Octopath Traveler neatly sidesteps that through its structure so every character has genuine purpose, emotion, and motivations within their arcs. It results in a behemoth of an overall narrative that is every bit as unwieldy as other works in which the author insists on giving every character a proper arc (Game of Thrones, anyone?), but it works. As long as you've got patience for the game, you're in for some of the most potent characters you'll ever have experienced in a JRPG.
It's nice that they've all got abilities unique to them outside of combat, too, and each time you add a new character to the team, you'll want to go backtracking and see how that new character can interact with the people of previous towns. Coupled with the side quest structure, it's easy to get very lost in doing everything but the main task in those early stages of the game (that task being adding all the other characters to your party), and somehow Octopath feels open, despite being far more linear than any open would game you might have played. This openness is further exemplified by the way that your team's reputation in areas can fluctuate based on your actions. That, coupled with who is in your party, can affect storytelling moments, and the number of combinations and permutations in the game mean that if you want to experience absolutely everything, you are in for one mountain of content to climb. The best bit about that, though, is that unlike in 99 per cent of other games, none of it feels shovelled in there simply to increase the length of the game. Every moment goes to building up the very personal stories of each of the characters, and, ultimately, making you care.
