Board 8 > Octopath Traveler topic for talking about Octopath Traveler (marked spoilers)

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For a little bit of background info, Octopath Traveler is a game of 8 characters with 8 stories. It is not the type of JRPG where they're all on a singular mission to save the world from Darkgod Evilman, instead it chooses to focus on telling smaller, mostly standalone stories of the 8 characters. The playable characters don't interact with each other during the individual story scenes (they're just there for battles), but there are various "party banter" scenes that are kinda like the skits from Tales or Disgaea games, so the party members do still talk and bond to a degree. But even though the characters don't get involved in each other's stories, the 8 stories do still intertwine in a world-building sort of way.

The game is pretty open and gives you an unusual amount of freedom for a JRPG. You choose your starting character, and they're your main character locked in your party until you complete their personal story. After finishing your main's initial chapter, you then can go out and explore the world and recruit the other 7 characters in whatever order you like, or you don't even have to recruit them all if you don't want to. The stories are broken down into chapters, and you can tackle them in any order you like. But the recommended levels go up a lot between chapters, so there can be some grinding necessary depending on how you want to play it (though the game does feature a Metal Slime-type enemy that can make grinding less obnoxious).

Each character has their own job class, their own unique talent, and a path action that let's them interact with the world. There's a sub-class mechanic where the characters can be any of the other available classes in addition to their main, and you can swap between any of the ones you've unlocked whenever you like. There's a ton of side quests and optional dungeons to explore, and many of the quests have multiple ways of completion with different outcomes based on the path actions you use.

The battle system features a Break mechanic, where enemies are shielded and you have to discover their weak points (like attacking with swords or using fire skills) to break the shield and leave them momentarily defenseless for big damage, as well as a boost system where you can stockpile BP and strategically boost your moves to gain various bonuses. Reviewers seem to unanimously praise the battle system as the game's highlight.

That's the gist of it, anyway. There is a demo of it available that lets you play for 3 hours of the game's various Chapter 1s, and all progress carries over to the full game.

Now because of the game's open-ended structure, everyone's going to be playing through it in different ways, so definitely mark and label your plot spoilers if you want to talk about it.
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Most of the stuff to steal in Therion's town is easy, but going back to Cyrus' town, there's a lot more things with low percentages. Save scumming for it all is gonna get tedious, lol.
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Tag. I played the demo and went Therion -> Alf and was on my way to the dancer. I'll get around to playing it but for now my fiance is playing. She started with the merchant and picked up the mercenary, dancer, and scholar so far. The merchant seems to have a lot of really useful gold-saving abilities, though I'm not sure how important money will be ultimately.

Stealing shit with Therion is great though. And I think the alchemist abilities will be pretty useful for healing once I figure out the combinations.
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I want to get this, but I know Im going to be paralyzed with the choice of who to play first
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The good news is that it doesn't seem to affect too much, and there's a big level gap between the first and second chapters of character stories that seems to push you to recruiting everyone first anyways.

Merchant and Thief both seem like solid starting options just to get free shit, though.
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I played the merchant and then cyrus and got the healer right before my demo ended

I liked itbut not sure if I want to buy it yet
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I've got Cyrus and Therion, and I'm currently ransacking Flamesgrace while debating on if I want to start Ophilia's story or not. I also went and unlocked Scholar as a sub-class right away, and temporarily gave it to Therion for the extra element coverage.
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started with the thief
is there anything I should definitely steal in the first town?
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htaeD posted...

started with the thief
is there anything I should definitely steal in the first town?

Once you're done with the first boss, there's a nice accessory that gives +80 SP, but with only a 3% success chance. The guy's at the top of town with the brown sidequest bubble.
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basically caught up to where I was on the (first) demo, with Oberic and Primrose

still as good as I remember

Unlocking the Cleric job is kinda tricky if you're doing it right away. Don't think it would've been possible if I didn't have Cyrus.
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It's so hard to stop stealing stuff.
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Easy play order for me is to go in the order of the name since all 8 character's first letters spell Octopath
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ninkendo posted...

Easy play order for me is to go in the order of the name since all 8 character's first letters spell Octopath

They're even arranged in a circle on the map based on spelling order.
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Still in the first area (picked the thief) but I'm enjoying the battle system so far!
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I'm currently going Ophelia -> H'aanit -> Therion.

I like Ophelia's story the most thus far. I very much enjoy the battle system. And the graphics are bringing me back to my youth of playing Golden Sun for hundreds of hours.
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I found a 3% steal for a +100 Elem. Attack accessory and took some time to get it and now Cyrus murders everything, broken or not.
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I'm addicted to this game. Good thing I just had a baby so I'm not working all month.
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mnkboy907 posted...

I found a 3% steal for a +100 Elem. Attack accessory and took some time to get it and now Cyrus murders everything, broken or not.

Like damn, he's taking out enemies from a danger level 23 area while only level 13.
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Gonna be a while before I get to play much. Game arrive at my house on Sunday, but I have other stuff to do that day, and then Monday and Tuesday I work.

I haven't played any demos or watched any videos. Going in not having any idea who I'll pick first.
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this game slays

randomly surprised a monster named a "cait" and beat it easily. apparently it was a rare/metal slime type because it bumped me up 6 levels. now my warrior is level 17 while primrose and alfyn are still 6 and 7

I've got Cyrus and Ophelia. I was going to continue going in a circle, but I think I'm just gonna take my time and stumble on the next character, maybe do some sidequests here and there. I usually just follow the straight line to the end, but I feel like this game encourages exploration and doing things at your own pace. It'll be a nice little mix up for my typical gaming style
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Yeah, it's almost a weird feeling of spending so much time exploring towns and stuff and then being like okay now time to actually do some story.

I've got all 8 main jobs unlocked for subclassing but have only done four Chapter 1s, and I've stumbled upon and ransacked two of the second batch of towns. One of them was just filled with 3-8% steals at first.

And since steal rates increase as Therion levels up, I've just been periodically fast traveling back to all cities to see what stuff may have jumped up to the 55%+ range that I may have skipped before. I've gotten more equipment too as they've gone from 3% to 8% or 15%.
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I beat the side quest boss of Hoarfrost Grotto! Danger level 25 and I went in at level 15-18 (now 17-20). Cyrus was of course MVP, but Hunter Tressa pulled her weight for second most damage.
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Not going too fast so far
But I just started Primrose's chapter and geez, this went dark fast.

edit: 'master, go pleasure yourself'

God damn
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yeah prim's background is surprisingly dark

some real tarantino vibes

Yeah I just finished Prim's first chapter too. She was my third and I'm just continuing on to the next hero.
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Ha, I was about to take the time to steal a 3% +50 p. atk accessory, until I noticed it only cost 6000 to buy it. Yes please.
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Got Olberic and Alfyn to round my party out to four. I think Olberic's way cooler than most people give him credit for. Don't really have a use for Alfyn right now though. Cyrus and Ophilia cover both aspects to his role they just do it better and are level. He might be better in some different team compositions though.
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Alfyn's good for shield breaking, since he can concoct multi-hit items for any element.
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So I think what I'm gonna do, since my first four are already 18-21, is just play out their stories, and once I've completed all four of those, I'll go and do the second set of four characters. But I'm still going to get through all 8 chapter 1s now, since might as well.
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Is sub classing something I should know about after getting three characters?
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You can do it right away after one character, you just have to find the places the sub classes are unlocked. They're along the routes that lead to the Chapter 2 areas, marked on the mini map by like a candelabra looking symbol. Just spoilering in case people want to figure it out on their own.
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Played about 5 hours, started with H'aanit and went clockwise. just got Olberic. Really enjoying it so far
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Started with Ophilia and I plan to go clockwise (i.e. spelling out Octopath). The winter/snow aesthetic in this first area is incredible.
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spelling out Octopath

son of a bitch
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8 hours in, including the time for the demo, doing the OCTOPATH route. I was wondering though, is it better to do one story at a time, or one chapter from each at a time? Is the latter even easily possible with the way the level requirements go? I would like to recruit everybody then focus on one character at a time if that's feasible.
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Lightning Strikes posted...

I was wondering though, is it better to do one story at a time.

Short Answer: No
Long Answer: Hell no.
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I love the diversity in classes. H'aanit especially is so mechanically fun to use! It's a shame she's written like a middle schooler's Canterbury Tales homework.
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Finally finished all Chapter 1s and now starting Chapter 2! Going for Therion first since lowest level.

But first I need this damn old woman to let go of her Sorcerer's Robe.
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I just started this! Started as Cyrus and picked up H'aanit, now doubling back around to get Ophilia and then I might continue going in that direction just because I can, haha.

This game's characters and story structure are DnD as fuck and I completely love it. It's actually super cool because all the original JRPGs were super DnD inspired and then they kind of stopped drawing from that, and now this modern retro game totally doubled down on it.

Quick question, do you have to do the character's intro chapter to recruit them to your party? I always have because... why wouldn't you? But I'm curious if you can just scoop up this person you know nothing about and go on an adventure.
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Did Tressa's chapter 2 tonight and wow that was the first really tough boss in this game.

I attempted a team of Cyrus, Olberic, Therion and Tressa. They wiped the floor with me, I ended up swapping Therion with Ophilia, who was way more helpful here. The only reason I won was by going absolutely nuts on the henchmen, then thankfully all my characters had access to the main guy's weaknesses and we just kept comboing him. But to make matters worth he had a ton of health, so the fight took forever, and I drained all of my plums. Plus he calls in reinforcements near the end. Maybe I just suck or was underleveled, but I hope the rest of the bosses aren't nearly that bad.
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Xiahou Shake posted...

I just started this! Started as Cyrus and picked up H'aanit, now doubling back around to get Ophilia and then I might continue going in that direction just because I can, haha.

This game's characters and story structure are DnD as fuck and I completely love it. It's actually super cool because all the original JRPGs were super DnD inspired and then they kind of stopped drawing from that, and now this modern retro game totally doubled down on it.

Quick question, do you have to do the character's intro chapter to recruit them to your party? I always have because... why wouldn't you? But I'm curious if you can just scoop up this person you know nothing about and go on an adventure.

You don't have to watch the beginning story intro, but you do have to do the dungeon/boss fights. And if you skip an intro I believe you can go back and watch it from either the journal or tavern.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2018/07/16/octopath-traveller-stock-is-selling-out-all-over-the-world/#2cc088ba2843
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It didn't occur to me you could boost spells and stuff until 6.5 hours into the game

Whoops
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welp, finally got all eight characters
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https://twitter.com/SkyWilliams/status/1019232769078001666?s=19
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Do any side quests ever expire?
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Man, Cyrus' Chapter 2 is really short and simple. Honestly they've all been simple, but that one especially so.

Well it was the last of my primary team's Chapter 2s, so now to start their Chapter 3s. The team is level 30-32 and Tressa's Chapter 3 is recommended at 34, so I'll go there next. The stories really aren't anything too fabulous, though Cyrus' took an interesting turn. Tressa's was cute enough, and Therion's was okay. Ophilia's was boring.
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mnkboy907 posted...

Man, Cyrus' Chapter 2 is really short and simple. Honestly they've all been simple, but that one especially so.

Well it was the last of my primary team's Chapter 2s, so now to start their Chapter 3s. The team is level 30-32 and Tressa's Chapter 3 is recommended at 34, so I'll go there next. The stories really aren't anything too fabulous, though Cyrus' took an interesting turn. Tressa's was cute enough, and Therion's was okay. Ophilia's was boring.

Oooh, are you doing four characters and then another set of 4 from low level? I hadn't though of doing that - that might be neat! I feel like I'd rather have a bunch of characters to experiment with party structure though... but I don't know how annoying it will be to keep everyone up to speed.
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