Octopath Traveler (NSW) Review

The path less traveled.

 Square Enix's Octopath Traveler is one of the Nintendo Switch's most anticipated games of the year. Developed in collaboration with Acquire (Way of the Samurai), Octopath Traveler follows the paths of eight travelers, each having their own self-contained stories. Aiming to capture the charm of old Super Nintendo JRPGs such as Final Fantasy VI while adding its own twists to the genre, Octopath is a pretty remarkable game. It's surprising that Square Enix initially didn't have much faith in the game, evident by the constant supply shortages at launch where they had to issue two apologies to fans after failing to keep up with demands. Nevertheless, Octopath Traveler manages to turn heads with its stunning visuals and addictive gameplay, but is it worth all the anticipation?

Taking place in the land of Osterra, the plot follows the adventures of young scholar, Cyrus, who seeks an ancient tome; Tressa, a fledging merchant who embarks to trade across the lands; Olberic, a former knight who must find a new cause to fight for; Primrose, a young dancer on a quest for revenge; Ophillia, a cleric who must perform a sacred pilgrimage; Therion, a skilled thief who must steal prized stones; Alfyn, a medic who sets out to help those in need; and H'aanit, a huntress on a mission to save her master. All of the eight characters are interesting, though their stories aren't all created equal. I found Primrose and Therion's arcs to be the best with great twists while considering Tressa's to be the weakest of the bunch as it falls apart in the final chapter, the rest of the travelers' tales are also interesting in their own right.  

The main leads are interesting

and so are their stories as well.

 Octopath takes a non-linear approach to storytelling as you're free to pick up and finish any of the eight main leads' stories at anytime. You don't see that in many role-playing games and I appreciate the freedom you're given in experiencing the story. While there is a secret dungeon that ties the lore together, it was disappointing that the game ultimately lacked an overarching narrative as while each character have their own engaging stories, they just feel isolated from one another. It would have been neat if all characters crossed paths in their respective stories and unite against a greater evil, as I feel that would've made the story far more compelling. You get these brief exchanges between characters, which fleshes out their personalities, but I still would have wished for an overall sense of unity.


 Octopath is pretty much identical to old-school JRPGs in terms of structure. The gameplay is turn-based and your party consists of four characters. Much of the fights has you finding the enemy's weakness and exploit it. Still, each enemy is protected by a shield, often presented in numbers, which are the times you need to break them. This calls for you to figure out what kinds of attacks they're vulnerable to before you truly start hammering them down, so brute force doesn't always work out. Break their shields and they'll be stunned for a few turns, this is where the fun begins. At the end of every turn, you're given a boost point, which charges your attacks to deal added damage. Collect three points, and you'll max out your skills and dish out even more powerful attacks. You'll eventually to notice a simple strategy in battles: break their shields, boost your attacks, and fire away!

Octopath is addictive and rarely feels old with new

enemy types showing up every now and then.

 Fans of job system from early Final Fantasy games will be pleased to know that it makes an appearance in Octopath. Scattered across Osterra are ancient shrines, which grant you the ability to use a special job. Basically, the job system functions as a secondary class for your character. For example, want to make Cyrus a blade-wielding warrior in a addition to already being a magic-based scholar? You can do that. However, you will need to collect "job points" by fighting enemies in order to fully unlock all of said class' skills. In addition to that, each class has its own passive skills such as fewer enemy encounters, more money in battles, a boost in strength, and so on. 

 Each character has a "path action" ability unique to them when interacting with the inhabitants of Osterra. For example, Cyrus' scrutinize ability has him pressing NPCs to gain crucial information. Therion's steal ability is used to steal items and weapons from NPCs and Primrose's allure ability has her charming them to fight with her in battles. Though you should be careful as your reputation in a town can get affected if they catch wind of your actions. I found it to be a nice mechanic that has you constantly interacting with the game's NPCs for some insight into their daily lives. There's lots of towns in the game. Townsfolk aside, each town has its armor and provisions shops, where you can buy potions and equipment for your party, respectively. There's also inns which fully restore your health and a bar where you can swap party members, restore your reputation, and progress/pause a character's story. 

Break, boost, and fire away!

 There's still much to do even if you've completed all of the eight characters' stories. For starters, there are side-quests in many parts of the game's world though most aren't particularly special or anything, are helpful when you need the extra money and gear. I especially liked the post-game side quest in which you meet characters from the story and upon completion, you get extra scenes and valuable items such as a badge that increases experience gained from battles by 50%. However, some NPCs leave you with very vague hints on where to procced next. At times, I was so clueless that I had resort to a walkthrough to get them done, which removed the sense of exploration. In spite of that, there are hidden caves home to rare treasures and high-leveled enemies that reward you with big experience gains. Some of which hide additional jobs, but make no mistake, getting them is no easy task.


 As evident by its retro-inspired graphics, Octopath Traveler pays homage to JRPGs of old in terms of look as well. Powered by Unreal Engine 4, the game is charming thanks to its unique visual aesthetic billed as "HD-2D". Character models take the form of 2D sprites while environments are rendered in 3D. It's an odd combination, but works exceptionally well as Osterra is flourished in detail and variety everywhere you go. However, I felt that some character models and backgrounds were bland-looking and would have benefited from extra polish, especially with some of the textures seen in caves. I also wished that there was an option to turn off the blur effects in the game as environments tend to get disorienting after a while.

Octopath is among the Switch's most 

visually striking games.

 The game's voice-acting is for the most part decent, with some competent performances. Thankfully, the game allows you to switch to the Japanese voicework if the English performances aren't up to your tastes. The soundtrack doesn't exceed expectations, which is surprising since Square Enix is known for delivering some stellar soundtracks in their games. It gets repetitive after a while as much of the same tracks are frequently played during many of the game's story and side-quest scenes, it made me wish more variety.  It's just not as memorable as the 16-bit games that inspired it, but manages to be a nice listen nonetheless. Some of my favorite tracks include the piano-driven themes of Duskbarrow and the caves you visit.


 If you're in the market for an old-school-like JRPG with a few modern twists, then Octopath Traveler easily fits the bill. While the story lacked an overall sense of unity, each of the standalone stories remain interesting. Nonetheless, the gameplay is the strongest highlight as over 60 hours later, I'm still having a blast exploring Osterra. Many of Square Enix's titles are known for their high-calibre level of presentation and that's mostly here in Octopath. For fans of role-playing games, Octopath Traveler is the Switch's most compelling game of the year so far and is worth the praise it's been getting. If you're still on the fence, try out the game's demo on the eShop to get a taste of what's in store.