You’ve been introduced to the eight travellers, but do you know where to go from there? I’m about to tell you the 10 best Octopath Traveler II beginner tips to help you out!
Octopath Traveler veterans will take to this sequel like a duck to water, but for any newbies among you, the sheer scale of this game can feel overwhelming. As daunting as it is, I promise you Octopath Traveler II is easy to get to grips with.
In no time at all you’ll be powering through the epic 70+ hour game, taking down names, defeating your foes, and taking back what’s rightfully yours. It’s going to be the stuff of legends!
Even if you’ve already started, but are still in the early stages, this guide will prove useful. Without further ado, let’s jump in!
10. Running Alerts Your Foes
If you don’t want a fight on your hands every few seconds, don’t run in Octopath Traveler II; running attracts enemies a lot quicker, which can prove taxing when you’re trying to get from one town to the next.
The only time running won’t cause an issue is when you’re in a town or village. If in doubt, look at your map icon in the lower right-hand corner – if it glows red when you move, enemies will notice you.
9. Focus On Four Characters
Although Octopath Traveler II is all about its eight travellers, trying to navigate all eight stories at the same time can prove difficult.
Even if you decide to recruit everyone early on, I’d still suggest focusing on four characters out of the eight; currently, I’m focusing on Throné, Osvald, Temenos, and Ochette’s stories first.
I have the full set of eight, I’m just focusing my efforts to avoid a lot of tedious back and forth.
8. Watch Out For Danger Levels
You’ll start Octopath Traveler II at Level 1, and slowly level up to 5 or 6 in the opening chapters. However, once you go out into the open world the levels vary greatly.
For example, when you first leave New Delsta the Danger Level is 5, yet if you keep travelling east it jumps to Danger Level 16. Although you might be feeling brave, it’s best to stick within your level limits to avoid brutal battles, and frequently dying allies.
7. Good Equipment Is Vital
Next up in our best Octopath Traveler II beginner tips
I know I’ve just talked about the importance of knowing your levels, but levelling up is pointless if you never upgrade your equipment. Therefore, it’s best practice to regularly update your equipment as your stats improve.
Considering how frequently an Armourer appears, you shouldn’t have any issues getting new gear for your team.
6. Attack One Enemy At A Time
If you’re in a fight and three enemies show up, don’t try to take them all out at once. Instead, focus your energy into attacking one enemy at a time.
Personally, I’ve found the best way to avoid battles like this is to pick off the weaker enemies first, then deal with the stronger boss afterwards. Bosses do hit harder, but weak enemies can slowly chip away at you if you give them opportunity.
5. Check Your Enemies’ Name Colour
No, I’m not speaking gibberish; each enemy has a name that will change colour throughout the battle.
The starting colour is white, followed by yellow, then red; these colours are a handy indicator of how low your foes’ HP is. If their name’s still white, they’ve got a lot of HP to go, whereas red means they’re on their last legs.
4. Focus On Weaknesses
Every enemy has a weakness in Octopath Traveler II, typically more than one. If you have the Analyze skill, you can uncover some of these weaknesses quite quickly, but if not, it’s a lot of trial and error.
However, once you discover one weakness, you can then hazard a guess at the others. This is because the weakness order remains the same for every enemy, e.g. the first weakness on the list is sword, and the last is dark magic.
The order is always: sword, spear, dagger, axe, bow, staff, fire, ice, lightning, wind, light, and dark.
3. Change To Day And Night Often
Whenever you reflect on a characters’ first chapter, you can’t change the time. However, once you’re able to change it, I’d suggest doing it often.
There’s different Path Actions available depending on whether it’s day or night, as well as the fact that some characters have time specific Talents, e.g. Temenos’ Moonlight Judgement is only active at night, helping to blind your foes.
Still, while changing from day to night is a good way to experience all the perks of Octopath Traveler II, do remember that nighttime enemies appear more often and are stronger.
2. Unlock A Secondary Job
Osvald is a Scholar and Ochette a Hunter, but these characters, and the others, can have secondary jobs as well. This secondary job will provide unique skills and perks for each character, such as them using different weapons.
Secondary jobs may not seem like a priority, but the way in which they open up your teams’ skillset is undeniably beneficial, especially early on in the game. Imagine Temenos being able to use melee weapons as well as a staff – he’d be nigh on unstoppable.
1. Your Starting Character Is Permanent
Whoever you choose to start the game with will be your main character until you finish Octopath Traveler II. Yes, you can recruit the other seven characters, but your starting character is the one you’ll always lead with.
You can’t remove them from your party, and so you really are stuck with them until the end; choose wisely to avoid getting saddled with someone you don’t like. To help you choose, I’ve created a list of the best starting characters in Octopath Traveler II.
In truth, I could continue on with these best Octopath Traveler II beginner tips for several more pages, but I’d argue that these 10 are the most important.
If you’re planning on joining me on my Octopath Traveler II journey, make sure to check back regularly to see what new guides I’ve got for you – we’ll cover jobs, how to complete tricky side quests, and many other topics!
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Emma has loved video games ever since she first saw Alex Kidd platforming across her TV screen. Since then, the 32 year old has dedicated an obscene number of hours to playing as many games as possible. When she isn’t obsessing over games, she spends her time honing her vinyl collection.
