Octopath Traveler Review | A Modern Classic JRPG, For Better and For Worse
From its aesthetic to its battle mechanics, Octopath Traveler is a love letter to JRPG fans.
The '90s and early 2000s are known to be the undisputed golden era of JRPGs. The genre was not only popular and prolific during this time, but it was also something that resonated with gamers in ways that no other genre was capable of replicating. JRPGs allowed players to go on mystical, unforgettable adventures while traveling with memorable characters and experiencing (more often than not) strategic turn-based combat that emphasized jobs/classes, character customization, and experiencing a large narrative.
Sitting atop the throne of this golden era of JRPGs was Square Enix, making numerous examples of unforgettable JRPGs with the likes of the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and SaGa franchises, along with other titles such as Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. Square was a force to be reckoned with in the JRPG genre. They consistently innovated and pushed JRPGs into new directions, making experiences that resonated with many gamers, myself included.
However, this golden era came to a close when the seventh generation consoles made their rounds. Square Enix had various internal struggles with key staff leaving the company. In addition to this, the gaming market was shifting. RPG fans in the west began preferring quicker, more action-oriented combat over turn-based experiences.
With Western RPGs exploding in popularity with franchises such as The Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect, many thought that more action RPGs were the future of the genre, and turn-based combat was nothing more than a relic of the past. Japanese devs began to follow suit, with Dark Souls - arguably the most successful modern JRPG franchise - showcasing that Japanese devs were becoming increasingly willing to make action-oriented, western-influenced RPG experiences. Even Square Enix began to focus on making more action-packed and experimental games over the traditional JRPGs they had once held great confidence and comfort with. Games like the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy and Final Fantasy XV show the company's growing distance from making making the kinds of games that put them on the map all those years ago.
But as time went on, hardcore fans of the genre called out for a return of classic-styled RPGs. From the explosion of popularity in previously obscure franchises such as Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Etrian Odyssey, to Kickstarted projects such as Soul Saga and Pier Solar, there was indeed proof that turn-based, more traditionally-styled JRPGs still had an audience.
Square took notice of this. 2014's Bravely Default was a refreshing return to form for the company. Deemed as a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy V, Default was reminiscent of PS1 JRPGs, especially with the presence of 3D character models on 2D hand-drawn backgrounds. While the title certainly had flaws, Default received commercial success and critical praise. This resulted in the game receiving a sequel in 2016, along with more traditional JRPG experiences from Square with I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear. It seemed the Square had reclaimed their confidence in traditionally-styled JRPGs.
Enter Octopath Traveler, one of the games initially announced during the Nintendo Switch's Reveal Presentation in January 2017. The game's art style immediately turned heads. While other games at the presentation were 3D games showing off the power of Nintendo's newest system, Octopath opted to show off a stylized presentation by looking like a 16-bit game with more depth and detail to it.
Square Enix later coined the game's look as "HD 2D" in a Nintendo Direct later that year alongside an early demo for Nintendo Switch owners. This demo allowed players to get a taste of the battle system and early peeks at the stories for characters Olberic and Primrose. Along with this, the demo provided a survey for player feedback, a lot of which was addressed and taken into consideration by the game's developers.
Octopath quickly became a highly-anticipated title for many Nintendo Switch owners, myself included. While I was cautious about the game's lack of a larger story in favor of hosting eight smaller, character-focused stories, along with my mixed feelings on Bravely Default, I was nevertheless excited for what Octopath had in store. Was Octopath worth the anticipation?
Orsterra, the World of Octopath Traveler is expansive and rewarding to explore, yet it feels comfortably familiar for fans of classic JRPGs.
As stated earlier, Octopath features eight smaller stories centering around each of its playable characters. Octopath's approach to its storytelling, in all honesty, is a make-or-break point for players. Either players will enjoy exploring each of the character's separated stories, or they will hate the lack of significant character interaction and any intertwining, grand narrative.
When comparing this game to the likes of Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy X, and I am Setsuna, Octopath's lack of a single, focused narrative is underwhelming. The three games mentioned above do a phenomenal job of exemplifying character arcs and showing how each character contributes to a larger story. Seeing characters that play significant roles in large narratives in addition to having interesting stories in their own right is a practice that creates some of the most beloved characters in all of gaming.
Octopath's lack of this isn't inherently bad - it just makes Octopath significantly different from most of its contemporaries. While Octopath's world is rich with detail and has a few breadcrumbs that are shared across different storylines, Octopath's narrative goes for something more intimate. Instead of a party of heroes uniting to save the world, Octopath's travelers are looking for their master, seeking revenge for a fallen family member, or maybe they just want to make a name for themselves as a traveling merchant. Octopath has a fair amount of diversity in terms of the kinds of stories that each of its characters go through. However, this diversity falters a bit with the presence of a relatively weak lineup of characters.
None of the eight character's stories are going to blow you away. Each character falls into some kind of trope synonymous with JRPG characters. Olberic is a humble, caring elder that wants to protect those close to him. Ophilia goes on a quest in the stead of her sister, who's tending to their ill father. These are stories and character arcs that you've seen before, and none of them go in necessarily unexpected directions.
With that said, I found myself not minding Octopath's approach to its storytelling. I admire that it's trying to do something different, and while I wouldn't say that it stuck the landing with this approach, I also wouldn't say that this approach was a failure or was a detriment to the game as a whole. While each characters's stories feel fragmented from one another, this structure allows Octopath to constantly offer context and drive for the player to continue playing - what any RPG storyline should aspire to accomplish. To put it shortly, the narrative of Octopath is fragmented and a bit trope-y, but still an enjoyable experience.
Speaking of fragmentation, that leads into one of Octopath's most popular critiques. As I've discussed before, Octopath severely lacks character interaction. This prevents the game from having a cast that I love, and only having a cast of characters that I think is okay. I really enjoyed Alfyn and Tressa's characterizations and the arcs they went through, however I felt like I had a limited perspective of their characterizations due to the lack of interactions they had with other members of the cast. Seeing characters with conflicting personalities is a great way to expand on characters and make us learn about them in a fun, natural way. Octopath does this to some extent, but in a very limited capacity.
Octopath's "travel banter" happens occasionally throughout the game, but it's an ultimately underwhelming attempt to flesh out each of the game's playable characters.
So we have an enjoyable if somewhat trope-y main cast with limited characterization, but what about the way these characters interact with the world?
One of the game's most highly-marketed features was the inclusion of "Path Actions" - ways in which each character can interact with most NPCs that they encounter. Each character has their own specific Path Action, with two characters having similar utilities in exchange for different consequences. For example, Therion and Tressa can both acquire items from NPCs with their Path Actions, however what differentiates these two Path Actions is that Tressa can buy items with no consequence, while Therion can steal items for free at the risk of possibly getting caught and failing the Path Action. If you fail your Path Actions five times in a town, your reputation takes a hit, forcing you to have to pay a hefty fee at a town's tavern.
Path Actions are a brilliant concept that feel as good in execution as they sound on paper. Every time I entered a new town (of which there are tons of in the world of Orsterra), I would halt any story progress and immediately talk to every NPC and try and acquire all of their items in addition to Inquiring with Alfyn or Scrutinizing with Cyrus. These two Path Actions allow you to read the backstory of each NPC, many of which hold some of the best writing in the game. Not only is this a great way of giving depth to seemingly one-note side characters, but this is also a great way to encourage players to get immersed in Octopath's world.
Players of JRPGs that aren't hardcore fans of the genre may not want to talk to every NPC and fully interact with the world. They may simply want to continue with the game's story and keep the pace going. However, Path Actions consistently reward players for their curiosity. Whether you want items, want to see NPCs' backstories or even gain access to temporary additions to your party in battle, Path Actions have you covered. Personally, Path Actions always made me look forward to interacting with any NPC that I could find, which is something of a rarity in JRPGs. Not since Xenoblade Chronicles' affinity chart have I felt so motivated to talk to NPCs, and felt satisfying feedback in doing so.
Of course, there's more than just NPCs that you'll be able to interact with. Every town has inns, weapon and armor shops, and item stores where you can gear up for battle - standard fare for the genre. While Octopath delivers a satisfying experience with interacting with the game's world and characters, the game truly shines in its battle system.
Octopath Traveler features traditional turn-based combat, along with a break system that emphasizes exploiting enemy weaknesses that then allow for dealing massive damage.
Easily the greatest strength of the game, battling monsters in Octopath is one of the most satisfying, strategic, yet easy-to-understand combat systems that the genre has to offer. Like the classic JRPGs that inspired it, Octopath features a turn-based battle system that shows the turn order a la Final Fantasy X, allowing players to devise strategies based off of when each party member and enemy is going to attack.
Along with being able to plan when to attack, players must also decide what to attack with, as every single battle in the game will have enemies with weaknesses to certain kinds of weapons and/or magic. Every enemy will have a number signifying its armor. Upon this number hitting zero, the enemy's defense will break, allowing for massive damage. In addition to this, Octopath features a boost mechanic. Like Bravely Default before it, Octopath sees each party members accrue Boost Points (BP) every turn during battle, allowing you to deal either up to four attacks in a single turn, or a significantly powered up version of a special ability.
The armor breaking and BP mechanics make for an incredibly engaging battle system that isn't too complicated for newcomers to the genre, yet has strategic depth to it that RPG veterans will appreciate. Every battle becomes a question of how you manage enemies' armor and the BP of your party members. Do you use BP to quickly deplete enemies' armor, or do you reserve your BP to deal maximum damage once you've broken an enemy's armor? Dealing with this on top of managing health, status ailments, and more makes for a battle system that stays fun and engaging throughout this 50+ hour adventure.
One small thing surrounding battles is the presence of sidequests, and it's an unfortunately mixed bag. While many modern RPGs such as Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Final Fantasy XV clearly convey objectives that need to be completed in a sidequest, Octopath feels a bit archaic in its sidequest management. While accepting quests is clear enough, clearing them is a different story. The directions and criteria for a sidequest often feel vague. A character may ask you to talk to a certain person, but they won't tell you where that person is. Are they in the same town, or are they on the other side of the game's map? Very rarely are the game's sidequests very clear about this. While the rewards for completing sidequests are certainly helpful, many of them feel far too vague. It's best to either complete sidequests with a guide in hand or avoid them altogether. This is definitely a low point for the game.
Admittedly, I was beginning to become fatigued by the battle system by the 15 hour mark. I had cleared the first chapter for each character's stories and had begun clearing each character's second chapter. While I thought battles were satisfying, they begin to feel partially stale. Thankfully, it was at this exact moment that I discovered Octopath's implementation of a job customization system. Another commonality with Bravely Default, Octopath features a system where the player can select from a variety of different jobs that feature different stats and abilities, allowing the player to make a party that tailors to their specific playstyle.
Octopath's system is a bit different Default's, in that you'll be managing two jobs for a character at once. Characters in Octopath will always feature their base job, you merely select what their secondary job will be. For example, Olberic will always be a Warrior, but you can decide to make him a Warrior/Thief hybrid or a Warrior/Dancer hybrid, and so on. Moreover, each job has access to different weapons, so you may also need to take having access to as many weapons as possible to cover enemy weaknesses into consideration as you choose the secondary jobs for your active party.
Experimenting with different job configurations keeps Octopath's battle system entertaining. Image courtesy of GameXplain.
Another part of managing jobs is deciding how you'll distribute your acquired job points (JP). After each battle, you gain money to purchase more items, experience points to gain levels and increase your base stats, and job points to learn more passive abilities. Each job features passive abilities that your characters can learn for battle.
Most of these passive abilities are extremely helpful. Whether it is lowering the encounter rate, healing a certain amount of HP/MP per turn, being able to deal more than 9,999 damage in a single turn, having items be more potent and so on, there's an unbelievable amount of utility with passive skills. The catch is that you can only equip four passive skills per character, so you need to strategize which passive skills you want to bring into battle.
What starts off as a relatively simple menu-based battle system gradually evolves into a satisfying system of managing different jobs and passive skills to optimally deal with threats big and small. Strageizing what equipment you'll have, what characters you'll bring into battle, what passive skills you'll equip, and what secondary jobs you'll assign for each character all make for a gameplay system that feels unique and addicting.
While I've showered this game's battle system with praise, I feel that it is important to note that all of this praise is coming from an already experienced fan of the genre. Having played various JRPGs, I didn't mind Octopath's random battles, turn-based combat, and pacing. I'm personally unsure if it's possible for this game to appeal to non-fans of the genre. I enjoyed constantly accruing experience and JP, and further developing my characters - however, other players may find this gameplay loop to be overly repetitive, depending on how they view the genre.
I don't think Octopath will make people fall in love with JRPGs if they weren't already in love with the genre. With that said, however, I do feel that Octopath is a great gateway JRPG for genre newcomers. The gradual pace in which this game rolls out its more strategic mechanics allows for newcomers to easily understand the game's mechanics without being overwhelmed by them. Whether you're a JRPG veteran or curious to try out the genre, Octopath's combat will certainly make for a comfortable and enjoyable experience.
Of course, looking at this game is an enjoyable experience in itself. The game initially turned heads due to its unique look, and that look continues to leave me in awe over 18 months after the game's initial reveal. The pixel art for characters and locations is truly marvelous - reminiscent of a fusion between Final Fantasy VI and Xenogears' sprite work.
Additionally, I must bring special attention to the game's soundtrack. While I was a big fan of Bravely Default's soundtrack, I may be an even bigger fan of Octopath's score. Whether it's a sweet, emotional track for one of the cutscenes or a bombastic, adrenaline-inducing boss theme, composer Yasunori Nishiki has made a soundtrack that is already one of the most memorable soundtracks of the year. Any lover of video game music should definitively give this game's score a listen.
Octopath's story structure is on the fragmented side. Its lack of character interaction makes for a disjointed cast of characters. The game's perhaps on the trope-y side when it comes to its story and characters. Its sidequests are presented a bit too vaguely to understand how to complete them. If you don't like JRPGs now, it probably won't suddenly make you a fan. But with all of those things considered, my time with Octopath Traveler was absolutely phenomenal. I found myself addicted to the gameplay loop of leveling up, unlocking passive skills, and overcoming challenges in my 60+ adventure with the game.
Octopath shows some slight flaws that even hardcore JRPG fans can't entirely ignore. But what Octopath gets right far outweighs what it gets wrong. If you've ever enjoyed a JRPG, new or old, the world of Octopath Traveler is a place well worth visiting.
Final Grade: A-
Thank you for reading! What did you think of Octopath Traveler? Would you recommend it to JRPG newcomers? As always, join the conversation and let me know!
