Square Enix, the publisher behind the upcoming Octopath Traveler II has explained what they meant last year when they said characters would “cross paths” in their upcoming game.

For those unfamiliar, Octopath Traveler was Square Enix’s surprising return to 2D JRPGs with incredible pixel art and music.

The game follows a cadre of eight characters each with their own stories and ambitions and emphasizes how these stories can all come together for a singular goal. That tradition is continued in Octopath Traveler II.

The new Crossed Path stories are the developer’s response to criticism from the first game where characters would mainly talk to each other through some small travel banter and not much else.

“We received a lot of feedback from players of the first game saying ‘We want to see dialogue between protagonists beyond travel banter’,” Miyauchi said. “Adding dialogue would make people fall in love with the characters more, so we put that into this game.”

In a recent tweet, Square Enix explained that these stories would be side missions and scenes that allow two characters to work together and play off their unique strengths.

To explain how it worked they used the recently announced Throné the thief and Temenos the cleric:

“Octopath Traveler 2 includes Crossed Paths, stories involved 2 travelers. In Throné and Temenos’ tale they return to Flamechurch to seek a cathedral’s hidden treasure,” the developer said.

While they haven’t outright said it, we’re inferring that this means every possible character duo in Octopath Traveler II will be getting a unique story to build and explain their relationship.

Octopath Traveler II is set to launch for Windows PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on February 24th, 2023. The original Octopath Traveler has been available for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our thorough review on the game here.