They say that among them there was an inquisitor, who, motivated by the mysterious death of the pontiff of the Order of the Flame, left with the rest of the group in search of the truth. She was accompanied by a thief whose gifts for stealth and murder had served, for years, the upper echelons of one of the most prosperous cities on the continent. She was not the only female in the group, and that company included both an apothecary and a dancer whose goal was to make herself known beyond the borders where she was born. Both performed well in combat, at least in their peculiar way of facing the enemy, but without a doubt, the most gifted for the art of the sword was a western warrior, with Asian features, whose ancestry, they say, was linked to the royalty. Of course, if there was someone who drew attention —beyond that avid trader so picturesque— it was the hunter, a savage from the island of Toto’haha, who did not look favorably on what humans intended to do on their land. . The worst of all, or the most curious thing (that already depends on the approach of each one) is that they all followed in the footsteps of an alchemy scholar. Yes, a teacher, a teacher who, according to gossip, years ago killed his wife and his daughter.
I am not going to deceive you, the story I am talking about is not a great epic in which the aforementioned company should save the world from a pressing evil. There is, therefore, no trace of epic battles in the oral texts that, I want to think, have transmitted this story. Nor have the gods been involved in the evolution of the known universe (or not, at least, as usual). Just as you will not find the geopolitics of the stories that deal with the interests of large and powerful nations. The professor and his group, it seemed, were not much more than an itinerant commune motivated by personal issues, in which everyone pursued their own goals. Necessity and, if anything, fortune, was what joined their paths, giving rise to a series of stories that, surely, are deserving of the attention they demand. If you recognize yourselves as people willing to enjoy this type of story, I invite you to accompany me, because everything I am going to tell you has been compiled, with care, in a volume popularly known as Octopath Traveler II. And that is precisely what I want to talk about today.
On my particular journey through these texts, the first person I met was Professor Osvald V. Vanstein, a renowned academic, a scholar of magic who sought to enhance his spells through accurate equations. Now, his journey did not begin at any university. He did, in fact, in the icy dungeons of the Isle of Oblivion. There, after years of captivity, he put his magic skills into practice: he used to attack with a staff, through which he channeled his spells, making use of elemental spells that he managed with skill. As if it were a regulated game, he always waited for the right moment to launch his attacks, accumulating an energy that allowed him to multiply the power of his devastating spells. He was methodical, yes. His choices were always marked by the opponent’s weaknesses. In this way, he seemed to want break your guard to leave it exposed and, thus, end the confrontation with a great finale. Watching him must have been a delight. Some say that, in addition, when he suffered in combat, or when he chained several successful actions, he unleashed a potential that allowed him to concentrate all his energy on a single objective, managing to knock down the most fearsome of rivals.
His steps led him to New Delsta, where he met Throne, the thief. They soon hit it off, and few dared disturb their steps. Those who did, were removed from this world by her determination, as she was not far behind in terms of abilities. Yes, she was as efficient at stealing personal belongings from the unsuspecting who didn’t notice her presence, like the professor scrutinizing her past, but if someone had to be knocked out, her group always came to her. She was, in fact, a woman of character, a person determined to break with her past and break away from the organization that had governed her destiny up to that moment.
Perhaps, for this reason, he prepared to leave with the professor for Scaprira, place of worship and site of the Cathedral of the Sacred Flame. The sacred headquarters, which served as the residence of the pontiff, was in a peaceful and pleasant town. A place that perfectly exemplifies the aesthetic universe that one could imagine for this type of story. I personally like to evoke it as a diorama bathed in ocher tones that glow in the golden illumination of autumn. I know it’s something peculiar, but I will tell you that I imagine the rest of the locations that these adventurers visited, as a kind of model seen through a slightly unfocused lens, in which the beauty of each ecosystem is enhanced by a forceful contrast between light and dark. Through it, wander the avatars that represent the protagonists of the stories that concern us. I have never been able to define their faces, but I feel comfortable perceiving them that way, respecting the space that their descriptions leave for interpretation. And it is that during his trip what is defined is the soul of each one of themand not its appearance.
Returning to the road, Osvald and Throné must have exclaimed that with the church we have come across when they met Temenos. The young inquisitor quickly filled them in on everything, and joined them on their journey, as he was seeking to cross the ocean, in search of answers that would clarify a mysterious murder that had taken place in the town just a few days before. There will be those who do not agree with me, but I would say that this young man was quite a bloodhound, a first-rate detective whose deductions would have exposed the darkest of plots, and whose interrogations They would reveal the deepest of secrets. The fact is that he didn’t seem like it, his refined vocabulary, the richness of his lexicon and his particular sense of humor made more than one doubt that he was actually a holy inquisitor. Be that as it may, the truth is that he must have been a witty fellow, and I cannot deny that your stories always make me smilealthough the mystery is the dominant tone in their misadventures.
On a certain occasion his past crossed with that of Throné, giving rise to a story that we could classify as secondary, but whose content helps to better understand its two protagonists. This is something that, as long as the group stayed together, happened more frequently than one would expect, and certainly led to stories worth discovering, especially when one is getting fond of this bunch of adorable strays. They are not the only additional stories that starred, it must be taken into account that they traveled halfway around the world, that they met hundreds of people and that, either because of the magnetism of Agnea —the dancer—, or because of the eloquence of Temenos, there were many temporary companions who joined the group. What’s more, when things got serious, these fleeting companions did not hesitate to roll up their sleeves and take part in the contest on duty. Although that does not mean that, in reality, listening to his adventures and misadventures was less interesting.
Of course, if seeing Osvald and Throné fight was something worth mentioning, I guarantee that seeing them in action together with Agnea, Temenos and the companion on duty, must have been quite a spectacle. Visualize the strategies that had to occur between four different ways of dealing with combat, the synergies that had to emerge between the dancer’s attribute enhancers, the thief’s alacrity, the light that emanated from the holy inquisitor, and both magic and magic. the ability to reveal the strength and nature of the enemy the professor had. the one of epic fights who had to fight against gigantic enemies, brimming with life and evil, and determined to put it on harder every time to our peculiar heroes; forcing them to measure their attacks, to wait for the opportune moment to put into practice those abilities that made them unique, and to combine their individual strategies, giving rise to a collective whole that shone like a festival of light and colorwith beautiful sparkles that adorned each of their movements.
I can feel even music that should accompany those moments, and I guarantee that it is worthy of the music lover in all of us, a composition that wisely accompanies every moment of the narrative, exalting the mystery, outlining the comedy and energizing the action. It had to be that type of melodic work that magnifies small moments through the success of its notes, inviting to continue the journey through that beautiful world, to engage in constant but not heavy skirmishes, and to face the biggest rivals one could find.
It’s the kind of music that, as someone willing to take advantage of any kind of merchandise, Partitio Yellowil would like to trade. That merchant had to be, in reality, a contradiction with legs, and that is that he was willing to end private property by buying and selling throughout the world. I know, it doesn’t seem very logical, but if one day you decide to investigate his life and work, you may be surprised by his way of seeing the world. As someone capable of getting any good, no matter how appreciated it was by its owner, he enjoyed talking with the inhabitants of the place. And these were so numerous in all the cities they visited, that it can be said, without fear of being wrong, that there was life in every corner of the vast territory that they traveled without order or concert.
It must be understood, at this point, that the interests of the eight members of the company were highly disparate, Prince Hikari had little or nothing to do with the apothecary Casti or the hunter Ochette. And that led them to retrace steps on more than one occasion, to visit already known locations once and ten times to, based on the information recaptured, advance in the objectives that each one of them had in mind. Needless to say, they didn’t find it heavy. The company was pleasant, and the dynamics that occurred between them did not allow them to get bored; With the passage of time, there was always something to talk about to get closer positions and, why not, get to know each other better. That is, if they weren’t embarking on some kind of joint adventure that grew out of the previous knowledge of some of them.
In addition, walking the roads that connected the destinations of their tasks was always something pleasant, since there was no shortage of nooks and crannies to investigate, and alternative routes to take in search of treasures, trinkets and equipment for the journey. As the days went by, their ties grew stronger, and the accumulated experience allowed them to put into practice new habilities that defined their way of facing confrontations, shaping their strategies and adding nuances to their way of facing danger.
And I know, I know that some of you may think that there is too much to tell in these stories, that you could end up getting a little confused following the journey of these eight unfortunate people. But, before this I will tell you that the duration of each one of the chapters that make up their narratives is well measured, that their plots start and close by locating the key points of each one of them and that, if even so, someone gets lost along the way , you can always refer to the event log to locate the context of what is happening. And it is that, in this volume, everything has been compiled with a lot of love, more than was put into the previous collection of stories.
With all this, I think it is clear that despite not finding ourselves before a new great epic —or precisely because of it—, what you will find here will make you immerse yourself in an adventure adventure as unique as it is well narrated. On a journey that, in my case (it may not be so in yours), began with Professor Osvald V. Vanstein and his thirst for revenge, but which made me fall in love with the irony of Temenos, the determination of Throné and Agnea’s joy. A trip of trips that tastes like those stories from before, those that the old cathode ray tubes told us and that, on this occasion, return with such vivacity that it can be said that they have a character all its own: the one of Octopath Traveler II.
