Octopath Traveler

Octopath Traveler
Information
Release	July 13, 2018 (Nintendo Switch) June 7, 2019 (Microsoft Windows) April 30, 2020 (Google Stadia) March 25, 2021 (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One) June 6, 2024 (PlayStation 4/5)
Genre	RPG
Platform	Nintendo Switch Microsoft Windows Google Stadia Xbox Series X/S Xbox One PlayStation 4/5
Player	Single-player

"Eight travelers. Eight adventures. Eight roles to play in a new world brought to life by Square Enix. And now, you can enjoy all of them in the new demo. Step into the shoes and live the stories of each of the eight travelers and freely explore the world of Orsterra. Then, carry your choices and adventure into the main game with save data transfer. Use each character’s special abilities in and out of battle. Break through enemy defenses by discovering and targeting weaknesses. Store Boost Points with each turn and then spend them at strategic times to strengthen abilities, chain attacks, or provide aid. Choose the path you wish to walk and discover what lies beyond the horizon." —Description from the Nintendo Website

Octopath Traveler (オクトパス トラベラー, Okutopasu Torabera) is a role-playing game for the Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows.

Gameplay

It is expected to take up to 50-60 hours to complete the main story, which expands to 80-100 hours when adding on side quests and other optional content.

Characters

• Ophilia Clement, a Cleric from the Frostlands.
• Cyrus Albright, a Scholar from the Flatlands.
• Tressa Colzione, a Merchant from the Coastlands.
• Olberic Eisenberg, a Warrior from the Highlands.
• Primrose Azelhart, a Dancer from the Sunlands.
• Alfyn Greengrass, an Apothecary from the Riverlands.
• Therion, a Thief from the Cliftlands.
• H'aanit, a Hunter from the Woodlands.

Story

Prologue

Set in the land of Orsterra, the Order of the Sacred Flame believed their world was created by thirteen deities before twelve were forced to seal the fallen god Galdera, who refused to relinquish what they created, within the afterworld that can be accessed through the sealed Gate of Finis.

Synopsis

The main narrative of Octopath Traveler is actually comprised of eight individual tales, one for each of the eight travelers, told over 4 chapters each.

(I don't think this is where I should be going at the moment...) The following section contains potential story spoilers!

• The cleric, Ophilia Clement, from the Order of the Sacred Flame who embarks on a pilgrimage to renew the flames of the church in her step sister's stead, unaware that her faith's benefactor Mattias established a cult dedicated to Galdera.
• The scholar, Cyrus Albright, seeks an ancient Hornbergian grimoire known as From the Far Reaches of Hell, whose theft was arranged by the current headmaster's aide Lucia.
• The merchant, Tressa Colzione, is spurred by the journal of the apothecary Graham Crossford to see the world while contending with the Obsidian bandit Esmeralda.
• The warrior, Olberic Eisenberg, as a former knight from the fallen kingdom of Hornburg, seeks the truth of his homeland's destruction by the mercenary Werner and his former brother-in arms, Erhardt.
• The dancer, Primrose Azelhart, a woman of noble birth who witnessed her father's murder by three crow-tattooed men who make up Obsidian's leadership, demeans herself to extract her revenge even after learning the Obsidians' leader is her childhood love Simeon.
• The apothecary, Alfyn Greengrass, who was cured during a plague as a child by Graham, seeks to follow in the man's footsteps to help others.
• The thief, Therion, is forced into the servitude of house Ravus to retrieve the stolen Dragonstones and settles things with his former friend Darius.
• The hunter, H'aanit, sets out to find her master Z'aanta and to finish his task by slaying a nightmarish monster called Redeye.

Epilogue

(I don't think this is where I should be going at the moment...) The following section contains potential story spoilers!

After progressing though all the characters various stories, the heroes' quests become intermingled as Mattias, Lucia, the Obsidians, and Werner were all under the employ of the immortal witch Lyblac who is seeking a certain man.

Revealed to be Galdera's daughter, Lyblac orchestrated the acquirement of From the Far Reaches of Hell and the dragonstones, along with the destruction of Hornburg, to unseal the Gate of Finis while using the Obsidians as her personal army to eliminate threats like Primrose's father.

Lyblac only required Graham Crossford as an ideal vessel for Galdera to gain corporeal form due to his bloodline's ties to the god, only for Graham to escape while he mutated into the monster Redeye. This forced Lyblac to seek out Graham's only living son Kit to complete the ritual.

After tracking down the Gate's location, the eight characters fight a vicious battle against a fully manifested Galdera after he absorbed Lyblac, sealing them back into the afterworld while saving Kit who receives closure with his father's spirit.

Music

Main article: Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack

01 : OCTOPATH TRAVELER -メインテーマ-
02 : 剣士オルベリクのテーマ
03 : 踊子プリムロゼのテーマ
04 : ハイランド地方
05 : サンランド地方
06 : 山間の村コブルストン
07 : 緊迫
08 : ちょっとひと休み
09 : 洞窟ダンジョン
10 : バトル1
11 : 勝利のファンファーレ
12 : 敗北のレクイエム
13 : 砂漠の歓楽街サンシェイド
14 : 張り詰めた糸
15 : 忍び寄る悪意
16 : ボスバトル1
17 : 絶望
18 : ボスバトル2
19 : 絆
20 : 渦巻く凶兆
21 : 再起のために
22 : 復讐のために

Development

Octopath Traveler was announced on January 13, 2017, under the working title of Project Octopath Traveler. A playable demo was released on the Nintendo eShop on September 13, 2017, with a second demo being released on June 14, 2018. The second demo included improved mechanics and all eight playable characters, as well as save data transfer to the full game. The game was released worldwide on July 13, 2018. A special edition that includes the game's soundtrack, a replica of the game's in-game currency, a pop-up book, and a map was also released the same day.

The project was started by producers Masashi Takahashi and Tomoya Asano,^[7] who previously headed the Bravely series. Acquire was chosen as development partner for the game based on their previous work on the What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord? series.^[8] During the development process, various graphics options such as the depth, resolution, saturation, as well as other features such as whether water should be pixel or photorealistic are taken into consideration to perfect the "HD-2D" look. The eight main characters, four male and four female, are chosen to provide different party variations. All characters have different classes, and the character design, as well as the field commands, are based on different occupations in Medieval Europe.

For the demo, Olberic and Primrose were chosen to be the protagonists as their stories started in a similar place, and the developers wanted people to be able to recruit the other character after beating the story. According to Takahashi, no downloadable content or other large post-release content updates are planned for the game.

A Microsoft Windows version of the game is planned to come out on June 7, 2019.

A prequel for Android and iOS, titled Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, was released in Japan in 2019.

Battle system

The battle system in Octopath Traveler is a turn-based battle system, similar to early RPGs such as the older Final Fantasy games. Players control up to four characters in battle against enemies. Each player character and enemy will (generally) act once each turn, and turn order is determined largely by the relative speed of each character. A player character who defended on the prior turn or an enemy who recovers from being broken (see below) will always act at the start of the turn regardless of speed.

A unique element of the battle system is the Boost system. Each player character receives a boost point at the start of each round, provided they did not spend any boost points in the prior round. Each player character can save that boost point (up to a maximum of five) or spend between one and three boost points to empower their action for that turn. Class skills can be empowered to deal more damage, provide more healing, impose status effects for increased duration, or improve the odds of chance-based skills. Basic attacks can be empowered to provide multiple attacks on a single turn, which is critical for leveraging the break system described below.

Another unique element is the Break system. Each enemy has a defense strength, paired with weaknesses to certain weapon types or elemental attacks. Damage from such attacks is increased by 30% and reduces the defense strength of the enemy by one. Reducing an enemy's defense strength to zero will break them, causing them to lose any remaining actions for the current round, prevent them from acting on the next round, and will double all damage taken (regardless of their weaknesses).

Demos

Two demos were released for Octopath Traveler for the Nintendo Switch prior to the game's official release:

• September 13, 2017: Project Octopath Traveler Demo
  • Featured Olberic and Primrose and their respective Chapter 1 tales.
• June 14, 2018: Octopath Traveler: Prologue Demo
  • Featured the full game with several limitations, including:
    • A three hour time limit
    • Secondary Jobs are unavailable
    • Access to Chapter 2 locations are restricted

Gallery

Japanese cover.

Reception

Octopath Traveler received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic getting a metascore of 83/100 on Nintendo Switch based on 79 critic reviews and 80/100 on PC based on 23 critic reviews.

Appearances in Other Games

Main article: Appearances in Other Games

Several characters from Octopath Traveler have made guest appearances in several other games:

• Final Fantasy Record Keeper
• Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
• Super Smash Brothers Ultimate

Trivia

• The game does not have post-launch DLC.
• The first initial of each Traveler's name, in the order they appear on the selection screen and in official artwork, spells out Octopath (Ophilia, Cyrus, Tressa, Olberic, Primrose, Alfyn, Therion and H'aanit).
• Olberic and Primrose's Japanese voice actors were also previously party members together in Tales of Symphonia.
• A remake of Square Enix's game Live A Live uses Octopath Traveler's style and possibly its engine as well. Live A Live also seems to be an inspiration for Octopath Traveler, as Octopath Traveler appears to be its spiritual successor.
• When creating the in-game world of Octopath Traveler, the developers would create their maps in grayscale first, then overlay the aesthetic designs on top.
• Developer Shizuka Morimoto says, "This was my first time creating background map tiles. During the entire process, I wondered with trepidation, 'Am I doing this work justice?' Creating repeatable pattern was an arduous task, but seeing them tiled and an entire region unfurl before my eyes was a stirring moment, indeed. I'm incredibly grateful to ACQUIRE Corp. for putting my work to such good use."
• It was difficult for the developers to pin down the motif, coloring, and size of the game's save monument, which went through several iterations. At one point they even considered using the statue of a traveler, rather than the game's final book-and-quill design.
• One of Octopath Traveler's working titles was "Octorole."
• In its early stages of development, the game was themed around darkness and "beings in the darkness who had once been human." These aspects would later go on to inform creatures such as Redeye, the Gate of Finis, and the warding Sacred Flame.
• By repeatedly tapping the dash button in-game, players can get their characters locked into one of their running sprites, creating a strange visual effect despite moving at full speed.
• During cutscenes, anonymous NPCs often appear in the background, only to vanish once the cutscene is over.
• During most characters' Chapter 1s, the tavern keepers in their respective towns disappear temporarily.
• Whenever the player gains a new party member, the message "Your reputation has improved" will appear at the top of the screen, restoring the player's reputation in that town. This message appears even if the player's reputation is untarnished.
• Interacting with idle party members inside taverns may result in them gifting you items. In the early game, this gift takes the form of an Inspiriting Plum (M) and an Energizing Pomegranate (M), while later in the game (around the Chapter 4 range) the gift upgrades to an Energizing Pomegranate (L), Inspiriting Plum Basket, and Olive of Life (L). Each protagonist speaks a unique line of dialogue when giving a gift.
• When the player enters the game's setting menu and adjusts the voice volume, whichever character is currently set as the party leader will say, "Octopath Traveler." Not all of these lines sound exactly like their characters, implying that they may have been recorded before their voice actors had settled into their final character.
• Only three of the game's 32 story chapters do not require the protagonist to use his or her respective Path Action: Tressa's Chapter 4 and Primrose's third and fourth chapters.

References

[v · t · e · ?] Octopath Traveler Characters Travelers: Ophilia  •  Cyrus  •  Tressa  •  Olberic  •  Primrose  •  Alfyn  •  Therion  •  H'aanit Ophilia's Path: Lianna  •  Archbishop Josef  •  Mattias  •  Guardian of the First Flame  •  Bishop Bartolo  •  Emil  •  Derryl  •  Nate  •  Hróðvitnir  •  Daniel  •  Donovan  •  Lysa  •  Mystery Man and Shady Figure Cyrus's Path: Therese  •  Princess Mary  •  Mercedes  •  Yvon  •  Lucia  •  Russell  •  Odette  •  Gideon  •  Dominic Tressa's Path: Olneo Colzione  •  Marina Colzione  •  Leon Bastralle  •  Mikk  •  Makk  •  Ali  •  Morlock  •  Omar  •  Baltazar  •  Venomtooth Tiger  •  Noa Wyndham  •  Astor Wyndham  •  Esmeralda  •  Ing the Diarist Olberic's Path: Erhardt  •  King Alfred  •  Philip  •  Gaston  •  Cecily  •  Ned  •  Victorino  •  Conrad  •  Wallace Wildsword  •  Bernhard  •  Grieg the Unbreakable  •  Joshua Frostblade  •  Archibold  •  Gustav  •  Bale  •  Reggie  •  Harald  •  Werner Primrose's Path: Geoffrey Azelhart  •  Yusufa  •  Helgenish  •  Arianna  •  Oren  •  Rufus  •  Revello Forsythe  •  Simeon  •  Anna Forsythe  •  Albus  •  Jan Forsythe Alfyn's Path: Zeph  •  Nina  •  Lily  •  Blotted Viper  •  Ellen  •  Flynn  •  Marlene  •  Vanessa Hysel  •  Ogen  •  Miguel  •  Timothy  •  Ogre Eagle Therion's Path: Darius  •  Heathcote  •  Cordelia Ravus  •  Barham  •  Orlick  •  Gareth H'aanit's Path: Z'aanta  •  Linde  •  Hägen  •  Eliza Woodward  •  Ghisarma  •  Natalia  •  Lord of the Forest  •  Alaic  •  Susanna Grotoff  •  Dragon  •  King Khalim  •  Redeye Side Stories: Miles  •  Theracio  •  Le Mann  •  Noelle  •  Ria  •  Meryl  •  Kaia  •  Ashlan  •  Mathilda  •  Tony  •  Professor Bastete  •  Mont d'Or  •  Estadas  •  Professor Paul  •  Maruf Other: Kit  •  Graham Crossford  •  Alphas  •  Impresario  •  Lyblac Orsterra Frostlands: Flamesgrace  •  Cave of Origin  •  Hoarfrost Grotto  •  Stillsnow  •  Secret Path  •  Obsidian Parlor  •  The Whitewood  •  Shrine of the Flamebearer  •  Tomb of the Imperator  •  Northreach  •  Lorn Cathedral  •  Maw of the Ice Dragon Flatlands: Atlasdam  •  Subterranean Study  •  The Whistlewood  •  Noblecourt  •  Orlick's Manse  •  Obsidian Manse  •  Shrine of the Sage  •  The Hollow Throne  •  Wispermill  •  Ebony Grotto  •  Forest of Purgation  •  Shrine of the Starseer Coastlands: Rippletide  •  Caves of Maiya  •  Undertow Cove  •  Moonstruck Coast  •  Goldshore  •  Caves of Azure  •  Seaside Grotto  •  Shrine of the Trader  •  Captains' Bane  •  Grandport  •  Grandport Sewers  •  Loch of the Lost King Highlands: Hornburg  •  Cobbleston  •  Brigands' Den  •  Untouched Sanctum  •  Stonegard  •  The Spectrewood  •  Yvon's Birthplace  •  Shrine of the Thunderblade  •  Tomb of Kings  •  Everhold  •  Amphitheatre  •  Everhold Tunnels  •  Shrine of the Runeblade  •  Ruins of Hornburg Sunlands: Sunshade  •  Sunshade Catacombs  •  Whistling Cavern  •  Wellspring  •  Lizardmen's Den  •  Black Market  •  Shrine of the Lady of Grace  •  Quicksand Caves  •  Marsalim  •  Grimsand Ruins  •  Marsalim Catacombs Riverlands: Clearbrook  •  Cave of Rhiyo  •  Twin Falls  •  Saintsbridge  •  The Murkwood  •  Rivira Woods  •  Farshore  •  Shrine of the Healer  •  Riverford  •  Hidden Path  •  Lord's Manse  •  Refuge Ruins  •  Shrine of the Warbringer Cliftlands: Bolderfall  •  Ravus Manor  •  Carrion Caves  •  Quarrycrest  •  The Sewers  •  Morlock's Manse  •  Shrine of the Prince of Thieves  •  Derelict Mine  •  Orewell  •  Forest of Rubeh  •  Dragonsong Fane Woodlands: S'warkii  •  The Whisperwood  •  Path of Beasts  •  Victors Hollow  •  The Forgotten Grotto  •  Forest of No Return  •  Shrine of the Huntress  •  Duskbarrow  •  Ruins of Eld  •  Moldering Ruins  •  Shrine of the Archmagus Other: The Gate of Finis  •  Journey's End Enemies Ophilia's Path: Guardian of the First Flame  •  Hróðvitnir  •  Mystery Man and Shady Figure  •  Mattias Cyrus's Path: Russell  •  Gideon  •  Yvon  •  Lucia Tressa's Path: Mikk and Makk  •  Omar  •  Venomtooth Tiger  •  Esmeralda Olberic's Path: Gaston  •  Joshua Frostblade  •  Archibold  •  Gustav  •  Lizardman Chief  •  Erhardt  •  Werner Primrose's Path: Helgenish  •  Rufus  •  Albus  •  Simeon Alfyn's Path: Blotted Viper  •  Vanessa Hysel  •  Miguel  •  Ogre Eagle Therion's Path: Heathcote  •  Orlick  •  Gareth  •  Darius H'aanit's Path: Ghisarma  •  Lord of the Forest  •  Dragon  •  Redeye Optional: Jötunn  •  Giant Python and Snake Charmer  •  Leviathan  •  Devourer of Men  •  Mánagarmr  •  Azure-eyed Tiger  •  Behemoth  •  Devourer of Dreams  •  Dreadwolf  •  Gigantes  •  Lord of the Sands  •  Manymaws  •  Monarch  •  Throne Guardian  •  Tyrannodrake Gods of Orsterra: Winnehild  •  Steorra  •  Balogar  •  Dreisang  •  Galdera Game Mechanics General: Achievements  •  Side Stories  •  Travel Banter Battle: Experience  •  Skills  •  Status Effects  •  Support Skills Path Actions: Guide/Allure  •  Scrutinize/Inquire  •  Purchase/Steal  •  Provoke/Challenge Inventory: Items  •  Weapons  •  Shields  •  Headgear  •  Body Armor  •  Materials Jobs: Cleric  •  Scholar  •  Merchant  •  Warrior  •  Dancer  •  Apothecary  •  Thief  •  Hunter Advanced Jobs: Starseer  •  Runelord  •  Warmaster  •  Sorcerer