One of our favorite things about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Octopath Traveler 2 is that there are no weak links in its core cast. Even the expansive who's-who of supporting characters is filled with some pretty choice people, but the eight travelers themselves are all winners. Of course, opinions are opinions, but we feel this is in striking contrast to the first game, where while none of the playable folks were dire, only a handful really stood out.
That being said, we do have a 'thing' here where we love to rank stuff. A narrative-driven role-playing game's protagonists makes for a fine list, so we're going to do our best to do all eight great heroes justice.
8 Agnea
In case you skipped the intro, pray allow us to re-emphasize, we like Octopath Traveler 2's entire core cast. Agnea symbolizes hope and the belief in one's self no matter the odds. The country gal with bright eyes for the big city, Agnea wishes to follow in the footsteps of her late mother and become a star who brings smiles to crowds far and wide. We appreciate how selfless her basis is, and how she seeks to, on some level, be with her mom again through song and dance.
Agnea's naivety toward the ways of the wider world is handled with plenty of charm. She never appears stupid, but simply out of her element, and capable of bringing a fresh perspective and cheerful disposition to people accustomed to misery. Our only qualm with Agnea's story is that it is almost too saccharine. Herไ first couple o💯f chapters, while decent, arguably overindulge on the... sweetness to some extent.
7 Castti
Castti, like Agnea, is more than meets the trope-eye. Castti in particular might get off on the 𒅌wrong foot for many veterans of Japanese role-playing-games; amnesia as a plot point has been done to death in the genre, and seldom is it executed especially well.
Thankfully, Octopath Traveler 2's writers successfully buck the trend. As the apothecary regains her memories, she does so to the tune of intriguing chapter stories, and her unflinching commitment to the way of the healer is a through line that showcases plenty of her personality despite the memory loss. Supporting characters in Castti's chapters often liken her to a 'mother hen', and she's teased for it - even fellow protagonist Ochette joins in on that teasing.
A healer who worries over everyone around her, Castti's commitment to her craft is exemplary. Our caveat here - it would have been nice to see more of the woman beyond the role. Castti's writing is rigidly pointed plot-ward, if you will, and so we never explore more than her doctorly nature.
6 Hikari
Hikari's war story hits all the right beats. His personal growth process works just as neatly. The kindhearted prince who loses everything, and must put search the world for inner strength and faraway friends - you can safely imagine how it mostly plays out ahead of time. There's a wrinkle - a rather fascinating one at that - involving... let's just say, some inner demons he struggles with, but Hikari's tale is otherwise by-the-books.
It's well-told, mind you. A late-game revelation recontextualizes it for the better, too. But moment-to-moment, Hikari is let down by a few too many uses of the same refrain, set to the backdrop of an all-too-familiar plot concept. Hikari, you see, 'fights for his friends.' Once again, JRPG vets galore may be groaning. The phrase is just so tired in this medium, and unfortunately, many of the very best moments for this warrior are punctuated with similar enough fare to feel a little undercut by it.
We're nitpicking, to be sure. Hikari is a perfectly likable fellow guided by a mission that's easy to root for. A little more diversity in his script, however, would have gone a long way.
5 Osvald
The thing about Osvald is that his greatest narrative strength may also be his only major weakness. A revenge story starring a cunning, middle-aged scientist who lost his family to the whims of a megalomaniac, the tale of Osvald is a grim one. We begin years into his prison sentence, in a frozen-over hell of a prison filled to the brim with corruption. The dark tone of Osvald's chapters never dissipates; in fact, by the end it has gotten that much darker.
With Osvald himself so aloof around others but brilliantly scientific and precise within his own mind, everything crystallizes into a compelling travelog of a man who will do whatever it takes for personal justice. Here's the issue - everything Osvald-related is almost monotone in its darkness. There are precious few scenes for the majority of the story's runtime that give Osvald the chance to have a discussion with someone who isn't some kind of lunatic murderer or (at best) purely selfish to the point of disgust.
It makes sense, of course; our scholarly gent isn't going to waste time at a comedy club when there's vengeance to be had. But can you imagine?
4 Temenos
By now, we're really scraping the barrel for reasons to assign ranks to marvelous characters. Temenos' sarcastic streak is fun on its own, but the writing lends countless opportunities for it to play flawlessly off of his newfound friend, Crick. Their dynamic is exceptional in a game filled with exceptional dynamics, but even when Crick is elsewhere, Temenos' tendency toward doubtful wit never gets old.
Temenos is also blessed with one of the best stories in the game. Sure, 'the religion in this story might be evil!' has a tired ring to it, but much like the many hundreds of NPCs whose profiles can be read, the Church of the Sacred Flame is filled with people whose individual morality crosses the entire spectrum. There are bad eggs among the Sanctum; the sect itself isn't especially villainized, and that's pretty refreshing.
3 Ochette
Ochette fills a role frequently found in sci-fi, but still quite common in fantasy - that of the outsider, who peers into the lives of the rest of the cast (or rather, since this is an Octopath Traveler game, mostly a bunch of NPCs, and then occasionally the main cast) and makes the sorts of value judgments and puzzled reactions that only a cultural outsider can. A beastling, Ochette was born and raised on an island where there's ample reason to be wary around humans. Yet Ochette is excited to meet plenty of us, bless her, and seamlessly bonds with the exemplars among us.
There's a recurring emotional chord behind Ochette that forms one of Octopath Traveler 2's cleverest tricks. Beastlings only hunt for food, never for sport; that same mentality of taking only what one needs is applied to their whole society, whereas the opposite is true among humans. She's consistently our portal into the mind of someone boggled by humanity's more sinful nature. Ochette's confusion, as well as her chipper disposition, bounces off whichever companion animal you selected for her in a way that rather accurate.
2 🍌 Thron&🤪eacute;
As bleak as Osvald's path can be, there's nothing else like Throné's. Experiencing it is like descending a bit closer to hell with each passing chapter. Perhaps that sounds unappealing. There is such a thing as 'too dark'. But that's a relative notion, isn't it? The bitterness behind Throné's plot points (and Throné herself) tastes just right for charting the saga of a woman who has drawn such a dire hand in life.
It's easy to get wrapped up in Throné, to worry about what sinister thing she'll stumble upon next on her road to freedom, and to ponder whether she'll even find that freedom at the end of her road. Her self-made decisions feel uncomfortably tethered to some grander scheme. The fullness of that scheme, and its evil implications, paints poor Throné as an incredibly sympathetic character who steals her scenes as easily as any wallet. This is one captivating thief.
1 Partitio
If the second-best character in Octopath Traveler 2 basks in bleakness, the very best fellow is pure sunshine. Partitio is a profoundly heartwarming guy who wants to do right by everyone around him and believes deeply in helping to raise a terribly flawed world not unlike our own out of the banal trenches of mass poverty. A master merchant with a keen sense for a deal, Partitio is nevertheless far more interested in proving a person's true value cannot be measured in coinage.
Partitio has all the innate sales talent and coercive cunning to hoard the riches of two continents for himself, and to lord over the masses like a king. But he never loses sight of his convictions, and as such, his entire story is about reminding a despotic tycoon to remember there's more in life than cold hard cash. Wherever he ventures, Partitio makes friends in high places and low alike, and while his tale may feel the most removed from Octopath Traveler 2's central arc, that just goes to show the man could have starred in a game all his own and gotten away with it.
All that, and he's pretty much the anti-Hikari - not a single line that ever leaves his voice actor's lips feels predictably cliche. Heck, Partitio might just teach you a few painfully funny metaphors to whip out for the rest of your days, partner.