( Source)Īnd, yes, I am aware that more characters in a game is not always better. All of the characters are fun, their stories are enjoyable, and it makes for a fantastic gaming experience. As I said above, the big focus of Octopath Traveler is the focus on character arcs. While we’re on the subject of characters, how about having some more of them? “But Jared, it’s called Octopath Traveler! EIGHT paths, for eight characters.” Hear me out. They did a great job focusing on the characters for their first outing, let’s see them make a unified story out of these disparate threads now. Likewise, during cutscenes, acknowledge that the other characters actually exist. Keep the focus on each character’s story, but have more connecting each character’s story. Ultimately, the way I feel like to improve upon this would be a more developed, overarching story connecting the individual character plot threads. Again, while it does great things in terms of allowing each character a time to shine and develop, it does make things feel a little disjointed. The party members team up to help each other just because. Likewise, because the game is eight different stories going on simultaneously, it doesn’t feel as cohesive as some other JRPGs could be. While granted, it does lend itself to doing solo character runs. While the game does have some dialogue options that show the other party members are around during each chapter, each character’s story is effectively segregated from the others, despite the characters clearly being present, and that is something that I feel takes away from the game experience. Imagine your chosen character showing up to the big boss fight of the chapter, taunting them for daring to come to the fight alone, despite three other characters being around. The problem arises when you get to elements of each character’s story, and the cutscenes and plot talk about them being all alone, despite having an entire adventuring party with them. The whole game is about how each of them grows and learns in the face of adversity. None of the eight party members are the main character, because all of them are the main character. The good thing about this is that it gives each character a time to shine in the game. While there is a final, closing quest and boss fight that ties together the greater plots of all these tales, there is effectively eight different mini-stories going on in the game. You don’t even necessarily have to recruit all of the characters in order to go through the game. Each character has their own independent story, which can be completed in pretty much any order. The way the game is set up, you are journeying around the land of Orsterra, with eight different characters. But with how great the first game is, what could they do to make a sequel to Octopath Traveler even better? More Interaction Between The StoriesĪs much as I love Octopath Traveler, there is one major complaint that I have, and it’s one that is almost universal: the characters don’t really interact within the context of their own stories. Although, they have said it won’t be released for a long time. With how well the game did, SquareEnix has stated they are working on a sequel. Shortly after release, physical copies of the game were almost impossible to find. Much to SquareEnix’s surprise, the game wound up being a big hit, selling over two million copies. I love the game, and I’m not the only one. It not only was the reason I got a Switch, but I think it was the first game I ever preordered. And since it was initially a Switch exclusive, well, obviously I needed a Switch for it. A JRPG by SquareEnix that is inspired by Final Fantasy 6 and focuses on specific character story arcs? I definitely needed that. That all changed when I saw the early trailers for Octopath Traveler. There was a gigantic list of games I wanted to track down and check out already, so why would I want to add new games to the list? ( Source) Heck, I had just gotten a Gamecube when Nintendo officially announced the Switch. But at that point, I had been working on my vintage game collection. I, however, was not one of those people.ĭon’t get me wrong, I love Zelda, and I thought Breath of the Wild looked amazing. For a lot of people, Zelda is a great reason to get Nintendo’s newest console. Zelda is one of Nintendo’s most beloved franchises, and Breath of the Wild was built as the biggest, most open Zelda game ever. For a lot of the early adopters of the Nintendo Switch, Breath of the Wild was the game that sold them on the console.
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