Octopath Traveler 0 is now the third important sport within the collection that started Sq. Enix’s “HD-2D” renaissance, taking each cult-classic and classically styled RPGs and imbuing them with a specific visible feel and look that pays homage to the heyday of 16-bit RPG excellence. Octopath itself has been iterated on sufficient that it is solid its personal identification inside that framework, giving Octopath Traveler 0 the liberty to interrupt a few of its personal conventions and iterate on others. It is a reimagining of what an Octopath sport means, and greater than that, a superb sport in its personal proper.
Octopath Traveler 0 begins with character creation, which itself is an enormous departure from the Octopath norm. The video games have beforehand advised eight interconnected tales, every targeted on named, particular person characters. This new method has you create your individual protagonist, they usually stay locked in your occasion all through your complete sport as the remainder of it’s stuffed in by numerous companion characters who you meet alongside your journey. The character creation is simplistic, with a handful of choices for facets like coiffure and eye form, however rendered in a retro pixel type that is sufficient to offer you a great deal of flexibility.
That pixel-art type is essentially unchanged from the earlier two installments, and like lots of the HD-2D video games, it is an acquired style. I discovered the lighting results on the sprites to be distracting and washed out in handheld mode on Change 2, nevertheless it appeared significantly better on an enormous display. Nonetheless, I discover the artwork type typically to be pretty muddy and desaturated, and would admire the occasional vibrant splash of coloration, which Octopath 0 not often gives.
Your protagonist is a resident of Wishvale, the place a ritual celebration is interrupted by an assault from two strangers, Tytos and Auguste, trying to find a magical relic in your midst. The 2 set the city ablaze and your pals scatter to security. Once you return, the city is totally destroyed and a lot of the village elders are useless. One of many few survivors bestows to you the relic Tytos and Auguste had been trying to find, a divine ring, making you the Ringbearer. The 2 attackers are in possession of their very own rings, as is a 3rd antagonist who tipped them off: a rich heiress named Girl Herminia. The conspiracy between these three to destroy your village seeking the ring that you simply maintain propels the narrative and offers it dramatic stakes proper from the beginning.
These three antagonists are prime examples of considered one of Octopath Traveler 0’s nice strengths, which is its forged of deliciously scene-chewing villains. Every is supposed to symbolize a facet of the methods energy and affect can corrupt: Herminia is grasping and lives life to extra, and her ruthlessness in buying and sustaining her wealth has given her a fame as a witch; Auguste is a playwright whose fame is famend, as most of his viewers stay unaware of the sadistic methods he abuses individuals to encourage his dramatic prospers; and Tytos is a well-known conflict hero with political and navy energy at his again, which he makes use of to implement his will. The theme all through all of their tales, and the sport as an entire, is that wealth, fame, and energy corrupt.
To additional that time, Octopath 0 delves into some very adult-oriented subjects, with various levels of success and sensitivity. Auguste’s strategies embrace torture, homicide, and little one endangerment. They’re stomach-churning in a method that very successfully sells his villainy. The selection to offer Auguste a pale vampiric look whereas his identification as a playwright entails feeding on individuals’s struggling for his artwork is impressed, and his dramatic aptitude and cruelty jogged my memory of considered one of RPGs’ biggest villains, Closing Fantasy 6’s Kefka. Then again, nonetheless, Herminia’s previous and current contains references to prostitution, and her story’s remedy of intercourse work feels insensitive in a contemporary context.
Octopath 0’s story is delivered in episodic chapters, a mainstay of the franchise, which additionally cues you in to the way you’re presupposed to method its construction. Ending your complete “Grasp of Wealth” arc earlier than transferring onto the “Grasp of Fame” arc simply is not viable–you’re meant to do the primary chapter of every arc, then the second, and so forth. That may make the pacing really feel odd–each chapter ends with some ratcheting up of the dramatic stakes or a plot twist, so it feels unusual to desert it and go off to do one thing utterly totally different. The primary two Octopath video games had comparable pacing, however as this one begins out as a revenge story for a player-created protagonist, it feels extra awkward.
Simply the strongest facet of Octopath Traveler 0: the stellar fight system, which is even higher than its predecessors. It is deceptively easy at first, showing to be largely much like previous Octopath video games, which themselves had been homages to traditional 16-bit RPGs like Closing Fantasy 4-6. However because the “Octopath” title not applies to eight particular person tales, it has been repurposed to consult with your occasion itself. As an alternative of eight playable characters, you’ll find dozens–some of them story-critical, and others as non-obligatory aspect quests. And as a substitute of getting a celebration of 4, you will have a celebration of eight–four within the entrance row, and 4 within the again. The multitude of characters makes them much less fleshed-out than the eight core characters in different Octopath video games, and even essentially the most core character in Octopath 0 would not get the eye of a important occasion member in Octopath 2. A handful of Wishvale natives that compose the core story forged get the lion’s share of the eye, and whereas the others occasion members have particular person tales, they’re extra like mini-episodes. You are additionally sure to go away some behind on the town whereas taking others questing, which runs the danger of creating them underleveled and fewer helpful in fight, so that they do really feel extra like disposable instruments than correct characters.
Every of the handfuls of characters you come throughout have their very own occupation with particular expertise, like Apothecaries who concentrate on therapeutic or Dancers who give highly effective buffs–as effectively as two weapon varieties they’ll equip. Your created protagonist is particular, partly as a result of they’re the one one who can change jobs and study expertise from any job class. That makes party-building extremely versatile whereas additionally providing a satisfying technique puzzle. It’s essential to be sure to have all kinds of expertise and jobs represented, whereas additionally assuring that you’ve got at the very least a couple of of every weapon sort on-hand. Matching your weapon and spell varieties to enemy weaknesses will strain enemies right into a “Break” state, the place they’ll not act and undergo additional injury. In the meantime, the again row of your occasion composition is usually protected from assaults, and passively gaining pips of Battle Factors that may be spent for a number of strikes without delay, however will be swapped out with their front-row associate at any time. That one new element–having extra characters accessible at any time with a give attention to positioning and swapping their places–acts like a pressure multiplier for all of the strategic selections Octopath is understood for.
It is simply so rattling enjoyable, particularly as a longtime Japanese RPG fan, to see one thing that feels concurrently so acquainted and contemporary.
If that seems like a dizzying array of choices, it definitely would not really feel prefer it in follow. Octopath Traveler 0 has an incredible problem ramp that walks you thru more and more complicated eventualities, forcing you to rethink your methods and plan your occasion composition accordingly, after which testing your ability anew. On the identical time, the fight challenges are remarkably powerful, which makes it that rather more satisfying if you crack the code, exploit a weak spot, and defeat a boss. Removed from a passive expertise, fight is a frenetic puzzle that has you juggle your members backwards and forwards for therapeutic, injury, standing results, weapon swaps, and extra. It is simply so rattling enjoyable, particularly as a longtime Japanese RPG fan, to see one thing that feels concurrently so acquainted and contemporary.
That mentioned, it is a classically styled RPG, so put together for a superb little bit of grinding. I discovered that even finishing story and aspect quests and with out operating away from any battles, I wasn’t leveling up quick sufficient to maintain tempo with the really useful quest levels–and even once I did, generally I’d really feel underpowered for a very powerful boss struggle. Grinding is sluggish, and a part of the rhythm of this type of RPG, however I might see it pushing aside some gamers. The sluggish tempo of leveling appears focused at discouraging overleveling. It is simply not sensible to grind far above the urged stage, which then forces you to have interaction with the complexities of the battle system quite than breeze your method by way of with powered-up bruisers.
As you proceed to achieve allies, you additionally set about rebuilding your hometown. Story characters double as specialised shopkeepers in Wishvale, and you may recruit villagers from different cities you go to to maneuver in and convey their very own resource-gathering expertise to you. The interface for this works on a satisfying grid system, letting you click on buildings into place after which transfer them round at your leisure. The townbuilding generally is a little enjoyable break from the trials of fight, however the two feed into each other as effectively. The higher your city, the extra choices you will have for getting specialised objects or coaching your inactive members. In the meantime, taking over sturdy, non-obligatory battles within the dungeons nets you a particular materials that upgrades your buildings. It isn’t fairly subtle or complicated sufficient to substitute for a devoted cozy sport like Animal Crossing, nevertheless it was nonetheless satisfying to see my burgeoning Wishvale restored to its former glory at any time when I wanted a breather.
The Octopath Traveler collection can also be recognized for Path Actions, that are underserved right here. Within the earlier two Octopath video games, Path Actions had been a solution to incorporate a light-weight puzzle aspect into the villages, as NPCs would reply otherwise to a specific character’s ability set. On this one, your protagonist is the one fixed, and the opposite characters may not essentially be with you at any second. So as a substitute, your entire protagonist’s Path Actions can be found at any time, however solely three can be found for any given NPC. One is all the time to press them for info, one other is normally to both recruit them to your city or rent them as a fight summon, and the third is normally to struggle them for some particular reward like discounted objects. It is a fine-enough compromise given all the different choices being juggled, nevertheless it does make exploring the cities barely much less partaking. As soon as you’ve got appeared round and recruited everybody to your city who’s accessible, there’s not a lot motive to strive Path Actions afterward.
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When you resolve the three important quests in opposition to the first antagonists, the story takes a pointy flip into much less private territory, as you fall right into a conflict of kingdoms. I used to be much less invested on this story at first–I had avenged my village and was effectively on my solution to rebuilding my city, so what do I care about this royal drama? However by this level I used to be totally engaged with the fight, which retained my curiosity lengthy sufficient to start out caring in regards to the numerous characters on this succession conflict. By the top, I got here to essentially get pleasure from that story too, and to care in regards to the characters concerned in it.
And at any time when I assumed I had seen all the pieces Octopath Traveler 0 has to supply, one other layer unpeeled earlier than my eyes. Round this level I additionally began to open up Mastery Expertise, one other facet of fight that opens much more strategic selections. By persevering with to earn Job Factors (JP) after having already mastered all the talents for a personality’s job, you should utilize these JP to purchase copies of these expertise, which may then be outfitted by different characters. The permutations of this appear infinite, and I’ve actually solely began to wrap my head across the strategic prospects.
That is the way it feels to play Octopath Traveler 0: a seemingly infinite sample of ever-deeper fight challenges and strategic wrinkles, slowly revealing themselves to you time and again by way of dozens of hours. I’ve seen credit, in a way, however there’s nonetheless a lot extra to do and discover. It looks like a sport that might go on perpetually. I simply would possibly let it.
