Octopath Traveller

[Maf]

I mean, I don’t like to point it out, but I believe honesty is the best policy and if I don’t do it who will

[bellow]

Ooh, my copy of Astral chain has arrived, and I've saved just before Haanit's final boss. I'll push thru tonight and then park this until I'm done with astral, and the new Zelda.

 

Four final bosses left after Haanit.

[bellow]

Just a note to anyone thinking of taking on this magnificent beast, finish your lead character's story first.

 

You get bonuses for certain characters that effing rock. 

 

Implementing them made H'aanit's final boss a trifling inconvenience.

[bellow]

And that's it!

 

8 stories seen thru to the bitter end, finishing with Primrose, the dancer, whose story was one of bloody revenge and fancy pants theatre folk. Pretty much the toughest final boss of the 8, I thought, mainly because he kept casting silence, which interrupts your specials because they use MP, even the purely physical attacks.

 

But, yeah, a top notch game for the Switch. Nice graphics, and an addictive, original take on the turn based format.

 

It has an after game, and I've already taken on and beaten some if the high level optional dungeons and their bosses, but I never feel my heart is in it when the story is done. Got 95 hours and about 8 months out of it, so can hardly complain.

 

Probably just about prefer the bravely series over this, as the long, winding narrative and evolving relationships between the characters appeals to me more than these little, rather simple vignettes. But that's a complaint aired many times in many reviews, and I'm sure Square Enix will take it on board for a sequel. Great game though.

[Maryokutai]

As I'm currently going through my backlog I decided to give this a go late last night/early this morning. Talk about a good first impression – this really hits all the right notes for me. I knew the visuals were wonderful but it would be unfair to not point it out again. Combat is an enjoyable and very classic affair and the boost feature is miles better than the weird Brave/Default system in my opinion.

 

I'm sure someone found the perfect order to pick characters but I just went with my guts feeling and started off with the huntress because she uses a bow and can catch animals like Pokémon. I've finished her first chapter now – which I actually did like quite a bit – and am en route to the snowy landscape to recruit (?) the lady with the staff.

 

So far quite impressed, can't wait to see more.

[mfnick]

Made a start on this now it’s on Xbox and Game Pass. I’ve put in about 5 hours and absolutely loving it so far. I’ve done 3 characters intros, the magic guy, the trader, the healer and just about to move onto the next. 
 

I really like the way it does these little individual stories to introduce you to them & I am adoring the graphical style and battle system is brilliant. The BP system is really satisfying when you set a chain off. Liking being able to see weaknesses and such too. 
 

Great game so far.

[mfnick]

Up to around 17 hours now, in short I’m still having a brill time with it. 
 

Got the 8 characters now & done 2 of the 2nd chapters. Got to say Primrose the dancer character has been the standout so far. Pretty damn dark! Impressively so. Rooting for her and the people she meets more than any others. Her support abilities have made my Cleric and Knight characters into proper beasts too. 

[Maryokutai]

Her main theme is also excellent and that's saying much when most of the OST is superb.

 

As one can see a couple of posts previously I was also blown away by the initial hours of this game. I don't think I've played many JRPGs that start off so strongly and immediately give you access to a bunch of features (as far as the battle system is concerned). Unfortunately I think its repetitive structure (not content) kind of holds it back later on. I paused it in Chapter 4 I think and have yet to go back. But it's not one of those "I probably never will" games though, I'm definitely planning to give this another go when the time is right. Thankfully there's an expansive questlog with all the important story events.

[bellow]

I think that's how I played it, a few months off, then a little grind to get back into it before resuming. I do remember getting obsessed with the game as my characters started to kick arse all over the map, trying out some hidden areas and optional bosses. Great game. I was rather looking forward to the new bravely game, but the demos (and subsequent reports of difficulty balancing issues in the reviews) put me off.

[mfnick]

20 hours in and just found my first secondary job! Didn’t even know that was a thing. This changes everything, exploiting weaknesses just got a lot easier. 
 

Ive not done any grinding as yet, but I’ve not used Cyrus’ reduce encounter ability & not avoided any battles and have been just the right level for each new act so far. Had some very challenging battles but scraped through. Satisfying.

[mfnick]

Completed last night. Overall I really liked it. Obviously some of the 8 stories are much better than others but even the bad ones kept me entertained enough to keep me going. At least 3 of them were great. I enjoyed the fact they were small, personal stories too, not the usual end of the world or amnesia stuff.
 

Spoiler

Until the true end that is. But that I only found out after completing and googling it. How the fuck you were supposed to find out about the optional ending without googling I’ll never know. Really obtuse. Just having it be a wall of text linking them together after the boss rush was shit too. Surely they could have incorporated it into the stories as they went along. Left a bit of a sour taste. 

 

Highlights right to the end were the battle system and visuals. Although some enemies and dungeons were basically palette swaps which was disappointing but I was always excited to see the next areas and enemies.

I wish they’d have let me have the later jobs earlier too. They were brilliant but I didn’t think I had enough time to really enjoy having them as you have to be such a high level to get them and they’re so late in the game. 
 

Last complaint

Spoiler

goes back to the true ending. Basically can’t do it without grinding for hours. Unlike anything else in the game it forces you to use a party of characters you won’t have levelled up properly. I had 3 ultra powerful characters I used all the way through who also carried the weaker ones during their stories that basically wiped the floor with everything I came across including all the boss rush enemies (which is also bullshit, hate boss rushes, so boring and lazy) then at the end it throws that curveball at me. I’ve got 4 characters which are at least 15 levels too low so fuck that. Just going to YouTube it. 

 

Even with my complaints I still loved the game overall though. Basically a joy until that end bit.

 

8/10

 

Edit - just got to share this too. I kept getting a stupid glitch where the foreground trees wouldn’t disappear when near in forest areas. Funny but also fucking annoying. 
Just look at this bullshit. During a story moment and gameplay while walking around. Basically I’m behind that big shadowy mess - which is a tree btw -running blind.