Spoiler Mode - Octopath Traveler

As always loved the discussion :) These spoiler modes are one of my favorite parts of eza <3

sirvorn

I don't really know what to say, because I really enjoyed how minimalistic the story part of the final dungeon was. Always been a sucker for lore journals or logbooks, and man were those in particular cleverly written. And while I can understand the wish to see the characters react to the stories relevant to them, I feel like the pacing would have suffered for it, when all I wanted the instant I was done with one was to unlock the next as soon as possible. A thirst for knowledge arose in me and was thoroughly quenched, leading into the desire for a great final boss, where the game delivered as well; though that's not really relevant to the conversation admittedly. I feel like I had gotten enough in terms of closure as each of these personal stories concluded one by one, and it felt true to the way the game had dealt with storytelling up to that point. I don't think what you're asking for would have been bad per se, Ben, but I'm completely satisfied with the way it went down. L&R!

CyclonSilver

Brandon, I know obviously you've got lots of things to get done that hinge specifically on yourself accomplishing the task, however this was delightful, and I sincerely hope in the future you can take a little more personal time to delve into things like this that you're inherently passionate about. Even saying you had to rush through and skip dialogue and such hurts a little. In the same way that Kyle is going to take all the time he needs to make sure Box Peek is up to his standards and quality, you too deserve to occasionally take time for yourself to pick apart and really sink into these big moment, long awaited types of games that are almost a dream for yourself beyond vacations. If "the production pipeline" has to slow a little bit to accommodate that, well I can't speak for everyone, but the next step beyond "time for Brandon to sleep" is time for you to properly experience these rare treats life doesn't always dole out. Meditation might keep you sane, but I think the majority of us want you to be happy as well and can take a slight workflow hit to give you a bit of extra time for yourself. If that conscious in the back of your mind really just rejects this and won't let you have it, I know it is in ways more work, but you could make streams of playing what you want to play and go at the pace you desire through that similar to Damiani streams. Love & Respect as always, and I hope we're able to see more from you like this in the future.

MBUN

I'll be the one to disagree with most & say I absolutley love Octopath. Both the gameplay & the story structure. It's a type of RPG I've wanted but never really though would be done due to the story structure being very not much what most people are into. The more personal vignette style stories for each character with just small conversations from the other sprinkled in was great. I wanted a game with a distinct story focus on each character & not some grand tale of a group thrown together by fate & that's just what I got. The thing that's most people's biggest gripe with game is my most loved part about it. There are hundreds of RPGs like what people wanted Octopath to be but so very few like it turned out. So thanks Sqaure for making a game for me. 10/10 GOTY for me.

NowHoldOnaMinute

I know EZA don't dig the name, but I think it is kind of cool that each letter of "OCTOPATH" stands for a character.

wouldyoukindly

I wonder if the game would be better with just 4 characters, and you don't move on to chapter 2 until you have all in your party. That way they can do interactions the whole time, maybe make each character addition a linear path, then once you get all 4 the world opens up into a non linear map. Could start on an island then move to each new characters island and then move to the main landmass.

I only played Tressa, Ophilia , Olberic, and Therion as my A-team, I did go threw chapter 1 or 2 of the rest. Did not enjoy this game as much as I would have liked to, sold it after beating all 4 main character story's and the secondary job bosses. But yeah While I agree with your breakdown I just found this game lacking so much especially if you are watching Kyle stream of Terranigma, a game from 1995 which has Towns that evolve and develop, characters that are witty, funny and sometimes really make you think. It basically shows you what octopath could have been with proper interactions and a really good focused story. I can't put all my feelings into this one post, I just hope the next game does better. I only paid $10 for octopath so I can't complain, definitely got my moneys worth out of octopath.

If Acquire wants to keep the story structure intact for the sequel, here's how I would preserve it while still allowing other characters interact with the chapter's main focused person. 1. Don't lock your starting character in the party. 2. From Chapter 2 onwards, write the stories so that they require certain people to be included. For example when starting Alfyn's chapter 3, you have to have Alfyn and Ophilia in the party while your other two people can be whomever you choose. That way the developers could write cutscenes with that other forced party member while still allowing some party customization.

Vertrax