The utter fact that it just has plenty of different playable characters that intermingle with another is SaGa enough for me. I'll take what I can get as long as it's not a mobage.
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Has the demo sold you on Octopath Traveler?
- Thread starter fluffydelusions
- Start date
One of the classes can equip a passive ability that reduces the random encounter rate.
Hadn't heard of it before this thread. Watched a video - I NEED THIS!
Go to the Switch store - search for Octopath. Nope. Search for prologue. Nope. Finally find it under 'recent releases'. Great UX.
Go to the Switch store - search for Octopath. Nope. Search for prologue. Nope. Finally find it under 'recent releases'. Great UX.
I picked the scholar and my experience felt extremely slow. Should I change it up and try a different character? I felt like it was riddled with dragged out conversations that took far too long to get the point across; every single chat bubble interrupted by unnecessary head-nod animations, all for information that could easily be conveyed using half the amount of dialogue.
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That's my feeling as well. What I loved about older RPGs is that even if their stories and writing were a little simplistic due to console limitations or whatever, for the most part their dialogue was snappy and fun. The writing in this game comes across to me as overly-wordy and uninteresting.
I enjoyed the combat and the different character skills, so I'll probably pick it up sometime, but I'm not sold on the writing.
I enjoy the art style technically but their over use of dull shades of brown and grey really make it look ugly. No idea why they went that path..
I'm excited for the game but kind of skeptical. Hopefully they tie up all the 8 characters into one tight, strong narrative, otherwise it'll feel a bit all over the place for me.
I'm excited for the game but kind of skeptical. Hopefully they tie up all the 8 characters into one tight, strong narrative, otherwise it'll feel a bit all over the place for me.
I have a quick question regarding the eight characters and how that works in relation to the main story. In the beginning I chose Ophelia, and once I beat the first part, it looked like I would be able to travel the world and recruit the others as well. So does that mean I would lose out on those other character's stories? Do you play through this game 8 times and the story is always different? I always assumed each character would have their own story, but at some point they would all converge, which should entice players to play each one until they get to that part, but that doesn't seem to be the case?
When you travel to the other characters' towns and recruit them, you get an option for them to tell their tale—i.e., play through their first chapter. So you can see 100% of every character's storyline in one playthrough.
Haven't played the new demo yet. I have friends who did and they really hated it. Said especially the vo and dialogue were really bad, as well as the combat being boring.
I haven't gotten around to it yet since I've just picked up battlechasers night war which has been pretty great for the most part.
I haven't gotten around to it yet since I've just picked up battlechasers night war which has been pretty great for the most part.
Thanks for the write up. Been considering picking up a Switch to play this and this seems to help me hold off on shelling out for it at launch. I'll probably wait for some more detailed impressions before dropping a bunch of money on another console.
The combat is way more interactive/deep than most turn-based JRPGs, and gets more so as you fill out your party. People judging it harshly after playing through the first hour with one character are so bizarre. What turn-based game holds up under such selective scrutiny? FFVI, where you have Attack, Fire, Cure, and Steal until recruiting Edgar and Sabin? lol.
VO and dialogue quality vary from path to path, but both are excellent on Primrose's. Only a couple characters felt lacking in those regards, but we've only seen the very beginning and least exciting parts of their tales.
If you enjoy Battle Chasers, which is a great turn-based RPG, you should love Octopath. Both have really fun, unique takes on the turn-based formula.
Cyrus' Scholar class gets it as his first passive, like an hour into the game. It is pretty dramatic, and scales if you have more characters with it.
The demo sorta unsold me.
It all just seemed very basic. Nothing about the writing or characterization seemed particularly interesting. Everything just felt a little lifeless and low budget. Very different from something like their Bravely Default games.
There isn't a poll option for me. I'm still interested, but I want impressions from the full version first. Reviews might not cut it either. Have a feeling they may be a little inflated with this one.
It all just seemed very basic. Nothing about the writing or characterization seemed particularly interesting. Everything just felt a little lifeless and low budget. Very different from something like their Bravely Default games.
There isn't a poll option for me. I'm still interested, but I want impressions from the full version first. Reviews might not cut it either. Have a feeling they may be a little inflated with this one.
Eh, have you played an RPG before? Do you really expect to have all members of your party and the full capabilities of combat prior to 5 hours?
Not to mention "5 hours" is a complete exaggeration for recruiting a full party of 4. If you're pushing it, you can literally recruit all 8 characters before the 3 hour time limit.
I'm okay with the tradition and all but this just feels a touch generic. I'm glad it's a throwback and all but I don't want to just play a cosplay of a forgotten 80s RPG.
Well yeah ? Series like Shin Megami Tensei and SaGa does exactly that. In FF5 you get your party under that time. Live a Live has 9 chapters and you get to recruit a team on the fly instead of waiting to unlock the other chapters for obvious reasons.
I did the 3 hours of the demo and I got the knight, the merchant and the scholar. I didn't waste my time anywhere. I'm sure you can recruit all 8 of them if you skip all the cutscenes but I'm obviously watching them since I'm not doing a speedrun. Let's consider that I need another character + I need to replace Olberic because I don't like him and it's going to take me some time in order to have a party going.
Then there's the job system unlocked in chapter 2 I believe
...All in the opening hours of an RPG we know to be 50-100 hours. In XB2, much of the combat system didn't unlock for over a dozen hours, but it was still great fun (to me), and it all unlocked with plenty of time to see usage.
If you want a full party ASAP without sacrificing any content, just recruit characters but defer playing their first chapters until you have your desired team.
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The poll needs a "Waiting for reviews, impressions of final game"
I only played the first demo (Primrose), but I enjoyed it. Not sure I want to play the second, cause I rather just wait til the game's out
I only played the first demo (Primrose), but I enjoyed it. Not sure I want to play the second, cause I rather just wait til the game's out
That's great to hear. Yeah I was super surprised to hear the negative views on Octopath from friends. Hope its just impatience towards typical jrpg trappings in the first few hours.
Decided to cancel my preorder. I just can't see myself having time/motivation to play this next month. I struggle finishing long games in general, and especially in summer. It's also something I only really enjoyed playing portably as I think it looks bad blown up on my big screen and I'm rarely every playing undocked this year.
I'll revisit down the road if it gets great reviews and I've got the itch for a long, retro styled game. I bought Golf Story recently in the eShop sale so I'll play that after I tire of Hyrule Warriors. I also have Final Fantasy 3 (6) and Chrono Trigger on my SNES classic to scratch that similar itch if needed. Also Earthbound that I've never played.
Moral of the story, I'm drowning in games and cutting back on purchases for awhile! :D
Are reviews embargoed to release for this? Hasn't it already preloaded for digital preorders? I'd think that would mean reviewers should have copies well in advance and have time to do reviews of full playthroughs by/before launch if there's not a lame embargo.
I'll revisit down the road if it gets great reviews and I've got the itch for a long, retro styled game. I bought Golf Story recently in the eShop sale so I'll play that after I tire of Hyrule Warriors. I also have Final Fantasy 3 (6) and Chrono Trigger on my SNES classic to scratch that similar itch if needed. Also Earthbound that I've never played.
Moral of the story, I'm drowning in games and cutting back on purchases for awhile! :D
Are reviews embargoed to release for this? Hasn't it already preloaded for digital preorders? I'd think that would mean reviewers should have copies well in advance and have time to do reviews of full playthroughs by/before launch if there's not a lame embargo.
I played the demo and I still am confused on how the story will play out. You can get each of the charecters and then play their opening chapter but then is the rest of the game everyone together or will I constantly be switching and doing 8 characters before moving onto the next chapter?
I haven't played the 1st demo but got through the second with 1'5 hours of gameplay. Started with the thief and got the apothecary on my team.
For starters, it has a load of JRPG tropes, as expected (e.g. over-reliance on VA and robotic animations).
The visuals look great. though they act weird on some areas (some reflections that shine the light of water directly to the camera are nice, but if that river is blurred out in the background you still get that blinding reflection in yo face).
Also, I started with the thief's backstory which was interesting and evolved a bit better into a fetch quest, then got to the apothecary and got another fetch quest. The funniest thing is that you just find the Apothecary lying around in a village mumbling to himself "I will save you from that venom poison, Lara!" and then he joins your party. Um, WHO ARE YOU.
The music is top notch: the thief's mansion, while ridiculously empty, was enchanting just for the score.
So, mixed feelings. Maybe further down the line.
For starters, it has a load of JRPG tropes, as expected (e.g. over-reliance on VA and robotic animations).
The visuals look great. though they act weird on some areas (some reflections that shine the light of water directly to the camera are nice, but if that river is blurred out in the background you still get that blinding reflection in yo face).
Also, I started with the thief's backstory which was interesting and evolved a bit better into a fetch quest, then got to the apothecary and got another fetch quest. The funniest thing is that you just find the Apothecary lying around in a village mumbling to himself "I will save you from that venom poison, Lara!" and then he joins your party. Um, WHO ARE YOU.
The music is top notch: the thief's mansion, while ridiculously empty, was enchanting just for the score.
So, mixed feelings. Maybe further down the line.
Day One for me. It's looking like a great RPG with a very distinctive graphical style and awesome soundtrack. Can't wait to get into the full game.
Hmm interesting, so does that mean they all share a similar goal by the time we recruit them? Unless they all need to travel for their own purpose? This format just seems so wild to me. Like Ophelia travels the world because she has to specifically do more of the thing she did in chapter 1 (avoiding spoilers) so what reason would any other character have to join me?
My concerns are two fold.
a) that beyond the interesting opening, that the story will be paper thin and just following tropes. I want twists and turns.
b) that the battle system is too complex. This kind of game I might drop and come back to later. if it's too complex then coming back into it will be hard. I want something simple to learn but difficult to master.
These are also the things the nintendolife preview has brought up. As a result, I went from a day one to 'wait for the reviews'. Probably for the best anyway.
a) that beyond the interesting opening, that the story will be paper thin and just following tropes. I want twists and turns.
b) that the battle system is too complex. This kind of game I might drop and come back to later. if it's too complex then coming back into it will be hard. I want something simple to learn but difficult to master.
These are also the things the nintendolife preview has brought up. As a result, I went from a day one to 'wait for the reviews'. Probably for the best anyway.
They're all helping each other through their quests, but it's confirmed they all interact with each other later in the game, so their stories might intersect later on. There are some elaborate theories on reddit on how the antagonists could be connected.
I haven't been following that much so I will probably wait for reviews on the story and a sale. Doesn't feel like a $60 game at this point but I could be wrong. Can someone confirm if we get to play all the characters in the game. Seem like it would be a bit repetitive if so.
Yes, you get to play all characters and as you recruit each one, you choose whether you want to play their intro story or not. If you choose not to, you can play it at any time later by visiting a Tavern.
I am in same camp. I really want to go back and play FF6 and see if it still holds up. I really do not remember that the dialogue was this slow.
The demo might have actually un-sold me. I'm intruged by the look and tone, but I just can't do random battles. It doesn't even matter if the actual encounter rate would be exactly the same, something in my brain is automatically frustrated by being randomly stopped while walking from point A to point B without seeing the interruption coming and having the option to (attempt to) avoid it if I'd like. (The fact that I consider it an "interruption" is in itself is part of the problem; I don't dislike the combat, but I also haven't found it particularly fun or engaging.)
Pretty much the only exception in recent years has been Undertale, but it's hard to even count that since the combat is nontraditional and used as a narrative tool.
Pretty much the only exception in recent years has been Undertale, but it's hard to even count that since the combat is nontraditional and used as a narrative tool.
For whatever it's worth, Cyrus' first passive reduces the random encounter rate.
hmm that is interesting. This makes the story even more important. Hope they nail it. I love what I played so far but will wait on reviews and possible a small discount. I'm thinking $45.
If you are an old-school RPG fan this is going to be a game that scratches that itch. Those who come from the newer school raised on FFXV and the like are probably not going to like it that much. Me, I'm in the first category, and haven't even bothered to play the second demo. The first one sold me
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