Considering how much more common the HD-2D art style has become in RPGs, whether in the Dragon Quest remakes or Triangle Strategy, I always find the originator, Octopath Traveler, so fascinating. A Boost mechanic in combat akin to Bravely Default? Multiple playable characters, each with their own unique starting stories and quests a la SaGa, but with unique Path actions that lean into their desired professions? It all feels so right, and yet, I’ve often struggled to really identify the series as one of the more must-play RPGs.
So it’s fitting in many ways that Octopath Traveler 0 should break so many of those established conventions in favor of trying new things, like a customizable protagonist, town-building mechanics, and even deploying eight characters in front and back rows during combat a la Suikoden. It still retains the relative freedom of its predecessors – heck, it’s probably even more free-form, which may appeal to a certain contingent of RPG fans. However, this presents its own share of awkwardness, especially with the plot and characters.
First things first, this is essentially a console version of Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, a mobile-only prequel to the main series. You play as a resident of Wishvale, a quaint little town that’s suddenly burned to the ground by Tytos and the Scarlet Wings. Barely escaping with your childhood, Stia, thanks to the mysterious scholar Nomos, you’re gifted with the Ring of the Flamebringer, one of eight powerful rings scattered through the continent of Osterra. As it turns out, Tytos wasn’t working alone – Herminia, the “Witch of Greed”, and Auguste, the “Playwright”, also had a hand in Wishvale’s destruction.
“As quickly as tragedy hits Wishvale, making it difficult to really form a connection with what’s supposed to be the focal point of your restoration efforts, Octopath Traveler 0 bridges that in other ways.”
From the outset, you have two main goals – rebuilding the town and making it even better than ever with Stia, or venturing forth and exacting vengeance on the big three, taking their rings as rewards. Of course, there’s more beyond that, but this is the humblest of beginnings, as you scrounge up new gear, items, money, settlers, the works.
The problems begin almost immediately because of the nature of the protagonist. As cliched as the start may be, with your character being the chosen one and whatnot, they don’t really have any dialogue to speak of. You can customize their backstory, including their favorite dish (and it does have story implications), but the lack of any real response outside the limited expressions and animations, especially during some of the more emotionally hard-hitting scenes, just doesn’t work.
As quickly as tragedy hits Wishvale, making it difficult to really form a connection with what’s supposed to be the focal point of your restoration efforts, Octopath Traveler 0 bridges that in other ways. Constructing a new building would trigger a flashback to better days, for example. Running after Phenn, one of your earliest and most important allies in the early going, reveals the trauma he faced in trying to rescue any survivors. Credit where it’s due for his recruitment “quest” – it’s not very long, but it goes beyond survivor’s guilt into really tapping into the core of his connection to Wishvale.
This isn’t to say that other companions and settlers have the same level of depth when it comes time to gather your party. Alexia, for example, is all about inquiring about her paper. Five seconds and an acknowledgement of your status as a ring-bearer, and she’s a trusted ally. At least her interest in exploring ruins gives me a reason to backtrack to certain locations, and she’s quite the magic wielder. Otherwise, getting new residents for Wishvale 2.0 is more a matter of finding and asking.
Couple this with the voice acting, which ranges from solid to slightly overdone, and getting behind this cast of would-be heroes/burgeoning community can be tough. At the very least, Phenn and Stia sound believable enough, and Auguste comes across as the right amount of creepy without going completely overboard.
“The biggest potential downside is that you can’t mix and match Support Skills from other Jobs. However, it does make each character that much more unique as they fit specific archetypes – and the fact that there are eight in a single party further alleviates these issues.”
When it comes to the actual exploration, Octopath Traveler 0 really makes no bones about letting you go anywhere. Choose one of the three to face first or simply explore the continent, interacting with various NPCs, using different Path actions to extract info/get into fights/get free items, and more. Initially, this gameplay loop can get quite tedious, especially because enemies don’t scale to your level and most encounters are random. This means fighting the same underpowered mobs that give little to no XP as you backtrack through similar areas.
It becomes less annoying once you’ve unlocked more towns to fast travel to, allowing more seamless access to higher-level areas. The town-building aspect is also fairly seamless – creating new housing, decorations and other facilities isn’t much of a hassle or major resource sink. Once you’ve assigned different residents, they can perform functions like material gathering, further cutting down on having to revisit specific locations to acquire materials and slog through any unnecessary encounters.
All that being said, I actually enjoyed Octopath Traveler 0’s combat quite a lot. It starts simple enough – each turn grants one Boost Point, and you have SP to unleash skills. Save up enough BP, and you can boost anything – attacks, skills, even the new Ultimate techniques – for more potent effects, which is essential for breaking an enemy and leaving them temporarily stunned. Once you start gathering Job Points and unlocking new skills, including Support Skills with unique effects, it’s not long before one party member is transferring BP to build up those more damaging attacks on your fighter, or automatically healing the lowest health ally at the end of their turn.
The biggest potential downside is that you can’t mix and match Support Skills from other Jobs. However, it does make each character that much more unique as they fit specific archetypes – and the fact that there are eight in a single party further alleviates these issues. The fact that you can train your party further, diversifying their skill sets in unique ways, goes hand in hand with Wishvale’s own progression. It’s almost enough to warrant ignoring the main quest and seeing how much stronger the party can become, or even uncovering new companions (which makes up for the fairly basic layouts of some stages).
“Even though I’m not the most invested in its story and characters, or finding some of the backtracking to be truly annoying, it’s still an intriguing alternative to the series formula with the same stellar production values.”
However, you may feel about some of these changes to the series, at least Octopath Traveler 0 continues its tradition of stunning visuals. Admittedly, Osterra itself isn’t the most original world to explore – these fantasy forests, caves, highways and farms will feel more typical than not – but the HD-2D style still looks gorgeous. And despite how basic some environments can feel to explore, there is a lot to discover, whether you’re stumbling on some ruins or venturing off the beaten path and mixing things up against an Elite enemy or finding a locked chest. Similarly, the music is quite nice, whether you’re wandering through the more artistically inclined streets of Theatropolis or engaged in a tense battle.
Octopath Traveler 0 may not necessarily convert me to previous games in the franchise, but its unique gameplay and exploration loop have mysteriously hooked me. Even though I’m not the most invested in its story and characters, or finding some of the backtracking to be truly annoying, it’s still an intriguing alternative to the series formula with the same stellar production values. Mayhaps not the most engrossing 100-hour role-playing timesink, but you could do far worse than this.
This game was reviewed on PS5.
