Customer Ratings & Reviews

One thing the Super Nintendo is fondly remembered for is its role playing games - titles like Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger, or Secret of Mana. These games are story-driven and have you play as a cast of characters usually working to save the world from a great evil. The games generally had beautiful, if blocky, artwork, and unique, menu driven combat. A new game has been released on Nintendo Switch, called Octopath Traveler, which celebrates this tradition. Rather than the one epic story that most games like it deliver, Octopath Traveler is more like a collection of eight short stories, all set in the same land. You choose one character to start as, and as you journey on, you’ll come across the seven other characters available to play. Each character has four chapters, which each take an hour or two and finish in a dramatic battle which are tailored to that character’s particular strengths or weaknesses. The characters include a knight-errant who is searching for the man who killed his king, a cleric on a religious pilgrimage, and a woman who escapes slavery to find the people who murdered her parents. Just as engaging as the stories in the game is the combat. The game requires a lot of strategy in battles, but thankfully the game doesn’t hide very much information from you. When you strike an enemy with something that they are weak with, the game will let you know - and if you do this enough, the enemy’s defenses will break and they will be unable to act for a turn. Balancing this with your party’s attacks and resources is the key to victory - but it often isn’t easy. The game’s art style is an homage to the games from the Super Nintendo era - characters look like they could have come directly from that console, and while the environments are all 3D, they are layered with pixellated textures, giving the world a cohesive look that, while looking modern, also evokes the feeling of those older games. Octopath Traveler isn’t perfect - I wish the characters’ story lines intersected more - but it’s a beautiful game, in its story,its music, and its artwork.

At first i was hesitant about how good the game could be, i mean great graphics , good enough combat and nice music, i thought i have played the demo and the prologue a lot it will be the same that happen to me with destiny but no way adter playing it for around 20 hrs i am deeply in love with this game it is like FF6 but different but at the same time it brings a lot of nostalgia try it out

This game is really good. It’s almost like chrono trigger for the snes. Excellent gameplay mechanics and good story. The boss fights really make you strategize. Be ok with dying a little bit, but learn from the defeats. Must buy for any switch owner that loves jrpg’s.

This game is very beautiful. Full of nostalgia. It handles itself like an old school JRPG but with some nice indie graphics and a very smooth game play. Already put in 2 hours of gameplay and expect a good 80+ hours to come.

I was so happy to finally purchase Octopath Traveler. The game is awesome!

The characters stories are great, with an excellent visual style looks and music.

Pros *Right out of the gate, the mix of pixel art and 3d come together for a very pleasing aesthetic. *Combat System is fun and engaging as you'll have to discover your foe's weaknesses and exploit them properly to maximize your damage output, and minimize damage that you take. *The Job System allows you to mix and match abilities between your characters, allowing you much freedom to create a party that suits your playstyle. *The music is very catchy and memorable. *The game is structured so that you can pick it up and play in short bursts and still feel like you're making meaningful progress. Cons *While some characters have more interesting stories than others, the separation of your characters that occurs while you are completing Story Chapters can be jarring. For example, while you are doing a particular character's story, NONE of your other party members will be present in any of the cutscenes. There is a "Travelers Banter" option that lets you see some character interaction outside of cutscenes, and while it is a nice feature, it could have been better implemented. *Difficulty will sometimes spike in certain areas even if you're within the recommended level, and also some bosses can feel trivially easy while others can be brutal. *While you do have a lot of freedom in who you have in your party, if two of your characters have Path Actions that overlap, you'll be at a disadvantage. *Path Actions in general don't seem that well balanced. For example: I've noticed Therion can regularly Steal with 100% efficiency (negating the usefulness of the Purchase Path Action, while Primrose can struggle to even have a 60% chance of Alluring NPCs that aren't even near her level of Strength. All in all, this is a solid game deserving of anyone's time, especially if you are a fan of Old School RPG games.

Typically, I'm not into rpg's with turn based battles. I remember years ago when n64 was near the end of its life cycle i bought paper mario. I love mario games! So i purchased it and when i brought it home i was upset to find a different kind of mario altogether. I didnt play it for months but eventually gave it a shot for real, and loved it! I even repurchased this game when it was released on the wii shop years ago and loved it again. So ive tried other non mario rpg games. For some reason i just cant get into them. Ive tried pokemon games, final fantasy games... I just cant get into them. The only exception being child of light (great game). Octopath Traveler is a pleasent surprise. I really enjoy it. The battles are engaging, the stories are pretty darn good, and the music is awesome. And the graphics are wonderful. I didnt even want this game, i never would have it it wasnt for my bf. Glad he chose it. 20 hours in and not even half way done yet. It isnt a perfect game of course, but it is a great step forward, and backward for that matter. There is always room for improvement and am enticed to see what else is in store after this.

Did you grow up in the era of Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Legend of Mana? Well this is the RPG for you! It has the good old feel of those games and more, great character development that makes you WANT to know what happens to them (well most of them), easy to understand combat that new people can get involved but with enough added bits to make it hard to master, and with graphics and music that make you feel like you are in the olden age of RPG with a new twist, its all perfect. This isn't to say the game is 100% amazing, there is some hiccups. it will flicker and lose frames randomly in areas, most times when not a lot was going on, this is annoying but wasn't enough to break the game for me. Also there is grinding, the bane of those old time RPGs, it made it here too. If you get tired of hearing them call the same 4 lines over and over as you grind for those levels, you might want to watch out in this one. With those small problems it in no way would stop me from recommending this one to anyone I meet.

This game is an excellent rpg. Over the years as my life has become more hectic and ive had less time on my hands, rpgs have been a hard genre to keep up with. Ive found many a rpg that ive loved, but have fallen out of after 10 to 20 hours of pkaying simply because life gets hectic. This rpg has rekindled my love for the genre and is a great game for anyone who is like me that has very little time on their hands and can't really invest hundreds of hours into an rpg. The graphics, muisc, voice acting, battle system, and overall presentation is spectacular. Dont listen to those who say this game is dull, download the demo on the eshop and try it for yourself!

Purchased this before an extensive business trip where I knew I'd have a lot of downtime late in the evening, plus 25+ hours on a plane. Really a fantastic game overall. Good story (writing is a bit funky in places) and the art is stunning. The mix of a painted-look 2D with 3D movement still grabs me. Game is actually more fun to play in bursts - the "chapters" (24 main chapters; 4 for each of 8 characters) play really well as an hour or so of concentrated game play and then the remainder time is good for exploring/adventuring/leveling. Initially a bit hard, depending on the character you start with. The game is slightly unforgiving in the beginning because it cannot necessarily tailor the game to who you have in the party past the first one. That said, once you get 3 people it gets better and 4+ you are pretty able to do what you need. Highly recommended. I'm still not finished, although I do tend to go slow in games to enjoy and savor them.

It's a great game! I personally love pixel art and the music is beautifully arranged. I only have 10+ hours into the game and I've started 4 of the 8 character's storylines and I like the way you can direct the adventure. I began with the warrior, adventured to the merchant, backtracked to the dancer and moved to the apothecary and each one's story has a dynamic beginning. In my time playing I feel like grinding is inevitable to progress as every area warns you of the enemy level and my team is barely around lv.20 and I've already encountered some areas for lv.30+. I also like that each character can interact with npc's differently.

As someone who has played video games for over 25 years, dabbling with Atari as a toddler and playing on the NES from the age of 5 before moving on to the SNES and so forth, I am quite familiar with the 16-bit graphic art style. This game has captured that art style while making it high definition for the current systems. Beyond the art style, the game play is superb, combat is a lot of fun and is difficult enough to keep you on your toes but never feel overwhelming like some of the new "hardcore" genre that came back to like when Dark Souls was released. The stories of each character are above good but less than amazing, never surprising but not bad at all and never quite tying in to each other but entertaining all the same. For experienced JRPG gamers this game will probably take about 32 hours or so for the main game. For less experienced gamers it will most likely take longer,and completionists could easily spend 50+ hours on the game. Well worth the buy in my opinion.

Octopath Traveler is the JRPG I’ve been long dreaming of. It’s a turn-based JRPG that takes 16-bit visuals and makes them modern with lovely lighting effects, stunning music and, best of all, twists and ideas that give it depth and life. Octopath refers to the eight playable characters, all of whom have unique stories. The combat system is an exciting and unique part of the game that takes a standard turn-based RPG & elevates with the boost system. On top of magic and health, each character also has BP (boost points) and these add a tactical element that greater depth to strategy involved into gameplay. Overall there is so much packed into this game that it’s easy to play for hours and still wanting to play some more. I can’t get enough of this game!!!!!

3.5/5 I'll get the biggest problem of the game out of the way: you're going to go through the exact same pattern of gameplay 32 times. This level of repetition ruined Bravely Default (also from this developer--it seems old habits die hard), but somehow Octopath Traveler is able to maintain momentum. Perhaps it's the storylines, trope-laden as they are, which satisfyingly build throughout, or the most likely reason: the combat system. Octopath has an engaging battle system that is consistently fun and strategic through to the end, although it is easily busted with magic classes and SP reduction/regeneration. The job system has been heavily praised, but I found it to be a huge downside--prepare to have characters lack any sort of identity, and with only 8 classes (4 additional towards the end), there just isn't much variety. The visuals are also a mixed bag. At times they are fantastic, truly conveying a pixelized diorama of our childhoods. Most of the time, they're dark, blurry, and muddy, so it's not a particularly attractive game overall. The music is consistently fantastic, however. Octopath Traveler is a good game that will hopefully lead to a better sequel, but as it is it does not stand up to the RPGs of yesterday, no matter how hard it tries to look and feel like one. Go in without heightened expectations and you may be surprised by its charm.

There has to be something said, when you make a game looks so new yet so old at the same time. The art style and direction it took is great, It some how manages to give that old school look we all love, but jazz it up to look new. Just on that alone it makes it a joy to see. Then the gameplay, wow. It's your standard RPG with a twist. Depending on who you pick at the start can me the difference between playing an action RPG to a tactical one. And last is the story, which I can't say much without ruining it. But trust me when I say its a play through, or even two or three.

If you hate random encounters, turn based RPGs, AND cliche predictable stories - then stop right here and save yourself $60 But if you like that old school Square Enix RPG formula, grinding, and stealing items from helpless NPCs then this is the game for you The Bad - Most of the story lines are awful and the English voice acting is horrendous but the latter is remedied by turning in Japanese voices - Grinding for levels is monotonous as it's necessary to beat the game unless you speedrun it The Good - Interesting fight system - Great soundtrack - Background visuals are pretty - Good timesink

This game has the graphics of a hd version of the classic 2D era which in a way looks like a pop up book which is really neat. There’s eight main protagonists to choose from. The battle system is nice and so is the story. Definitely a great jrpg that actually is tough once you progress further in the story. Would recommend to hardcore rpg fans.

I'm actually not a fan of turn-based JRPGs at all, but I bought Octopath Traveler on a whim and it hooked me pretty quickly. The battle system is exciting and strategic, the graphics are gorgeous and the soundtrack is beautiful. The game is broken into 32 distinct chapters, so it's easy to play on your Switch in portable for 1-2 hours at a time and feel like you've made solid progress in each play session. Appropriately, it's a great game for travel!

Many have tried, many have failed. While there are a lot of games like Octopath Traveler, games trying to rekindle the nostalgia we have for classics such as Chrono Trigger and Earthbound, Octopath Traveler actually succeeds at this and forges its own path to JRPG must have status. Each individual story is personal & done incredibly well, the combat is slick & polished, the music is outstanding, and the graphics are equal parts old school and new school. If you own a Switch, you owe it to yourself to buy Octopath Traveler.