It may be the case.
I'm fine with 8 separate stories if all of them are good, the problem is how jarring is to have 7 companions that aren't even showed during cutscenes.
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Octopath Traveler: Preview Thread
- Thread starter Meelow
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I'm fine with 8 separate stories if all of them are good, the problem is how jarring is to have 7 companions that aren't even showed during cutscenes.
I think that even if you don't like something referring to it as 'garbage' could be considered hyperbolic.
I like the combat a lot, the music is wonderful, the dungeons are pretty repetitive, and the aesthetics are top-notch.
Should that really be considered a negative then since the open endedness of the first chapters kind makes party interaction not possible by design?
Considering party interaction is kind of a hallmark of most JRPGs, yeah, it is kind of a negative. If you have all these characters and they never interact in any way it kind of defeats the purpose of recruiting those characters.
Hopefully it changes as you move further in, but Jason's impressions are not a good sign. I might skip the game entirely if it's just "lone protagonist in story, full party in battles". These characters aren't interesting enough to be alone all the time.
Like, I can only suspend my belief to a degree. As you said, I'm not sure I'll be able to buy into the fact that all 8 of these characters are traveling together without any sort of "canon" interactions.
If the stories are indeed separate, I really ghope they managed to hit on all 8 storylines, which seems kind of unlikely.
Reading it, this stood out to me.
Oh? you mean Dragon Quest XI and Persona 5? Both being insanely good and unique-looking? Dunno what game the writer was throwing shade at
Dude, sure it may be possible to get 4 characters in the 3hour demo, but it feels you are rushing through to see if you can do it. Doesnt sound like you talk to NPCs, or scrutinize them, or challenge them, or purchase from them, or look for hidden gems and such.
i felt i was moving quite quickly through while trying to not miss anything, trying to listen to each story and origin storyand i just pick up my third character in the 3 hours.
One of the fundamental strengths of JRPGs is the way characters interact, grow, and talk to one another along the journey. It's disorienting to play a game that has none of that. And unlike, say, SaGa Frontier, you don't get unique party members for each character's story -- you just have your eight main characters, and that's it.
Funny thing is that we're only a week from launch and we don't know much about one of the most important aspects of the game.
Guys, the final act will have all of your characters come together as the end of each of their storylines connect to an overarching plot that's hinted at throughout the game. Which will involve killing an evil god. It's a JRPG. There's no way it doesn't happen. It won't be eight completely separate stories.
Also that hyperbole comment, good lord
Also that hyperbole comment, good lord
There really aren't any story-specific party members? That's incredibly disappointing. Who the hell do the characters interact with in the story, then? Just NPCs?
It's a pretty big hallmark in many WRPGs as well. Some of my favorite games have lots of party interaction (then again some of them don't even have multiple characters lol), so I'm disappointed for sure that they don't even really acknowledge or talk to each other in this game, but... the demo was just so much fun for me, so I don't even care that much.
hopefully it changes in the second half for people that wanted that then
I think the same, but even so it can be strange to be playing 8 different stories without character interactions, even if the last chapter needs the 8 characters and delivers an epic conclusion.
This is one of my main criticisms with them and ironically this also extends negatively to other reviews they do for non-Nintendo exclusives or franchises that are not enough like Nintendo's (I mean, their recent Crash review said "Is not as good as Mario" which I tend to agree with mind you, but still).
Truth. "Xenoblade 2 is garbage" , "Ni no Kuni II is a very good role-playing game, one full of satisfying mechanics and fun battles.". But a reviewer should still be able to provide us with factual information, i say should because reviewers so often miss stuff.
I mean thats always been fundamental to the JRPG experince. Look at a trash game like FFXV thats still really likeable because of the bros interactions.
Thanks for the reply. That's enough to sell me on it tbh. I'll just have to see for myself in regards to the story.
Agree. The most disappointing game I have played is FFXV, but still I wouldn't call it trash because it has a lot of good things in it, as well as I respect the huge amount of work contributed by the people behind it. I just can't believe someone, let alone a journalist, should directly call a game "trash". Ironically, said journalist wrote a book about difficulties in videogame development.
Yes, just NPCs. Think of the kid in Oberic's prologue or the other dancer in Primrose's prologue etc. Most chapters introduce new NPCs that the main character of that chapter will interact with.
I think that depends on if you see an RPG as only the interaction between the eight main characters being meaningful conversations. From what I've played in the demo, there was plenty of interesting interaction between the characters and their supporting cast in their introductory chapters, and the other 7 travellers might play a greater or lesser part depending on how much you come to rely on them, if at all. Hell, in some RPGs I've left half the party as voiceless ghosts on the subs bench for half the game that might as well not have been there, just for being annoying, usually mascot kids and furries while more interesting local supporting characters get a couple of lines then are never seen again.
After hundreds of JRPGs, I'm happy to see one try something a little different rather than have a clear divide in status and worth between the words of party members and those npcs that don't have a face on the box.
Having said that, I know a lot of people missed party chat in the DS DQ game where it was left out, and I agree, it can add a lot when camraderie on the road is part of an RPG, but these characters are, perhaps more than most (at least initially), a group of ships passing in the night.
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Previews sound good to me. I don't need an overarching plot and character interactions as described sound fine. Basically Fire Emblem.
I can't think of a single JRPG I've played where I've grinded (outside of personal challenges like FF5 Fiesta).
I can't think of a single JRPG I've played where I've grinded (outside of personal challenges like FF5 Fiesta).
That's really disappointing. NPC interaction is all well and good, but without some inter-party discussion and banter, it's going to be hard to stomach the whole game. I don't know why they bothered letting the characters recruit each other if they never speak.
Even SaGa Frontier managed rudimentary inter-party interaction, and that game was like half-finished.
As someone who doesn't / hasn't really played a lot of JRPG's I'm confused as to why the 8 stories crossing over and interacting is such a big deal, whats wrong with characters all in the same world having their own unique paths to go down and individual stories? Sounds like every other JRPG going already does the team up, interact and unite storyline so isn't it nice to get a game doing something a bit different?
Dunno, excited for this though and the OST is already sounding like an all time classic
Dunno, excited for this though and the OST is already sounding like an all time classic
Not every RPG needs deep character interaction. One of the most beloved RPGs of all time, Dragon Quest 3, has absolutely none of it.
I mean, yeah, if you went into this game looking for a new Trails game, I totally understand why you were disappointed. But there's different kinds of RPGs out there, and making them all from the same mold would be tragic.
This is my big question. What happens after character recruitment? Even with these 20 hour previews they make it seem like there is no larger story or event, but it also seems like they just played all 8 character intros, which might take close to 20 hours depending on how you play.
If the eight stories were unique and each character got a full set of party members exclusive to them who develop and grow throughout the story, that would be perfect. Instead, we have eight solo protagonists running around technically on their own who are supported by the other seven characters in battles but not in the story. It breaks the suspension of disbelief.
Jason doesn't like it so, it's not allowed.
Kidding, guys. Don't murder me.
Define grinding for you, cause for some people "light grinding" (like some battle here and there in the dungeon before a boss) is not grinding.
I've heard people here saying that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 doesn't require grinding which is not true in my opinion.
If you played Pokémon for example, there is a lot of grinding since Red & Blue, especially if you care about all the evolutions, or even at the beginning if you start with the "wrong" one.
I like Xc2 a lot, but I fully agree with some criticisms (I mean, developed arguments, not the garbage shit) , and I understand that some people can't enjoy the game as I did because of the game's flaws. But the way many critics consider NNk2 a very good game with satisfying mechanics and fun battles is beyond me. I think that there's a lack of professionalism on many many videogame reviews, but this is a topic for another day.
There are fantastic JRPG without this, like SMT or Pokemon.
I mean outside of japan you probably wont break into 5 figures who actually completed DQ3 so idk if I agree with it being one of the most beloved rpgs of all time but I do agree with your sentiment.
Too cliché but I guess that's inevitable.
Didn't play the prologue demo but from what I gathered, the story is about each of the 8 characters doing seperate certain thing to seal/defeat the evil god, so at the end they must be together.
Kinda sounds like Dragon Quest vignettes. I like that sort of gameplay.
But the game definitely ties everything together in the end. If it doesn't, it would be a catastrophic failure.
You don't have to recruit any characters besides the one you start with though, as I understand it, right?
Hmmm guess it depends if you are playing one characters chapters all the way through and then do another characters all the way through as then you don't have that issue? Like playing eight different timelines kind of thing? Maybe I'm understanding it wrong but I don't see it as an issue but happy its doing something non-traditional
I don't particularly find Pokemon games to be good RPGs. Their storylines are terrible and the moment-to-moment writing is even worse. They're good at being Pokemon games, but if I want to play an RPG I never, ever think of Pokemon.
I am not interested in spending 80 hours with one character and seven tagalongs who don't even get any dialogue. It feels like they failed at implementing their core concept if the characters just join up as battle party members but contribute nothing to the plot and never interact with each other.
Correct. But the game wouldn't be any fun to play if you stick with just your chosen protag the whole way through because the battle system is designed around having a party.