Octopath Traveler

[Thane]

Hello chaps.

The new demo for Octopath Traveler is out, letting us play with all eight of the playable characters. However, the demo only lasts for three hours.

So, who will you/have you start(ed) with? I personally went with Tressa, then moved on to recruit Cyrus. The gameplay is stellar and the music as well, but I felt the writing was a little too plain. However, these are just the prologues, so I could see them having simple premises to get on to the recruitment of the rest of the characters. However, so far there has been no conversation between Tressa and Cyrus, which makes their journey together feel really awkward. With any luck, that'll come once you move past chapter one. 

[Sire]

One thing I want to know before I get too invested in the demo...

After starting one character's story, is it possible to experience the other stories on the same save file? Say I start Olberic and get his Chapter 1 story done, can I then experience Primose's story after that? I really do not want to make different save files to experience all the storylines.

[Thane]

2 minutes ago, Sire said:

After starting one character's story, is it possible to experience the other stories on the same save file? Say I start Olberic and get his Chapter 1 story done, can I then experience Primose's story after that? I really do not want to make different save files to experience all the storylines.

Spoiler

Yes. 

I started with Tressa, then I ran into Cyrus. I believe you could choose whether or not to play through his story before he joined. However, every prologue seems to have a boss, and his story ended before you fought the boss - instead, Tressa joined up and took him down alongside Cyrus. I'm fairly certain the boss' stats were buffed as a result.

 

[daisy jane]

29 minutes ago, Thane said:

Hello chaps.

The new demo for Octopath Traveler is out, letting us play with all eight of the playable characters. However, the demo only lasts for three hours.

So, who will you/have you start(ed) with? I personally went with Tressa, then moved on to recruit Cyrus. The gameplay is stellar and the music as well, but I felt the writing was a little too plain. However, these are just the prologues, so I could see them having simple premises to get on to the recruitment of the rest of the characters. However, so far there has been no conversation between Tressa and Cyrus, which makes their journey together feel really awkward. With any luck, that'll come once you move past chapter one. 

 

 

i am. SO. EXCITED.
I'm probably gonna play with Tressa. my goal (officialy when the game drops) is to do an OCTOPATH run (Start with Ophelia and work my way down. but i was always curious about Tressa. I always love having money in JRPGs, so having a character that can always get stuff for me lol is fun. 

[Armagon]

You can tell they've made some improvements since last year. They've added a minimap, showing you where save points and objectives are. Music is very good. I think they added in some new story bits? I did Primrose's route again and she had a short flashback of when she was in her manor dancing. That wasn't in the original demo. That's pretty neat.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem i had with the original demo still remains: the bosses are way too tanky for a single character to take on themselves. Once again, the first boss in Primrose's route just soaks up so much HP and he's got two underlings helping out, and he can replace them if they die. That's three vs one and Primrose just doesn't deal sufficient enough damage. I did three attempts over the course of thirty minutes before giving up and moving to the thief's route. Got to the first boss on that and once again, same issue. The first boss should not be tanky, especially if you have to solo it. The battle system is very clearly balanced around having multiple people, especially if you want to take full advantage of the break system.

I don't know if i'm doing something wrong or if every route has unnecessarily tanky first bosses but that's the feeling i get and i'm honestly just gonna have to pass on this game.

[Altrosa]

Primrose is a support character. You're supposed to do a huge heap of buffing and debuffing to close that gap and strategize what skills she uses based around what dances she has active. (I found her way more enjoyable than Olberic because I prefer to play with those types of classes)

I don't recall the adds respawning in the first demo on Primrose's boss, though, so maybe the boss was buffed?

[Dandy Druid]

So excited for this game! I'm not sure to play Ophelia's or Primrose's story in the demo!

Oh shoot! I want Cyrus and Therion too.

 

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Altrosa said:

Primrose is a support character. You're supposed to do a huge heap of buffing and debuffing to close that gap and strategize what skills she uses based around what dances she has active. (I found her way more enjoyable than Olberic because I prefer to play with those types of classes)

I don't recall the adds respawning in the first demo on Primrose's boss, though, so maybe the boss was buffed?

I don't recall the underlings respawning either so they probably did buff the boss. Why, i don't know. Because while i would agree that Primrose is a support character, that first boss should still not be that tanky. I actually did beat it on the original demo......after like 9 attempts. That should not happen.

Olberic's boss was pretty tanky too but Olberic hits hard and can change weapons mid-combat so it was a fair trade, i suppose.

[KymilliaWIN]

I played as Alfyn and he could heal himself so he was about as tanky as his first boss, and then I moved on to Therion and while the boss seemed to have definitely scaled to match a party of two, it wasn't an issue. Also, Therion has access to a self heal skill (I didn't choose it, I was more concerned with sharing his SP with Alf) so that probably helps him a little bit during his fight. Then I quickly ran through Ophilia's intro before deciding to wait for the game to come out (I won't remember anything that's going on and I don't want to have to replay 6 of the stories) and she had an easy time with her boss as she can heal and summon a townsfolk who dealt ridiculous amounts of wind damage to the boss. 

Obviously I can't say about anyone else, and I can definitely see Primrose having difficulty if she doesn't have much healing access. In that case maybe start with someone bulkier or with healing powers and then move on to get her. The enemies in the areas between each starting location seem pretty weak and you can skip past the other characters' starting towns if you want to get to someone who's not adjacent to your starting choice.

But this demo has me more leaning towards getting the game than before. I like that each character has their own unique function. It seems really well thought out and it's really beautiful (though I preferred it in handheld mode; it didn't look half as good on the TV). 

Edited June 15, 2018 by KymilliaWIN

[Sasori]

I started with Therion's story. It was smooth sailing thanks to all the healing items you can steal along with self healing if you really need it. The boss was just the right difficulty for a starter boss, but they should have cut down his hp just a tad since the fight went on a bit longer then it needed to to.

Did anyone notice Therion pulled an Ike? In that flashback from 10 years ago he has the same grunts his adult self has.

After Therion's story I went south and ended up in Alfyn's village who will be my second character to try out.

[Slumber]

Started the Therion story.

I'm pretty interested in this game now.

[The Geek]

I played the new demo as well.  Started from Primrose and worked my way up the east side of the map recruiting Olberic and Tressa along the way.  I gotta say, going from Primrose's story to Tressa's is quite the mood whiplash experience.

I gotta say I'm also disappointed in the lack of real interaction between the characters.  It makes sense to not change the dialogue in their prologues (since that would require dozens of scripts for every possible party combination) but I wish the characters would talk to each other in some capacity.  I need my head canon of Team Dad Olberic to be real

Edited June 15, 2018 by The Geek

[KymilliaWIN]

I'm assuming the interaction between characters picks up once you leave the starting areas, but a little something would have been nice. It was kind of weird seeing how okay Alfyn (or anyone else) was jumping into Therion's manor raid.

Also, I got to H'annit right at the end of the 3 hours, and I was looking forward to her but the way she speaks drives me up the wall.

[Thane]

Going to rank the prologues after having played them all.
 

Spoiler

1) Therion - The one I expected to like the least ended up being my favorite. Overall the prologues are very direct in how they tell their story, and this was pretty much the only one with actual surprises in it. I'm not sure I like Therion that much, as I feel like the stoic ace characters in a lot of Japanese entertainment media are insufferable, but he didn't step on my toes in the prologue aside from the heavy-handed flashbacks, so I can dig it.

2) H'aanit - Oh god why are you talking like that? Aside from that, I think I liked her personality the best, and her relationship with her master and the village overall was sweet. You can also send beasts to attack random people in town which is pretty sick.

3) Primrose - I never did understand why she had to live as a dancer under the most horrible conditions when she seemed to have the opportunity to stay at the same place under...well, not so horrible conditions, but aside from that, she's pretty cool. She straight up murders her old boss - who was the lowest form of scum - without blinking, and I can respect that.

4) Ophilia - A little too overly sweet, but I like the setup and the reason for why she sets out on her journey. However, she broke a church rule that would give her "more than a stern scolding" or whatever she said, and then it was immediately forgotten about, which bothered me.

5) Tressa - Very cute (though her voice in both languages is strangely subdued) and lighthearted, setting out with the promise of adventure. I like how she initially feels tied to her town becaue of her parents, but I dislike just how suddenly she decides to leave. Also, she's afraid of fighting pirates but she's a master of the lance and can summon huge gusts of wind to blast them apart?

6) Olberic - Straightforward, but it suits him and his story much better than the rest of the characters save for maybe H'aanit.

7) Cyrus - A very predictable prologue even though it's the one that needed the most surprises. Cyrus seems like a cool bloke in general, but I disliked how he wasn't the slightest bit upset with his student trying to tarnish his reputation. 

8) Alfyn - "A girl is sick! Go get some venom from the snake that bit her!" - "Okay. Done. By the way, I'm leaving to travel the world."

Overall, my impression of the game is positive, but my number one fear is that the writing will remain basic and that there won't be any character interactions between the party members. I understand that they might opt not to include any in the first chapter, but if it doesn't come later, then it'll detract heavily from the game, I feel.

[Sire]

Finally had some time to sit down and play the updated prologue demo.

Started with Olberic like I did in the original test demo. His story seemed more or less the same and the boss was easy to take out (I picked Cross Slash as my skill). After that I ended up going counterclockwise to recruit Tressa (instead of my original plan of getting Primrose). Her story was all right, but she is something I need to see more of before I can form an opinion. I plan on continuing northward and see if I can recruit Cyrus before the 3 hour limit, so we'll see how that goes. So far, I'm loving it and will definitely be picking it up when it releases. I just need to get a SD Card for my Switch since I plan on going digital.

Also, Tressa English VA sounds familiar. I want to say Kate Higgins (Davis) since she sounds similar to Lissa to me. I just swear I heard the voice somewhere before and can't pinpoint it.

* * * * * Edit * * * * *

Since I don't feel like double posting, I'll just edit this one instead.

So, I got around to finishing the 3 hour demo and managed to clear Cyrus' story before it timed out on me. Fighting his boss was a huge difficulty spike for me due to all of the magic and AoE (and perhaps the scaling for 3 characters), but I still managed to prevail with heavy usage of items. I would probably grinded it out a bit and explore to grab all the chests to level my characters if I wasn't pressed for time.

While I won't be playing all the characters since I plan on importing my data, I just have opinions on the three characters I played (Olberic, Tressa, and Cyrus).

Spoiler

Olberic - A classic tale of a knight who lost his kingdom and rediscovering a reason to wield his sword. I want to know more about Hornburg , especially given the hints both in Olberic and Cyrus storylines. I'm a sucker for knights in general, so his story appeals to me.

Tressa - An adventurous tale of a merchant girl wanting to see what is beyond the horizon. I want to know more about the Captain, especially after reading someone's speculation that it may be Erhardt with a new identity. I think it'll be interesting either way. Also, Tressa is a bit adorable.

Cyrus - I liked Cyrus' story as he is full of logic, oblivious, and just does not give a damn about anything. He gets set up and just takes it in stride and goes off on an adventure. However, I am worried about Therese, Cyrus' student. I have a sinking feeling that she may end up being sacrificed to the dark gods or something. I personally hoping for a happy ending, but we'll see. 

Edited June 17, 2018 by Sire

[daisy jane]

I've been playing this all weekend - just different characters, different job points etc. 
I never intended to carry over anything. (I don't mind doing the real slog during the release).  

Spoiler

 

My dream team (though it's kind of moot because i do intend to play with everyone) is the following:
Ophilia: Cleric/Dancer aka: The Battery Pack for the team
Light Magic, Dark magic, Offensive Buffs, Defensive Buffs
but she can also defend herself, as she'll have Staves & Knives

Cyrus: Scholar/Thief aka Storm from XMen. 
Swords, Knives & Staves
Fire + Firestorm, Ice (and Blizzard), Wildfire and Lightning. 
and he can steal healing etc.

Tressa: Merchant/Apothecary aka: Jane of All Trades
Lance, Bow, Axe Wind, and Ice. 
Can find money, and buy what Cyrus can't steal and has another amped up attack*

H'aanit - Hunter/Warrior aka: Xena. Olde Thyme English Princess. 
Swords, Spears, Axe, Bow + Lightning. 
and she can sic beasts on you (and help out with healing if Ophilia needs to attack)

the beautiful thing is i can do this with the other four and still have that balance in a way. but i just really like how these guys fit. 

 

*honestly. trust me on this. 
Apothecary -pick "Amputation" and then have your dancer do "Lion Dance" all the time. holy heck.  

 

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by daisy jane

[Shiki]

Played through the new demo as well. Since the old demo had already shown Olberic and Primrose I went for these 3.

Cyrus

Spoiler

I don't know why but I like characters like him; people who only care about their own pursuit and sharing of knowledge. He seems smart enough to be discreet about his agendas considering he didn't try butting heads with the headmaster and just accepted reprimand silently.
The moment with his student though .... hilarious. The entire build-up with this guy was him being very perceptive and able to deduce situations quickly but to fall flat in these kind of moments ... her reaction was all too fitting.
While the headmaster is your run-of-the-mil douche that secretary is quite a bit more intriguing. She is likely the one responsible for the missing tome.

Ophilia

Spoiler

Not sure I like this setup. Her action should have big repercussions but her foster father let it slide. I mean I get why but still there should be a heavier emphasis about what Ophilia did wrong despite her best intentions. I hope they emphasize that trait later on because it could setup some interesting plot moments.
The most interesting part about her was that one merchant who showed up at the beginning. He screams suspicious I would be surprised if he wasn't an antagonist.

Therion

Spoiler

Of the 3 he has the most interesting setup, being baited into a deal instead of following his own agenda which the other 4 did. There is also a lot of setup here, like his former companion Darius, the 3 Dragon Stones and whatever that butler was in the past.
But his "dungeon" was my least favorite. There were a lot of empty rooms in there which had nothing of interest (but still quite detailed though).

If I had to rate the characters I have played so far:
Therion > Primrose > Cyrus > Olberic > Ophilia

In general the demo seems a bit more challenging gameplay-wise which I like but once you get 2 characters together the fights become much easier. The boss in Ophilia's chapter was dragging a bit but it wasn't much of a challenge really. Magic is really strong here thanks to being AoE, it makes breaking multiple enemies so much faster. Therion's chapter was a completely joke with the three of them, especially since I got the stronger Fire spell as his 2nd skill.
If anyone has trouble with the demo I would suggest doing Olberic's or Cyrus' Chapter first and then go team up with the next one. Primrose and Ophilia seem quite challenging by themselves, Therion should get by from stealing all the gear he can.

I have to say though that the missing character interactions is a bit concerning. If you look at my playthrough it doesn't make too much sense that Therion would team up with a scholar and a cleric if he just dismissed a pair of thieves. Not to mention I can't ever see Ophilia doing this. Cyrus I could get behind if there is an explaination for it (like it ties to his missing tome).

If I have the chance I might try another run where I go for H'aanit first, then recruit Therion and Cyrus. Unless you skip everything (exploration, dialogue etc.) I don't think it's possible to do all 8 starting chapters and get the party together.

[daisy jane]

1 hour ago, The Priest said:

Played through the new demo as well. Since the old demo had already shown Olberic and Primrose I went for these 3.

Cyrus

  Reveal hidden contents

I don't know why but I like characters like him; people who only care about their own pursuit and sharing of knowledge. He seems smart enough to be discreet about his agendas considering he didn't try butting heads with the headmaster and just accepted reprimand silently.
The moment with his student though .... hilarious. The entire build-up with this guy was him being very perceptive and able to deduce situations quickly but to fall flat in these kind of moments ... her reaction was all too fitting.
While the headmaster is your run-of-the-mil douche that secretary is quite a bit more intriguing. She is likely the one responsible for the missing tome.

Ophilia

  Hide contents

Not sure I like this setup. Her action should have big repercussions but her foster father let it slide. I mean I get why but still there should be a heavier emphasis about what Ophilia did wrong despite her best intentions. I hope they emphasize that trait later on because it could setup some interesting plot moments.
The most interesting part about her was that one merchant who showed up at the beginning. He screams suspicious I would be surprised if he wasn't an antagonist.

Therion

  Reveal hidden contents

Of the 3 he has the most interesting setup, being baited into a deal instead of following his own agenda which the other 4 did. There is also a lot of setup here, like his former companion Darius, the 3 Dragon Stones and whatever that butler was in the past.
But his "dungeon" was my least favorite. There were a lot of empty rooms in there which had nothing of interest (but still quite detailed though).

If I had to rate the characters I have played so far:
Therion > Primrose > Cyrus > Olberic > Ophilia

In general the demo seems a bit more challenging gameplay-wise which I like but once you get 2 characters together the fights become much easier. The boss in Ophilia's chapter was dragging a bit but it wasn't much of a challenge really. Magic is really strong here thanks to being AoE, it makes breaking multiple enemies so much faster. Therion's chapter was a completely joke with the three of them, especially since I got the stronger Fire spell as his 2nd skill.
If anyone has trouble with the demo I would suggest doing Olberic's or Cyrus' Chapter first and then go team up with the next one. Primrose and Ophilia seem quite challenging by themselves, Therion should get by from stealing all the gear he can.

I have to say though that the missing character interactions is a bit concerning. If you look at my playthrough it doesn't make too much sense that Therion would team up with a scholar and a cleric if he just dismissed a pair of thieves. Not to mention I can't ever see Ophilia doing this. Cyrus I could get behind if there is an explaination for it (like it ties to his missing tome).

If I have the chance I might try another run where I go for H'aanit first, then recruit Therion and Cyrus. Unless you skip everything (exploration, dialogue etc.) I don't think it's possible to do all 8 starting chapters and get the party together.

 

Regarding Ophilia I felt very much the same way.

 

Spoiler

like the whole thing was. "Okay. Lianna was being trained to go, this was her right' and they kept stressing how no one else could do it. but Oph did it anyway. even though there was the vision of her being the one to do it in the dad's vision. 

I also found it so sad that Oph never could call him Father except when she was about to go). 

 

About Therion 

 

Spoiler

I never understood why they just didn't ask him. why go through that rouse then put this bracelet thinger on him. it was dumb. 

from everything re: the missing character interactions this is a demo thing. everything else i've heard was saying that there will be a lot in thefull game. 

[Sasori]

1 hour ago, daisy jane said:

 

  Hide contents

I never understood why they just didn't ask him. why go through that rouse then put this bracelet thinger on him. it was dumb. 

 

Spoiler

I believe the ruse was there to lure in a thief skilled enough for the job. I don't believe they where looking for Therion specifically, but that they where instead looking for any person skilled enough to reach the treasure room.

I went with Therion first, Alfyn second and Primrose as my third stop.

I like where Therion's story is going, but I wasn't to invested until I reached the boss. It makes sense for a loner thief to do his story mostly alone, but it also meant there wasn't much that held my interest until the story got going.

Alfyn is Therion's opposite in this regard. I liked his interactions with the village and his fellow apothecary, but his main quest of helping people is still missing something. As a goal its kinda uninteresting.

Primrose's intro was very good, getting surprisingly dark and having some quotes I did not expect to hear. I did't mind replaying it even if I already done so during the first demo.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Don't have an Internet connection for my Switch yet, so I can't try the demo- I'll still be able to look up reviews at least, and they should be the real way of determining whether this game is worth buying.

Still I found this article, apparently there are no plans for DLC for Octopath Traveler, it'll be a complete experience without it (good!).

http://www.siliconera.com/2018/06/17/octopath-traveler-dlc-planned-complete-game/

Producer Masashi Takahashi also said in this very brief interview for those who don't want to read the article, that the game will not have a New Game Plus feature. That you could challenge yourself and never recruit anyone- not that he was encouraging it or anything.

And most importantly, that the expected length is 50-60 hours to get through the main story. Adding everything optional would boost the length to 80-100 hours. So this will be a long and meaty JRPG.

If in that time it doesn't address the nonexistent character interaction issues all of you are saying, then I think we could say that the game is seriously critically flawed in that regard.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Interdimensional Observer