Octopath Traveler (2018)
Octopath Traveler is a Nintendo Switch exclusive jrpg game that's by the same people who did Bravely Default. The game takes the classic sprites to a 3D level which makes it look neat and a bit modern. There is a free demo available to try out! The game is about 8 different playable characters and each has their own stories. You can play as only one of them or get some or all of them!
Since I started playing with the demo I was able to import my save from it. What I noticed is that in my demo save I got two of the eight characters and both were locked. Usually the first character you start out with is locked into your party until you finished their main story. I started with Tressa she will be locked for me and I got Cyrus second and he was locked for me until I got all 8 characters.
The battle system is great! Its simple but its still fun. Each character plays differently so that adds variety. You can only have 4 playable characters in your party. The Boost system is neat. Each time you attack you gain one Boost and you can only have up to 5 and only use up to three. Using Boost will increase the attack or skill you're using. Definitely useful to deal big damage on breaked enemies or getting enemies to break. Each enemies has their own set of weaknesses and will be unknown until you either hit them with the weakness or have Cyrus who will reveal one unknown weakness at the start of the battle or use his Analyses skill. Battles are random encounters and you can decrease the amount of encounters with Cyrus' skills.
Each character has an Path Action which is a skill you can use on NPCs. There are four unique actions: getting info, getting items, fighting, and getting NPC to follow you. But there is a Noble and Rogue aspect to each. So for example the thief character and the merchant character both have access to an NPC's list of items, but the thief will steal items and if you fail you lose reputation in the town. Using the merchant to just pay for the items won't harm your reputation at all, but there are level requirements. If you failed enough times you can no longer interact with any NPC in the town so you will have to go to the tavern and pay the barkeeper money to reset your reputation.
Side quests unlock after completing the story chapter in each town. These side quests are tough since they are a bit vague, and it requires using Path Actions to complete. There's no quest tracker/marker for them either. The only marker is the quest giver who has an orange speech bubble over their heads. The main story quest does have a tracker and it be obvious on the World Map as it indicates the town they need to go next and even the level requirement for that area.
Overall, I am enjoying it! I do find it worth the price so don't let the pixel art style fool you to think this won't be as enjoyable as a game with better graphics. The music is great and the colors and effects are neat. The stories are also great too! I can only think of positives for this so I highly recommend it.
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