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Octopath traveler is such a good game
- Thread starter SantaC
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It is an open world game that most players seem to treat like an ultra linear RPG, which amplifies a bunch of design issues. If you think the game is grindy, you can just poke around later areas to get better gear faster, which is also fueled by a a bunch of the Path actions. If you think the game is repetetive, you can split up the main missions with exploration, gear hunting, and the totally non-formulaic and open-ended sidequests. If you think some of the plots are boring, you can just focus on the ones you like.
People are diving in with a set mindset, intent on 100%ing the game, but also doing it in linear fashion and ignoring side content, which is a really bad approach. Maybe it is because people aren't used to it in JRPGs, or because awful level scaling in WRPGs totally mutes the benefits of exploration.
Japanese audiences were probably better primed for the game due to the long history of multi-protagonist JRPGs that never made it to the West (officially).
People are diving in with a set mindset, intent on 100%ing the game, but also doing it in linear fashion and ignoring side content, which is a really bad approach. Maybe it is because people aren't used to it in JRPGs, or because awful level scaling in WRPGs totally mutes the benefits of exploration.
Japanese audiences were probably better primed for the game due to the long history of multi-protagonist JRPGs that never made it to the West (officially).
I already said how fantastic I think this game is.
But if I could improve anything, I would do this:
- Reduce the number of characters to 4 (6 maximum).
- Increase the story length of these 4 characters.
I love the fact that you gradually find new characters and each one have its own path.
But after you have a high level party I would rather continue the journey with them than having to go back and level up another full party again, with new stories.
Since you can level up the remaining characters with strong ones in the party, their stories are not even challenging and it feels more as a grind.
But if I could improve anything, I would do this:
- Reduce the number of characters to 4 (6 maximum).
- Increase the story length of these 4 characters.
I love the fact that you gradually find new characters and each one have its own path.
But after you have a high level party I would rather continue the journey with them than having to go back and level up another full party again, with new stories.
Since you can level up the remaining characters with strong ones in the party, their stories are not even challenging and it feels more as a grind.
100% agree with you, OP. I had a fantastic time with the game. It was the game that helped me get out of my gaming slump last year. The music alone makes it worth a playthrough, and I thoroughly enjoyed the battle system and characters.
Octopath is open-world?
Now a price drop for the PC version can't come soon enough.
The game is pretty much a souped-up take on traditional RPG's from the 16 bit ERA.
It's pretty good.
The only thing I hate is that the character interactions they DO have, seem kinda lacking, but everything else is great(especially the music).
It's pretty good.
The only thing I hate is that the character interactions they DO have, seem kinda lacking, but everything else is great(especially the music).
The music and visuals were great, but the combat was got me back for more.
I ended up playing for 100 hours on the Switch finishing all character storylines but was burnt out a bit by the end and didn't complete the true final boss. Still, this has to be my favorite turn-based battle game I ever played.
I ended up playing for 100 hours on the Switch finishing all character storylines but was burnt out a bit by the end and didn't complete the true final boss. Still, this has to be my favorite turn-based battle game I ever played.
It's a pretty great game, yeah. I'm happy it tries something a bit different from traditional JRPGs. I have plenty of those to play and many more coming in the future.
Yeah, as soon as you finish your main character's first chapter you can go to any of the 24 cities in the game. You can do the optional bosses, get the secondary job shrines, loot higher dungeons, etc. You just can't do any one character's chapters out of order, and finishing character arcs open up a bunch of sidequests that follow from their event plots and intersect the supporting casts of the 8 stories.
Almost any NPC game can be fought or recruited as a summon. Like 200+ characters in the game have full sets of battle animations.
Wait until u see the last boss and its music.
It'll be better than FF6. This game is amazing.
AAhhhhh sort've.
Is FFVI WoR open world? Like, yeah, it sort've is. But there's a definite path, because all the other paths are tedious/too difficult.
I really liked it, but I did play along with its odd structure. I'd never do more than a single character chapter per day, which basically meant I only played for short stretches. The pacing works nicely that way, and I stopped bumping into the often cited repetition. I'm sure that if you do longer sessions, you have to be down with what you're signing up for.
Either way, it had the most fun combat mechanics in recent years, I liked the characters, and the presentation and writing was dope. I do agree that characters could have interacted more with each other, but I got used to the limitations fairly quickly.
Either way, it had the most fun combat mechanics in recent years, I liked the characters, and the presentation and writing was dope. I do agree that characters could have interacted more with each other, but I got used to the limitations fairly quickly.
Also the environments cruelly lacked interactive setpieces. All the environments in the game were totally static and devoid of interest beyond their look. No moving pieces, no switches that activate things, no puzzles, no platforms, no objects to interact with, no changes. Totally static.
To enjoy more this game, always use your weakest party (always!) and don't do one arch from start to finish. Do all the archs together.
This game is a mix of dragon quest and ff.
This game is a mix of dragon quest and ff.
It is a mix of like a dozen different JRPG series and games. I recommend against any specific strategy. Players should do what interests them, which best leverages the Open World aspects of the game.
Boring stories, very repetitive design, bland characters, grinding, etc.
But the game is gorgeous and has 10/10 music.
Overall, a disappointing game.
But the game is gorgeous and has 10/10 music.
Overall, a disappointing game.
Well if you look at the inspiration for the game, it makes total sense as far as design choice.
The encounter rate is already annoying as it is, so imagine having to do a puzzle in a dungeon with platforms and all sort of things you mentioned.
It would be a test of actual patience
I felt like Octopath was similar to Fire Emblem: Fates (at least the Conquest route) in that good gameplay and mechanics can only take an RPG so far. Whereas Fates has severe issues with its writing, I'd say Octopath had lackluster, but at least serviceable writing.
What really killed Octopath to me, however, was its pacing. Having the game be centered around 8 short stories seems great in theory. Having each of the eight characters stories be relatively disjointed doesn't seem like much of an issue until you release that this means that you have to repeat the same formula of enter town->use character ability to find out information->dungeon->boss fight for 32 chapters with nowhere near enough variation to warrant the sheer repetition.
While Hour 1 was enthralling, by Hour 80, I was forcing myself to finish the game, and unfortunately, like with Fates, that's the thought that sticks long after the game was finished.
That being said, Octopath desperately needs a sequel, as most the game's issues are things that can be fixed in a follow-up now that Square-Enix knows about the game's flaws.
What really killed Octopath to me, however, was its pacing. Having the game be centered around 8 short stories seems great in theory. Having each of the eight characters stories be relatively disjointed doesn't seem like much of an issue until you release that this means that you have to repeat the same formula of enter town->use character ability to find out information->dungeon->boss fight for 32 chapters with nowhere near enough variation to warrant the sheer repetition.
While Hour 1 was enthralling, by Hour 80, I was forcing myself to finish the game, and unfortunately, like with Fates, that's the thought that sticks long after the game was finished.
That being said, Octopath desperately needs a sequel, as most the game's issues are things that can be fixed in a follow-up now that Square-Enix knows about the game's flaws.
Oh, and having EXP only be distributed to party members who participate in battle doesn't sound too bad until you're forced to grind for ages because the final boss requires the use of all your party members, something that the game doesn't not tell you in advance. What a way to sour what would have been such a great final boss.
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Goes hand in hand with what I was saying: They should have turned way down the combat encounters/grinding, and up the puzzles.
OP
OP
The stories were fine, the graphics were cool, the combat was actually really a good system.. what killed it for me was that if you took away the fancy graphics and looked at the maps they were generic and pretty much nothing to do in them. It became super repetitive way to quickly... that everything just felt the same.
8 characters was too much.. I wish it was just 4. I got to a point I just didn't feel like playing anymore and stopped.
8 characters was too much.. I wish it was just 4. I got to a point I just didn't feel like playing anymore and stopped.
Sometimes I want to give it another shake, though I already sold it and I know it would be a bad idea for me. The combat and graphics were top notch, but I just couldn't get over some things. Mostly how repetitive each chapter was and it just grated on me. Glad you like it though I really hope their next game fixes some of the issues I had with it.
I enjoyed the game overall but I admit it ended basically right when I was beginning to get burnt out on it.
There's a lot of potential there though. The combat and visuals are mostly fine and the soundtrack is great, but the dungeon design and non-battle mechanics could use some work, and the storylines could be a bit more fleshed out. I don't even need handcrafted character interactions for any party makeup, I think some kind of paired storylines where two characters team up to deal with a situation would be cool and add a bit more life to the cast dynamic.
One thing I ended up not liking about the game is it having jobs, despite being a huge fan of Job/Class systems in RPGs. I think I would have preferred if there was more specialization and you could use CP to swap a character in, to make better use of the large cast. The pub stuff for changing characters doesn't really bother me in larger-scale RPGs with more continuous storylines, but I didn't really feel it meshed well with the bite-sized nature of the character episodes in OT.
There's a lot of potential there though. The combat and visuals are mostly fine and the soundtrack is great, but the dungeon design and non-battle mechanics could use some work, and the storylines could be a bit more fleshed out. I don't even need handcrafted character interactions for any party makeup, I think some kind of paired storylines where two characters team up to deal with a situation would be cool and add a bit more life to the cast dynamic.
One thing I ended up not liking about the game is it having jobs, despite being a huge fan of Job/Class systems in RPGs. I think I would have preferred if there was more specialization and you could use CP to swap a character in, to make better use of the large cast. The pub stuff for changing characters doesn't really bother me in larger-scale RPGs with more continuous storylines, but I didn't really feel it meshed well with the bite-sized nature of the character episodes in OT.
Stopping is fine. It is good to let players focus on the characters they want.
In a SaGa game, doing all of the plots isn't really the norm. Some will do it, but the short story arcs are meant to be satisfying on their own merits.
Yes, but then you get half the EXP. It's just not a well balanced game.
OP
OP
I welcome the challenge as I find most jrpgs too easy these days.
Meh, I didn't like it.
The combat is pretty fun. The music is wonderful, and the visuals are nice. But for me, the main letdown is the story. The stories just aren't well written at all, and aren't compelling at all. There's way too many words for plots and themes that are incredibly basic and not deep at all. I don't like how repetitive Octopath Traveler gets, but I could have dealt with it if I was invested in the story. Compare to something like Trails in the Sky, which is similarly repetitive, but I cared so much about the characters and seeing what happens next in the plot that I felt driven to get through the game.
The combat is pretty fun. The music is wonderful, and the visuals are nice. But for me, the main letdown is the story. The stories just aren't well written at all, and aren't compelling at all. There's way too many words for plots and themes that are incredibly basic and not deep at all. I don't like how repetitive Octopath Traveler gets, but I could have dealt with it if I was invested in the story. Compare to something like Trails in the Sky, which is similarly repetitive, but I cared so much about the characters and seeing what happens next in the plot that I felt driven to get through the game.
Legitimately one of the most repetitive and boring games I've ever played.
Cool graphics though, but an obvious reminder that (for me at least) style alone will never be enough.
Cool graphics though, but an obvious reminder that (for me at least) style alone will never be enough.
I liked it a lot, it's my favorite recent "old-style" JRPG. I agree that the game structure is repetitive and that the story is lacking, but everything else is great. The combat flows really well, the art/music are amazing and the class system is a ton of fun.
I think that a sequel capitalizing in the story and having a more traditional structure can be an amazing game, and I hope that SE is already working on it.
I think that a sequel capitalizing in the story and having a more traditional structure can be an amazing game, and I hope that SE is already working on it.
It's a great game and I'm glad it did things different. Yes it gets a bit repetitive but I did enjoy the game a lot and can't wait for a future sequel.
There is only forced griding if you decide to get straight to Ch4 with a certain character (or maybe 2) once you are done with all Ch1. If you keep on switching between 4 to 8 characters until the end, there is absolutely no forced griding (the game actually becomes way too easy if you move all 8 chapter per chapter). The only time I had to grind was before the optional final boss.
I don't know man. I was in chapter 2....and did Chapter 2's with everyone and it was an absolute slog of a grind with all battles just taking forever.
Real question here. Do i need to get the second classes to make this go more smoothly and better equipment? The equipment is really expensive in the game as well.
I found this game repetitive (as in all 8 chars' stories are structured exactly the same and with similar plot timing), the dialogue way overwritten, and while the break combat mechanic was a cool one, it wasn't enough to get the game over the fact you were essentially playing 8 solo stories rather than one cohesive one.
It also gives you an illusion of choice with skill upgrades that can set you up for failure (i.e. lots of grinding) if you happen to choose incorrectly for what they expected.
It also gives you an illusion of choice with skill upgrades that can set you up for failure (i.e. lots of grinding) if you happen to choose incorrectly for what they expected.
It's quite well-balanced. Levels don't actually mean all that much in Octopath, for reasons I've already explained ad nauseam. As such, grinding isn't necessary. You should be able to tackle stuff 10+ levels higher than your party's average as long as you're remotely thoughtful about it and with a decently-equipped party.
Second classes will be necessary moving forward and in regards to equipment you can always save scum and just steal things with low chances to be obtained.