🤔

@HalcyonScarlet: 1. It's a joke. References one of the most memed conspiracy theories.

2. Any evidence Sony moneyhatted a game that *checks notes* is on the Switch? Sony has a history of moneyhatting, sure. But don't you think Nintendo would have been blocked?

The ONLY significant problem with the game from what I played (demo) is that the roguish path actions are basic ludonarrative dissonance, especially Osvald's mug. There is no way a character like Agnea or Castti would tolerate Osvald robbing people.

I'm pretty sure its not on xbox because nobody on xbox would buy it; they'd just complain about why it isn't on gamepass yet. Heck, it might even reduce switch/ps5/pc sales for people who assume they'd just get it on gamepass for free.

The other reason, is even if they do want to do gamepass in the future, Microsoft probably pays more for day 1 gamepass shadow drops, so if they want to do that they can make that day 1 be the day 1 of its xbox release.

Sony will pay whatever price to block Microsoft. It’s the company that is slowly putting them out of business. They going third party on PC because of Microsoft. And GamePass hurting them.

So PC, Sony, and Nintendo all paid to have this game off Xbox? 😂

@nintendoboy16: Why would Sony give a shit about keeping anything off Nintendo platforms. They’re pretty much only competitors in SWs. :-S

Even MS has more interest in co-operating and releasing games on the Switch.

Couldn't finish the first one. Slow and repetitive.