I like parts of the graphics. It's a fancy visuallisation of snes graphics, which I like.
What I hate though is tiles that individually look like a random pattern (like dirt, grass) arranged in a grid. In minecraft I learned that simply rotating the tile textures randomly can do wonders to break up patterns (didn't find an example picture). Oh well.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand done! After 101hrs, I've finally finished Octopath Traveller ^_^ Every boss, every quest, every story, every job ... the lot That TRUE last boss was table-flippingly difficult, with a crazy amount of defences and actions-per-turn, along with some brutal status afflictions --- but it's alllllll over now I adored playing this, from start to finish, and it's ranked up there in my mind now with the greatest of greatest jRPGs that I've played. A lot of people (sadly) missed the point of the game, and the eight individual stories, decrying the lack of a singular cohesive narrative and that's a shame as the game was simply designed in a different way. Kind of like "Live-a-Live" and "Seiken Densetsu 3", which both were built around individual stories.
Don't get me wrong; I've been playing RPGs since the 80s and I would have loved it if the game had a larger, all encompassing, narrative .. I really would! But instead I appreciated it for what it is and how it played out ----- though there *is* actually a larger picture that I'm guessing most people will miss if they don't finish specific quests within the game, and party members regularly converse with each other at specific points of each story arc. Anyone saying there's no party interaction simply hasn't played the game. At all.
"plot spoilers regarding narrative and post-game"
Spoiler:
Post-game reveals that a certain character has been pulling the strings behind *every* Traveller's individual stories, plotting and scheming for decades. Events tie all the Travellers, along with certain quest-giving characters in the game , together in a huge revelation that plays out in a post-game dungeon with the TRUE final boss
... and sheesh, what a boss it was! This MFer gave Ozma/Omega a run for their money.
Still; everything from the get-go gripped me and I love (almost) every single thing about this game.
The visuals are great; I love the "2D sprite on 3D world" aspect to the aesthetic. Some nice modern special effects, mixed with 16bit-era detailed sprites really came together nicely.
Combat was great; highly strategic, enormously personalised. Quite possibly the best use CTB (conditional turn battle, since the game uses an FFX-style system) I've seen in a jRPG since FFX itself, coupled with an excellent - and expansively customisable - Job/Skill system. The "Vulnerable" gameplay aspect really adds a nice edge to the battles and turns them from a "press A to continue" mash fest into something more involved.
Music is magnificent, with genuinely emotional and pulse-pounding tracks (and goddamn do I love how the music crescendos into the heavy boss themes during story sequences -- like this; -- so awesome!)
Each character's individual stories were thoroughly enjoyable, and quite engrossing to boot. Tales of betrayal and love and loss and growth
The non-linear expansion of the game world and how you tackle each character's arcs was unique and engaging too, plus each character has a specific "Path" ability that affects what they can do in the world, like stealing from NPCs, or divining more information about characters in the world, or even recruiting (pretty much) any NPC into your team for use in combat
A nice little touch that I enjoyed immensely was the final credits of your main chosen character, which plays a personalised highlight reel of the final hit you inflicted on every boss in the game -- that was such a joy to watch
Performance was flawless, though that should hardly come as a surprise given the source platform and the overall graphical "quality", but knowing the Switch plays it at a (not-even-stable!) 30fps at 1280x720; it's nice to know Squeenix bothered to unlock the framerate for PC
My main complaint would be the lack of a Bestiary, the overall low level of difficulty (until you start doing high level dungeons and post-game) and, most damning, the lack of any kind of quest log/journal. There are literally dozens of side quests/stories in this, but the game doesn't keep track of them in any way.. so you're constantly having to run back and forth between towns (thankfully there's a fast travel system) in order to see where the quest givers are, then having to remember if you'd gotten the items they want, etc etc. That was a huge drawback for me, since I'm a completionist :\
Still, on the whole, I categorically consider Octopath Traveller to be a masterpiece, a height to which other jRPGs will always be measured against.. in my eyes ^_^
Screenshots, nothing spoilery, just artwork for desktops
I always pined for this when I saw it was Switch exclusive, there's a bunch of games I really wanna get a Switch for.. and this was one of them. I was overjoyed when they ported it to PC finally \o/ It has a Shitnuvo enema, but has been cracked so who cares?
I always pined for this when I saw it was Switch exclusive, there's a bunch of games I really wanna get a Switch for.. and this was one of them. I was overjoyed when they ported it to PC finally \o/ It has a Shitnuvo enema, but has been cracked so who cares?
Only problem i had with this really is that you group up with these other main characters but it's like none are there really while doing the story of the others. They're just doing their separate things with no input on anything from your companions. While in one way i understand it, the massive amount of dialogue would be needed for 8 different characters with so many possible combinations, i also ask why the hell design it this way if they can't follow up on it properly? Well, they can have characters say their individual lines without proper dialogue with others though.
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That TRUE last boss was table-flippingly difficult, with a crazy amount of defences and actions-per-turn, along with some brutal status afflictions --- but it's alllllll over now 
, together in a huge revelation that plays out in a post-game dungeon with the TRUE final boss 
