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When Square Enix and Team Asano began production Octopath Traveler 2, they had a difficult task ahead. The design team wanted to improve the sequel by making it bigger and better than its predecessor.It meant addressing the criticisms levied against itincluding complaints that the story, exploration, and action quickly became monotonous. I told GLHF that I had to.
Director Keisuke Miyauchi said he started the process with two goals: improving the world and making each character’s story feel like a standalone RPG.
At the forefront of art and world design, Miyauchi said the team has created around 200 maps, paying generous attention to detail and scale to create more interesting locations.
“One thing I was particularly careful about was the excitement of exploring the map,” says Miyauchi. “So I felt like I needed to oversee this myself so that not every area looked the same but still maintained consistency.”
Miyauchi said the goal isn’t just to design interesting environments. He wanted it to look good from any angle, to the extent that players could take screenshots anywhere. It will be “Gorgeous Pixel Artwork”.
“It was a lot of work, but I am very pleased with the results, including consistency with the story and the balance of how each area looks,” he said.
Rather than creating a new set of eight jobs for the new cast, the team introduced subtle changes to balance the familiar with the new. Some of these changes are more obvious than others.Partio is the first Tressa-like merchant Octopath Travelerbut his story concentrates on the actual trade and trading, and even has a side chapter dedicated to finding business opportunities.Ochette is another hunter like H’aanit, but her Her story and fighting prowess change slightly depending on which animal partner she befriends when her journey begins.
Not all characters have these notable differences Octopus 1 counterpart. Character designer Naoki Ikushima used these characters’ appearances to distinguish them from their predecessors in the first game, and even laid the foundation for their behavior in battle.
“You may recognize the same job, but we differentiated the characters to fit the world and lore,” said Ikushima. [Octopath Traveler 2], Hikari has a smaller frame and focuses more on skill than brute strength. While the dancer Primrose in the previous work was a woman with a dark past, Agnea in this work has a bright personality.
He later became confident, Octopath Traveler 2According to Ikushima, the strong fan reaction to the previous cast was initially concerned that the new set of travelers would not receive the same warm welcome.
“I was worried about that, but as I continued to draw, I came to like all eight of them,” says Ikushima. “The package art was the first opportunity for the eight of us to meet together, [and] i felt so It was a time when I was able to firmly grasp each sense of distance and camaraderie. Helped me roll up.
However, not everyone was equally comfortable with the cast. Scenario writer Futsuzawa Kakunoshin said that Oshette had some difficulties and was a departure from the team’s usual creative standards.
“I had the opportunity and the creative freedom to write almost everything from eight character stories to family, friends and even dogs. [but] My biggest challenge was Ochette,” said Nisawa.
“since Octopath Traveler operates under the motto of ‘a down-to-earth world’, and the idea of portraying a non-human character has evoked several observations prompting me to act more cautiously. Nonetheless, I thought that I needed to take half a step up to advance to a new stage. If the players like her, I think that’s my moment of success. ”
Composer Nishiki Yasunori follows a similar philosophy, broadening his horizons, Octopath Traveler 2Nishiki looks to the past and the “foundation of musical expression” established by the team’s predecessor in the RPG genre, which he said helps ground the expectations fans of the first game may still have. This allowed him to experiment in other ways.
“With the evolution of the visuals, I wanted the music to feel a little more expansive,” said Nishiki. “Some of the songs, including the main theme, were recorded with an international orchestra so that we could incorporate the fuller sound available from larger studios outside of Japan.”
“We didn’t make all the songs that way, but we thought we shouldn’t remove parts that players might have enjoyed in the first title for the sake of experimentation. It’s about making good decisions about what to change and what not to change.”
Part of Nishiki’s experimentation involved dabbling in different sounds and styles to give different regions of Solistia their own distinct personalities, as opposed to the first. Octopusunified medieval western style. For example, Partio no Mori neck contains a spirited portion of strings and harmonica, in keeping with his background and the Wild West nature of the story. However, in Hikari no Kuni Kū, you can hear instruments that fit the team’s goal to resemble an Asian country.
Nishiki also said Octopus 2‘s day and night system gave him the opportunity to experiment more subtly, filling the nights with softer, quieter variations of the themes he created for daytime exploration.
“Whether or not I made the right choice to throw an idea or keep it all depends on how the players perceive it.
However, it seems that Nishiki’s worries were unfounded. Octopath Traveler 2 It may have initially sold less in Japan compared to the first game, but it launched on PlayStation, Switch, and PC to mostly positive reviews from both critics and consumers. received.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
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