Octopath Traveler - Nintendo Switch [Digital]

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.