Trīgintā Quīnquepath Traveler
As the title that kicked off the 2D-HD movement in earnest, Octopath Traveler holds a special place in my heart, and its sequel was bigger and better than the original in every way. However, when Octopath 0 was announced, it was met with some confusion as it wasn’t actually the sequel to 2 that I was looking forward to, but a remix of the story found in the mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. At first, I was disappointed to learn of this fact but after some consideration, I decided to give it a fair shot to see if it would be a worthy entry to this beloved series.
Create a character in my octopath traveler?
MSRP: $49.99 (PC)
Platforms: PC, PS, NSW, Xbox
Steam Deck Status: Verified, played perfectly.
Length: 80~ hours
In the continent of Orsterra, there exists a small, idyllic town of Wishvale. One day, tragedy befalls the town when the Scarlet Wings, led by the hero Tytos attacks the town, massacring its citizens. As one of survivors, the MC is chosen by a powerful artifact known as the “Ring of the Flamebringer” and begins a journey to bring the ones responsible for the destruction of their home to justice and rebuild it back to its former glory.
Home is where the heart is.
The story presented in Octopath 0 unfolds in many different chapters, tackling the various people of interest across the continent. As it’s made clear the level recommendations of each of the acts in the story, it behooved me to tackle the first act of each of the available stories before moving onto the next and so on and so forth, as to either not be too under/overleveled for the content. As each of the stories tackled someone with a powerful ring of their own, it was interesting to travel to different parts of the continent and meet the various characters with their own motivations for wanting to topple tyrants. Of the first few stories, the one involving a famous playwright “Auguste” was especially memorable with its penchant for unexpected drama.
As for the overarching story at large, while there isn’t anything here, I haven’t seen before, the execution was solid and I was happy to be along for the ride from start to finish. This was largely thanks in part to many of the characters being likable, so it was easy to want to root for them. Having said that, while the characters that actually take center stage during the story were quite good, the companions that joined my part throughout the adventure were unfortunately not so great.
As character recruitment for the vast majority of the playable cast was a simple matter of running into them and doing a quest for them, I never got to learn much about their personalities and the fact that they just blend into the background during story moments made them even more forgettable. In the previous titles, the eight characters were the heart and soul of the story as their trials and tribulations throughout their journey shaped the experience. Now with over 30+ playable characters, it has very much lost the right to be called “Octopath”. Having said that, I understand that this is a reimagining of a mobile game, so it was going to be very different. I personally don’t mind too much but it’s worth bringing up for those who were looking for a similar experience to their predecessors. At least I didn’t have to take out my credit card to obtain these characters so at least we have that going for us.
While there are some exceptions near the very end of the game (and Octopath 1 cast), most of the playable cast is forgettable and I would be hard pressed to name five off the top of my head.
Another major difference compared to the previous titles is in the way the class system works. Instead of every single character being able to access different learned classes and being able to choose two different jobs at once, only the main character can have a learned chosen class and only have access to one at the same time. This alongside the fact that there are less classes available is a major downgrade in the customization departments. Initially, I absolutely hated this change and felt it was dumbing down a once great system in the worst ways.
However, as I continued playing, I understood why they made this decision and came to terms with it. First off, there are simply too many characters to juggle and having to set up dual classes for every single one of them for us would’ve been a nightmare, as would the JP required to learn all the classes. Instead, they opted for a more flexible combat engine that would field eight characters at once. With the ability to switch between the front/backrow characters without any penalty in a turn meant I was able to effectively use all 8 combatants which opened up a lot of possibilities. There were also some skills that leverage the positioning, like an attack that would be more effective when being used from the backrow, or an attack that had the character switch to the backrow after it’s been used.
I was very disappointed with the combat/class system, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit by the end.
There were also three active skills and two passive skills that could be equipped on each character to allow for some customization and while not as impactful as dual classing, it added just enough depth to allow me to create some very powerful characters. I hope this mechanic of fielding all 8 characters at once will be present in Octopath 3, with the addition of dual classes to boot for the ultimate customization/tactical options.
Equipping the right skills to be able to target the boss’ weakness often meant the difference between a struggle and a breeze.
As for the PC port, it’s a standard barebones port as usual with nothing worth mentioning but as I only suffered one crash during my lengthy 80~hour playthrough, it’s relatively stable. My experience playing on the Steamdeck was good, without any technical issues or notable slowdowns. It’s worth mentioning that the game is a visual downgrade from Octopath 2 even with everything maxed out, mostly in its simpler layers of visual effects but it’s still a nice looking game overall.
…It’s go time.
Octopath Traveler 0 is a curious game- as a sequel to Octopath 2, it’s more steps down than it is up but considering its origins as a mobile game, I’m very glad they decided to give it the single player game reimagining as the story is one well worth experiencing and the system of fielding all eight characters at once is something I’d like to see explored further in the true sequel.
Fun Tidbit: While there are a lot of reused tracks in the game, there are still many new tracks and I’m happy to report that they hold to the high standards of the series.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
