When the Nintendo Switch was first revealed, it showed off a montage of upcoming games that'd be coming to the console. Most of these have been released but the one that REALLY caught my eye was Octopath Traveler. Simply put, the brief visual tease sold me on the get go along with Square Enix being the publisher behind it. Further research revealed that the game was being developed by Acquire which is the same group responsible for the 2 Bravely games on the Nintendo 3DS. So, I had pretty much all the reasons to pick this up. Now that I've finished it up, I was thoroughly impressed and fell in love with the visual style in addition to the beautiful soundtrack. Surprisingly, the name Octopath Traveler hasn't changed in name since first reveal touted it as a project placeholder title.
There are several things that may turn off JRPG vets from this game but honestly I truly appreciated the new ways of story-telling the creators did with this game. You start out by selecting one of eight main characters (hence the name Octopath) and are thrown into their first Chapter. Once completed, you're free to either continue their story or branch out and recruit the remaining seven protagonists. Each hero has their own self-contained story divided up in 4 chapters. You'll find that each chapter has a familiar beat by the time you clear through half of the character's chapter one's. Mainly with starting in a town, utilizing their "Path Action", a dungeon and boss, then a conclusion. There's no over-arching story but some of these are delightful and the characters themselves are very likable.
As I mentioned above, each character has a Path Action which they can use to progress through quests both mainline and side quests. Out of the eight, the path actions are divided into two groups. The actions are similar in nature but are different in motive/morality. For example, Therion the Thief and Tressa the Merchant have abilities involving taking items from NPC's. Either you can steal them, or buy them off with a chance at getting a bargain. Alfyn and Cyrus both gather information with I guess in the way they ask the NPC? You probably get the idea right?
Acquire described the visuals as 2D HD and holy smokes will you be mesmerized. The water flows as if it were real, trees blow in the wind and the architecture is pristine and jaw dropping. I found myself just stopping in my tracks taking in the visuals. The characters are also fully voiced and it's certainly a job well done in my book! I'm easy to please I'm sorry XD. One of the core parts of Octopath Traveler is its battle system. Up to 4 characters can be on your team and the enemies will be seen with mainly a shield number and a bar filled with ?'s. As you fight, each character and their job can wield a variety of spell types and weaponry. If you strike with the right one, the Shield number will decrease. Get it down to 0 and a "Break" is initiated which delays the enemy from acting for one turn.
Each turn, characters acquire what's known as a Boost Point or BP. Fans of the Bravely Default games will recognize this as the same mechanic which allows you to act more than once in a turn. Repeated strikes or leveling up the power of a spell is all yours to command. Given the turn based nature, you can manipulate the order if you strike the right foe and break them. Essentially giving your party a lot of turns to act. A warning, the levels for each chapter can spike up so grinding is necessary. Truthfully I didn't mind it, as I grew addicted to the battle system. You also can unlock each job the main cast has and equip a secondary job to each Traveler. This can lead to some pretty interesting party combinations.
Those who aren't in your party can be swapped out in a town's Tavern, and it's also where you can change gears and start up another tale for someone in your party. What it ended up for me was I had a main squad of favorites that I've focused on and would swap out one of them with a person from my secondary group to do their chapter. So having them be under-leveled but my main squad vastly over powered proved to be an effective strategy. Item management can be fun as well with the multiple weaponry and armor each character is wielding.
It is absolutely possible to do all 8 stories in one file as that's what I did. Truthfully all that's left for me now is leveling up my secondary squad to obtain Job Points to spend on skills in their main AND secondary jobs. Octopath Traveler is a gorgeous game and you'll definitely find yourself getting addicted to the battle system, music and scenery. I definitely can't wait to keep playing the game and completing whatever side quests remain :D.
Should you Play this Game?
Yes! Octopath Traveler is a wonderful throwback to the RPG's of the golden years in the 16 bit era. With its unique story telling, Octopath presents likable characters with a gorgeous music soundtrack and gripping battle system. The chapter format/flow can get repetitive after awhile but the payoff for most of the individual stories is worth it!
