Octopath Traveler - Nintendo Switch

Great

As background for my comments, my "RPG experience" is mainly late 80s through 90s - Final Fantasy 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger. Remembering playing each of these titles for the first time or a subsequent play-through, brings back fond memories of my childhood. Working with 2 kids now, I don't keep up with video game releases as I once did, so this title was sorted into my Amazon searches after preordering Metroid Prime 4. The promise of "retro" graphics and a deep, Square-Enix RPG story was too good to pass up.I waited to write this review until I was 100% through the game, although it only took about 10 minutes to realize I was going to spend a lot of time carrying my Switch around over what would be 140 hours of playtime. All of the aforementioned titles from my youth usually involved a central villain, introduced within the first 1/3 or 1/4 of the game. Don't expect me to downplay Kefka or Sephiroth as ineffective motivation for the full cast of characters to unite and fight against. However, some of them definitely felt like +1s at a party rather than primary protagonists. With Octopath Traveler, each character has a personal backstory leading to their sole motivation to set out on a journey in the first place. Heading out on the road to find a lost book or cure a few colds could seem like less of a reason to leave ones home than avenging a witnessed, parent's murder, but for each of the characters, they end up dealing with real-world problems/debates like the Hippocratic oath, faith, knowledge sharing and sex slavery along the way. While my catalog did have Aeris, Vivi and Vincent to pluck at the heart strings, Octopath did this more often and sometimes from the secondary or tertiary characters to the game. Needless to say, I loved the story.As for the gameplay, I did find a lot of the battles refreshingly challenging. Not that my previous RPG experiences were without more difficult parts, although I don't recall wiping so many times to find a strategy that would work that was more complicated than gaining 2 levels. Also, the amount of abilities/spells/items available to each character felt just right. With some of the older titles, I felt overwhelmed at times with unnecessary bloat with useless spells or junk items. The interaction between each Traveler's spells also felt appropriate, and I did not feel like I was missing out on setting up ludicrous combinations of counter-attack materia or making my whole party reflect magic or heal when subjected to global fire damage. Balancing a secondary job with each Traveler's primary to find the best mix of spell coverage and weapon usage was plenty of strategy as to be intriguing without cumbersome, combined with sorting out quest completion steps in my head between dozens of NPCs.The retro graphics were as promised. My wife even walked by at one time and asked why the graphics looked so bad and I had to tell her it was on purpose. Again, I was looking forward to being reminded of my childhood favorite titles, and I did enjoy the subtle background and spell animations that served as a reminder that I wasn't playing SNES.Between the story(ies) and gameplay, a fan of any of the previous titles I listed should consider picking up this game.

Octopath Traveler might be one of the best games available on the Switch right now.Gameplay - 5/5The vast majority of the game will be spent in random encounter battles, and it's the game's combat system that I think shines the most in this game. Combat is turn-based and is very easy to learn, but is still quite intricate. Characters can use a range of weapons and spells, powering up their moves with a BP meter. Certain characters can use unique abilities in battle, such as summoning an animal or NPC to fight for you. The combat system never really feels overwhelming. It is still a JRPG, so expect a lot of grinding for experience.Graphics - 5/5The game's pixel art style and lighting effects make the game look absolutely beautiful yet simple. Unfortunately, there are no settings to adjust the effects that I have seen. Some people have said the lighting and depth-of-field made them feel sick, but I haven't experienced anything like that.Music - 5/5Music is one of the most important aspects of a game to me, and this game has a fantastic OST. Not a whole lot to say about it other than that.Characters - 4.5/5All eight playable characters have different skills, abilities, and personalities. However, you have to sort of ignore the fact that 2 people with completely opposing personalities and goals would be travelling together. Even though I like Therion (he was my starter character), he feels a bit out of place due to the fact that he is a thief. Therefore, it makes little sense why a merchant named Tressa, who hates thieves, would travel with him. It's not to difficult to overlook because the eight characters don't interact with each other very frequently, which is a bit of a disappointment. This leads me into my next point.Story (Stories?) - 4.5/5Individually, I think each character's story is decent enough. Primrose has, in my opinion, the best (and darkest, most mature) story; one of avenging her dead father. However, I was a bit let down by the fact that the eight character's individual stories do not intersect. Sure, two characters may have objectives in the same town, but they never seem relate to each other. I knew this going into the game, but I still think its a lost opportunity. It almost feels a bit like a compilation of 8 short games. Some people may not mind this, but others may be disappointed.Final Verdict -This game is overall a fantastic game, and a lot of love and care was put into it. As I said earlier, the only time I think the game actually falls flat comes to missed opportunities in stories crossing paths. However, if you want to experience 8 short, simple stories, then this game is even more fantastic.