I have completed Ophilia's story, and am now exploring the edges of the game world in search of more secrets...! I rather liked the ending, although I feel that since everything is split into 8, there's not quite the emotional resonance you can get in a single giant story. But I did find her tale touching at points and it explored some good themes in every chapter.

I'm over 65 hours in and still have to finish the rest of the final stories (and maybe play past then, who knows), but Octopath Traveler is settling nicely into my top ten JRPGs list. I'm enjoying it thoroughly in nearly every aspect. Visuals, music, gameplay, atmosphere, amount of content, world-building. Even the plot, which has its share of detractors, feels pretty good to me. The stories are generally at least interesting and well-written (if somewhat slight at points) and can go in surprising directions.

There are some moments where you can tell there'd be more weight if the story was told traditionally though. Moments like a character introduced in a chapter who betrays you an hour later within that same chapter. Those moments are just kind of like "Well, I guess that person is a baddie," when in another RPG, you could introduce them a little earlier, have more time devoted to them, and really shock the player with the betrayal. It's not a huge issue, but it keeps the story from being on the level of something like FF3 or Skies or what have you.

Beat all the second chapters, enjoyed them all, beat Tressa's third and started liking her more again, while noticing Primrose's bitchy side. I'll let it slide though considering her rough backstory. Unlocked all of the secondary jobs as well. Turned out to be quite easy to find them all, somewhat disappointingly. The game is a tad too game-y in predictable ways at times, which is a shame. Here's hoping Nonapath Traveler does away with that, but tries to do pretty much the exact same thing all over again.

@Zero
Well deserved.

So all you folks who have tackled a good amount of Chapter 2s and beyond, how are you managing your teams? I just finished my 8th Chapter 1 and now I'm looking for my next area. My team is as follows;

Ophilia - Level 9
Cyrus - Level 12
Tressa - Level 21
Olberic - Level 22
Primrose - Level 12
Alfyn - Level 20
Therion - Level 15
H'aanit - Level 11

Bold is my current team.

I'm in the North Atlasdam Flats and I figured I'd make my way to Noblecourt and see Therion's Chapter 2, however he hasn't been a dedicated member of my party yet. The game recommends level 22 and I know that when it comes time to doing his chapter, I'll need to switch him in. As you can see, he's not nearly to that level, while I am roughly there with others like Olberic and my main, Tressa. So are you guys sticking with your core team even if the next chapter means they'll be swapping in a weakness? Or do you just walk around with them as your teammate while you venture near their next location to help build them up? Just not sure what to do or what might be wise.

I'm stuck with Tressa, which is fine because I make bank every match, and Olberic is my powerhouse. I did have Therion for stealing but I'm actually liking Cyrus quite a bit with his ability to reveal things and his great magic capabilities. Alfyn rounds out my team as the great healer who wields a bad ass axe.

I decided just now to instead head to Quarrycrest for Tressa's Chapter 2. I walked there and fought battles to earn some XP. I like this team so far.

But anyway, How have you juggled the team?

@DrFinkelstein
I don't really plan an awful lot. I basically have the ladies form a team at all times, and then I swap someone out whenever I need to get another character's levels up or when I do their chapter. I like the other characters, as characters and in terms of gameplay, but I feel like my current team has my bases covered pretty well. Tressa and H'aanit are handling the various attacks, Ophilia's healing and Primrose is buffing, primarily.

I rotated my team out a lot throughout the game, partly because I wanted to level them mostly equally, and partly because I knew I had to use them all to see all the chapters. My favorite set of four is actually all of the Nobles: Ophilia, Olberic, Tressa and Alfyn.

I finished a couple of stories so far, Therion and Cyrus, working on Ophilia’s, but wow, this game has really surprised me. I do have some minor issues with the plot, or how it lacks at times, but I kind of appreciate it at times too? It’s a bit strange. I sort of enjoy how personal each plot is personal to the character but I think what turned me off a bit around the mid point/chapter 3 is how repetitive its structure feels. There’s nothing that really breaks the pace and it doesn’t surprise you at all. You know how everything falls into place basically. But by the time I started completing stories, it really hit a high point again and feels like it’s now my GOTY. I don’t think anything could really drag it down from that since I only have the final chapters for each character to complete now. Or if another better game comes out haha. But yeah, such a good game!

Beat Olberic's third chapter. He's kind of a dick in a way. He's no different from Erhardt, really, but he sure acts all high and mighty. If anything, he's in a different position since he at this point knows Erhardt's backstory, whereas Erhardt just knew the king abandoned the village and let everyone die.

@r_hjort
Hm, that's an interesting interpretation.

Olberic's my favorite character in Octopath, and what I got out of his third chapter was this: he learns in his quest for vengeance that Erhardt had a valid reason for doing what he did. It's at this point that Olberic's quest changes and he realizes his purpose isn't revenge, but in something that he'd found had given him meaning: protecting others. Basically the opposite of revenge, really. And he spares Erhardt because it seems like Erhardt made the same realization: Erhardt got his vengeance, then felt empty until he was able to use his skills to protect others.

One of the key differences is that Olberic realizes this before he exacts revenge. When he draws his sword against Erhardt in Chapter 3, it's not a battle to the death, but a duel for his own pride. Afterwards, he clearly allows Erhardt to continue living his life, and even starts treating him like a brother (in arms) again. This is a pretty clear contrast to Primrose's take on revenge, and it made me really like Olberic since he goes through a pretty dramatic character transformation. You're right in that he's similar to Erhardt, but a big point of this story is that Erhardt wasn't the supervillain Olberic (and the players) initially think he is. I don't see how any of this makes Olberic a bad person.

I finished everyone's story! It only took me around 85 hours!

I loved this game. The visuals, spectacular music and atmosphere really drew me into its world, and the NPC writeups and relationships kept me invested. While the story doesn't hit the heights of the best of the genre, I really enjoyed a lot of the different tales and I think many of them explored interesting themes in entertaining ways. The battle system was top-notch too and kept me invested the whole time. Even little things like the spot-on use of HD rumble helped complete a package that felt extremely polished.

Top 10 RPG in my eyes. <3 Still playing, too!

@r_hjort
I'm curious how you'll feel at the end of Olberic's tale.

I've only been able to pick at the game the last few week since work is running me down a bit and my energy has been not there. But damn whenever I play it feels so good.

@TriforceBun

What were the levels of the OCTOPATHs when you finished? And who was your main team in the end? Bonus appreciation if you note the secondary jobs they might have had. I'm curious how people are deciding to tackle this.

@DrFinkelstein

As it turns out, my favorite four characters are all the nobles, so I have them on Team A and the rogues on Team B. When I finished my first character's final chapter, they were all between levels 45 and 55. My nobles handled Ophilia's (main's) final boss, then I started switching them around for the others.

For more details, it's hard to answer this without getting into some spoiler territory. I wouldn't recommend highlighting unless you're in the late-game (ch 4) stages of Octopath.

I haven't found the final FINAL area yet, but I've beaten all the chapter 4s. My current setup is as such:

-Ophelia: Sorcerer (she absolutely nukes random battles)
-Olberic: Warmaster (also deals insane damage)
-Tressa: Runelord (ultimate support character)
-Alfyn: Thief (secondary physical attacker/support/guard breaker)

-Primrose: Cleric (buffing when not healing)
-Cyrus: Starseer (analyzing/breaking/damage dealing)
-H'aanit: Warrior (physical attacker/leghold trap)
-Therion: Merchant (support and secondary attacker)

Everyone is currently around level 60. I'm still doing sidequests and side dungeons.

@TriforceBun
Yeah, we'll see. I might change my mind again, since some of the characters seem to go back and forth a bit. Despite my love for Prim, she's very inconsistent as a character at times. Especially when it comes to her attitude towards men and so on. I'll admit that I personally find her more interesting when she's the most resentful towards them, but I also think it does her plotline a big disservice when she lets go of her loathing at times.

@r_hjort

Prim had one of the better stories to me. I definitely find her the most morally ambiguous of the cast. Regarding your critique of her wanting to dance for fun, that actually has a story element involved with it that you don't really find out until near the end. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of her final chapter, but it felt a tad rushed.

@TriforceBun
Well, it's not just that she dances for fun, but that she wants to dance for a group of random men for fun. It's not exactly the picture of her or her dancing we got at the beginning with the sleazy way it's portrayed, and it doesn't mesh well with some of her borderline misandrist ways of looking at men during certain travel banter scenes.

@r_hjort
I wouldn't call Primrose misandristic. She obviously has a great deal of respect for her father, for starters, and she's pleasant enough to various people from her youth that she interacts with. She just is aware of how cruel some men can be as well.

@TriforceBun
I did say that some of her ways of looking at men are "borderline misandrist", not her entire personality. Like how she divides men into two different categories and advices against socializing with either.

This game's soundtrack is SPECTACULAR. I have no regrets importing the CD. In fact, I've taken the time to print out sheet music for some of the main character themes and try to learn them on piano. I've gotten an extra layer of appreciation taking a look at how they're composed. I think OT's OST might actually be in my top 5 game soundtracks of all time. The level of mastery here is on another level, particularly for a guy my age...!

A nice breakdown video:



@r_hjort
I think I missed that party chat. Oh well, just another excuse for me to replay it sometime!