Prior to the game’s release, we had the opportunity to ask some members of that same team to revive the sequel. We avons parlé with the producer Masashi Takahashi, the creator of the personnages Naoki Ikushima et l’ecrivain Kakunoshin Futsuzawa on the sujets tels que s’inspirer du jeu predécesseur, l’evolution du style HD-2D et qui est le personnage prefer de all the world…
Nintendo Life: Octopath Traveler was a huge success for you, what inspired you to revisit the concept of the sequel, and how much did you want to stay true to the core of the original game?
Masashi Takahashi (Producer): We were thrilled that the first Octopath Traveler was such a hit and that so many people played it! While we were very grateful for this success, it honestly put a lot of pressure on us when it came to Game 2. When we released the original Octopath Traveler game, I said it was “a battle against people’s memories of the pixel games they played in the past” but this time it was really a battle against The first game we made. We aimed to evolve the formula rather than change it, keeping as much as possible what people loved from the first game and trying to realize all the things we couldn’t.
Octopath Traveler II takes place in a brand new world, Solistia, and we’re going through some of the characters, it looks like we’ll be exploring settings inspired by different historical periods. Why did you want to create a whole new world, and what opportunities did that open up for the development team?
With Takahashi: As the title suggests, this is a game about travel and the fun of traveling. We felt it necessary to set Octopath Traveler II in an entirely new world to give the player that sense of excitement and anticipation as they explore it, wondering what lurks next or who might live in the next town.
Time has passed very quickly, and now it’s been five years since the first Octopath Traveler was released. I’m sure there are still people who haven’t played the first game, as well as those who did but have already forgotten the story, which is why we intentionally didn’t make any connection to the story of the first game so I can confidently say that fans of the series and new gamers alike will enjoy the content of Octopath Traveler II Without worrying about the events that happened before.
In Octopath Traveler II, one of the main talking points is that there is “greater interaction with ‘cross paths'”. Can you tell us more about how it works in the game and why you decided to improve the interactions?
With Takahashi: Half of the reason we included these types of interactions was because we saw a lot of fans requesting them in Octopath Traveler. The other half of the reason followed later when things like this formed naturally while we were setting up the game structure.
I hope players will enjoy the new interactions in Octopath Traveler II that will open up opportunities for players to explore more and uncover interesting facts about the inhabitants and characters.
The original Octopath Traveler was the first HD-2D game, and Octopath Traveler II is the fourth game in this art style. What did you learn from working on the first game and seeing the style evolve in Triangle Strategy and Live A Live that helped inform the art direction of the OTII?
I tried to write these characters by separating different aspects of my personality and then fleshing them out.
With Takahashi: All games are produced by the Asano team, but Triangle Strategy and Live A Live are developed by different studios. Everyone’s gender and style is completely different, so we encouraged the teams working there to challenge themselves in their own way, without the preoccupation of sticking closely to the style of Octopath Traveler HD-2D. So I feel there wasn’t a lot of interest in other games when making these titles.
For Octopath Traveler II, we were able to get ACQUIRE Co., Ltd, the developer of the first game and behind the series, to create the second game, so I think you can see a lot of development there. When we put the “HD-2D” logo on the official websites of these games, we update it every time, so we used version 1.1. For Triangle Strategy, version 1.2 for Live A Live and upgraded to version 2.0 for Octopath Traveler II.
The sequel has the same eight jobs that started in the first game. How did you go about changing the character designs and casting of the characters? Do you have a preference?
Naoki Ikushima (character designer): The original game was set in a fairly small area with a strong medieval European theme, but this time one of the main design concepts was to have a bigger world to explore, so we were keen to show the changes over different eras and have a variety. of cultures.
This diversity is also represented in the characters themselves, so we have characters like Thronè and Partitio who wear more urban fashion, Hikari who comes from a country with Asian styles, and Ochette who lives with monsters. Furthermore, we also wanted the differences between the characters in Octopath Traveler II and their predecessors who held the same jobs in the first game to be consistent with the new setting. For example, the warrior in the first game was Olberic, who was physically imposing and used his great strength to swing his sword, but by contrast the warrior in Octopath Traveler II is Hikari, who is physically small but wins his battles using skill techniques. . rather than brute force.
Dancer’s personalities are very different too, while Primrose had a dark and troubled face, her counterpart Agnea from Octopath Traveler II has a completely different personality and is a bright, radiant woman. I have a strong attachment to the eight new heroes, so I can’t pick my favorite. Sorry!
Kakunoshin Futsuzawa (Writer): I tried to write these characters by separating different aspects of my personality and then fleshing them out. If I had made characters based entirely on me, people probably wouldn’t be so warm with them, so I made sure to rearrange them to be likeable people. I love them all, so I would be glad if my players liked them too. If I had to pick a favorite, I’d probably say Ochette. She is a simple person at heart and is happy as long as she eats jerky.
I’ve written about many greedy and materialistic characters (especially the bad ones), so a simple Ochette might give me some comfort.
Can you let Square Enix know we want to see more Octopath music in future Theatrhythm DLC? Or even an Octopath rhythm game!
With Takahashi: Thank you very much!
Five titles from the original Octopath Traveler will be released as DLC for Theatrhythm Final Bar Line! These tracks range from the main theme to battle music, so enjoy these tracks filled with Mr. Nishiki’s passion while you play the rhythm game!
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Our thanks to Takahashi-san, Ikushima-san, and Futsuzawa-san for taking the time to answer our questions. Octopath Traveler II is available on Switch now.