History YMMV / OctopathTravelerII

* HarsherInHindsight: The Abandoned Village is already unsettling, but becomes downright [[NightmareFuel/OctopathTravelerII horrifying]] when the player [[spoiler:goes through Castii's Chapter 3 and]] finds out what happened there.

* HarsherInHindsight: The Abandoned Village is already unsettling, but becomes downright [[NightmareFuel/OctopathTravelerII horrifying]] when the player goes through Castii's Chapter 3 and finds out what happened there.

** [[spoiler:Trousseau crossed it when he callously murdered almost everyone in his village, including his fellow apothecaries, before attempting to do the same to Timberlain.]]

** [[spoiler: Trousseau crossed it when he callously murdered almost everyone in his village, including his fellow apothecaries, before attempting to do the same to Timberlain.]]
** [[spoiler: Claude having a huge number of children over the course of his immortality isn't the problem: the MEH comes in when he reveals that the Blacksnakes are all his children, and that he violently pitted them against each other to try and create the perfect heir. In other words, all the cruelty, backstabbing, and pain that Throné and the others in her story experience was orchestrated by him.]]

* BestBossEver: Bandelam in Hikari Chapter 2. [[spoiler:From a story perspective, Hikari and Kazan are toppling the arena fighting scheme and this fight comes right as Kazan's machinations pay off. Hikari and Bandelam share mutual respect after the first fight because Hikari is fighting him so well, then asking him what he fights for, only for Hikari to give an unwavering answer, for his comrades and his country. And then the fight ensues. It's a tough fight for a party at the recommended level. He will constantly switch up his weaknesses and increase his Shield Points by 2 each time you break him, capping out at 10. His attacks are hard-hitting and can reduce an under-leveled party's numbers quickly. He also has quite a bit of HP. But he's not unfairly difficult and gives you more than a few chances to whale on him. And ''all of this'' while Decisive Battle 2 is [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic blasting in the background]] to amp you up.]] %%Add link when it gets posted to YT

* MoralEventHorizon: As if murdering Osvald's wife and daughter and framing him for it wasn't enough, Harvey manages to go the extra mile at the climax of Osvald's story where [[spoiler:it's revealed he actually faked their deaths...so he could brainwash Osvald's daughter into thinking Harvey was her father in order to make her more compliant as a HumanSacrifice, but ''also'' turned Osvald's wife, Rita, into a mindless monster which he then sics on Osvald, clearly reveling in Osvald's pain as he's forced to put Rita down.]]

** Much like the first game, people often make jokes about the cast being a bunch of [[ComedicSociopath comedic sociopaths]].

** One side quest reveals that [[spoiler:At least when he realized he was going to get caught, his burning of the inspector's boat was for Osvald's sake due to him realizing he was different.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Emerald's actions in Osvald's Chapter 2, [[spoiler: where he abruptly gaffs at Osvald's idea to get back to the mainlaid in ice boats and decides to singlehandedly commandeer the inspector's boat. Did he genuinely think it was a bad idea, and his earlier agreement was because of over eagerness by the potential HopeSpot? Was it because, being a father who lost his wife and daughter to a crime syndicate he stole from, he didn't want to work with a father who'd kill his own wife and children? Or, inversely, did he realise Osvald was innocent and wanted to further ensure his escape so he can get {{Revenge}} on whoever framed him?]]

* MoralEventHorizon: As if murdering Osvald's wife and daughter and framing him for it wasn't enough, Harvey manages to go the extra mile at the climax of Osvald's story where [[spoiler:its revealed he actually faked their deaths...so he could brainwash Osvald's daughter into thinking Harvey was her father in order to make her more compliant as a HumanSacrifice, but ''also'' turned Osvald's wife, Rita, into a mindless monster which he then sics on Osvald, clearly reveling in Osvald's pain as he's forced to put Rita down.]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: One of the biggest criticisms of the previous game was the lack of interaction between the party members outside brief one-on-one discussions during chapters and the post-game tavern events. Square Enix's [[https://www.square-enix-games.com/en_GB/news/octopath-traveler-ii announcement press release]] explicitly points this out, with ''Octopath Traveler II'' having more interactions between the party members as well as additional stories between certain characters. This was also pointed out consistently during the game's pre-release media cycle.

* RealismInducedHorror: Part of what makes Partitio's initial chapter and its villains terrible is that there's nothing fantastical or unrealistic about them: at its core it's a story about a city and its workers getting pushed into poverty by an uncaring capitalistic landowner, who uses trickery and hired goons to get what he wants and suppress the population, all to gain more and more money. It goes without saying that this has happened all the time in real life, especially in the Industrial Revolution-esque era the world is set in.

* RealismInducedHorror: Part of what makes Partitio's initial chapter and its villains terrible is that, there's nothing fantastical or unrealistic about them: at its core it's a story about a city and its workers getting pushed into poverty by an uncaring capitalistic landowner, who uses trickery and hired goons to get what he wants and suppress the population, all to gain more and more money. It goes without saying that this has happened all the time in real life, especially in the Industrial Revolution-esque era the world is set in.

* RealismInducedHorror:
** Right, but let's be real: especially after some of the brutal stuff in ''Octopath 1'', and some of the actual RIH in backstories like Osvald's, if you went into it unspoiled, [[spoiler:you absolutely '''were''' worried that Pala was going to turn up dead from the duorduor's tusks, weren't you? Especially since it would serve as an impetus for Agnea to leave and it would fit the RuleOfDrama to widen the split between Agnea and her father. Happily, it is instead PlayedForLaughs, but the tension is thick for much of that section.]]
** Part of what makes Partitio's initial chapter and its villains terrible is that, there's nothing fantastical or unrealistic about them: at its core it's a story about a city and its workers getting pushed into poverty by an uncaring capitalistic landowner, who uses trickery and hired goons to get what he wants and suppress the population, all to gain more and more money. It goes without saying that this has happened all the time in real life, especially in the Industrial Revolution-esque era the world is set in.

** Part of what makes Partitio's initial chapter and its villains terrible is that, there's nothing fantastical or unrealistic about them: at its core it's a story about a city and its workers getting pushed into poverty by an uncaring capitalistic landowner, who uses trickery and hired goons to get what he wants and suppress the population, all to gain more and more money. It goes without saying that this has happened all the time in real life, especially in the Industrial Revolution-esque era the world is set in.

* RealismInducedHorror: Right, but let's be real: especially after some of the brutal stuff in ''Octopath 1'', and some of the actual RIH in backstories like Osvald's, if you went into it unspoiled, [[spoiler:you absolutely '''were''' worried that Pala was going to turn up dead from the duorduor's tusks, weren't you? Especially since it would serve as an impetus for Agnea to leave and it would fit the RuleOfDrama to widen the split between Agnea and her father. Happily, it is instead PlayedForLaughs, but the tension is thick for much of that section.]]

* RealismInducedHorror: Right, but let's be real: especially after some of the brutal stuff in ''Octopath 1'', and some of the actual RIH in backstories like Osvald's, if you went into it unspoiled, [[spoiler:you absolutely '''were''' worried that Pala was going to turn up dead from the duorduor's tusks, weren't you? Especially since it would serve as an impetus for Agnea to leave and the RuleOfDrama would widen the split between Agnea and her father. Happily, it is instead PlayedForLaughs, but the tension is thick for much of that section.]]