This review has been a while in coming. Octopath Traveller has been one of the most satisfying games I’ve played in a while because it checked off a lot of boxes with regards to what I like.
For those that dont know, Octopath traveller is a JRPG (Japanese role playing game) from Square Enix that looks to bring a part of traditional jrpgs back. The game is set in a fictional world and you have eight characters whose stories you end up following. Each character has 4 chapters to their story, and how you follow them is entirely upto you. What this means is in the beginning you are given the choice of which of the 8 characters you’d like to start your journey with. Once you complete the chapter 1 of your chosen character, you are allowed to leave the town/city you’re in and can add the remaining 7 members to your party by completing their respective chapter 1s. How you go about this, and whom you add first, or whether you even add anyone at all before completing the next 3 chapters of a character’s story, everything is upto you. The 8 characters include: Orphilia-The Cleric, Olberic-The Warrior, Cyrus-The Scholar, Tressa-The Merchant, Alfyn-The Apothecary, Primrose-The Dancer, Therion-The Thief, and H’aanit-The Hunter.
Each of these 8 characters have a job type which gives them certain skills that prove useful in your travels. You can keep a total of 4 people in your party at one time and their skills become available to use. The higher the character’s level the better, and more successful they will be at their skill. These jobs / skills include: Thief / steal, Apothecary / Inquire, Scholar / Investigate, Cleric / Guide, Merchant / Buy, Warrior / Intimidate, Hunter / Provoke, Dancer / Allure. You will provided this information at the time of deciding which traveller you’d like to start your journey with. As you progress through the game you will eventually be able to provide a secondary job to each character. So you could have a Thief, whose secondary job is a merchant which unlocks the same moves/skillset during battle. No two characters can have the same secondary job though, so finding the right combination is a task on its own.
The map is very expansive, and more is revealed as you progress through the story / travel to new areas. As you enter a new region you will be notified as to the nam, and the required level in order to be able to safely make it through/out alive. It serves as a good guide to know where best to avoid if you’re severely underlevelled. This is because as you travel around you will encounter monsters similar to how pokemon pop up when walking through grass. There are several monsters that you will end up battling as you travel around. As with pokemon you could try to flee but that won’t always work, especially if the monster is of a higher level. Should you choose to fight, it is a turn based system. Defeating these monsters can provide loot which can be in the form of weapons (boss monsters) to random items, along with some cash. Monsters typically have shields which need to be broken before any effective damage can be done to them, and the shields can only be broken by weapons /attacks they are weak to. This varies from monster to monster, and is something you have to figure out. Once a weakness is discovered, it’ll be visible going forward for that particular moster type. You can also see the turn order of attacks which helps in creating a strategy that results in the most favourible result. It’s a very engaging, and addicitive game that will have you spend hours on end finding the right move startegy with the right team of characters.
As typical with most RPGs, you have an inventory which can store numerous items which will help you on your journey. Some of the items such as the medicinal herbs can only be used by a character that is an apothecary since they have the ability to craft medicines. We also have a stats page to see how any new weapon/gear that is equipped to a character affects their overall stats. As you play the game, finding the right combination of gear and how to adequately distribute the same across your team, becomes very important. Progress through the game will unlock new areas and new cities with better gear. Since there is no order in which to follow, you can find yourself in a city with a very high recommended level and be lucky enough to obtain a high level weapon. It won’t be easy but it’s possible.
As with most RPGs there are bosses to be defeated. Each chapter for each character ends with a boss battle. The bosses of the chapters tend to be quite difficult when just starting out. If you reach the recommended level for a boss and decide to give it a go, you’ll need all the luck you can get as it wont be easy. But when you do manage to beat the boss it is oh-so satisfying. There is a post-game after completing all chapters of the 8 characters but I dont think I’ll make it that far. It’s just quite a big grind to go through, and as much as I do love working to level up my characters, this would be too much even for me.
The whole game is in a pixelated 2D-3D mix of art style which I absolutely love. The battle music is on point in this game and they always manage to set the tone and get the mood just right. I’ve played over 70 hours at this point and have completed the main story. The game does ease you in but it gets a tad bit harder as you add more party members to your crew.
There are plenty of guides online for more information about the game, in case you find yourself stuck. IN my opinion this has to be one of the most fun games I have ever played, and its probably the only game outside of the Pokemon and FIFA franchises that I’ve spent this much time on.
There was new recently that Octopath traveller 2 will be released in sometime at the end of this month It released last Friday, and I am very excited to pick it up!! Its a whole new story with new characters and some new mechanics so anyone can give it a go without worrying about not playing the first game.
Definitely recommended!
Rating: 5/5
Links:
- nintendo switch: Octopath Traveller
- ign wiki: Octopath Traveller
Ramblings 