#I didn't really like that bit of osvald's character but at the same time it makes SO much sense for the circumstances

[auncyen]

This is very a tangent but your second-to-last bullet makes me think of the Castti-Hikari-Temenos tavern banter where Hikari asks them if they ever feel like there's more than one of them and Castti mentions that she feels like there's a divide between her and herself before the incident and just. the bullet point makes me wish they'd included osvald because not only does he have the mental symposium but yeah he probably feels similarly to her like. His mindset was just so different before the fire and prison, he really might have been better with emotions then and just. can't even really remember that because it's something he hasn't had reason to think about for so long.

my thoughts about Osvald Octopath Traveler 2, the guy of all time

his entire character is the most tragic and hysterical thing to me. what if there was a guy so autistic about math and magic he equations his way into harnessing the fundamental forces of the universe or whatever. also he's a dilf and loves his family.

oh yeah also his story starts with him MUZZLED and FALSELY IMPRISONED for the murder of his own wife and child. the first thing you do with this epitome of academia is MUG AND ROB A MAN, and its one of his MAIN MECHANICS as a characters

if you start the story with Throné the way i did you find him passed out in the bushes after he escapes by making a friend and then having that friend immediately SACRIFICE HIMSELF for him.

he only drinks black coffee and is pretentious about it canonically

SPOILER SHIT BELOW

i feel like the horrors he endures are so insanely next level compared to the average party member? like they have their problems (Hikari fights a full out war???) but there is a certain depth and horror embedded in "hey Osvald I framed you for the murder of your wife and child and got you sent to prison for it so I could steal your life's work and respected position as a professor. Also your daughter's still alive but I've brainwashed her to believe that I'm her father instead of you. Also your wife? Yeah I took her FUCKING SOUL AND PUT INTO THIS GOLEM THAT IVE COMMANDED TO KILL YOU. toodles i'm off to sacrifice your daughter to achieve forbidden power." that cannot be matched.

like i genuinely had to stop playing for a while and just put my switch down in complete shock as I realized what was happening. the writing in octopath 2 wasn't always great with all of the stories but oh my god when it hit it fucking HIT

he wears a rope as a belt, which at a certain point in his journey is something he could definitely fix, but i believe chooses not to

maybe he can't see it when he looks down because of his massive fucking naturals metal collar and chain. which he also chooses to keep on.

i utterly detest the stereotype of 'autistic and good at math/comparable things but struggles with emotions' that burdens so many characters esp because he has a full. wife and child and i would also hit that but like there's no way he was as emotionally closed off before the events of the story as he is when we encounter him so i choose to believe his regression in emotion maturity to how he considers the world and people around him is purely a trauma response and survival tactic in prison, hence how it is through meeting the party and traveling with them that he unravels his defenses and relearns how crucial love is to True Magic and he does it all for his family oh my god

what a nerd ass loser i love him

[taoofshigeru]

Agnea solo run complete!

(i.e. complete Agnea’s chapter 5 without adding any of the other travelers.)

The star's lonely path was harder than Partitio's, but somewhat easier than Throné's. While her latent power isn't terribly useful for solo boss fights, the dancer class (and Bewildering Grace/Windy Refrain) made it easier to level, handle random encounters, and get to the tier 2 towns/job guilds earlier, thus helping the run overall.

Stuff I Noticed:

A) I set up Agnea in a dodge-tanky build with high evasion and evasion-boosting accessories like the Gale Feather. After beating the Deep One and rescuing the sister in the Ivory Ravine (I missed doing so on my Throné run because she can't escort after beating the boss), I felt I was ready to take on the story bosses.

Lamani was trivial, much like the man himself. Veronica was fairly doable, but Stunning Uppercut is still a fight-ender if it hits. And it can hit even at level 72. The way the one fight I lost played out was a great bit of accidental roleplaying, with Agnea dodging most of her blows while Veronica picked up speed. She got up to 5 actions per turn before eventually landing a lucky stunner on the dancer and relentlessly pummeling her for the KO before she could get back up. "You won't lay a finger on Madam Dolcinea!", indeed. Dolcinea phase 1 was pretty tough. One one hand, she's weak to daggers and breaks aren't super-difficult to get. On the other hand, she has access to debilitating effects that can upset your setup. One that hit me fairly hard was "Give in to my song!" from phase 1, which is a fight ender for much the same reason as Stunning Uppercut (just with a higher accuracy rate). After taking a few deaths as a Merchant, I tried running Apothecary to get immunity to effects, but the fight still takes a long time on account of Stage ettiquette blocking all attacks/debuffs. After about 20 minutes on this strategy, I went back to Merchant and blitzed for a quick KO. Dolcinea phase 2 was easier, and only took 1 try. Amusingly, Endless Lullaby (puts the character in sleep with a death counter that only goes away if she wakes up) could have won the fight for her multiple times. She kept putting me to doom sleep, but getting in her own way by attacking and waking me up. I choose to read that as Dolcinea being too extra for her own good. She does collapse from exhaustion at the end of the dance fight, after all!

B) Tanzy's dialogue, unlike Ori's, isn't really hinting at her broader involvement with the moonshades. The only substantial clue is the omnipresent references to a goddess while performers like Dolcinea refer to Sealticge as the "Lady of Grace". I think this is fine writing, as the contrast shows how nobody in her life had really reached Tanzy's heart enough to get at that particular truth.

C) Interestingly, the battle music that played during Veronica's boss fight was Critical Clash I, not Critical Clash II. I was surprised, since Veronica is Agnea's penultimate route boss. My first playthrough finished before listening to the soundtrack, so I didn't notice the difference at the time. Now I'm wondering; which sub-bosses get I vs II as their fight themes?

D) "The little dancer who touched my heart…"

Giselle's dialogue is still very lesbiabs.

---

[Other Octopath II Solo Runs]

Throné Solo: https://taoofshigeru.tumblr.com/post/759111483644952576/finished-a-thron%C3%A9-solo-run-ie-complete Partitio Solo: https://taoofshigeru.tumblr.com/post/750802846917820416/finished-up-an-ot2-partitio-solo-run-culminating

…Not sure if doing 3 means I'll eventually get to others, but this has been an enjoyable process. Characters play differently enough to keep it fresh, and I find myself curious as to how Castti, Hikari, Ochette, and Osvald would work for different reasons. (afaik Temenos is impossible because he can't knock out the Stormhail path guard without help.)

[gascon-en-exil]

Could you do 2 and 3 for the ask meme? What about 37?

2. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Not exactly a trope, but I'd like to branch out from the semi-canon-compliant work I've been mostly sticking to in my first fic. I feel like the later chapters, which are mostly set after the story canon has all wrapped up, are where I got to be among the most creative in terms of ideas and with what I actually wanted to see from these characters.

That's a big reason that I think that I might actually be able to follow up on this and turn it into a series, now that I've laid the groundwork for where and how this continuity does and does not adhere to canon. That's been fun on a meta level, as a (hopefully subtle?) way of working through issues I have with Octopath Traveler II's story aside from just writing meta about it like I would with Fire Emblem or most other properties, but eventually those issues run out and one is left looking at these characters and wondering where they should go next.

3. Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

Omegaverse springs to mind. I can understand the appeal of it intellectually, in part thanks to @theeeveetamer who writes Omegaverse and talks about it regularly, but I've determined that it's not really for me. If you know anything about some of my other interests you'd think it might be...but nope. It might be a bit distasteful to pull my - as someone once derisively described it, specifically referencing me - "man in fandom" card, but I think a big part of my indifference to Omegaverse is that I do have an unfair advantage over many readers and writers in M/M erotic fic spaces. I'm actually gay and have quite a lot of sexual experience to draw on because of my offline work, which happens to align closely with the standard profile of (cis) gay smut in transformative fandom. As such I always look at Omegaverse and find myself thinking about comparatively more mundane kinks that accomplish the same goals, kinks that can fit more readily into a variety of fictional contexts and don't require a hyper-specific AU to function.

That said, I do find many of the common arguments against Omegaverse - that it replicates heteronormative dynamics, that it's adjacent to bestiality - to be quite dumb and not worth entertaining. Even when kinks aren't to my taste, I don't see much point in judging them.

37. Talk about your current wips.

I appreciate that you separated this one, anon, because it's one of those that's pretty awkward for me to answer at the moment. The fic I'm working on is only a WIP publicly at this point; I finished it around the time I posted the first chapter, and have only been making edits intermittently since then because I've been told that staggering chapters is better for engagement. Still, it's what I've got - so let's go with that.

Putting this story together and publishing it have certainly been interesting experiences, and I've gotten some positive feedback from the approximately ten other people who ship Osvald/Partitio. Part of me is annoyed that I chose to start writing for a rare pair in such a small fandom as OT2, and that I didn't start out with something like Dimidue or Ferdibert instead...but FE's settings just don't speak to me in the same way. (Also, back when Houses was the hot new thing I was writing meta and fending off fan wank, and later getting a feel for YouTube, so I was quite busy elsewhere.)

I discovered pretty quickly that I have two preferred modes when writing fic. The first is the same sort of meandering, almost fairytale-esque disassociated narrator voice like what you'd find in my ship meta that actually verge on short fics themselves, ex. my attempt at building the crack ship Diarmuid/Tristan. The second is dialogue, to the point that for several scenes, particularly later in the fic, I sometimes felt as though I were writing a play. I'm not great with action scenes, which is one reason I skipped over most of the ones that had to be worked around in canon. I did come up with a rather cheeky way to nod toward that in the epilogue...though whether anyone else finds it funny remains to be seen.

But yes - it's been educational, and I am now firmly in rare pair hell. There's an entertaining spitefulness to it: that while YouTube's algorithm has pushed me into being a dedicated FETuber with only the occasional vanity project on the side, over on Archive Of Our Own I'm becoming known for my work in a completely different fandom.

[redshift-corridor]

Okay consider this me feeling prompted to just send an ask about whatever

What are some of your favourite Octopath tracks, from either game?

OKAY time to dig into this. I'm trying not to get too excessive so I'll keep it to a few thematic categories (yes there are way too many tracks I like that I don't want to cut out :,D) This will be heavily OT2-biased too - while OT1 is still my second favorite OST of all time, it lost a bit of ground in direct comparison to 2.

Character Themes

1. Agnea / Partitio

This is a case of "whichever I'm listening to atm is the better one" but overall I think Agnea has the upper hand if I take all versions of her theme into account (Song of Hope goes without saying, and I'm very partial to her pursuit theme).

2. Osvald

No one seems to like this one as much as I do :,) It's not as immediately in your face as most of the other themes and takes a bit to pick up, which is a bit of a problem with the pursuit theme (my favorite in the game by far) and short battle intro dialogue. I feel this this is the only theme where you can really hear the character development in the progression from character theme to final battle.

3. Primrose

Mainstream choice, I know, but this one stuck with me. Probably because of the immense Yuki Kajiura vibes.

Region Themes

1. Leaflands

Literally the reason why I decided to buy the soundtrack based on a 40 second sample lol. The day version is my second favorite theme overall.

2. Hinoeuma

A theme I didn't pay too much attention to until I played the game and ended up standing in the desert just to listen. The night version wins here. That flute. <3

3. Sundering Sea (Night)

Extremely underrated. Idk how much time I spent hanging out on the ocean to this theme.

4. Frostlands

Just so I have three real region themes in here, but this is one of my favorite winter/snow themes in games.

Town Themes

1. Wellgrove/Timberain (Day)

Probably my favorite game theme period. Wellgrove has kicked Tarrey Town of all things off the favorite town top spot and that's saying something. I just love that place okay. Sometimes it gets hard to listen to the rest of the soundtrack because I keep getting stuck on this one lol. (Reminds me a lot of Wild Wind too, another old favorite.)

2. Montwise/Merry Hills (Night)

I don't actually have a lot to say here, I just love this SO much.

3. Crackridge/Gravell (Day)

You know a soundtrack is fantastic when the theme that caters exactly to your tastes is only your third favorite.

4. Flamesgrace

Honorable mention to my favorite town theme ever before OT2 came out.

Battle Themes

1. Normal Battle I (OT2)

Another unpopular one because everyone seems to prefer II. I don't care. I wish this would play in higher level places.

2. They Who Govern Reason

Oh hey, OT1 got in the top 3 without the nostalgia boost. Favorite boss theme ever and not even the OT2 themes come close.

3. Fierce Confrontation / Critical Clash I

Another shared slot for the same reason as the character themes, I can't pick one.

OT2 Final Battle Themes

(yes these get their own section :D)

1. Song of Hope

No competition here, next. Lol. Agnea's theme is already that good on its own and this makes it so much better.

2. The Journey for Revenge Ends

Like I said, character development my beloved. You can hear how this man goes from nothing to lose to something to protect and they didn't even change the theme much.

3. The Journey for Kingship Ends

Took Hikari's theme long enough to do something for me, but it does it really well now. Points deducted for the fact that I couldn't really enjoy the battle because I loathe boss rushes and I didn't want to risk having to do the tedious duel again.

4. The Journey for Happiness Ends

Four again because I can't leave my beloved merchant out lol. What can I say, it's Partitio's theme. Probably the one that worked best for me while playing. Protip: sunset looks great here.

Other themes in no particular order

Victory Fanfares

Love those, especially 2.

Unshakable Resolve

I'm not crying. Phenomenal use in Castti's final chapter.

Beneath the Surface

OT1 wins in the dungeon theme department with this one, hands down.

Invitation to Darkness

Why didn't we get a whole dungeon with this. JFD felt really rushed tbh.

Final Final Battle Themes

Both are fantastic, but I very much prefer 2 to 1.

Sorry for the wall of text ;D

[loregoddess]

more Octo2 thoughts bc it's been a hell of a weekend for me and I need something nice to think about (shh, my weekends are on weekdays, don't ask, just know tips are better on the real weekends, and I will eventually one day not work in food and have real weekends off again hopefully); under the cut bc lategame spoilers, as usual

alskdjaskld completely forgot Throne's Ch3 Father's Route, so I did that real fast before heading to Stormhail. Apparently? I forgot? Did not pay attention? To the fact that Sebastian/Father actually is never directly stated to be Claude's son, and insofar as we know he was just born in some shitty town and had to resort to stealing to survive (and therefore wasn't raised to be a Blacksnake), and joined the Blacksnakes of his own free will after moving to the city?? So like, sure he could still be Claude's son bc *vaguely gestures at Mr. Bigtits Sexiroth and his terrible horrible fucked up MGS-scheme to not be Vide's vessel* and it could be he was only allowed into the Blacksnakes bc he was secretly Claude's son, but it's still an interesting detail that unlike 99% of the Blacksnakes, he wasn't raised by/in the organization itself.

Marietta however does seem to have been part of the Blacksnakes, which has the disconcerting implication that she's uh, related to Claude despite bearing his child later on (which I honestly wouldn't put past him, and if Throne is somehow the Cleopatra of a fucked up Fantasy Ptolemy-esque family tree, I honestly wouldn't even question it at this point, there is so much weird shit going on in her story arc).

I'm still not entirely convinced Marietta didn't pull a Hatoful by pretending to kill her child w/ Sebastian and actually killing her child with Claude (making Throne actually Sebastian's daughter, and therefore making the whole "not Vide's vessel" thing make a bit more sense, although I have a new theory cooking for that as well that doesn't require her to not be Claude's actual daughter), but the evidence is stronger for Throne being Claude's literal daughter so, anyhow, her story arc is still a very messed up MGS-esque Fantasy John Wick story. But I mean, I still have one more chapter for Throne to try and scour for information for why she isn't Vide's vessel, what's going on w/ the Blacksnakes and their superpowers, and also how exactly the legend of the prince and princess might shed light on Solistia's distant past (I mean, we know the prince was probably Claude, but the princess? Arcanette maybe? and what of the two fighting kingdoms? does the Great Wall and the lost kingdom therein have something to do w/ it?)

Ochette's Stormhail chapter was pretty straightforward. I did waste most of my money buying fancy armor and weapons though, even with Partitio's 20% discount via his follower (who is ironically Masoud). It did have some interesting timeline info though (Glacis's egg was shattered 10 years before the start of the story, around the same time Ochette was required to choose her animal companion). I'm really going to have to watch a walkthrough/playthrough of everything though and actually take notes on the various years and stuff to put together a proper timeline one of these days...

Oh, and Osvald does say the Pit of D'arqest is "just south" of Stormhail in his banter w/ Temenos, so yeah, it seems like the Infernal Castle and the Pit of D'arqest are related if not the same location. Interesting to keep in mind for when I eventually go and level grind there.

Finally pinpointed the two things about Temenos's story arc that were irking me. The first I knew, and that was that "genocide survivor joins her peoples' killers and also seeks the power that her people literally abhorred which is also the source of power for her peoples' killers to...try and destroy said killers" just does not work as a plot for me. Love the concept of Kaldena as a character, but god her arc is a mess. Writer's could have done something more interesting with her than...all that. She deserved better writing.

The second thing is, uh, the entire Stormhail chapter. I didn't really process it my first run bc Crick's death is so out of left field that I was too surprised to think about it, but the pacing for this chapter is just...weird (certain scenes could have been slightly rewritten and put into Ch2, or at least the events could have been rearranged so there weren't these awkward pauses and transitions into new scenes; I get there were trying to let Crick get enough screentime to make his death matter, but honestly the entire thing is just kinda poorly paced by my tastes).

But more so than the pacing, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THAT BOTH TEMENOS AND CRICK ARE INTELLIGENT ADULTS which they clearly are except for this one thing IF THEY IMMEDIATELY SPLIT UP AFTER SOMEONE TRIED TO KILL THEM ONCE? HELLO? Is this a horror movie? Are you perhaps, young teens in a mediocre slasher flick? Someone tried to KILL YOU and you decide no, it's fine, let's take a break for the night, I'm going to the inn, you can head on back to the Sacred Guard which we just established is where the killer is hiding, this is a very logical, good plan with no flaws whatsoever.

Like, listen, I don't think Crick's death was really necessary (it doesn't actually add that much to the overall narrative in my opinion, aside from shock value, and we already had Jorg getting killed bc he Maes Hughes'd himself by knowing too much, you can't...pull the same trick twice without some fancier plot setup usually), but what really irks me about it was it was entirely avoidable if the two had just gone ahead and either investigated together (confrontation with Cubaryi could have still occured, except Crick would be there), or headed to the inn together since Crick's entire thing is protecting people and someone literally just tried to kill Temenos (and then they could have investigated and the chapter could have more or less played out the same except Crick may or may not die, like they could have had him die protecting Temenos before or after the fight w/ Cubaryi, although again, I don't think his death adds more to the story than leaving him alive would have, and my general thoughts on character deaths in fiction is that they should always be absolutely necessary for the entire narrative and plot to work)

So anyhow, yeah, Temenos's Stormhail chapter is actually where his story kinda starts to feel eh to me. I wish to release an army of puppies to chew on the writers' furniture and slippers, just for the frustration. Because like, as I thought, there doesn't have to be that many changes to Temenos's story to make it work for me, the pacing and random "horror movie protagonists IQ" doesn't work for me. Or Kaldena's writing. But both those things would require just the slightest rework to make the entire narrative flow smoothly.

Anyhow, looking forward to seeing Hikari get zapped off a bridge next (I know it's supposed to be serious and dramatic, but Rai Mei literally just zapping him off the bridge is so funny to me, she really just sees him and casts Bolt of Fuck Off). I'll also be keeping an eye out for Ori since her journals indicate she should be around for this next chapter.

[auncyen]

grading character stories after finishing them all.........My favorites ended up being Temenos, Hikari, Throne, and Castti. Least favorites Ochette and Osvald.

Osvald - C+. Revenge is a good motive and the story starts out fairly strong with the prison escape, but Osvald is probably my second least favorite character. He is so incredibly dry and while it's clear he was meant to come across that way, it doesn't make that fun. (He tends to come off a little better in fanfic.)

Castti - A-. Fun tragic story, though I think the eventual antagonist could have been written better; he kind of leans too much towards 'generic sadistic madman' for someone who's motivated to eliminate suffering, and I wish there was more a sense that he and Castti really knew each other as more than just 'work colleagues', considering they traveled together.

Temenos - A-. Strong start, strong chapter 3 even if I will AU that to hell and back lol, kind of sagged in the actual finale for me .

Ochette - F. started bad. Stayed bad to the end. The legendary creatures her quest revolves around end up feeling incredibly overhyped and the whole "humans bad" comes off really stupid in a party that's 7/8 human. Not to mention some of the moralizing just didn't make sense. Leghold really is a nice ability but it's otherwise tempting to just leave her on the island and play the game as Septapath.

Partitio - ...I could criticize all the corniness and also how legality and the enforcement of contracts seems readily toggled on and off and yet, I do like Alrond. The department store bit was a nice change of pace. B?

Agnea - since I had to do a final sequence twice because the GAME CRASHED, I'm glad it was hers. Agnea's story is kind of odd tonally from the rest of the travelers. IIRC one chapter didn't even have any fighting? It makes for a nice change and at the same time leaves me completely baffled that she's traveling with everyone else. Probably another B.

Throne - ....I think I gotta give her story an A just for how messed up it was lol

Hikari - A. "wasn't his first chapter your second least favorite" yes it was and yet the second chapter immediately starts redeeming it. Also my issue with the first chapter was Mugen coming off cartoonishly evil and in the end it turns out there is a kind of fair reason he's like that so hey.

Would I buy Octopath III? It very much depends. I don't regret buying Octopath II, I have in fact started another playthrough that starts with Castti. At the same time there are definitely weaknesses that along with what I've heard about Octopath I make me confident I was correct in NOT buying the first game, it would not have been my cup of tea, and while OT2 improved on the character interaction and such that's still weak enough that I don't think I'd buy OT3 unless a demo character really grabbed me like Temenos did. Like I feel OT's set up is fun as an experiment but ultimately does not do the story of the overall game any favors, and it's not really possible to change that and make it make sense to call it "Octopath".

[silaaicha]

ok im coming back to this as i listen to the character themes more. the way their themes sound just lets you into the character in a way that the character art just isn't able to i think in that it tells so much about them to someone like me who only knows things about three characters because i only got time to pick up three

ok ochette is a character i don't know anything about but. i went to the village and the woodlands and wood instruments and flute and percussion do something to me that evokes that exact image. it's big and epic like the woods itself and she's a curious and brave and a part of her isn't afraid to leap straight into danger for her people. but she's small too, the little percussion melody is cute and charming and a little mystical like her physical characteristics.

castti's clarinet theme is calm and soothing and really tranquil and kind of reminds me of the riverlands in a way, her character is a little similar to alfyn's in that they both take great pride in their work and they're good at what they do. she reminds me of the night theme in that it's a lullaby and it's about being soothed and calmed. the percussion is sort of ocean-like and you get the first bits of backstory. the brightness of it is like her as a shining star and it's bittersweet and peaceful and content in a way that she is.

throné's dark and moody violin (which i totally want to play by the way. if anyone's interested in transcribing this), give me the impression that they might hint at both her past and current life. i didn't get to play her so i know very little about her but going off of therion i think it might have been similarly bad. it's a life of repetition and uncertainty and having to survive in a world that was ultimately not for you. it's her breaking out of the loop and being able to experience something else, something new. she's angry in a way. i don't know what about but she has the same air of vengeance that osvald does. she wants something so badly she's willing to do anything she can to get it.

osvald's stoic and somber cello give the impression of his patience and wisdom. i think it's similar to olberic's but only in tempo. osvald's is stormier and angrier and has those vengeful tones in it. you can tell what his goals are and how much he wants it. he would be a terrifyingly good villain. throné and osvald have the same undertones to them that they're threatening and there is danger to be had but in different flavors. the piano in the background are his slow and careful footsteps like he's plotting and moving forward in a way. it's slow but it's there. he'll get where he's going eventually.

the guitar/saxophone in partitio's!! definitely a much more modern vibe then any of the others given that he comes from/lives in a much more developed world then someone like ochette. it's upbeat sort of has an air of a carefree life that leads in whatever direction it needs to to keep the piece going. he seems like a really likeable character in his theme, which i for sure do not get from the art. idk i just dont vibe too much with his design. for sure the most unique theme in terms of the way the music in octopath works.

agnea's theme has something in it that i just can't describe but i love so much. it's the vibe of a good folk jig with the fiddle and drums and flute and everything. because it is a good folk song. its got everything i love in it. the idea of her starting in a small town in the middle of nowhere is really well conveyed, and this is 100% a song that she would dance to. something about nishiki's dancer themes are so full of energy and life and could for sure exist in the world of solistia. an explorer with a goal in mind and a heart set on the world around her.

i'm going to preface this with the fact that i know absolutely nothing about temenos, but his theme evokes detective movie imagery. it's a little similar to cyrus in vibes in that i feel like he might end up being a stuck-up or pretentious character. he's just a sneaky little guy!! i love the percussion in this theme as well as the fact that there isn't a clear solo like in throné's or osvald's themes. the back and forth of the winds hint at maybe a wildly morally gray cleric?? which would be so interesting. again i know nothing about temenos so lmk if i'm wrong but that's what i get out of it.

hikari!!!!! it's everything. its big and epic and heroic and honorable and has those nice east asian instrument flairs to it that make it so cozy. its so much like olberic because in a way i think they're very similar warrior characters. it's about (ch. 1 spoilers) him seeing himself as part of a larger peoples and then having to go on without them and becoming that solo theme apart from the orchestra. it feels old and ancient and he's part of a nation that no longer exists and that is dead and gone.

can i just talk abt how excited i am for the octopath ii soundtrack?? the music thats released as of now slaps just as hard as the first game augh its so good

[sleepyartattempts]

Octopath Traveler 2 - Partitio and Osvald character information

The Japanese site has been updated again, and we have info on Partitio and Osvald! Very excited, cause these two have been my favourites on first impression. As well as this, there is a video (available in English or Japanese) showcases them and a few features in the game.

Here's the site's link:

Here's the link to the English promotional video:

And the Japanese, if you want to watch it (It's weird hearing Kazuya Nakai play someone so cheerful, but I honestly really like it, haha):

Here's the info available on the character's site pages (using google translate):

Partitio! Some cool abilities, but mostly the same from the first game. From the video though, you can see that different people you hire can actually help you make purchases in shops, which is very cool. I'm very excited to see more of this guy, though the accent really caught me off guard at first, haha.

Now for Osvlad:

Is it just me or do these two look extremely tall, haha? Anyway, there seems to be some noticeable differences in the scholar class here! It seems the analyse ability will increase at the start of battle if you've seen the enemy before, I think? Very cool. I didn't include an image here, but I find the image of Osvald's 'Mug' ability that he can perform at night funny.

If you watch the videos, you can get an idea of where some parts of these guy's stories might go, so I won't talk about it here. On another point, from what I can tell, it seems like we will get to see the characters interact more, but it will still be outside of their individual stories. I'm going to guess that we'll get to see two characters pair up at a time for side-quests, but we'll have to see.

We have more info on travelling by boat in the video. You can alternate the sail colour, and travel to new areas or explore abandoned ships.

There's a bit more, but that's all I'll mention here. It's super cool to see what's to come, and I'm so hyped for this game!

[loregoddess]

Osvald for the ask meme

Hecking love this guy...

how much I like their personality: Very much, which was a surprise to me. For a variety of reasons, I'm not fond of the "emotionless or emotionally stunted intellectual who prizes their lack of emotion as proof of their intellect (or else the intellectual with an utter lack of understanding of emotion in general)" as a trope (I am not summarizing that trope well, but, y'know, that trope), so I started off a bit wary every time the narrative made it seem like Osvald didn't know what love (or other emotions outside of revenge) were, but his narrative dovetailing into "actually he has known love (and other emotions) all along and just didn't have a name for them bc he was so preoccupied with his research, but actually he has loved and loves very deeply and this is a key aspect of his characterization" was a really nice subversion of my expectations and fears, and as a result Osvald ended up being a really interesting character. I love the duality of his focus on his research and rather blunt way of speaking being juxtaposed with how deeply he actually cares, and how despite at the beginning of his story where he believes himself a hollow shell of a man who can only seek vengeance, that he's actually so full of care for his family and the other travelers, and he actually does understand emotions even if it's not like, in a conventional way and not quite to the same level or type of emotional intelligence as a few of the other travelers. I just think Osvald's a really interesting, great character!

how much I like their design/aesthetics Overall, I love his character design! I think leaving the prison chains around his neck was a weird design decision, esp. after his main story arc is beaten (hey if they could take the cuff thingy off Therion after story completion, Osvald could have gotten some new clothes...), but overall I feel like his design reflects his characterization very well. He has this big, tall, hulking figure, and comes off as rather intimidating at first, which is fitting because he starts off as hellbent on revenge and also he can literally mug people at night, but then we learn that Loving Father is deeply ingrained in his core personality, so that the hulking figure becomes more like that of a protective mother bear (or Juvah, to quote Ochette). I felt like the designers also did a good job having his general appearance change to reflect his life circumstances (i.e. before the murder of his family, his hair is kept tied back, he's always dressed nicely, it's very heavily implied this was partly Rita's work but we still get the sense that his life is "together" as a result; whereas after breaking out of prison his hair is unkempt and he wears his old prison rags because he can no longer focus on living, with all his energy going towards his vengeance quest; and then of course we get how he's dressed in his ending art which I feel speaks for Osvald's entire character arc and growth very nicely). The overall choice for a color palette focused on browns and beiges was a nice touch too, because brown can very easily be made to look like a cold color in certain lighting, but likewise can be a very warm color depending on the light, which reflects the duality of Osvald's characterization very well too. I'm uh, gonna wrap this up here bc character design actually is my passion and we'll be here all day if I try to go over every aspect of his design, but as an artist with an interest in character design, I think Osvald's got a strong design overall and I like it a lot.

how interesting I think they are As stated in different ways above, I think Osvald's very interesting! Would probably write up an entire analysis of his arc and characterization and other stuff if I had the energy and time.

how well-written I think they are Overall I liked Osvald's writing quite a bit. His narrative arc was one of my favorites from the game, and I felt like the story beats and his characterization came through very clearly. I also felt that the turning point in his narrative (Ch4) was one of the strongest narrative turning points out of all the travelers (only being beat out by Castti's for my personal favorite of the mid-story turning points). Despite my love of a good ol' fashioned revenge tale, I was delighted by how Osvald's arc subverted my expectations without any of the plot twists or reveals feeling contrived or out-of-place. Especially on my second run with The Knowledge Of What Happens, I have an appreciation for how his story is being set up and how certain things were hinted at earlier if not outright foreshadowed. Very enjoyable writing overall!

(if applicable) how much I like their mechanics in-game Octo2 has some of the best game mechanics of any jrpg I've played (for my personal tastes), and Osvald's definitely one of my favorite characters to play. He starts off a bit of a glass canon, but with the right setup of equipment he becomes pretty sturdy quickly enough. I like having him in the cleric class because of the access Mystic Staff, and Holy Light is a useful single-enemy offensive skill to use for when Osvald's latent ability isn't full, but he does well in pretty much any class I stick him in, and his personal EX skill is one of my favorite EX skills from the entire game (although as to the divine EX skill well...I've literally never needed to use Teach so uh...that one was more of a miss for me). One of my main damage-dealers in endgame teams, and I used him specifically to churn out high damage hits in the fight with the optional superboss (that's all he did the entire battle), that's how powerful he ended up for me.

if I think they are a Good Person(tm) I'm not really invested in fictional character morality, but sure, even with the mugging and stuff Osvald seems like a decent enough person. Probably wouldn't be one of the main protagonists sort of implied to be chosen by the gods themselves to safeguard the world otherwise.

[loregoddess]

so...Octopath II is very fun. No spoilers that weren't in trailers already, don't worry, just some first impressions.

I am in awe of how much new stuff is in the game, like, not even just the night/day mechanics or the additional path skills, like, all the environments feel larger and more immersive, the battle animations have a lot of extra oomph to them. A lot of elements feel very similar to the original game, like the main menu UI is stylistically similar enough that navigating it feels like second-nature, and a lot of weird tidbits like the main font for speech and map icons are the same, which makes it feel more like "this is part of the same series" rather than just lazy reuse. It's very pretty and handles really well so far, there isn't even too much of a learning curve esp. coming from the first Octopath's control scheme.

I started with Osvald bc...scholar, obviously. Also I do enjoy a good vengeance quest, and there's a very specific brand of widower that I enjoy in fiction, so he seemed like the ideal character to start with. The game's much more balanced, so Osvald doesn't feel half as squishy as Cyrus was in battle (as Cyrus was my starting character way back when, and surviving those early battles was a task. Not for Osvald though, sitting in prison built him some decent defense I guess). I managed to recruit and play through the Ch1 for Temenos and Throne as well, and both of their Ch1's were also very balanced in the sense that both classes were a bit squishier in the original game, but this game goes out of it's way to make sure that no one's like, dying or nearly dying in their Ch1.

Story-wise my experience has been like, the complete opposite of my experience w/ the first Octopath, if only bc I didn't start with like, Primrose, who had one of the darker storylines. Definitely a lot more dark or mature tones narratively for the characters I've recruited so far, although that's not a bad thing, it's just different. I'm very excited to meet the rest of the characters and continue exploring the world and various narratives, as so far I'm having a great time. Also the music is, once more, excellent. Very original to this game, there aren't too many motifs borrowed from the original Octopath, which is nice, but also all the tracks so far have been very, very good.

Also, going forth, only vague reactions to things. Specific spoilers will be under cuts if I want to talk about them and tagged accordingly as "octopath ii spoilers" or "minor octopath ii spoilers" if I decide to share any at all. I won't reblog anything for the game for a while as well, everything will just be saved to the behemoth that is my drafts and then hopefully I remember to queue it after I finish the game. But overall, I will remain as spoiler-free as I can for those who wish to go in blind.