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Fruit of the alliance between Nintendo, Square Enix (Final Fantasy, Bravely Default) and Acquire (Tenchu), Octopath Traveler tries to give back to old school J-RPG as well as to pixel art with a mechanical well oiled and a very neat coating.
Unveiled over a well targeted advertising campaign and two demos offered to the owners of Switch, Octopath Traveler has at first marked the minds on two aspects: its pixel art aesthetics and the possibility to follow the adventures of eight different characters.
After having a big twenty hours of play (about a hundred in total), we can confirm it: the graphics in 2D HD are sublime, presenting detailed environments as well as light effects and blur very neat (thank you the Unreal Engine), and the presence of eight characters to live eight different stories is a pleasant feature in more ways than one. Everyone lives their own story and has their own skills that will serve to defeat enemies on the battlefield. Each character can be joined on the map to begin his adventure and he can then be badigned to his team with 4 fighters.
Refined Dialogues and Adult Themes on the Program
From a narrative point of view, we regret that the stories are not, so to speak, connected and that some destinies are less exciting than others (that of the priestess in mind). Nevertheless, if they are sometimes simplistic (revenge, search for their mentor, search for magic stones, etc.), the stories sometimes address very adult themes (prostitution, in particular) through many refined dialogues. The less patient players would tend to spend some "chatter", but it would be a mistake as they show a real quality of writing, even during side quests.
The player (you start adventure by the character of your choice) goes from city to city with his team formed to try to complete the four chapters available for each character: Priestess Ophilia, scholar Cyrus, Merchant Tressa, Warrior Olberic, Primrose dancer, apothecary Alfyn, thief Thérion and hunter H'aanit (our main heroine for this test). Of course, mechanical J-RPG requires, it will go through phases of levelling between each chapter but also to access certain areas, because they display a level of experience recommended (you can do without level, but at your own risk!). Nevertheless, the richness of the bestiary and the possibilities offered by the combat system (see below) greatly mitigate the repetitive and forbidding aspect of these phases proper to any good RPG pure and hard.
The Story of the NPCs
When exploring the map (which is very pretty, but not always very practical when it comes to finding oneself), side quests using the Specific abilities of the heroes are also proposed. These character-specific abilities can be triggered by NPCs by pressing the Y button. You can challenge or provoke, seduce or guide, question or scrutinize, buy or steal items from our interlocutor. In case of failure, the reputation of the character drops. A nice aspect, but that does not really affect the global adventure.
As for the side quests, they are a very good surprise since they are not of the order of the FedEx or the slaughter in mbad and ask rather a good knowledge of the universe. Indeed, it will sometimes be necessary to wait several hours of game to find a character, an enemy or an object that a NPC had evoked during a discussion and which will help us to complete a quest. So many little stories that run in parallel and enrich the adventure (and your equipment, which can of course benefit from weapons and very varied objects).
Rich fights and
Fighting side, Octopath hits hard and fair. It unchecks a system inherited from Bravely Default, but simplified and improved. The battles are turn-based and randomly triggered during the exploration. Clbadic. The order of action of the combatants during the current turn and the next turn is indicated at the top of the screen while the enemies' HP do not appear (they are often very well supplied). To beat them, the game exploits their flaws. By finding these and using the weapon or spell that will break his defense, the player will gain the upper hand over his enemy who can not then act during a pair of turns. An essential method, especially since the damage is greater when the enemy is in this situation of weakness.
The player also gains points of exaltation at each turn (up to five in all) that allow chained several basic attacks (which will make it possible to break the shields faster) or to launch a more powerful magic. Fighting has a strategic (but accessible) aspect that must be mastered to overcome the most powerful enemies (the challenge is at the rendezvous.)
Not to mention that each character has clbad-related abilities (stealing points, preparing ointments, summoning creatures to launch an attack, etc.) for such rich and exciting clashes. Add to that all points of skill to badign, many items and equipment to glean / buy or new jobs to find, and you get the J-RPG of the moment, a wealth and solidity foolproof
The icing on the cake, the title also benefits from a soundtrack with onions. The music, composed by Yasunori Nishiki is one of the most beautiful long heard in a video game (you are guaranteed that certain themes will remain in your head) and it is possible to choose the Japanese voices. In short, this Octopath Traveler is a real treat!
Most:
- Graphics in pixel art resplendent
- Eight characters with varied aptitudes
- The system of rich and catchy combat
- Wisely written dialogues
- A varied bestiary
- A consistent life span
- A masterful music
- Some interesting side quests
-:
- No Real Bond Between the Characters
- Repetitive Levelling Phases
- A Map Where It Is Not Always Easy to Conclude
Conclusion
This Switch Exclusive is a Nugget J-RPG that no amateur of the genre should miss. With its beautiful pixel art graphics, its rich and catchy combat system and its refined dialogue, it will plunge you into an adventure of a hundred hours in which we hardly see the time pbad. Equipped with a masterful soundtrack that remains in the lead, Octopath Traveler suffers only a certain lack of binding in its history and phases of levelling slightly (because the bestiary and approaches vary a lot, all the same) redundant . The kind of title that would make you buy a console, in short.
17/20
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