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Octopath Traveler

Anyone play Octopath Traveler? Square Enix released it nearly two years ago in June 2018, just started it earlier this week. I’ve gone through phases with it since. At first, I was kind of mixed on it; while the visuals were stunning in most respects, the place I started out in (Bolderfall) was very dense, and in conjunction with the camera angle, I found myself missing important things such as chests and bumping into walls time and time again. Once I got into the combat portion, though, I really started to enjoy it.

My main complaint with it so far is that it’s getting tedious. It’s designed so that you’re encouraged to pick up a character, watch some pretty boring cutscenes, do a handful of meaningless tasks, explore a dungeon (or other volatile area), fight a boss, and then completely drop the character in favor of the next one. I’m almost done with the entirety of chapter 1, so I’m hoping things pick up in the next three. That being said, I absolutely love the combat system. It’s not as groundbreaking or unique as, say, a Mother game, but it adds enough cool mechanics to spice things up. And besides, I’m a sucker for JRPGs anyway. As basic as it is, I automatically enjoy typical RPG combat as long as it isn’t butchered too bad, and Octopath nails it flawlessly. It’s easily the game’s greatest strength. I’ll also compliment the graphics, because like everyone else who’s ever discussed this game, I find it to be pretty beautiful. The landscapes all look great (although again, sometimes the denseness of it all causes me to fumble around), and the in-battle sprites of the bosses look fantastic. I can only assume they’ll look even more jaw-dropping once the bosses get more extreme in future chapters.

Anyway, has anyone here played Octopath Traveler? What did you think? While I did have a lot of criticisms about its pacing, I haven’t reached the threshold of hatred quite yet, and I’m hoping I can get back to loving it again soon.

About a week later and it’s grown on me yet again. Perhaps that’s just the inherent flaw in discussing games before you complete them. Either way, chapter 2 is very fun so far. Halfway done with it–just need to advance the stories of Primrose, Olberic, Tressa, and Cyrus.