Famitsu interview - Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent devs on how it came to be, when the project started, Switch differences, more

[Zedark]

Source of translation are here.

On why they made the game:

First off, could you tell us what inspired the development of this title?

Asano: When we announced Octopath Traveler and were advertising it, we heard a lot of people say that the game "looked fun," but they "didn't have a Switch." So, we wondered: "If we developed an Octopath game for smartphones, would more people be able to play it?" That was our impetus.

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On differences between this and original OT game:

Is there any way you can concretely tell us how this game differs from the Switch title?

Yokoyama: The biggest thing would probably be how the characters themselves move. In Octopath, the player could enjoy travelling around the vast continent of Orsterra; in moving that world to smartphones, though, our goal was to eliminate any movement-related stress as much as possible. In order to achieve that, we essentially added "rails" to the game – you can move the characters by simply flicking your finger across the screen. What came from that was a much simpler movement system, while maintaining the sense of adventure that came from travelling in Octopath.

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On next console game:

Asano: We're just happy we're giving even more people a chance to explore the world of Orsterra. Also, there are probably fans that are reading this that are expecting a new console game as well; us on the Asano team have to take care of that, so we're leaving the smartphone game's development to the ever-reliable Yokoyama team! I hope that's good news to some of you.

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My personal opinion: I'm happy they are working with the full Asano team (although employees probably shift between teams) on the next console entry. I'm not an avid mobile gamer, but if they can keep the gameplay intact, it could be a good game. I would miss the exploration, which seems to have been attenuated.

Lock if old.

 

[Farrac]

This doesn't sound very promising tbh. On rails movement?

 

[GuEiMiRrIRoW]

I really loved s 1st and I regret for not getting the collectors edition.

 

[Brazil]

Ah, "the stress of movement". Right.

This entire thing seems really misguided. They'll inevitably have to port this elsewhere to find the audience they want for it. Their mobile fans are too busy playing Brave Exvius or Record Keeper.

 

[Tora]

Didn't enjoy Octopath. Stories weren't great (finished all chapter 1's for every character before stopping) and it just felt like the same thing each time: Enter town, talk to someone, go to cave, kill boss, watch cutscene, rinse and repeat.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

Ah, "the stress of movement". Right.

This entire thing seems really misguided. They'll inevitably have to port this elsewhere to find the audience they want for it. Their mobile fans are too busy playing Brave Exvius or Record Keeper.

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I would recommend using the Star controller to relieve from the stress of movement.

 

[OnanieBomb]

I would really love a sequel that ironed out the flaws.

 

[Quinton]

Didn't enjoy Octopath. Stories weren't great (finished all chapter 1's for every character before stopping) and it just felt like the same thing each time: Enter town, talk to someone, go to cave, kill boss, watch cutscene, rinse and repeat.

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I'm playing it now and the stories really start picking up in the second and third chapters.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

This just proves yet again that when modern Square makes a good game, it's a fluke

 

[Sammy Samusu]

So they are working on a sequel. Awesome! It just need to be formerly announced. I look forward to that day.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

this seems like a not so significant side project, the team is likely far into the next console game. i still want the mobile game tho, i think it would look great on a phone screen and i wouldn't mind some mindless turn-based battles when i'm bored.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Didn't enjoy Octopath. Stories weren't great (finished all chapter 1's for every character before stopping) and it just felt like the same thing each time: Enter town, talk to someone, go to cave, kill boss, watch cutscene, rinse and repeat.

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I finished two of the characters stories, made it to 4 with the rest of the characters except for two who I got to chapter 3 with, and yeah that's pretty much the game with one exception. And yeah, the stories are all pretty bad.

 

[trippyturtle]

It's only a promotional mobile game to generate hype for the sequel. A playable ad.

It's still a single-player RPG, has branching story paths & other mechanics from the Switch title, even the same composer & art-style.

Doesn't seem like a gacha cashgrab to me.

 

[Comic Obsessed]

I just wish this would come to Switch in an acceptable way. It feels like I'm going to miss stuff considering this is a prequel.

 

[Enrico25]

I'm happy for the sequel but I hope SE is also developing Bravely Third and a port of the first two..

 

[Zedark]

It's only a promotional mobile game to generate hype for the sequel. A playable ad.

It's still a single-player RPG, has branching story paths & other mechanics from the Switch title, even the same composer & art-style.

Doesn't seem like a gacha cashgrab to me.

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Yeah, the other thread had a several people calling it a 'betrayal', but to me it seemed from the get-go to be an attempt to widen the appeal of the franchise in anticipation of the next entry. With the game selling 1.5M already, it also makes a ton of sense that they would already have a sequel in the works.

 

[Zacmortar]

If only they made it have an actual real main narrative

 

[Wagram]

I like Octopath, but I hope and think Bravely Third is next.

 

[Quinho]

As it was already said here, it does look like a "playable ad" for a sequel.
Octopath is my favorite game on the switch so far, looking forward for a true sequel.

 

[Deleted member 37233]

Asano: We're just happy we're giving even more people a chance to explore the world of Orsterra. Also, there are probably fans that are reading this that are expecting a new console game as well; us on the Asano team have to take care of that, so we're leaving the smartphone game's development to the ever-reliable Yokoyama team! I hope that's good news to some of you.

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That's all I needed to hear! I don't have problems with a smartphone spin-off, if the main team is working on the next console game.

 

[Devilgunman]

Asano: When we announced Octopath Traveler and were advertising it, we heard a lot of people say that the game "looked fun," but they "didn't have a Switch." So, we wondered: "If we developed an Octopath game for smartphones, would more people be able to play it?" That was our impetus.

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Yup, straight up from PR book. You want more people to play your game? How about releasing it on every fcking thing? Or just tell those scrubs to go buy the Switch. Or he could just give a sensible answer, like, we have all these assets sitting around and we want to make more money out of them.

 

[Deleted member 10060]

Ah, "the stress of movement". Right.

This entire thing seems really misguided. They'll inevitably have to port this elsewhere to find the audience they want for it. Their mobile fans are too busy playing Brave Exvius or Record Keeper.

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I can't stand playing jrpgs on cellphone due to "the stress of movement" so this sounds great to me. A mobile game I might actually play. Probably not, but might.

 

[mutantmagnet]

This doesn't sound very promising tbh. On rails movement?

Click to shrink...

Ah, "the stress of movement". Right.

This entire thing seems really misguided. They'll inevitably have to port this elsewhere to find the audience they want for it. Their mobile fans are too busy playing Brave Exvius or Record Keeper.

Click to shrink...

I can only conclude you never played mobile games that are more involved than clicking a button. Swiping constantly is a negative. On display navigation buttons have their drawbacks which are magnified in a game like this.

 

[Brazil]

I can only conclude you never played mobile games that are more involved than clicking a button. Swiping constantly is a negative. On display navigation buttons have their drawbacks which are magnified in a game like this.

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I'm pretty sure mobile is my main gaming platform and has been for a while. There are literally hundreds of examples of good implementation of movement in mobile RPGs that they could draw inspiration from.