Octopath Traveler hinted: A trace too retro

The Octopath Traveler RPG follows the footsteps of classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger. Sometimes the RPG switch exceeds the target.

Pixel look, footwork and long dialogues – Square Enix turns the wheel of time 30 years ago with the Switch-JRPG Octopath Traveler. In the style of Chrono Trigger and the first games of Final Fantasy, players with cuddly heroes find themselves at every corner of Monster and deliver tedious boss battles. The trick: instead of just one story, players can experiment eight of them. In the recorded round, this idea quickly turns out to be a low speed brake.

Many stories, but little speed

At the beginning, the player is free to choose from the eight different heroes that are on the world map. Each character has his own story: a knight who wants to avenge his dead king; a thief who wants to catch the biggest treasure or a young trader who wants to know the world. No matter the character chosen because each story can be the main plot.

The player can choose to follow this main story and recruit the other heroes only as members of the group, or check the other stories one after the other. The latter has the advantage that he is gradually upgrading an equal herd of heroes. The disadvantage: the already slow narrative rhythm is still slowed down. After the first chapters, there is no overlap that could justify this idea. Basically, you play eight different stories that occur in the same world. There is no interaction between the characters, as in Divinity: Original Sin 2.

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Round round and standard rate [19659010] Octopath Traveler would not need these bells, The developers transport wonderfully the retrofiling of the JRPG classics in modern times. Last but not least, this is due to the pixel graphics, which bring a spatial depth in the game through an elegant blur effect. The other great retro plus point is the knee fights. Players must recognize the weaknesses of the opponents and break their armor. Then the enemies become unconscious for a short time and are defenselessly exposed to the blows and spells of the heroes.

The rest comes from the standard program of each JRPG: The player must fight through a menu that is not always intuitive, the points of attributes are automatically distributed at each level, and the chests at Treasure are everywhere for looting. With so much retrofeeling, the players must also be patient with the dialogue. They are not only long, but not very fast or funny. This is a trace of too much retro.

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tentative conclusion

Octopath Traveler is a party for the friends of the JRPG classics. The retro chic look and the clever combat system should tie players to the console for weeks. Less convincing are the different stories of heroes that do not quite fit after the long Anspielsession. Anyway, a little more dynamic group would have helped the game. It remains with a mercenary force in which everyone goes as they please. Thanks to the amorous implementation and the motivating gameplay, the players can just as easily ignore it as on the long dialogues. What's left is a consistent role-playing adventure with a lot of retro charm that JRPG fans should not miss.

Octopath Traveler was released on July 13 for Nintendo Switch and costs about 60 euros. USK from 12. We played for a few hours for our game.
( Andreas Müller ) /

(Dahe)