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Octopath Traveler


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4 hours ago, The Priest said:

... can I just say that I want to strangle you for that?
Everytime I use that skill in its boosted form I get HP reduction to 1 followed by an explosion ... even against Caits.

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I'm bit surprised you had such trouble with the Runeblade. He was the first Shrine I visited as well and compared to the others he was an utter joke. In comparision Warbringer took me a couple of tries with her stupid amount of damage and the other 2 became a bit more heated once they start using their Ultimate attacks.
tbf Tressa wasn't in my main party yet so I couldn't abuse the Merchant + Runeblade combo.

Spoiler

Without fail, I'd get Runelord to red health, then she'd use her Ice attack to put all but one of my party members to sleep, then she'd immediately follow it up with her Light attack, which would then usually knock the remaining member unconscious and she'd just wipe the party with no hope of recovery. 

Even giving everyone the ailment resistance up skill and giving Alfyn the accessory that makes him immune to Unconsciousness would still generally end in a party wipe when she did her Ice+Light combo.

After the 7th or 8th time of trying, I just said "fuck it" and grinded a bunch of JP for characters to give myself enough abilities that'd work against her to make it more manageable. 

I agree that ultimately she's probably the easiest, but without the extra-busted abilities and combo of Merchant+Runelord, it was far and away the one that took the longest so far. 

I just have the Starseer left, and it seems like the same strategies that worked against the Archmage will work here. 

 

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6 hours ago, Slumber said:
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Without fail, I'd get Runelord to red health, then she'd use her Ice attack to put all but one of my party members to sleep, then she'd immediately follow it up with her Light attack, which would then usually knock the remaining member unconscious and she'd just wipe the party with no hope of recovery. 

Even giving everyone the ailment resistance up skill and giving Alfyn the accessory that makes him immune to Unconsciousness would still generally end in a party wipe when she did her Ice+Light combo.

After the 7th or 8th time of trying, I just said "fuck it" and grinded a bunch of JP for characters to give myself enough abilities that'd work against her to make it more manageable. 

I agree that ultimately she's probably the easiest, but without the extra-busted abilities and combo of Merchant+Runelord, it was far and away the one that took the longest so far. 

I just have the Starseer left, and it seems like the same strategies that worked against the Archmage will work here. 

 

Spoiler

My strategy on Runelord was to use the Dancer's divine skill on my Apothecary to spread a max boost Rehabilitate ASAP. The damage was still intense to deal with, but the status effects were gone. I'd say Starseer was probably easier to deal with as she doesn't deal quite as much damage at once, and she uses a similar strategy as Archmage but with less potential to get bursted down. Archmage's ability to just push damage out is pretty scary in general.

 

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I think Octopath traveler might have problem with its surprise villains. They follow a formula that makes it pretty easy to spot that they are going to be the main villain. 

 

Spoiler

Both Cyrus and Ophelia have a seemingly unimportant npc turn out to be the mastermind all along. The problem with this is that Matthias and Lucia were already highly suspicious from the start due to how they were introduced. Both were introduced while not really doing much except making it clear to the audience that they existed but because they had unique designs, names and in Lucia's case even a voice it was always crystal clear that they would get important later on. Matthias is even introduced directly next to an npc who talks about evil cultists. 

 

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17 minutes ago, Samias said:
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My strategy on Runelord was to use the Dancer's divine skill on my Apothecary to spread a max boost Rehabilitate ASAP. The damage was still intense to deal with, but the status effects were gone. I'd say Starseer was probably easier to deal with as she doesn't deal quite as much damage at once, and she uses a similar strategy as Archmage but with less potential to get bursted down. Archmage's ability to just push damage out is pretty scary in general.

 

Spoiler

I didn't find out how OP the Dancer's Divine skill was until after I beat Runelord, so I didn't even think to learn it. It probably would have made it a lot easier, but I learned by the time I got to Archmage, so at least there's that.

 

Edited by Slumber
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Spoiler

Speaking of hard bosses... the managarm.... oof. If you don't bring a high level warmaster with some attack buffs and some serious BP management, you are boned. A full pack of wolves = OUCH.

 

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After beating all 8 stories, postgame spoilers

Spoiler

The Gate of Finis is so frustrating... the 8 bosses are pushovers but the final boss is ridiculously hard and there is no saving. It's really awesome but it's going to take me a lot of prep before I go back to make another attempt. One loss is such a huge timesink. This is Cloud of Darkness levels of tough, except you need actual strategy to beat the boss and not just level grinding.

 

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I could, but don't want to make a new topic for this, and I'll use this one since it does have a little relation to Octopath Traveler:

http://www.siliconera.com/2018/08/06/square-enix-teasing-a-new-bravely-game-on-twitter/

Octopath Traveler has sold over 1 million copies. Nice! Pic:

Spoiler

DjqCRH3W4AA_9HD.jpg

 

And the Bravely series is possibly getting a new game! 

Dj5yQnOUUAA4WCL

 

 

I wonder how (MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE BRAVELY SERIES!)...

Spoiler

They'll break the 4th wall this time?

If we're getting Bravely Third, I'm expecting Edea and Ringabel playable again, but Tiz and Agnes will likely be NPCs only, given how BS ends so happily for them.

I wonder if they'll choose to bring back Yew and or Magnolia as playables? If they choose to replace them with new characters, which, assuming BT is the end of Luxendarc's story, and it'll have gotten a lot at that point, so it might as well be, will need all of their development and characterization to be done in one game.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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Honestly, while I loved it at first, I just get more disappointed with it the more I play.

1: The story isn’t very good. Most of them try to tell a story that can’t really be told in the amount of time each is given. Twists with no time to be set up, character arcs with no time to be meaningful, final bosses who come out of nowhere... basically the only story that was any good was Alfyn’s, and that was because it took advantage of the format and told reasonably compelling short stories, particularly 2 and 3, about a guy who’s just on a journey with no big and epic overarching goal.

2: No room to breathe. The characters level too fast. I saw all sorts of bonus dungeons that I can only assume were tied to side quests, but I couldn’t do any of them because I was constantly trying to make sure I didn’t outlevel the level recommendations for each chapter... which I failed anyway, because this game gives way too much experience even if you only do the main quests. By the time I cleared my initial party of 4’s 16 mainline chapters, they were all level 57 for missions that were level 45. I think the problem might be that the encounter rate is way too high for how much time and thought battles require. Battles should have been rarer, like the encounter rate when using evasive maneuvers, but giving slightly more experience per battle.

3: Way too few jobs. I actually did a bit of a double take when I realized that this “fivelike”, as I’ve come to call these games with modular job systems, has half the number of jobs that the original final fantasy 5 had. The jobs are too few for what a game like this really needs, and it makes most parties feel same-y. And what’s worse, there’s barely enough jobs to scratch the surface of every attack type. Aside from the advanced jobs there’s no two classes that have any advanced tricks with the same weapon type. Without items or advanced jobs, the only one with party wide wind attacks is the merchant. The only one with party-wide dark attacks is the dancer. The only one with multi-hit elemental attacks of any element at all is the scholar. It just seems like there were so many missed opportunities for a wide variety of classes that would have different approaches to the same attack type. And that’s to say nothing about how disappointing the divine skills are. Aelfric’s Auspices is objectively the best one and simultaneously invalidates all the attack divine skills because it won’t work on them, making strong non-divine attacks do way better DPS. Honestly the game would be way better if rather than having the shrines grant access to other travelers’ jobs, there were 8 new jobs the shrines gave you, and all the travelers’ base jobs were exclusive to them.

4: The combat system is interesting, but makes random encounters too annoying and bosses too easy to break. The bosses are awesome and challenging at first, until you start figuring out things like how leghold trap makes it practically impossible to lose. It’s amazing how many broken combinations they managed to fit into a game with only 12 classes.

 

So yeah... I hate that I have to be disappointed with this game, I was so hyped for it, but at nearly every turn I found something new that didn’t sit right with me.

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@Interdimensional Observer Dude, spoilers.

20 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I wonder if they'll choose to bring back Yew and or Magnolia as playables? If they choose to replace them with new characters, which, assuming BT is the end of Luxendarc's story, and it'll have gotten a lot at that point, so it might as well be, will need all of their development and characterization to be done in one gam

Spoiler

Considering the Bravely Series likes its wordplays, Bravely Third will likely be about the Sword of the Brave as Ringabel discusses it with his superior and it is quite obscure lore-wise (which is surprising since it has a role in Second).

Yew and Magnolia also had a happy ending since she decides not to return to the moon. They might return though a pair of new protagonists is also a possibility. More people from the people I reckon.
I'm curious if they would make Ringabel and Edea the main protagonists due to their circumstances.
Hopefully they write the characters better this time around because Second was pretty disappointing in terms of characterization.

 

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2 minutes ago, The Priest said:

Dude, spoilers.

I thought I didn't include anything particularly spoilerific outside of the one box (was that particularly bad?). Anyone who looks up Bravely Default or Bravely Second is going to see who is playable. And simply saying there was a happy ending with any details isn't that bad, or is it? Was that the problem?

As for why I brought up Yew and Magnolia potentially returning, it'd be a chance for them to fix up Magnolia, who really suffered from a lack of anything in BS other than being Yew's full-time lover, another career as a food commentator, and a little part-time gig as a Baal Buster.

And... (VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY BIG SPOILERS FOR BOTH BRAVELY GAMES DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE PLAYED THEM ALL THE WAY TO THE ABSOLUTE END!)

Spoiler

As for the Sword of the Brave, I guess BS wanted to allude to include it just to tease the next game. Yew having a connection to it could also justify his return as playable.

And IIRC, wasn't the man who Ringabel was referring to as his superior in the post-credits scene Appleberry? Or did it just sound like him? Or was there anything at all? I forget. If there was, another reason to bring back Magnolia.

As for the wordplay issue, we have Defaulting against the warnings of not awakening the crystals, and Seconding back in time, but could Bravely Third possibly mean? Having to do things for a third time to get it right would be just a rehash of BS. Plus it'd reuse time travel, which I'd doubt they do. Bravely Default was dimension-hopping, Bravely Second was time travel, so a timespace mechanic will have to exist in Bravely Third.

Maybe it's Bravely Third Option- as in being presented with two choices, and then creating/picking a third. Not the most original of ideas, but it hasn't been done yet in Bravely. As for the timespace operation here, maybe the creation of a new world, would that be distinct enough from dimension hopping? I could see the 4th wall breaking here in some way, not sure how exactly.

Then there is the question of the subtitle wordplay. Flying Fairy/Where the Fairy Flies was subtraction, SEnd PLayer was addition. What would the next game use? Multiplication and division would take quite the clever mind to make work on a title. And dropping the "word math" for an anagram just seems too basic for Bravely.

 

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18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I thought I didn't include anything particularly spoilerific outside of the one box (was that particularly bad?).

Spoiler

I was referencing the ending of Agnes and Tiz. Considering the events of Second "happy" isn't what I would expect at any given time.

Well, Third kinda sounds like "Sword" and in JP the Sword of the Brave is called "Bravely Sword". I could imagine some kind of destruction dynamic, be it erasing alternate timelines or dimensions, which the Bureau either has to combat against or are doing themselves.

While I do wish for a 3rd Bravely game I hope this is the finale since a world with its lore has just that much to offer. Only Edea and Ringabel have open ends as characters, maybe Magnolia if Appleberry is the director. Tiz, Agnes and Yew are pretty much done at this point, with the couple leaving the matters of Luxendarc and Yew having his own duties to the Church.

Tressa

Spoiler

Here comes the most versatile character in the game.
She also happens to be relatives with Edea.

Base Job & Stats:
Tressa is very balanced. There is nothing where she excels in but she also doesn't lack anywhere either. This means Tressa can be expand her expertise in all kinds of directions without noticing a significant drawback. Compared to specialists like Cyrus or Olberic she will lack a bit behind.
Though let's talk about the Merchant job; it's one of the best jobs in the game. Just by default it covers 2 weapon types (Spears, Bows) and 1 element (Wind) with the latter being exclusive to it until you unlock the Secret Jobs. That's a good range of weaknesses.
But then you add Hire Help to the equation and no class in the game can match with this sheer versatility. Hire Help offers you for a certain sum of gold access to 5 different kinds of AoE attacks, including Sword, Axe, Dagger and Light magic. That's 4 extra weapons/elements, making it a grand total of 7 possible weakness that can be exploited by the Merchant. Just let it sink in for a moment.
Now one might think you don't have the money to afford the Mercenaries. That is only true for the last 2 options. Every other mercenary is reasonably cheap and the costs can be covered by Tressa's talents to get more money for free. The last 2 options are also quite worth the money as a Brave Chain with Veterans can deal ungodly amount of damage. In combination with Aelfric's Auspices bosses will die like flies because you deal 10k everytime you summon the Veterans.
By the way we're not even done here. Merchant has several other supportive abilites. Donate BP is very useful in fights where you are preparing for your break round or can't exploit any weaknesses. You pretty much pass your turn to someone else which is quite handy.
Sidestep and Rest do not seem particularly amazing by themselves but once you unlock a certain hidden Job they will affect the entire party, translating to immunity against physical attacks and Sp recovery coupled with Debuff removal. You probably can see why this is excellent.

Sub Job:
Pretty much anything you want, really. There is no particular bad Job for Tressa since as a Merchant she already has great variety. That being said she has some trouble to deal damage early on because you can't afford the best Mercenaries. It might be wise to give her Jobs with a focus on ST damage like the Thief with its HP/SP Thief or Apothecary with Amputate. You can also just stick the Scholar job on her and have her cover every weakness minus dark.
In the endgame you will probably stick with that certain Secret Job because that makes her the powerhouse in the endgame.

Verdict:
Tressa is amazing. Her base Job provides incredible flexiblity with great utility once you progress to the final bits of the game. Throughout the game she will perform at the very least decent if not great and she has no real downsides. That is not even mentioning her innate ability to gain money every time you enter an area which allows you to purchase stuff for your party that otherwise had to be stealed with a low percentage. She is that good and the only reason you don't have in her party is because Therion overlaps with her Path action and he is pretty much mandatory for exploration.

 

Edited by The Priest
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Started with Therion, and maybe I'm just a scrub, but Aeber's Reckoning is crazy good.  I made sure to get him the Warrior's Surpassing Power and with Primrose on my main team buffing him he does 20k-25k to bosses and if random battles are going too long, i.e. if Primrose!Scholar doesn't flush them out, I just use Therion to mop things up.

I took way too long to get Alfyn (2nd to last of my ch1 runs), Concoct is broken and Rehabilitate granting status immunity is something I didn't realize I wanted in a status cleansing ability until now.

Running Therion!Merchant or Hunter as needed, Primrose!Scholar, Alfyn!Warrior or Cleric as needed.  The forth slot as filler for completing chapters.

I used to run H'aanit, but Provoke is just too labor intensive to be worth it when Olberic exists; and Ophilia, but she is so underwhelming I may as well give Cleric to someone else, like Tressa, and not really lose anything, and Primrose overlaps her skill, with the best NPCs being worth the risk often enough.  Having both Steal and Purchase at a time hasn't been a drag, if anything I often end up bringing Tressa when Steal doesn't get the job done (i.e. the 3%-8% or 0% rates).  Scrutinize is so blatantly inferior to Inquire, as the failure chance isn't worth the risk unless it's for the weapons/armor stock, which there is no way to know in advance without a guide.

I'm glad there are some Runelord recommendations; I've been banging my head against him for a couple days.  The stupid mass sleep, mass unconscious wipe when red is infuriating because it just feels bad to lose like that.  Mass boosting Rehab is really smart and I'll have to try that. Are the other advanced job fights as status intensive?

 

Edited by Xaltago
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2 hours ago, Xaltago said:

 

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I'm glad there are some Runelord recommendations; I've been banging my head against him for a couple days.  The stupid mass sleep, mass unconscious wipe when red is infuriating because it just feels bad to lose like that.  Mass boosting Rehab is really smart and I'll have to try that. Are the other advanced job fights as status intensive?

 

 

Scrutinize's biggest advantage is that it's not level dependent, and some NPCs have extremely high requirements before you can Inquire. Generally speaking NPCs with low rates tend to have some kind of bonus but I do kinda hate how binary it is versus the other Path actions.

Spoiler

Runelord has the most status effects, but Starseer also has some attacks that cause unconsciousness. I'd say every other advanced job is a bit less tricky but generally push out a lot more damage. Archsage is particularly dangerous. Bear in mind this is from the perspective of not using any advanced jobs to take down any others.

 

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The archsage is pretty easy provided you survive the first five turns. 

Spoiler

Once the first few turns ends the status effect that prevents buffs expires. At this point you can use the ultimate dancer attack on a cleric to cast reflect on the entire party. At this point you just watch the Archsage get slaughtered by his own attacks. 

 

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@Alastor15243Wait, level too fast? I've had the opposite problem, and I've seen many share it: Even after going through all Chapter 1s, I still came off underleveled compared to the recommended levels chapter 2 gives. Did you use Bewildering Grace and wind up grabbing so much EXP or did you simply not bother trying to equally level everyone up? Because I was trying to make everyone's levels equal (save for the "main character") a good chunk of the game. Chapter 4 was the only time that I had felt overleveled (thanks in part to an EXP x100 effect), but I still had some scares from the bosses.

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Since I almost completed all of the chapters I think its time to go rate some stories. There'll be some spoilers ahead. 

My current rating would be

1: Therion

Spoiler

Therion has a single cohesive story where everything he does is meant to lead up to his final goal. The supporting cast is more involved than the other stories and Therion and the villain have a very personal bond. We can see Therion grow and the villain regress. Its just consistently good and interesting without a real mayor flaw I can think of. 

2: Alfyn

Spoiler

Unlike Therion Alfyn doesn't have a cohesive story. There's no real goal to accomplish or main villain to defeat. Because of this I expected things to be dull but the story turned out to be really good. The story is always about Alfyn and his struggle, it has pretty deplorable villains and has some interested ethical dilema's for Alfyn to struggle with. 

3: Olberic

Spoiler

Like Therion its single cohesive story where Olberic has a very personal stake in what's going on. Its a bit of a standard story but it works and Olberic carries himself nicely throughout it because of some good voice acting. The last chapter even gets Primrose levels of dark. The only real downside of the story is that Erhard suffers from ''Obito is the coolest guy'' syndrome where his completely immoral and despicable actions gets downplayed to focus on what a cool dude he is. That never stops being weird. 

4: Primrose

Spoiler

Primrose starts out very strong. Her story sets itself apart by its extremely dark tone and themes such as prostitution and rape. The villains are some of the nastiest in the game and they set themselves apart by being fairly mundane. They aren't an evil cult and don't want to take over the world but are just a very ruthless criminal gang. The story slips up in the later half by overtaxing the willing suspension of disbelief. The evil mastermind being the kid gardener who writes silly poems was just weird and its strange that the previously so serious story expects you to believe that these career criminals would allow this loon to lead them.

 

5: Cyrus

Spoiler

Cyrus is okay. He's easily the most enjoyable character and the story never gets bad but neither the story nor the villains ever managed to really blow me away. Its got the best ending though. 

6: Ophelia

Spoiler

This supposedly harrowing pilgrimage sure is easy if Ophelia has enough time to play with the local kids. Like Cyrus Ophelia's story is pretty okay but does nothing to impress me either. The main villain was kinda obvious and by the books but he did his job well enough. 

7: Haanith

Spoiler

The lack of human villains drags this story down for me. Giant monsters just aren't as interesting as human villains. Otherwise its fine. Haanith is a nice sourpuss and Zaanta always lightens up the mood pretty well. But no real villains really is a deal breaker. 

8: Tressa 

Spoiler

Tressa's a fine character. She's funny, spunky and pretty competent(reminds me of Lissa, actually) but her story is easily the worst because its barely her own. Like Alfyn she doesn't have a single cohesive story but unlike with Alfyn the story is rarely about Tressa. Her second chapter is all about Ali and his struggle, then its about Leon and his past, and you could argue the last one is more about Noa than Tressa. Her villain also came completely out of nowhere and was rather clumsily tied to the villains from Primrose chapter....for some reason. The ending had a very nice tough though. 

 

Edited by Etrurian emperor
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All Path Spoilers, tying stories together - BIG SPOILERS

Spoiler

If you haven't finished Lyblac and Kit's side stories (Daughter of a Dark God, and In Search of Father), I wouldn't read below as I'm going to summarize some of what you read in the final area you can open up.

I also found it extremely weird that at the end of Tressa's path, you suddenly are confronted by people from Obsidian. It was obvious from the name drop that Tressa and Alfyn's stories were connected from the last minute namedrop of Graham Crossford but then it was awfully confusing how it tied into Primrose. And then the final secret dungeon finishes tying the knot.

Ancient Hornburg sits on top of the Gates of Finis, the locale where the 13th god of Osterra, Galdera, is sealed away by Odin Crossford. Odin entrusts the Dragonstones to Hornburg's first king, Beowulf, and House Ravus. Graham Crossford, mentioned several times in the story, is Odin's descendant.

Lyblac uses Werner's mercenaries to bring ruin to Hornberg so she has access to the Gates of Finis. Lyblac also uses her resources to convince Mattias to corrupt the Sacred Flame and find sacrifices to Galdera, and has him work together with Simeon and Obsidian so they can form a network of assassins and fill influencial roles with unscrupulous people. She uses Lucia and Yvon to help her source the knowledge to complete the rituals that will call forth Galdera into the world. Presumably Lyblac was able to steal all the Dragonstones with Obsidian's help. While Cordelia and Heathcote recovers the stones, the gate was already opened.

Tressa's journal is representative of the beginning of Graham's journey, before his wife dies and before he meets Lyblac. Obsidian is working on Lyblac's behalf, and they're using the journals to find Graham's next-of-kin. The sentimental journal of Graham's is useless to them as it's too old and makes no mention of Graham's son, Kit.

Alfyn meets Graham after Graham's wife has passed, Graham saves Alfyn's life and passes down the antidote to the medicine that saves his life. It inspires Alfyn to help others but is something of a bittersweet ending to Graham's journey. However, Graham is lured by Lyblac to the Gates of Finis when she promises Graham that his wife can be brought back from the dead.

Graham realizes that Lyblac is using him, and tries to defy her, but is too powerless in the end to stop her. His body transforms into the monster known by Redeye and he escapes, but his life is no longer his own.

As far as all this fits together, I feel like Simeon's involvement is pretty weak though. It could be that he, like Mattias, doesn't age because of a deal struck with Lyblac, but nothing is really said of it, unlike Mattias who is explicitly made immortal until he's no longer recognized by current members of the Sacred Flame. On the other hand, H'aanit's story is surprisingly tragic at its end, knowing that Redeye is the one Tressa had been following the journey of, Alfyn was looking for all along.

 

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7 hours ago, NoirCore said:

@Alastor15243Wait, level too fast? I've had the opposite problem, and I've seen many share it: Even after going through all Chapter 1s, I still came off underleveled compared to the recommended levels chapter 2 gives. Did you use Bewildering Grace and wind up grabbing so much EXP or did you simply not bother trying to equally level everyone up? Because I was trying to make everyone's levels equal (save for the "main character") a good chunk of the game. Chapter 4 was the only time that I had felt overleveled (thanks in part to an EXP x100 effect), but I still had some scares from the bosses.

No, I just didn’t use Cyrus’s evasive maneuvers or run from any of the fights, and I explored each chapter dungeon enough to get all the chests. I recruited four characters first, did their four sets of four chapters with just those four, and was constantly at the right level for everything without any grinding beyond just traveling to new places and getting the jobs. And then when I beat theirs and formed a new party of four out of the remaining four, they were initially below level but gained experience so rapidly that by the end of the chapter 2s they had basically no time to do anything but the main quests or else risk being overleveled.

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15 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

No, I just didn’t use Cyrus’s evasive maneuvers or run from any of the fights, and I explored each chapter dungeon enough to get all the chests. I recruited four characters first, did their four sets of four chapters with just those four, and was constantly at the right level for everything without any grinding beyond just traveling to new places and getting the jobs. And then when I beat theirs and formed a new party of four out of the remaining four, they were initially below level but gained experience so rapidly that by the end of the chapter 2s they had basically no time to do anything but the main quests or else risk being overleveled.

Ah. I got all eight people and went through all their chapters equally while balancing everyone out. I didn't snag only four characters and leave the other four for later. From my experience, I wasn't overlevelled (well, with the part of my party that didn't get the EXP boost) until finishing the first Chapter 4; I felt like I had to grind, and I wasn't exactly trying to dodge enemies, either.

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I'm looking at some of these reviews for this game and it only makes me scratch my head. Especially regarding the story I have to question if people actually understand the difference between "short & simple" and "shallow" because Octopath Traveler is not the latter. People taking issue that this is 8 short stories instead of a single, big narrative is just baffling.

Around half of the cast have cohesive and developed storylines (Olberic, Therion, Primrose) with 2 of them being more about their journey instead of reaching a certain goal (Alfyn, Tressa). The only ones that are really underdeveloped are Ophilia's, H'aanit's and Cyrus' because they rely too much on the lore of the final boss for a real resolution (especially Cyrus). Maybe they are a bit conservative but that doesn't equal bad.

The travel banter while not being a replacement for actual involvement in each of their respective story at least acknowledges that each character is aware of the other. Not to mention it also sheds some light on their personalities that you wouldn't experience from their own story (especially Primrose).
Of course, it would have been far better if there would be more interactions through cutscenes and dialogue but on the other hand it leaves things ambigious and up for your own interpretation (like Olberic and Therion annihilating entire populations).

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I'm actually a big fan of the limited interaction. It's so easy for a story to go too far; Just look at Golden Sun: Dark Dawn where all 8 characters seemingly had to chime in about everything, plus any side NPCs around. The other characters had little to contribute to the overall story and it just became a bunch of "kids react" moments. Obviously a game can be better written than that, but I think it's a huge problem of the jRPG genre (and anime and manga as well) where you just write dialogue to explain every little thing and have a reaction shot just to tell the audience how they should feel. I liked the travel banter and I especially liked the post game ones that started to occur outside the stories, but I'm glad the game stayed focused on one character for each path. Alfyn and Olberic were especially stand-outs to me, with Alfyn having a purpose but no direction, and Olberic almost being his opposite.

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7 hours ago, The Priest said:

I'm looking at some of these reviews for this game and it only makes me scratch my head. Especially regarding the story I have to question if people actually understand the difference between "short & simple" and "shallow" because Octopath Traveler is not the latter. People taking issue that this is 8 short stories instead of a single, big narrative is just baffling.

I think people were expecting a big interconnected story since that's just the norm for these kinds of games and the fact that Octopath does something different from that is treated as though it's a flaw. They see the smaller, more personal tales as lesser and critique them without actually looking at the individual stories for what they have to offer on their own. I still haven't finished the game (for the past few weeks I've just gone to work, come back home and gone to sleep), but the stories I have seen I really enjoyed when I stopped and thought about the experiences of the characters along the way. It's just kind of sad that people don't seem to appreciate the game for it own merits (aside from the gameplay) and criticize it for not being something it was never trying to be.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I heard this was pretty similar to Bravely Default which is why I held off on it after the demo didn't impress me, but my brother got it, liked it, and let me borrow it, so I gave it another chance. Started with Ophilia and, long story short, ended up deciding on the cover order for at least the first chapters (Ophilia -> Tressa -> Alfyn -> Olberic -> Primrose -> H'aanit -> Cyrus -> Therion).

I just finished Primrose's first chapter and I must say I definitely prefer this to Bravely Default. I don't remember BR well but I do remember it not really doing anything for me; the story didn't grab me and the combat wasn't fun, and I eventually ran into a boss that walled me hard and I quit at that point because I decided it wasn't worth it. But I actually like the combat in OT and while none of the stories have been incredible as of yet, they've all been good enough to get me invested and want to continue.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I only got the game a few days ago, and I've only been able to play it for a few hours each day, and things aren't really hooking me yet.

After some thought, I chose to start with Ophilia, it was her or Cyrus who interested me the most. And after that, I decided to go clockwise in the rest of the recruitments- spelling out the word OCTOPATH in the process. So far I've made it to where Primrose is, although I haven't started her story yet, I'll do that in my next play session.

I know JRPGs can be slow to blossom, and once I get subjobs, it should get to be better. But right now, while the combat is okay, it isn't great. My bigger issue however is experiencing eight origin stories, I like the characters from what I've seen so far, but nothing storywise is really "moving", since I just keep starting anew, it has taken me seven hours to get as far as I have. It's become something of a boring pattern at this point- go to town, find character, trigger and complete their Chapter 1, move on to the next town.

I should keep playing for things to get better, but at the same time, I've got SMTIVA in my play log, which I feel like I want to spend my limited play time on as well. I'm maybe halfway in on that, I don't know exactly. It's a bit of the inverse of OT, I find the characters largely insufferable, but the gameplay is good and fast for a JRPG.

 

Also, how do I take Ophilia out of my team? She is locked whenever I go to a tavern for some reason. I like her healing (but it seems a bit weak unboosted now or without resorting to the stronger heal spell), but now that I'm about to get character no. 5, I would like to know for EXP distribution reasons.

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2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Also, how do I take Ophilia out of my team? She is locked whenever I go to a tavern for some reason. I like her healing (but it seems a bit weak unboosted now or without resorting to the stronger heal spell), but now that I'm about to get character no. 5, I would like to know for EXP distribution reasons.

You can't remove your starter from your team until you complete their entire story.

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