Octopath Traveler has at all times been the form of old-school, huge retro sport that actual RPG sickos can sink our enamel into. The unique pitch–a sprawling sport that tracks the person tales of eight totally different social gathering members, every with their very own individualized expertise in each fight and cities, who then come collectively to face some grave threat–can simply final dozens of hours, and thus far has throughout two video games. Octopath Traveler 0, a prequel to the opposite two video games, takes that basis and provides much more: expanded customization, townbuilding with farming, bigger social gathering sizes, and quests that feed again into the entire different techniques. It is sufficient to be completely daunting, however in one of the best of how.
In a prolonged Gamescom demo, I used to be capable of see the barest outlines of lots of the new techniques at play. For starters, Octopath 0 has a main protagonist: a customized character you create your self. We did not have an opportunity to tinker with the character creator, however our session did have a “created” character because the lead, who seemed like she slot in properly with the HD-2D aesthetic of the sport. I am curious to see extra of this, particularly how one can combine and match totally different options whereas sustaining the beautiful pixel artwork model that the Octopath video games have helped to determine.
I’ve loads of confidence that it may possibly pull off wealthy character customization thanks to a different piece of the sport: the townbuilding. In Octopath Traveler 0, you have got a house base that you would be able to customise to your liking with homes, outlets, and even fields for crops. You may lay buildings and different constructions wherever on a grid, and it is very cool to see the HD-2D model of constructing structure merged with this personalized dollhouse look. As soon as the buildings are set, the house base is unrecognizable from another Octopath village, so it blends in seamlessly with the sequence’ look. And the farming and livestock supplies give it a Stardew Lite enchantment, since you possibly can enhance issues like your crop yields or constructing supplies by exploring the world and battling.
The actual meat of the demo was an early quest, mentioned to be roughly 10 hours into the sport. Whereas your protagonist is basically silent, there are many different characters offering dialogue and shade to the world, becoming into acquainted roles like hunter or priest. I used to be instantly struck by the newly expanded fight. You’ve gotten eight social gathering members at any given time, with much more obtainable to swap out. So reasonably than specializing in eight characters complete, you carry eight characters with you at a time. It felt overwhelming at first, however I rapidly discovered the rhythm and really got here to essentially get pleasure from this expanded roster.
Primarily, you have got a back and front line of 4 every, and you may swap members between their rows rapidly throughout fight. So you could have your stronger offensive fighters within the first column, and extra defensive ones within the back–but you possibly can swap one among your fighters and defenders everytime you need. And functionally, this implies you have got tons of choices throughout fight, successfully doubling your weapons and skills. With this expanded roster, it is arduous to think about a state of affairs by which you would not have a minimum of one weapon that may match your enemies’ weaknesses, supplying you with extra flexibility to stagger them. On the flipside, the enemies appeared more durable and extra hearty than the norm, doubtless as a result of the sport is aware of you have got a lot extra versatility at your disposal. Fight can be the place you get to listen to a few of the greatest standouts of the soundtrack, which as soon as once more is stellar.
The story sequence of the Gamescom demo was brief and easy, specializing in attempting to recruit a younger however savvy shopkeeper to affix you. It excels on the economic system of language that feels acquainted for classically styled RPGs, by which the script must ship loads of characterization with comparatively brief dialogue segments.
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On the finish of the dungeon and a prolonged boss struggle, the shopkeeper agreed to affix my city, bringing the entire expertise full circle. The townbuilding side provides extra selection to missions, as you by no means know if the character you are recruiting will be part of your social gathering as a playable combatant or your city as an important settler. Octopath Traveler has made its title on unconventional class varieties, so it was completely attainable that this story quest would carry the shopkeeper in as a playable character. I favored the sensation that this sport will preserve me guessing in regards to the final fates of the characters I encounter.
Octopath Traveler has at all times been an bold sequence. It might have been simple for Octopath Traveler 0 to supply extra of the identical, however as an alternative it is setting its sights larger. The tons of interlocking mechanics and techniques appear to be they could possibly be overwhelming, however from what I’ve seen thus far, they harmonize so properly that I am not afraid to take them on.
Octopath Traveler 0 is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Collection X, and Nintendo Change on December 4.
