I was never sure on Octopath Traveler. I really liked the art style, but JRPGs are not my cup of soup at all. I think the last JRPG I dove deep into was Final Fantasy 12. And even that wasn’t as traditional.
I decided to download the demo a few days before the game actually released. I scrolled around the starting map looking at a few characters to start with. Hunter? Naw. Scholar? Could be interesting, but no. Thief? All in! Didn’t even look at any of the other people. Lock picking is so essential.
I played about 30 minutes of the demo before quitting out, uninstalling, and buying the full version. I was all in on it. When the game released, I instantly starting with Therion the Thief again and began my journey. Therion’s story is about getting tricked into searching for some stolen eggs for a rich lady. Such a bad description, but I don’t want to spoil too much. Just know that it’s intriguing enough for me to really pursue it.
After finishing Therion, I went south and recruited Alfyn, the Apothecary. Afterwards, I went north and got the Huntress, Hannit. Chapter One for each character has a final boss, and the Huntress’s boss was incredibly tough. Later I found out that with more characters in your party, the more difficult the bosses will become. Awesome.
At 18 hours I have recruited a total of 5 characters now. I have come to realize that the grind is REAL in this game. You’ll spend quick sometime running around to level characters up properly so you don’t get squashed in your boss fights.
That being said, the fighting system is so good. Each enemy is different and has different weaknesses. Use those weaknesses against them and you’ll break them, making them skip a turn in the combat order. It gets pretty intense. You’ll sit there figuring out all the best possible ways to wipe the enemy team and go completely untouched.
The biggest complaint so far that I hear from most people is that none of the 8 characters stories intertwine at all. I see their point. Why have all these heroes and not have some sort of interaction. Explain why a Thief and a Paladin would travel together. Especially when they both say “I work alone”.
I don’t think I mind as much though. Not yet, anyways. The singular stories are enough for me right now to keep going. I think if the dungeons were more complex I would be happier. There are multiple paths, but they just lead to a dead end and a treasure chest.
Overall though, so far, this is the most play time my Switch has gotten. It’s been great feeling like I actually have something going on with the system.
Did you guys pick up Octopath Traveler? Why or why not? Let me know, compare tips, all that good stuff!
The Tired Obsidian 
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