I believe that map evolved during development. Some of the names therein match names on the current map (Twin Falls, for one), but aren't representative of the current geography.
The Wayfarer's Edition is said to be double-sided, and reviewers have said how large the map is even prior to exploring it all, so I'm not worried about map size. I'm actually curious if there could be a second continent.
yeah, I am sure the world size will be OK but still pretty disappointed with the way the overworld is presented. Gameplay wise it is not any different from walking in a dungeon.
He's written for a few different sites, and he has a video of Smash gameplay on his YouTube channel that mentions Nintendo invited him to their booth, so it sounds like he's legit.
Does anyone know if there's going to be any sort of print strategy guide for this game? I've been half-contemplating picking one up if it exists mostly for nostalgic reasons as I would frequently play this type of game with the guide open in front of me when I was a kid.
In starting the demo over recently and thinking about all the talk lately about the party members' tales and how things fit into a grander narrative or not, I've been slowly drawn into a different kind of perspective in approaching this. I'm taking a broader approach now, putting less emphasis on the playable party members and more on Orsterra itself, with the party members just serving as more like examples of what life in this world is like, rather than them being the real "stars" of the show. The path action system really highlights this to me the more I put into it; yes your party have jobs and special skills to use, weapons to equip, personal histories and motives...but so does basically everyone, and it's been a while since a game really felt that way to me. The party members are all skilled in their personal crafts, of course, but the majority of them are still just normal people at the end of the day. Primrose is the only noble among them (a former noble, at that), and Olberic had status and a reputation which are lost at the start of his story, but everyone else is generally just living their lives when they decide to venture out...but plenty of other folks are doing, have done, or will do the same.
Take, for example, one of the extremely early sidequests you encounter after finishing Alfyn's first chapter:
Alfyn encounters a girl from the village who is distressed to find a bottle with a note inside washed ashore from the river, with her name on it, claiming to be from her mother. Using Alfyn's conversational skills, you get the truth out of her father in the village that she was actually left behind there from an unknown woman who had promised to return but never did. Once armed with this knowledge, the girl vows to leave town and start traveling upriver on a search for her true birth-parents, hoping to have some of her deep personal questions answered.
This on its own could have very well served as the prologue for another playable character. It provides as much of a reason to set out as the likes of Alfyn himself, among others. Instead it's just the first of what looks to be a small series of side-quests, ensuring that you'll run into her again in the future and follow her quest for reunion in much the same way as you follow the main 8.
Hell, literally everybody encounters Kit just outside of their starting town, regardless of who they choose, and that's another person traveling the world on a personal journey, who could have potentially been a recruitable ally. Using Inquire or Scrutinize, you find stories like this from all sorts of people throughout the world. Thanks to Challenging, Provoking, and Summoning charmed NPCs we also see that all sorts of people are equipped with all sorts of combat abilities. To that degree I feel like this isn't even a game about 8 special people setting out to save the world; it's a game about a world that's chock-full of adventurers, and we just happen to be looking into the relevant moments of 8 of them in particular. This is where I think the openness of the experience that the developers have talked about really shines through. Each chapter gives us more to learn about our party members, but gives us more to learn about Orsterra itself too. It may just be a different mental framing device but I find it compelling.
there was also this tweet earlier so if I were to guess I'd say there's probably a little somethin somethin after beating everyone's individual stories
On one hand, I believe what the tweet implies is real. On the other hand, I doubt any reviewers can complete 8 storylines by Thursday, let alone today.
On one hand, I believe what the tweet implies is real. On the other hand, I doubt any reviewers can complete 8 storylines by Thursday, let alone today.
Interesting. Considering you've already completed one of stories, if this supposed "final section" does exist, it'd be really unfortunate design.
There should at least be hints to compel the player to keep going. What if you've played through seven of the eight stories, and this last story is just dull as can be? You'd never know that something great is coming, as the entire game has trained you to believe otherwise.
Certainly possible that a finale unlocks after finishing the 8 character stories. In fact it seems decently likely that something like this happens, otherwise a real ending would be tough to pull off.
The real question is how big of a finale we're talking about. A separate, 9th story? Or something smaller than that?
After finishing all 8 chapters Yosuke Matsuda appears on screen handing a masked figure a large sum of money. The man is revealed to be yoko taro and he explains how he just wanted you to experience a low budget story, so that the ng+ would be good like his previous games. The credits roll into ng+ where characters actually exist in the same universe 100% of the time and don't magically disappear any time there's a cutscene.
But seriously how would this even work? Unless we are suppose to assume the characters are hiding in vases or s/t every time a party member gets spoken to.
I have to admit, even if OT ends up with no converging narrative at the end, it was ingenious of them to keep the answer a secret, with little pokes and prods from different sources.
It has definitely helped keep this game in the public eye and talked about. Good on you Square, I respect it.
After finishing all 8 chapters Yosuke Matsuda appears on screen handing a masked figure a large sum of money. The man is revealed to be yoko taro and he explains how he just wanted you to experience a low budget story, so that the ng+ would be good like his previous games. The credits roll into ng+ where characters actually exist in the same universe 100% of the time and don't magically disappear any time there's a cutscene.
But seriously how would this even work? Unless we are suppose to assume the characters are hiding in vases or s/t every time a party member gets spoken to.
They're not actually there because they're telling each other the stories of their travels, hence the whole story-swapping mechanic at taverns literally being called "Hear a Tale" and the interaction scenes looking like they're taking place on a theatre stage.
This probably won't actually be the case, but still... something to think about.
"Converge" is probably a bad way to describe it, but doing what it sounds like would still be unique. What RPGs would you think it is too similar to? Live a Live or Treasure of the Rudras? Those both whisked characters away to a new area and made them party together for the first time after doing all of the character quests, but here you already have them together from early on, if you want.
Secondary jobs give a character a percentage bonus to relevant statistics for the job, as well as access to all of the weapons and abilities that job can use/learn (in addition to their fixed primary job). Upon learning certain numbers of abilities in a job, the character will gain access to passive skills, which they can equip four of from any job, even if they aren't in that job. That's where the majority of character customizability comes from.
To learn abilities, characters must expend JP, which is gained after fights, and each character has their own pool of it universally usable for any unlocked job. JP costs for abilities scale as you purchase them within each job. For instance, Olberic's final Warrior ability might cost 5,000 JP, but at the same time his first Apothecary ability would cost 30 JP, and his second 100 JP.
To make Olberic a really durable tank, as an example, you might make his secondary job Hunter, while purchasing abilities in Apothecary to unlock the +500 HP passive skill.
Path actions (in-combat and out) are unique to each character, and don't come with their job. Alfyn's Inquire/Concoct, Primrose's Allure/Summon, etc.
At most we'll just get a bunch of reviews describing the game which makes it sound like they understand the systems and mechanics to make it sound like they beat it and played it through and through without actually stating it. Its really why I dont read reviews like that just highlighted excerpts or something. They all sound too homogenized.