Earlier than the sport was launched, we received an opportunity to ask a few of the members of that very workforce about bringing the sequel to life. We spome with producer Masashi Takahashi, character designer Naoki Ikushima and author Kakunoshin Futsuzawa about matters reminiscent of drawing inspiration from the sport’s predecessor, the evolution of the HD-2D type, and who everybody’s favorite character is…
Nintendo Life: Octopath Traveller was a giant success for you, what impressed you to revisit the idea for a sequel, and the way devoted did you wish to keep to the core of the unique recreation?
Masashi Takahashi (producer): We have been completely delighted that the primary Octopath Traveler was a giant hit and so many individuals performed it! Though we have been very grateful for that success, it truthfully did put plenty of strain on us when it comes to the second recreation. Once we launched the unique Octopath Traveler, I stated that it was “a battle in opposition to folks’s reminiscences of pixel video games they’d performed prior to now”, however this time spherical it was very a lot a battle in opposition to the primary recreation that we created. We aimed to evolve the method relatively than change it, conserving as a lot of what folks preferred from the primary recreation as attainable and making an attempt to totally realise all of the issues that we have been unable to do in it.
Octopath Traveller II takes place in a model new world, Solistia, and going by a few of the characters, it seems like we’re going to be exploring settings impressed by totally different historic intervals. Why did you wish to create a model new world, and what alternatives did this confide in the event workforce?
Takahashi-san: As implied within the title, it is a recreation about travelling and having fun with a journey. We felt that it was important to set Octopath Traveler II in a very new world with a purpose to give the participant that feeling of pleasure and anticipation when exploring it, questioning what lies down the subsequent path or who might be dwelling within the subsequent city.
Time has handed in a short time, and it has now been 5 years because the first Octopath Traveler got here out. I’m certain there are nonetheless individuals who is not going to have performed the primary recreation, in addition to those that did play it however have already forgotten the story, and this was why we intentionally didn’t have any hyperlinks to the story of the primary recreation, so I can confidently say that followers of the collection and new gamers will benefit from the content material of Octopath Traveler II without having to fret about occasions that had occurred earlier than.
In Octopath Traveller II, one of many largest speaking factors is that there are “extra interplay, together with the ‘Crossed Paths’”. Are you able to inform us extra about how this performs out within the recreation and why you determined to enhance interactions?
Takahashi-san: Half of the explanation for together with these sorts of interactions was as a result of we noticed plenty of followers asking for them in Octopath Traveler. The opposite half of the explanation adopted on later as components alongside these traces naturally took form whereas we have been placing collectively the sport’s construction.
I hope that gamers will respect the brand new interactions in Octopath Traveler II which is able to open alternatives for gamers to discover extra and reveal attention-grabbing info in regards to the townsfolk and characters.
The unique Octopath Traveller was the primary HD-2D recreation, and Octopath Traveller II is the fourth recreation on this artwork type. What have you ever realized from engaged on the primary recreation and seeing the type evolve in Triangle Technique and Reside A Reside that helped to tell the artwork path of OTII?
I attempted to jot down these characters by dividing off totally different elements of my very own character after which fleshing them out.
Takahashi-san: All the video games have been produced by the Asano workforce, however Triangle Technique and Reside A Reside have been really developed by totally different studios. The style and elegance of every one is totally totally different, so we inspired the groups that have been engaged on them to problem themselves in their very own methods, with out getting caught up on sticking carefully to the HD-2D type of Octopath Traveler. So I’ve a sense that there was not an excessive amount of different video games when making these titles.
For Octopath Traveler II, we have been capable of ask ACQUIRE Co.,Ltd, the developer of the primary recreation and the place the collection originated, to make the second recreation, so I feel you’ll be able to see plenty of evolution in it. Once we put the “HD-2D” emblem on the official web sites for these video games, we replace it every time, so we used model 1.1. for Triangle Technique, model 1.2 for Reside A Reside and went as much as model 2.0 for Octopath Traveler II.
The sequel options the identical eight beginning jobs as the primary recreation. How did you purpose to fluctuate the character designs and personalities of the forged? Do you have got a favorite?
Naoki Ikushima (Character designer): The unique recreation was set in a reasonably small space with a powerful medieval European theme, however this time one of many fundamental design ideas was to have an even bigger world to discover, so we paid consideration to displaying adjustments over totally different eras and having a various number of cultures.
This selection can also be represented within the characters themselves, so we have now characters like Thronè and Partitio who put on extra city outfits, Hikari who’s from a rustic with Asian stylings and Ochette, who lives with the beastlings. On high of that, we additionally wished variations between the characters in Octopath Traveler II and their predecessors who held the identical jobs within the first recreation, that have been according to the brand new setting. For instance, the warrior from the primary recreation was Olberic, who was bodily imposing and used his nice power to swing his sword, however in contrast, the warrior in Octopath Traveler II is Hikari, who’s bodily small however wins his battles utilizing technical ability relatively than uncooked energy.
The dancer characters are additionally very totally different, so the place Primrose had a darkish and troubled mien to her, her counterpart Agnea from Octopath Traveler II has a very totally different character and is a vivid and sunny girl. I’ve a powerful attachment to all eight of the brand new heroes, so I actually can not select a favorite from amongst them. Sorry!
Kakunoshin Futsuzawa (Situation author): I attempted to jot down these characters by dividing off totally different elements of my very own character after which fleshing them out. If I simply made characters that have been totally primarily based on me then folks would most likely not heat to all of them that a lot although, so I took care to re-arrange them to make all of them likeable folks. I like all of them, so I might be completely satisfied if the gamers like them too. If I needed to choose a favorite then I might most likely say Ochette. She is an easy individual at coronary heart and is completely satisfied so long as she has some dried meat to eat.
I’ve written of varied grasping and materialistic characters (particularly the villains), so the uncomplicated Ochette is perhaps considerably comforting to me.
Are you able to let Sq. Enix know we wish to see rather more Octopath music in future Theatrhythm DLC? And even an Octopath rhythm recreation!
Takahashi-san: Thanks very a lot!
5 tracks from the unique Octopath Traveler can be launched as DLC for Theatrhythm Ultimate Bar Line! These vary from the primary theme to the battle music, so please get pleasure from these tracks crammed with Mr. Nishiki’s ardour whilst you play the rhythm recreation!
This interview has been evenly edited for readability.
Our because of Takahashi-san, Ikushima-san and Futsuzawa-san for taking the time to reply our questions. Octopath Traveler II is out there on Swap proper now.
