Octopath Traveler

[queenzelda]

I really need to go back & play on this, but having to beat everyone else's story just seems like a long & involved task. Eh, I'll at least need to lvl grind when I go back to playing, ugh. xp

[ShiraNoMai]

I've found that the more you explore, the more encounters you get into, the less of a grind it seems to feel since you're accomplishing two tasks in one. We've not necessarily had to go out of our way to grind for EXP at any point, and more just took things as they came along.

So far, I'm finding Olberic's and Tressa's story the most bland/trite. They don't seem to have specific goals and aspirations to lead up to something as flashy as Ophilia's or H'annit's lead up to.

[queenzelda]

Yea, cause at least with Ophilia she's ends up saving her sister who got suckered in by a cult. While H'annit ends up saving her master from being turned into stone, by the red eye.. Which impo, was someone who clearly was messing with the same magic that Cyrus seemed to run into & was trying to stop.

[King Atem]

IDK, I gave up beating everyone's story sometime ago after seeing the ending for Olberic. If I'm being honest, whats the point to beating the others stories anyway if they don't even connect? Is my whole thought.

[Moonface]

I expect the stories don't connect because it would create problems in trying to not spoil everyone else's plots if you went further with one particular character first. It reminds me of earlier Pokemon where Ash, Brock and Misty all had their own goals, but went on a journey together to help each other obtain them.

Also I beat Therion's story last night, so here's my thoughts on that:

Therion's Story

The ending was going so well until Therion's final interactions with Lady Cordelia. It seemed that any progress he was making in becoming a more trusting character was ditched in favour of having him be the edgy "I don't show my feelings" guy that he'd justifiable been earlier in the game. He acts thankful for being trusted in, but proceeds to give Cordelia the cold shoulder for almost the entirety of the final cutscene.

Primrose: Chapter 3 Thoughts

While I'm at it, I want to voice an issue I have with Primrose's story. She gets stabbed, then the moment she wakes up nobody mentions it except for Alfyn in a banter segment. No asking if she's feeling better, or to be careful, or what the state of her wound is. She just leaves town as if it had no effect on her. Which would be fine, if someone had said within her plot about how her wound is. Without Alfyn, nobody would have brought it up. If someone is getting shanked in the gut and waking up fine three days later, at least tell me why that is instead of leaving it up in the air or relying on missable travel banter.

[King Atem]

Therion end: my take

Because of course he's going to give her the cold shoulder. She's the one whom tricked him into doing her dirty work. To expect Therion to suddenly not be emo at the end is tantamount to expecting Olberic not to act like a stalwart knight at the end.

[Moonface]

Therion's Story

I wouldn't say he was tricked. He tried to steal her stuff, and got punished for it. He has himself to blame for the situation he found himself in. The butler unlocked his bangle and Therion failed to either notice, or did notice it but pretended not to so as to hide his real motive for continuing to help her. His final fight isn't even a case of "I'm fighting you for revenge and because it's my job" but more "I'm trusted by others and won't let them down". He clearly fights in the end willingly for her sake, not for his freedom alone. She is the reason he begins to trust others again, then the instant he starts opening himself up, suddenly shuts himself off to the person who helped him trust others again and was the reason he saw his job to the end.

[Mr EliteL]

Been avoiding reading most post in here that has relation to character stories. As I've finally started playing, and have 100% interest in getting the full game, I can make some posts on my experience.

Picked Cyrus as my first character, since I liked the idea of having the use of studying enemies as an introduction to battles. He has a good array of elemental skills to start off to find and exploit weaknesses, as I got the Lightning ability as my first learned skill. Will get the heal next for him. Enjoying his character and home land as well. I suppose there are better stories I could've started with, but eh. I'll see them when I visit them. Wasn't expecting his Chapter 1 boss to turn huge though, being a human and all.

After that was done, decided on going to fetch Ophilia for healing. Found out was a big mistake as Westlands I think the area was, I met those giant frogs with four of them (two armoured, and I was only level 5), and with one unit taking all the damage, no point trying to survive that and more encounters. Let him level up more so he can deal with that, so I decided to head down to pick up Tressa. About to fight what I assume is her Chapter 1 boss, with Cyrus by her side.

[Moonface]

You'll find that most human related bosses tend to be displayed as a relative to The Hulk despite them obviously not being that big in reality. It gets fun once you realise that and start wondering how nuts people will look when they're finally in battle since as you already know, the sprite models all look normal for humans. XD

Ophilia is useful to get, especially early on because she can group heal whereas Cyrus can only learn a self healing move. Tressa will have a self healing move too though, so you might be able to go get her with the two of them as they can heal themselves. Unless you just do what I sometimes do which is constantly try to run away.

[Mr EliteL]

I tend to try and defeat any enemies I meet, and if I enter a new area I leave Cyrus' Support Skill of Evasive Maneuvers off. I see recommended levels for Chapters increase as I level up, which I find cool. Glad it doesn't stay the same, although not sure about areas like Whistlewood and something Grotto I found myself in (it was like Danger Level 40 something, and I was NOPE out of there). I assume not as I'm going to try Whistlewood again (name wasn't Westwood as I thought it was earlier) that killed me twice now (second time I forgot that wasn't the way to Flamesgrace after getting Tressa ).

Picked up Ophilia and H'annit now. Level 13 with Cyrus, 12 Tressa, 11 Ophilia and 7 H'annit. Really liked the look of the first boss Chapter for her, looking forward to more monster bosses. Ice Giant was cool, but not as gnarly looking as Ghisarma. Also yes, Linde as a support for H'annit. Also being able to capture enemies and use them as summons seems cool. Need to try it out.

Oh yeah, side quests seem difficult to figure out what you actually need to do for them, as there's not much to go on. Done a few and that's just by chance of Scrutinising people. (I generally avoid anyone with poor chances of success, like anything lower than 75%)

[queenzelda]

Found art of Teresa I found & thought I'd share;

[Mr EliteL]

Sweet monies, she wants all the monies! Good find that.

I also want more monies (in-game), as I usually don't want to spend so much before giving my whole party new and awesome gear. My Plums go so quick, dang it.

(have more to say but end of break)

[Moonface]

I rarely buy anything in this game unless I literally can't steal it with Therion. Add on Tressa just looting random corpses every time you enter an area and being able to get big scores from bosses if she successfully steals their money in battle, and it doesn't take much to get money piling up.

[Mr EliteL]

I now have like 1.5mil er...leaves they call it? So I'm doing well money wise now. Handling levels better, Been stealing and collecting more, which helped me get that amount.

Music in this game is top notch. Ah, Grandport's tune got 100x better when I knocked out the guy who was guarding house door, which lead to an "Elderly" lady, who gave m Thieving Tips & Tricks for the area. This is before I started Tressa's Chapter, so I had Therion go on a spree. 

Just going to stick this here in case anyone hasn't discovered it. These are so good, I need to get this. Or simply listen to it here. Dang it, the Boost side Battle I and Decisive Battle II would be cool to hear in-game.



I've kinda spoiled myself of what is going to be the final boss of the game (only came across it briefly, didn't check weaknesses or read up on other details), and feel like the Chapter 4's could be done in a more ordered kind of way. Although does work in any way it seems....what I'm getting at is if I play this again I'll have a preferred order to make them feel related, with the side quests after too. I suppose I still need to see what happens when I've done them too.

Anyway, for character stories for me Cyrus, H'annit and Primrose's have been the best, the rest varying but I have enjoyed all.

[Moonface]

Octopath Traveler: Champion of the Continent Announced
This was announced a few days ago, but if you hadn't heard yet, Octopath Traveler is getting a prequel game on mobile devices called Octopath Traveler: Champion of the Continent.

The prequel will retain the trademark “2D-HD” visual style and core gameplay of the Switch game, but will focus on a new group of warriors exploring the continent of Orsterra. The mobile game will use touch- and swipe-based controls for its command-based battles and exploration, and will be free to play with optional in-app purchases.

Square Enix intends to release the game in Japan this year, but a release outside of that region has yet to be confirmed.


If a mobile prequel isn't what you wanted for more Octopath Traveler goodness, you'll be pleased to know that a sequel is also in development for Nintendo Switch. Nothing more will be shared about that project until the development team have something to show.