T.G. Oskar
2018-07-25, 06:02 AM
So, it's been about two weeks since its official release, so...who plays or owns Octopath Traveler? *raises hand*
For those of you that don't know, Octopath Traveler (weird name, yeah, I know) is a new game from Square-Enix exclusive for the Nintendo Switch (so, you can either play it at home, or take it with you). It's an old-school RPG that mingles some of the old with some of the new, and it has references to other S-E games, such as Romancing SaGa or Bravely Default.
The story goes as follows: you choose from one of eight characters, each with its particular traits and quirks, their own class (which determines their weapon selection and abilities), and play their stories (in a nod to the SaGa series). The game's story is VERY character-driven, and you learn a little bit more from the world by playing the stories from each of the characters; unlike in SaGa, where the other protagonists are merely guests, you HAVE to play each of the stories to reach the end of the game (fortunately, each character has only four Chapters, and each chapter can be completed in about 15 minutes, so it's not a very long game). The following are the eight characters you can play as.
Ophilia is a Cleric of the Sacred Flame, the main religion in the land of Orsterra. Adopted by the eventual Archbishop of the Church of the Sacred Flame after her parents perished in a non-descript war, Ophilia was raised alongside her adoptive sister, Lianna, to become a Cleric. Lianna is to undertake a ritual known as the Kindling, which has to be done every certain amount of time. After noticing that her adoptive father is too sick, and that her adoptive sister is distraught, Ophilia undergoes the pilgrimage on her stead. She travels the world to complete the ritual of the Kindling and the pilgrimage itself. As a Cleric, Ophilia has access to healing and Light-element magic. Her Path Ability is "Guide", which allows you to convince people to follow you, and also to fight for you using her signature ability, Summon.
Cyrus is a Scholar, a private tutor to the monarchy of Atlasdam. He's extremely intelligent and highly deductive, though a bit dense in other things. After realizing a book about a forgotten religion from a fallen kingdom (a bit of a spoiler on its own right), Cyrus pulls off a Sherlock and investigates the matter. He realizes there are more books missing, and by happenstance, one of her students, unwittingly, frames him for indecent approaches with one of her students. He's forced to take a sabbatical, which is perfect for him, as it allows him to adventure. As a Scholar, he's basically a Mage, with access to Fire, Ice and Lightning spells, as well as the ability to Analyze enemy weaknesses. His Path Ability is "Scrutinize", where you pester people to figure out their darkest secrets, with a chance of failure. His signature ability, Study Foe, lets you learn a new weakness at the beginning of battle, which is great since hitting weaknesses is invaluable in this game.
Therion is a Thief, and a very skilled one at that. After parting ways with his former partner in crime, Therion is goaded to enter a heavily-protected residence, where untold riches are presumably stored. Unfortunately, Therion, despite being cool and everything, is duped by the owner of the house and branded with a mark that hails him as a failure. To restore his...ahem, "honor", Therion agrees to aid the lady of the house in the search for three mythical Dragon Stones. In exchange, he gets the mark removed. As a Thief, he gets to...well, steal, except he's also a saboteur that imposes debuffs on the enemy. He also somehow gets a Fire spell, for odd reasons. His Path Ability is...well, "Steal", which lets you...steal things. You have a chance of failure, of course, but you can get very rare items from people this way. His signature ability, Pick Locks, lets you open special treasure chests that often hold valuable treasures.
Olberic is a Warrior, a former Knight of the Kingdom of Hornburg (*snicker*), known as the "Unbending Blade" (*snicker snicker*). A skllled warrior, he sees as a friend and his equal in combat, the knight Erhardt, murders his liege in front of him, and defeats him in a duel. With no reason to live, he becomes a mercenary, living off as hired muscle in a small village, training its watchmen and protecting the place. After a group of bandits kidnap a young boy he's grown fond of (stop thinking that, you!), he hears about the whereabouts of someone who may know about Erhardt. With renewed determination, Olberic travels to find Erhardt, ask him the reason for his betrayal, and understand the reason why he "wields his blade" (...jeez, stop with the innuendo!). As a Warrior, Olberic has both Sword and Spear techniques, as well as an aggro skill and two self-buffs; unlike the rest of the characters, Olberic does not have access to magic at first. His Path Action is "Challenge", which allows him to....ahem, challenge almost anybody to a duel, fighting one-on-one as a normal battle (with no penalties for losing), so as long as he's the right level. His signature ability, Bolster Defenses, alows him to use one of the features of the game, Boost Points (BP) to increase his defense and protect allies.
Primrose is a Dancer, and the lone survivor of the noble house Azelhart. After she witnesses her father's murder by three people with the tattoo of a crow, she swears to kill them all. She uses her talents and beauty to become a skilled dancer, entering into service with a very horrible man. Eventually, she finds the whereabouts of one of the men, and pursues him, but at the cost of a dear friend. After cutting ties with her former master (literally and figuratively; you fight him as the boss of her first Chapter), she pursues the three men, to have her revenge. As a Dancer, Primrose buffs allies, and has access to Dark elemental spells. Her Path Ability is "Allure", which lets you seduce men (and women...hey, she's hot enough to make anyone fall for her!) to follow her and fight for her, though she has a chance of failure. As you might notice, she's a more dubious counterpart of Ophilia, down to her signature ability ALSO being Summon.
Alfyn is an Apothecary, which in this case is essentially a pharmacist and a doctor combined into one. Alfyn is too good for his own good, after a traveling apothecary heals him and saves his life. He's torn betwen duty and a longing to find his inspiration, but when the little sister of his best friend falls ill, he travels forth to find the source of the venom and create a cure (a miraculous cure, at that!) Eventually, his longing wins him over, and he leaves his town to pursue the man who inspired him to become an apothecary in the first place. As an Apothecary, he has a variety of healing skills (not spells!), some Axe techniques, and a single Ice spell (for some odd reason, just like Therion has a Fire spell). His Path Ability is "Inquire", allowing him to use social engineering to find out secrets just by chit-chat (much like Cyrus, except he doesn't pester them); he can't do so unless he's at the right level, but his action always works. His signature ability is Concoct, which allows you to create poultices and alchemical effects by combining reagents you find in your adventures.
Tressa is a Merchant, with an eye for bargains and rare items. Living with her parents (themselves merchants as well, in a trade town), Tressa lives a rather normal, productive life...that is, until a mysterious traveler appears in town, and pirates steal everything. Using her wits, Tressa infiltrates the pirate's hideout and defeats them, restoring the town's goods and learning that her mysterious benefactor was none other than a legendary pirate. After taking a diary as a gift, Tressa gets the bug of adventuring, and becomes a traveling merchant, eager to write up her own story of discovery. As a Merchant, Tressa is...odd. She has Wind spells (and the names of the spells are puns), she can Collect money from enemies, Rest to recover herself, donate BP to enemies...she's a grab-bag of skills with little to no unifying factor between each. Her Path Ability is "Purchase", whihc allows her to...well, buy items from people (unlike Therion, who steals them). Costs for these items are sometimes exorbitant, but you can get some good deals out of it, and sometimes, if her level's high enough, she can get some sweet bargains that reduce the overall price. Her signature ability is Eye for Money, which grants you a random amount of money every time you enter a new area (don't know the actual mechanics, but it seems to be based off battles)
H'aanit is a Huntress with a very archaic form of speech. Her teacher and master left her to hunt a vicious beast, and she took upon the task of protecting her village. She believes in balance, where nature gives and takes only what its needed, and that humans are (sometimes) too greedy, destroying nature as they consume beyond what they need. After fighting a monster that took over a neighboring woodland, her master's animal companion finds her, and she takes the task of following him (though, she believes she might have gotten into a form of trouble other than actual danger). As a Huntress, H'aanit has a handful of bow techniques, a Lightning spell (for some reason), and other hunter-related abilities. Her Path Ability is "Provoke", where you essentially bully people into fighting you, with a loss of reputation if you lose the battle (unlike Olberic). Her signature ability is Beast Lore, which allows you to capture beasts and eventually use them in battle.
So yeah: you end up with an usurper, a dense professor accused of flirting with his students, a thief, a bully, an "exotic" dancer fighting against the sex work industry, a real nice guy, an airheaded girl, and an eco-terrorist bully. Gentlemen, your protagonists!
..And yes, the initials of all eight travelers spell out "OCTOPATH". Yeah, the game plays fast and loose with its references.
The battle system is pretty old-school, but unique - the game uses a variant of FFX's Conditional Turn Battle system, where you can see how enemies and allies will act in the next turn, in the order they will act. Certain actions can cause allies or enemies to act faster. Each enemy has a set of weaknesses: as you strike the enemy's weaknesses, you deal slightly more damage, but most importantly, you take out the enemies' "shields", which indicate the number of hits they can take before you stagger them. This is important, as once they're staggered, the enemy loses its next turn (and its current turn, if it hasn't acted yet), and takes more damage from every attack, with weaknesses dealing maximum damage. The other key aspect here is "Boost Points", which accumulate at the rate of 1 per turn, unless you boosted in the previous turn (max of 5 BP). When you use BP, you can improve the power of your skills, or make additional attacks during the turn - using BP is crucial to the entire battle system, as it helps you stagger the enemy faster, and deal more damage or extend duration of buffs and debuffs. Finally, each character has access to one or more weapons based on its class (another nod to the SaGa series, where you could equip more than one weapon and use techniques from it, except this time techniques are class-based and not learned at-will), which alongside the spells learned through each class allow you to hit weaknesses and induce stagger. In a nod to the Bravely Default series, defeating the enemy in the first turn, without taking damage at all, and/or staggering at least one opponent gives you a 10% bonus to money (called "Leaves" here), XP or JP (which allows you to learn new skills).
Oh yeah, there's also the "Noble" and "Rogue" paths. As you may have noticed with the characters, you get a total of two sets of four Path Actions. Half of them are "Noble", meaning that people won't think ill of you, but you often need the right level to use them; these include Guide, Challenge, Inquire and Purchase (i.e., proselytizing, picking fights in a "honorable" manner, engaging in gossip and buying from people). The other half are "Rogue", meaning that you can use them at any time, but if they catch you, your reputation in the town will suffer (and eventually blocks all your path actions in the town until you grease palms in the tavern to recover it; and it's pretty expensive, I tell ya); these include Allure, Provoke, Scrutinize and Steal (i.e., seducing people, picking fights by sic'cing monsters on them, ask them questions bluntly and petty theft). Sometimes, you'll want the Noble actions (i.e. Alfyn's Inquire has a 100% chance of success, but he won't be able to ask people if they're the wrong level; Cyrus can ask people through Scrutinize, but has a chance of failure even when Alfyn can ask them directly), sometimes you'll want the Rogue actions (i.e. Therion's Steal ability has a chance of failure, but costs no money, unlike Tressa's Purchase, and things can be VERY expensive in this game). A few don't make sense, though (Olberic's Challenge is still picking a fight, except he...politely asks for a duel first, and thanks the opponent in case he wins; Cyrus' Scrutinize is no different from Alfyn's Inquire, and actually feels more like inquiring than Alfyn's glorified gossip), except to be meant as opposites.
Graphically, the game is gorgeous. Octopath uses the Unreal 4 engine, combining 2D sprites in high definition (a nod to classic SNES-era jRPGs) with beautifully rendered 3D and CGI environments. The continent of Orsterra (the name of the world of Octopath) isn't very large, but you can feel comfortable exploring every nook and cranny it has. It's a great combination of nostalgia with current gaming trends. The soundtrack is really awesome, with pumping battle themes that change based on the location you're in, though it follows the current trend of bombastic orchestral music combined with hard rock themes, leitmotifs for each character, and an assortment of soothing background themes by composer Yasunori Nishiki. It's no FFXV in terms of graphics, but it's actually better that way IMO. The game is almost fully voiced in English (as well as Japanese, if you want to hear it that way), and the translation and dubbing is pretty top-notch.
Overall, the game is a great addition to jRPG fans. Enough to allure people to buy a Switch for it (and the Switch is portable, so you can play Octopath on a huge TV screen or on the Switch screen on the go) for it, I'd say.
With that said, who was your starting protagonist? How far are you in the game? Any tips you might want to share? Found the four secret classes?
For those of you that don't know, Octopath Traveler (weird name, yeah, I know) is a new game from Square-Enix exclusive for the Nintendo Switch (so, you can either play it at home, or take it with you). It's an old-school RPG that mingles some of the old with some of the new, and it has references to other S-E games, such as Romancing SaGa or Bravely Default.
The story goes as follows: you choose from one of eight characters, each with its particular traits and quirks, their own class (which determines their weapon selection and abilities), and play their stories (in a nod to the SaGa series). The game's story is VERY character-driven, and you learn a little bit more from the world by playing the stories from each of the characters; unlike in SaGa, where the other protagonists are merely guests, you HAVE to play each of the stories to reach the end of the game (fortunately, each character has only four Chapters, and each chapter can be completed in about 15 minutes, so it's not a very long game). The following are the eight characters you can play as.
Ophilia is a Cleric of the Sacred Flame, the main religion in the land of Orsterra. Adopted by the eventual Archbishop of the Church of the Sacred Flame after her parents perished in a non-descript war, Ophilia was raised alongside her adoptive sister, Lianna, to become a Cleric. Lianna is to undertake a ritual known as the Kindling, which has to be done every certain amount of time. After noticing that her adoptive father is too sick, and that her adoptive sister is distraught, Ophilia undergoes the pilgrimage on her stead. She travels the world to complete the ritual of the Kindling and the pilgrimage itself. As a Cleric, Ophilia has access to healing and Light-element magic. Her Path Ability is "Guide", which allows you to convince people to follow you, and also to fight for you using her signature ability, Summon.
Cyrus is a Scholar, a private tutor to the monarchy of Atlasdam. He's extremely intelligent and highly deductive, though a bit dense in other things. After realizing a book about a forgotten religion from a fallen kingdom (a bit of a spoiler on its own right), Cyrus pulls off a Sherlock and investigates the matter. He realizes there are more books missing, and by happenstance, one of her students, unwittingly, frames him for indecent approaches with one of her students. He's forced to take a sabbatical, which is perfect for him, as it allows him to adventure. As a Scholar, he's basically a Mage, with access to Fire, Ice and Lightning spells, as well as the ability to Analyze enemy weaknesses. His Path Ability is "Scrutinize", where you pester people to figure out their darkest secrets, with a chance of failure. His signature ability, Study Foe, lets you learn a new weakness at the beginning of battle, which is great since hitting weaknesses is invaluable in this game.
Therion is a Thief, and a very skilled one at that. After parting ways with his former partner in crime, Therion is goaded to enter a heavily-protected residence, where untold riches are presumably stored. Unfortunately, Therion, despite being cool and everything, is duped by the owner of the house and branded with a mark that hails him as a failure. To restore his...ahem, "honor", Therion agrees to aid the lady of the house in the search for three mythical Dragon Stones. In exchange, he gets the mark removed. As a Thief, he gets to...well, steal, except he's also a saboteur that imposes debuffs on the enemy. He also somehow gets a Fire spell, for odd reasons. His Path Ability is...well, "Steal", which lets you...steal things. You have a chance of failure, of course, but you can get very rare items from people this way. His signature ability, Pick Locks, lets you open special treasure chests that often hold valuable treasures.
Olberic is a Warrior, a former Knight of the Kingdom of Hornburg (*snicker*), known as the "Unbending Blade" (*snicker snicker*). A skllled warrior, he sees as a friend and his equal in combat, the knight Erhardt, murders his liege in front of him, and defeats him in a duel. With no reason to live, he becomes a mercenary, living off as hired muscle in a small village, training its watchmen and protecting the place. After a group of bandits kidnap a young boy he's grown fond of (stop thinking that, you!), he hears about the whereabouts of someone who may know about Erhardt. With renewed determination, Olberic travels to find Erhardt, ask him the reason for his betrayal, and understand the reason why he "wields his blade" (...jeez, stop with the innuendo!). As a Warrior, Olberic has both Sword and Spear techniques, as well as an aggro skill and two self-buffs; unlike the rest of the characters, Olberic does not have access to magic at first. His Path Action is "Challenge", which allows him to....ahem, challenge almost anybody to a duel, fighting one-on-one as a normal battle (with no penalties for losing), so as long as he's the right level. His signature ability, Bolster Defenses, alows him to use one of the features of the game, Boost Points (BP) to increase his defense and protect allies.
Primrose is a Dancer, and the lone survivor of the noble house Azelhart. After she witnesses her father's murder by three people with the tattoo of a crow, she swears to kill them all. She uses her talents and beauty to become a skilled dancer, entering into service with a very horrible man. Eventually, she finds the whereabouts of one of the men, and pursues him, but at the cost of a dear friend. After cutting ties with her former master (literally and figuratively; you fight him as the boss of her first Chapter), she pursues the three men, to have her revenge. As a Dancer, Primrose buffs allies, and has access to Dark elemental spells. Her Path Ability is "Allure", which lets you seduce men (and women...hey, she's hot enough to make anyone fall for her!) to follow her and fight for her, though she has a chance of failure. As you might notice, she's a more dubious counterpart of Ophilia, down to her signature ability ALSO being Summon.
Alfyn is an Apothecary, which in this case is essentially a pharmacist and a doctor combined into one. Alfyn is too good for his own good, after a traveling apothecary heals him and saves his life. He's torn betwen duty and a longing to find his inspiration, but when the little sister of his best friend falls ill, he travels forth to find the source of the venom and create a cure (a miraculous cure, at that!) Eventually, his longing wins him over, and he leaves his town to pursue the man who inspired him to become an apothecary in the first place. As an Apothecary, he has a variety of healing skills (not spells!), some Axe techniques, and a single Ice spell (for some odd reason, just like Therion has a Fire spell). His Path Ability is "Inquire", allowing him to use social engineering to find out secrets just by chit-chat (much like Cyrus, except he doesn't pester them); he can't do so unless he's at the right level, but his action always works. His signature ability is Concoct, which allows you to create poultices and alchemical effects by combining reagents you find in your adventures.
Tressa is a Merchant, with an eye for bargains and rare items. Living with her parents (themselves merchants as well, in a trade town), Tressa lives a rather normal, productive life...that is, until a mysterious traveler appears in town, and pirates steal everything. Using her wits, Tressa infiltrates the pirate's hideout and defeats them, restoring the town's goods and learning that her mysterious benefactor was none other than a legendary pirate. After taking a diary as a gift, Tressa gets the bug of adventuring, and becomes a traveling merchant, eager to write up her own story of discovery. As a Merchant, Tressa is...odd. She has Wind spells (and the names of the spells are puns), she can Collect money from enemies, Rest to recover herself, donate BP to enemies...she's a grab-bag of skills with little to no unifying factor between each. Her Path Ability is "Purchase", whihc allows her to...well, buy items from people (unlike Therion, who steals them). Costs for these items are sometimes exorbitant, but you can get some good deals out of it, and sometimes, if her level's high enough, she can get some sweet bargains that reduce the overall price. Her signature ability is Eye for Money, which grants you a random amount of money every time you enter a new area (don't know the actual mechanics, but it seems to be based off battles)
H'aanit is a Huntress with a very archaic form of speech. Her teacher and master left her to hunt a vicious beast, and she took upon the task of protecting her village. She believes in balance, where nature gives and takes only what its needed, and that humans are (sometimes) too greedy, destroying nature as they consume beyond what they need. After fighting a monster that took over a neighboring woodland, her master's animal companion finds her, and she takes the task of following him (though, she believes she might have gotten into a form of trouble other than actual danger). As a Huntress, H'aanit has a handful of bow techniques, a Lightning spell (for some reason), and other hunter-related abilities. Her Path Ability is "Provoke", where you essentially bully people into fighting you, with a loss of reputation if you lose the battle (unlike Olberic). Her signature ability is Beast Lore, which allows you to capture beasts and eventually use them in battle.
So yeah: you end up with an usurper, a dense professor accused of flirting with his students, a thief, a bully, an "exotic" dancer fighting against the sex work industry, a real nice guy, an airheaded girl, and an eco-terrorist bully. Gentlemen, your protagonists!
..And yes, the initials of all eight travelers spell out "OCTOPATH". Yeah, the game plays fast and loose with its references.
The battle system is pretty old-school, but unique - the game uses a variant of FFX's Conditional Turn Battle system, where you can see how enemies and allies will act in the next turn, in the order they will act. Certain actions can cause allies or enemies to act faster. Each enemy has a set of weaknesses: as you strike the enemy's weaknesses, you deal slightly more damage, but most importantly, you take out the enemies' "shields", which indicate the number of hits they can take before you stagger them. This is important, as once they're staggered, the enemy loses its next turn (and its current turn, if it hasn't acted yet), and takes more damage from every attack, with weaknesses dealing maximum damage. The other key aspect here is "Boost Points", which accumulate at the rate of 1 per turn, unless you boosted in the previous turn (max of 5 BP). When you use BP, you can improve the power of your skills, or make additional attacks during the turn - using BP is crucial to the entire battle system, as it helps you stagger the enemy faster, and deal more damage or extend duration of buffs and debuffs. Finally, each character has access to one or more weapons based on its class (another nod to the SaGa series, where you could equip more than one weapon and use techniques from it, except this time techniques are class-based and not learned at-will), which alongside the spells learned through each class allow you to hit weaknesses and induce stagger. In a nod to the Bravely Default series, defeating the enemy in the first turn, without taking damage at all, and/or staggering at least one opponent gives you a 10% bonus to money (called "Leaves" here), XP or JP (which allows you to learn new skills).
Oh yeah, there's also the "Noble" and "Rogue" paths. As you may have noticed with the characters, you get a total of two sets of four Path Actions. Half of them are "Noble", meaning that people won't think ill of you, but you often need the right level to use them; these include Guide, Challenge, Inquire and Purchase (i.e., proselytizing, picking fights in a "honorable" manner, engaging in gossip and buying from people). The other half are "Rogue", meaning that you can use them at any time, but if they catch you, your reputation in the town will suffer (and eventually blocks all your path actions in the town until you grease palms in the tavern to recover it; and it's pretty expensive, I tell ya); these include Allure, Provoke, Scrutinize and Steal (i.e., seducing people, picking fights by sic'cing monsters on them, ask them questions bluntly and petty theft). Sometimes, you'll want the Noble actions (i.e. Alfyn's Inquire has a 100% chance of success, but he won't be able to ask people if they're the wrong level; Cyrus can ask people through Scrutinize, but has a chance of failure even when Alfyn can ask them directly), sometimes you'll want the Rogue actions (i.e. Therion's Steal ability has a chance of failure, but costs no money, unlike Tressa's Purchase, and things can be VERY expensive in this game). A few don't make sense, though (Olberic's Challenge is still picking a fight, except he...politely asks for a duel first, and thanks the opponent in case he wins; Cyrus' Scrutinize is no different from Alfyn's Inquire, and actually feels more like inquiring than Alfyn's glorified gossip), except to be meant as opposites.
Graphically, the game is gorgeous. Octopath uses the Unreal 4 engine, combining 2D sprites in high definition (a nod to classic SNES-era jRPGs) with beautifully rendered 3D and CGI environments. The continent of Orsterra (the name of the world of Octopath) isn't very large, but you can feel comfortable exploring every nook and cranny it has. It's a great combination of nostalgia with current gaming trends. The soundtrack is really awesome, with pumping battle themes that change based on the location you're in, though it follows the current trend of bombastic orchestral music combined with hard rock themes, leitmotifs for each character, and an assortment of soothing background themes by composer Yasunori Nishiki. It's no FFXV in terms of graphics, but it's actually better that way IMO. The game is almost fully voiced in English (as well as Japanese, if you want to hear it that way), and the translation and dubbing is pretty top-notch.
Overall, the game is a great addition to jRPG fans. Enough to allure people to buy a Switch for it (and the Switch is portable, so you can play Octopath on a huge TV screen or on the Switch screen on the go) for it, I'd say.
With that said, who was your starting protagonist? How far are you in the game? Any tips you might want to share? Found the four secret classes?