The roads we’ve traveled.

With the SNES I borrowed from my cousin carefully nestled on top of a pillow on the carpet floor, I sat cross-legged on the bed in the master bedroom in front of a 32 inch CRT TV. The orange glow of the twilight sun shone through the light curtains and my belly grumbled again in protest, letting me know that it had been entirely too long since I last ate. Still, I sat motionless with my eyes trained on the TV, and with a sweaty controller tightly gripped in hand, I watched the ending credits of Final Fantasy 6 in its glorious entirety.

Bewitched by the musical culmination of my long journey, I realized for the very first time that video games could be more than just entertainment. Since that moment, I have gone on many different journeys but I never for a single moment forgot where it all began. So when I say that classic JRPGs played an important role in my gaming life, I speak without hyperbole.

However, the past is in the past and the difficulty of capturing the pure essence of the classics in meaningful ways seemed evident as only a handful games have managed to achieve that lofty ambition. With the release of Octopath Traveler, one more title is added to that short and prestigious list.

The result of blending the old with the new results in something that feels familiar but new at the same time.

MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: Switch
VO Selection: ENG/JPN
Length: 55~ hours

When I saw the reveal trailer for Octopath Traveler, I was immediately impressed by its presentation, which blended traditional 2D sprites with modern visual special effects. The use of lighting, shadows, depth of field and many more effects layered on top of each other resulted in some rather spectacular sights. The sprite work for the characters was done in such a way that it mimicked 16-bit sprites from games like Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger. While looking overly simple on a glance, they emote well and exude charisma rather effortlessly. The highlight of the expert sprite work was on display during boss encounters, where the fiends were given special attention to detail, which went a long way in selling their menacing presence.

The various boss sprites are some of my favorite visual designs present in the game.

Accentuating the uniquely beautiful visuals was the stellar soundtrack which hit all the right notes. Whether I was walking through a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere or doing battle with an unimaginably evil entity, the tone was set perfectly by the accompanying track.

Easily my favorite OST of the year so far.

Still, the presentation only does so much in selling a game, and if I couldn’t feel invested in the tale these eight souls had to tell, it would have all been for naught. In fact, given the deep roster, I was fully expecting to only like a few of them, but came away liking them all. It’s a testament to the writing as well as the performances of the various voice actors portraying these characters that I feel this way. The most interesting thing about the heroes and heroines of this tale is that they steer towards typical archetypes without hesitation and yet end up feeling compelling all the same due to the way their stories are explored.

Tressa, a bright and enthusiastic merchant in training leaves the quaint little town where she has spent her whole life to see the world and hone her skills as a traveling merchant. Primrose, a noble orphan, vows revenge on those that killed her father and brought ruin to her household. These and the rest of the characters’ story beats are ones I’ve seen countless times, but each story is told with the utmost brevity and earnestly that I couldn’t help but feel invested. The ability to experience the story in any order I wished also went a long way, as there were times where I wanted to bounce around the world and at others, just to follow the thread of one specific story.

The storytelling in Octopath is handled like a play, filled with soliloquies and conflicts that felt straight out of a Shakespearean novel. There was a good deal of variety in the types of story to experience, and while some didn’t hit the high notes I was hoping for, taken in as a whole, there’s a lot to enjoy. However, perhaps due to the nature of how the player is able to shift their attention from one story to another at any time, each of the character’s tales are kept largely apart from each other. There were moments akin to Tales series skits, where two or more characters would banter about the current events but when it came to story moments, they were always presented as being alone, which felt quite jarring and took time to get used to.

While I fully understand the logistical nightmare it would have been to write dialogue for every possible party combination, it would have gone a long way to make this group of individuals feel like a team rather than a bunch of silent passengers along for the ride. Luckily, there is a post game dungeon that manages to tie together the loose threads found in each of the story arcs, but by then, it’s too little too late.

You tell him, Tressa!

As for the combat, it is reminiscent of Bravely Default as they both use random battles, are turned based and have a resource called “BP”. In Bravely, the BP could be saved up by guarding without taking any actions, but in Octopath, they are generated per turn and by using a maximum of 3BP at a time, unlocked the ability to use powerful abilities or simply enhance the effect of another move. Whether it’s a simple melee attack or summoning pyre of flames upon unsuspecting enemies, managing and using BP at the correct times was paramount to success.

The enemies could be “broken” as well by hitting them with their weaknesses, and when broken they would lose a turn and be put into a vulnerable state where they took far more damage, leading to situations where carefully timing when to break a boss before unleashing my biggest attacks was commonplace. Each of the characters are assigned a unique class as well as a “path action” that only they have access to which made each and every character feel unique and useful in different situations. After the initial prologue, I was able to get secondary jobs which allowed for mixing and matching of passive skills which opened up a new world of strategic possibilities. On top of that were a handful of secret, incredibly powerful jobs I could attain by proving myself against some very powerful bosses.

From the strategy required to create a team that synergizes well with each other to the moment to moment gameplay where one decision could mean overwhelming victory or crushing defeat, the combat presented in Octopath is a joy to experience. This fact makes it all the more of a shame that the various dungeons that litter the world felt generic, with a few treasure chests to open with a boss waiting at the end. Some puzzle elements in the dungeons would have gone a long way to making each environment feel different, but as it stands, they all felt nearly identical to each other.

Knowing a foe’s weakness can give you an overwhelming advantage in battle and sometimes, such an edge is absolutely required to succeed.

Just as Bravely Default before it, Octopath Traveler is a reimagining of a classic formula, packaged to feel new and exciting. Even though the issues with its character interactions and lackluster dungeon designs holds it back from true greatness, the likeable cast of characters and a deeply satisfying combat engine makes it one that’s easily recommendable to just about anyone with a Switch.

Fun Tidbit – I would say my favorite characters were Tressa/Cyrus and my favorite story arc was Primrose’s.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.