Christi Junior on Nostr: 2/2 All these are problems with Octopath’s core concept, but there are problems ...
2/2
All these are problems with Octopath’s core concept, but there are problems with the execution too - indeed, my single biggest gripe with OT is just ridiculously FORMULAIC it is! 31 out of 32 Chapters will go like this: you’re in a town, you advance the story, you trek through a dungeon and then you fight a boss. Rinse and fucking repeat! Sure, the question of exactly WHAT will happen, and HOW the story will unfold is far from obvious, but the fact that you’ll quickly realize that this game will be nothing but Known Unknowns all the way through still makes it a lot less interesting than the vast majority of other JRPGs I’ve played.
And personally I just don’t think old-school JRPGs, with their turn-based combat and random encounters, boast fun enough core gameplay that they can afford to have such a boring, predictable structure. As far as turn-based battle systems go, the one in Octopath is fine and polished, but I hardly found it very exciting or stimulating most of the time, nor is the character customization or team building anything special – none of these aspects of Octopath are even close to being selling points for me.
And then there’s the fucking graphics – I’ve long been outspoken about my hatred of the HD-2D style, and while a lot of my current ire is the result of just how damn overused it has ended up becoming, I always disliked it, even back when Octopath first introduced it. Simply put, for all the great things about the classic SNES JRPGs, their graphics were never among them for me – even by the standards of their time, I find them serviceable, nothing more. Some of the sprite work is really nice, sure, but nothing that blows me away or makes me feel that this is somehow where JRPGs as a whole peaked. I can understand thinking that something like Chrono Trigger is a better-looking game than Final Fantasy VII – I will NOT go along with it being better-looking than even Bravely Default, let alone 3D JRPGs like Ni No Kuni, Dragon Quest XI or Persona 5.
So essentially, the graphics in Octopath Traveler are a sharpened, somewhat enhanced HD version of graphics I merely found satisfactory 30 years ago – meaning that the game actively invites me to compare it to far better JRPGs, while refusing to make use of one of the single greatest advantages that in enjoys over those games, namely hardware that’s a bazillion times more powerful. You might as well also remove Octopath’s excellent Quality of Life features and its high quality Voice Acting, and advertise those downgrades as features, because it makes the game more like that classic SNES JRPG it wants to be!
To me, HD-2D games don’t merely look unimpressive, but outright cheap, their reliance on this “art style” solely being the product of shameless nostalgia-pandering. I’d take a Switch game with subpar 3D graphics like Fire Emblem: Three Houses over Octopath any day, because at least Three Houses boasts good-looking and detailed 3D characters. Other words I would apply to HD-2D are “generic” and “soulless”, so the fact that so many different games (from games in other genres like Triangle Strategy to remakes like Live A Live and Dragon Quest 3) have all been forced into HD-2D sameyness just REALLY pisses me off. If I wanted to be truly mean, I'd call HD-2D the JRPG graphics equivalent of Funko Pops, which isn’t exactly fair (for all the hate I give it, HD-2D isn’t actively repulsive or ugly), but it’s not completely unfair either. It’s essentially the lowest common denominator for JRPGs, and a style I’d only be okay with if applied to quick and dirty portjobs, not full price new releases.
At least the music is outstanding, especially the battle themes. JRPGs tend to deliver the goods when it comes to their soundtracks, and Octopath is certainly no exception. I don’t necessarily think its songs transcend the typical levels JRPG excellence the way they do in games like Bravely Default, Ys VIII and Xenoblade, but it would be silly of me to actually complain about music this good.
A more surprising area where the game acquits itself admirably is in terms of Based Morality. This is quite a pure and righteous game overall, one that never takes me out of the experience with obnoxious shitlib politics, instead dealing with some pretty heavy issues in an intelligent manner. Octopath manages to tackle topics like prostitution and sex slavery while avoiding the stench of Feminism (it helps that Primrose greatly admired her father), and a medic’s moral dilemma about whether or not he should help evil people are dealt with in a nuanced, thoughtful way that gives my own preferred, harsher idea of justice a fair hearing.
Moreover, Octopath does not suffer from any conspicuous racial Diversity or representation, and perhaps best of all, no faggotry whatsoever. The very close relationship between Alfyn and his childhood friend Zeph did for a while have me concerned, having been repeatedly conditioned by kiked Western entertainment products to expect the worst when two bros are really close (we just witnessed another example of this evil practice in Current Year, with what Warhorse ended up doing to Henry and Hans in Kingdom Come out of the Closet 2), but no – a later sidequest literally revolves around helping Zeph hook up with a female side character, and optional dialogue involving Alfyn and Primrose exploring a brothel makes it pretty damn clear that Alfyn is also a healthy, red-blooded male, despite normally coming across as a total boyscout.
Nor does Octopath suffer from the typical anti-religion JPRG tropes – the main church in its world (which very much mirrors the Catholic Church) is unequivocally a force for good, and opposed by unambiguously evil cultists. Indeed, I’d say that on the whole Octopath definitely leans firmly enough on the positive side of the culture war to warrant a +1 Based Morality Score.
Even so, I find it difficult to recommend Octopath Traveler overall. It’s not that the game is bad, certainly not, it’s well-made and has plenty of worthwhile elements. I’d probably rate it a 7/10, and that’s an actual 7, not a game journo rating scale 7. It’s just that with JPRGs (very much including Octopath) being so time-consuming, and there being so many other, better JPRGs out there (certainly on the Switch, where Octopath is not even in my top 15), as well as so many better games in general, it’s hard to recommend that you devote 60 hours to this specific game. Like Xenoblade 2, Octopath Traveler benefited greatly from being one of the first truly notable new JRPGs on the Switch – but unlike Xenoblade 2, it couldn’t really compete once the JRPG scene became crowded and competitive.
All these are problems with Octopath’s core concept, but there are problems with the execution too - indeed, my single biggest gripe with OT is just ridiculously FORMULAIC it is! 31 out of 32 Chapters will go like this: you’re in a town, you advance the story, you trek through a dungeon and then you fight a boss. Rinse and fucking repeat! Sure, the question of exactly WHAT will happen, and HOW the story will unfold is far from obvious, but the fact that you’ll quickly realize that this game will be nothing but Known Unknowns all the way through still makes it a lot less interesting than the vast majority of other JRPGs I’ve played.
And personally I just don’t think old-school JRPGs, with their turn-based combat and random encounters, boast fun enough core gameplay that they can afford to have such a boring, predictable structure. As far as turn-based battle systems go, the one in Octopath is fine and polished, but I hardly found it very exciting or stimulating most of the time, nor is the character customization or team building anything special – none of these aspects of Octopath are even close to being selling points for me.
And then there’s the fucking graphics – I’ve long been outspoken about my hatred of the HD-2D style, and while a lot of my current ire is the result of just how damn overused it has ended up becoming, I always disliked it, even back when Octopath first introduced it. Simply put, for all the great things about the classic SNES JRPGs, their graphics were never among them for me – even by the standards of their time, I find them serviceable, nothing more. Some of the sprite work is really nice, sure, but nothing that blows me away or makes me feel that this is somehow where JRPGs as a whole peaked. I can understand thinking that something like Chrono Trigger is a better-looking game than Final Fantasy VII – I will NOT go along with it being better-looking than even Bravely Default, let alone 3D JRPGs like Ni No Kuni, Dragon Quest XI or Persona 5.
So essentially, the graphics in Octopath Traveler are a sharpened, somewhat enhanced HD version of graphics I merely found satisfactory 30 years ago – meaning that the game actively invites me to compare it to far better JRPGs, while refusing to make use of one of the single greatest advantages that in enjoys over those games, namely hardware that’s a bazillion times more powerful. You might as well also remove Octopath’s excellent Quality of Life features and its high quality Voice Acting, and advertise those downgrades as features, because it makes the game more like that classic SNES JRPG it wants to be!
To me, HD-2D games don’t merely look unimpressive, but outright cheap, their reliance on this “art style” solely being the product of shameless nostalgia-pandering. I’d take a Switch game with subpar 3D graphics like Fire Emblem: Three Houses over Octopath any day, because at least Three Houses boasts good-looking and detailed 3D characters. Other words I would apply to HD-2D are “generic” and “soulless”, so the fact that so many different games (from games in other genres like Triangle Strategy to remakes like Live A Live and Dragon Quest 3) have all been forced into HD-2D sameyness just REALLY pisses me off. If I wanted to be truly mean, I'd call HD-2D the JRPG graphics equivalent of Funko Pops, which isn’t exactly fair (for all the hate I give it, HD-2D isn’t actively repulsive or ugly), but it’s not completely unfair either. It’s essentially the lowest common denominator for JRPGs, and a style I’d only be okay with if applied to quick and dirty portjobs, not full price new releases.
At least the music is outstanding, especially the battle themes. JRPGs tend to deliver the goods when it comes to their soundtracks, and Octopath is certainly no exception. I don’t necessarily think its songs transcend the typical levels JRPG excellence the way they do in games like Bravely Default, Ys VIII and Xenoblade, but it would be silly of me to actually complain about music this good.
A more surprising area where the game acquits itself admirably is in terms of Based Morality. This is quite a pure and righteous game overall, one that never takes me out of the experience with obnoxious shitlib politics, instead dealing with some pretty heavy issues in an intelligent manner. Octopath manages to tackle topics like prostitution and sex slavery while avoiding the stench of Feminism (it helps that Primrose greatly admired her father), and a medic’s moral dilemma about whether or not he should help evil people are dealt with in a nuanced, thoughtful way that gives my own preferred, harsher idea of justice a fair hearing.
Moreover, Octopath does not suffer from any conspicuous racial Diversity or representation, and perhaps best of all, no faggotry whatsoever. The very close relationship between Alfyn and his childhood friend Zeph did for a while have me concerned, having been repeatedly conditioned by kiked Western entertainment products to expect the worst when two bros are really close (we just witnessed another example of this evil practice in Current Year, with what Warhorse ended up doing to Henry and Hans in Kingdom Come out of the Closet 2), but no – a later sidequest literally revolves around helping Zeph hook up with a female side character, and optional dialogue involving Alfyn and Primrose exploring a brothel makes it pretty damn clear that Alfyn is also a healthy, red-blooded male, despite normally coming across as a total boyscout.
Nor does Octopath suffer from the typical anti-religion JPRG tropes – the main church in its world (which very much mirrors the Catholic Church) is unequivocally a force for good, and opposed by unambiguously evil cultists. Indeed, I’d say that on the whole Octopath definitely leans firmly enough on the positive side of the culture war to warrant a +1 Based Morality Score.
Even so, I find it difficult to recommend Octopath Traveler overall. It’s not that the game is bad, certainly not, it’s well-made and has plenty of worthwhile elements. I’d probably rate it a 7/10, and that’s an actual 7, not a game journo rating scale 7. It’s just that with JPRGs (very much including Octopath) being so time-consuming, and there being so many other, better JPRGs out there (certainly on the Switch, where Octopath is not even in my top 15), as well as so many better games in general, it’s hard to recommend that you devote 60 hours to this specific game. Like Xenoblade 2, Octopath Traveler benefited greatly from being one of the first truly notable new JRPGs on the Switch – but unlike Xenoblade 2, it couldn’t really compete once the JRPG scene became crowded and competitive.