Quick Look: Octopath Traveler

@brackstone: Yeah there is a mismatch there that really turns me off.

This looks great, very excited!

The two words refer to the same thing, "a pin" or "a pointed object" and only became two distinct words later on. The decorative object began to be spelled differently, while the "broach" is now only used in the figurative sense "to bring up".

Ah..that nostalgia.

Be very careful with that idea of going back to look at those old games.

Even the heavy hitters of the day are rough as hell by modern standard, let alone the mountain of filler that got buried by them.

Abby’s comment about the boss “revving” was so good.

It’s such a bummer to me that the story seems pretty inconsequential in this game. Imo the story is like half of an rpg, and it’s missing here.

The combat looks fun, but not having any kind of auto battle is a little puzzling.

So is the title a reference to Buddhist principles and/or Ultima: Quest of the Avatar?

@efesell said:

Yeah, Chrono Trigger. Ooh man that's rough. Looks and plays like hell now that we've had a deluge of instant-classic modern JRPGs to compare it against. God have mercy on whoever boots that up in 2018.

@ricobanderas: I mean everyone knows that an exception destroys an entire premise without further consideration so I guess you've got me there.

On the other hand they were talking about a PS1/PS2 golden era and if you did play that version of Chrono Trigger....

Looks like the Bravely team made another one of their games: somewhat interesting mechanics, a distracting art style, super bland story/characters/world. I have never gotten the hype around their games, I am a huge JRPG fan but they have always bored me to tears. I'd also rather these games not try and mine my nostalgia and instead focus on a good plot or characters.

@efesell:

Obviously Chrono Trigger is a masterwork and I was using it to blow up your spot, but the point I was getting at is that recent JRPG's have suffered as a genre together and lack basic components of great games we took for granted in the 16-bit era. I'm not endorsing blind nostalgia fanhood because I also find it cringeworthy, but a lot of recent JRPG offerings have come up far short of what was achieved (and blueprinted for them) in the late 90s by Square at their peak.

Bravely Default has boring, copy-paste dungeons and an absolute grind of a late game.

I am Setsuna suffers from a lack of variety, scope and depth.

Tokyo RPG Factory's next offering Lost Sphear suffers from the exact opposite and actually makes I am Setsuna look focused.

This game, if Kotaku's review is any indication, has razor thin characters that ignore each other on one another's quests and no intertwining adventure, beautiful music and graphics be damned.

Maybe these are just smaller studios trying to do what they can on what budget they have, which is fair and can apply to most any game's development. But apart from some specific modern exceptions, like maybe Xenoblade, Persona or Ni No Kuni (all full of their own same tired tropes), it feels like JRPG's have stagnated for quite a while.

Vinny is wrong. Just about every RPG since the 90s doesn't let attacks go to waste. If the enemy is not where the character just attacks another enemy. This has been a standard thing for over 20 years. In fact, another game on PlayStation that did a similar aesthetic with sprite characters and 3D backgrounds is Grandia and again no attacks went to waste.

@lestephan: Ocotpath is Unreal 4 Engine. Not even the same studio either. Different developer studios.

@grizwold53: None. Switch Exclusive. Nintendo published. SEhave said it'sexclusiev to Switch only.

This is not the same studio as BD. That was Silicon Studio. This is made by Aquire.

I feel like this is something that happened in like the first two Final Fantasy games and then never again.

@ryudo: "The project was started by producers Masashi Takahashi and Tomoya Asano, 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, which showed off their pixel art prowess."

I know bu tit's still not the same studio. Lke saying Bayonetta is developed by Capcom.

There were like 1000 PS1 JRPGs that used 2D sprites on a polygonal background. For an example that even uses a similar art style to this game, look at Final Fantasy Tactics. The things that make this game look good were not possible on the PS1. It's the lighting, shadowing, particle effects, and shader effects that make this game look how it does.

Hearing just how enthusiastic Dan is has me even more excited to finally start playing myself, tomorrow. Great Quick Look, GB East!

I'll get this eventually. I liked what little I played of the first demo. It looks like a good, chill game.

I can't help but notice, though, that they didn't fix the light source on the lantern. When facing away from the camera, a shadow is cast in the direction the character faces, which makes no sense from their perspective. I brought it up in the survey for the demo. I guess not enough people noticed or cared.

That's why I always keep my trusty blaster at my side.

Wait. Isn't that... what I said? That I was so glad they changed that after the first FF?

The demo really, really turned me off. especially the first demo: you've got a girl who is essentially an escort and who is being abused, and her ability to interact with the world is... escorting. yuck. No thank you.

@vinny: Maybe I misunderstood. Just kinda sounded like every JRPG doesn't do it last 30 years.

@ildon: Xenogears from Square also does it.

Bad story, long grind, and this art style? Should've called it Ragnarok Offline!

...Anyone?

I really dig the look of this game but during the battles there seems to be this weird tearing effect on the characters I can't ignore.

Actually "octo" is Latin for eight, the Greek root word for eight is "octa". Close but no cigar.

reminds me of grandia 1 with graphics 2d vs 3d

Am i missing something. 84% on metacritic...is...bad now. Even by high school standards your getting like a B and thats not bad at all. Am i missing something. Even a perfect game by most standards only gets like 93%. Do you need a game to get 97% or something. I feel this game is good for what it has. Its not a 100 million dollar juggernaut like destiny or something so you gotta have some layway. Dont understand the hate on this game. Are we now going to retro actively say ff7 sucked when the remake comes out and that skies of arcadiaa was trash...add in grandia 2 being meh and we got ourself the perfect cynic.

I own a cloak and wear it around the house during the winter, but am not brave enough to wear it outside.

This game seems neato, btw.

@pixelomen: I almost agree with you. FFIV (overated), FFVI, Chrono Trigger, and DQ V/VI are basically the most notable RPGs of the SNES era. While these games especially FFVI and Chrono Trigger rank among the greatest games of all time the PS1 and even PS2 era has a greater depth of amazing RPGs. I would argue that the PS1/PS2 is the golden era of "JRPGS"

I dont know what it is about people's expectation these days but not everything needs to go 100 miles per hour. When did our take on if a story is good or not go from plot to ACTION EXPLOSIONS fights in first 10 seconds or no sell. We have a real mis understanding of how our attention is in decline yet jeff and crew can sit through the longer forms of anime and still enjoy it. IDK if something is good youll give it your time. Period.

@tary1966: Because I didn't like the Bravely games and this seems like more of the same I am suddenly a hater of old JRPGs.... ok. Who cares what the metacritic says, for me the games made by these people previously compare poorly to what they are trying to emulate.

You know those people that like the dungeon crawlers with the intricate systems that invite you to be pummeled until you learn to break the game? They seem to be finding a lot of appeal with this game.

This game seems to be a real treat for the systems-heavy JRPG people. What I've played of the demo was really exciting when I pushed myself to overcome a boss battle with a healer and a new counter-shield skill.

If you personally just dislike the creators of these games fine. But again this isnt bravely team. Your ignoring reviews so ill add that GB team, the team you like or probably trust for advice on purchases likes the game. Not saying you should buy it. just saying your take that its that bad could be off. I get annoyed when people diss rpgs preemptively since rpgs are a rare form where you need more then a quick take to get the gist. Thus why they sell worst and are a dying genre among more easy to showcase action or shooters.

WTF? I never said anything about the review score.The game is coming in the mail tomorrow. All i was saying is who the actual studio is that developed the game. Many people have this assumption Silicon Studio made it when in fact Aquire developed the game. Wow you read poorly and pulled that out of thin air.

Not the same studio as BD.

And Nier Automata wasn't the same studio as Nier, guess I shouldn't compare them even though its the same creatives in charge. Dragon Quest 1-5 arent the same devs as 6 and 7, and still another dev for 8 and 9, 11 is a new one as well.... guess I shouldn't compare those either.

Look I get it, not the same developer but its clearly the next game by the people who brought you the Bravely games.

@tary1966: No offense to the GB guys but honestly no I do not look to them for JRPG recommendations, that really should not be a big surprise since its not a genre they cover much or have many fans of on staff. I am not coming from a place of not liking rpgs and dissing them from a distance, I am a BIG fan of the genre but square enix's recent output has done little to nothing for me and to me this game does not appear to be shifting their strategy much at all. These days Atlus and Falcom are doing a much better job of keeping the genre alive with great games.

"In ancient Greek times..."

Oh boy here comes a Dan-splanation.

I played a half hour of the demo, then for some reason started playing Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth instead.

I have no regrets, VP still rules.

The enemies thing is a totally deliberate choice that YMMV on but I'm into it. Look at Final Fantasy VI's totally jacked Ultima/Atma Weapon!

Brewtch

I felt like I was the only person in the world who wasn't really into the demo. It has an interesting look, but I wasn't crazy about the gameplay. Random battles have always annoyed me, though, so there's that

@kid_gloves: They definitely lack someone who is really knowledgeable on JRPGs outside of the well known FF, Chrono Trigger etc.

I agree Falcom is putting out really great games. They do writing, characters and world building very well, not to mention the combat. But this game doesn’t seem to have much going for it outside of the intriguing look of it. I dunno, I realize I’m pretty picky when it comes to JRPGs nowadays but that’s only because they have mostly been so lackluster for a while now

Fun quicklook from Dan. Lots of enthusiasm

I really enjoyed the demo for around 40 minutes, then the first random battles started and I couldn't believe that's still a gameplay mechanic in 2018. Immediate turn off for me, especially given how goddamn long each battle is and how they are utterly unavoidable..

Oh you are definitely right on that front, I've tried to go back to a lot of them and it's just not what it was when I was playing them.

But what I meant is I'd love for a deluge of them to come out now with modern sensibilities and fresh ideas. Maybe that just isnt possible anymore, considering the amount of expense it takes to make one of these?