I heard a lot of hype for this game, but not having a Switch myself, I was relegated to rumors. When I finally received it a few weeks ago (along with a Switch), I was really hoping that this was going to be a classic from Square (-Enix) along the lines of FFVI, Chrono Trigger, or Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2). After all, the pixelated style was clearly lifted to bring back a nostalgic longing for RPG tales from the SNES era. With this in mind, I happily put in my game cartridge and started on my journey.
In Octopath Traveler you choose one of eight travelers to begin their story. Each one has their own unique starting talents (a thief who can steal, a scholar who can read enemies' weaknesses and use magic, a priest who can heal and "guide" people to follow and lend their skills to the party temporarily, a hunter who can capture monsters, etc). You are given a short backstory to your character and then begin your quest. As you travel around to get to other towns to go farther in your quest, you will pick up other characters, hear their backstory, help them continue their quests, and so on.
Given my fondness for Locke from FF6, I chose Therion the Thief to begin. To be honest, none of the character descriptions really moved me and I found it hard to choose. I listened and read Therion's origin, which was rather short and less than impressive. I was hoping this was just a fluke and the real adventure would soon begin... however, now I'm thirty hours in, in or beyond Chapter 2 of all my characters, and still waiting.
I would say this is the failure of this game. It keeps going on to get started, and never does. Unlike games like FF3, Chrono Trigger, or Seiken Densetsu 3 - the follow up to SoM wherein you similarly could choose between several characters and paths -- the story does not build along with your team. You amass new characters and learn more in each character's story, but none of it is intertwined much at all. At most there is some optional "travel banter" you can listen to if you'd like between party members, which does not really demonstrate any sort of relationship-building. Why are these people travelling together? What do they have to gain from working together, and why?
The gameplay itself isn't bad, but in telling these eight stories it was rather repetitive. Go to a new town, seek out a new character, watch their boring backstory and overacted dialogue, then follow them to a nearby dungeon and beat the bad boss. There are a few side quests, but like the main story they're incidental and the rewards are basically meaningless -- usually money and a few items/weapons that are not that special. In general, for both the side and main quests, the stories are too short to be engaging. There's not even enough at stake for these characters to make you care about them. With FF6, character's had their own thematic pieces, they met and each had their own challenges that made their stories unique. Gau on the veldt, Sabin on Mt. Koltz, Setzer and Celeste and the Opera House. There was a cast of characters and the story tied them all together in an epic and thematic way. Same with Chrono Trigger, or Final Fantasy Tactics. Octopath, despite wanting to hearken back to these games never achieves this grandiose sort of story, which is unfortunate.
The music was repetitive and less than inspiring, which is not what I expected from Square. And at times I found the dialogue to be out of place with my perception of the characters. My choice, Therion, a cynical thief from the school of hard knocks, sounds more like a bored businessman most of the time. And his story never seems to get to an emotional level to justify his cynicism at life, so he just seems like he's pompous and arrogant rather than damaged and closed off. For these reasons I found it hard to connect with my characters and really get into the story. I also found it jarring that some dialogue was spoken in its entirety and some only a piece of what is said, or a voiced statement of similar sentiment. If you're going to get voice actors, go all or none. Kefka, one of the most inspiring Square villains (Again from FF6), only had a 16-bit whooping laugh, but somehow it revealed his insanity. Here there's a lot of overacted dialogue and a lot of it could be cut and the game would not be any worse for it.
In the end, I will finish this game, and it will be okay, but I don't see much replay value in it. The game wants you to amass all eight travelers on your first go around, and even if you ignore their stories (which you wouldn't be missing much if you did), you still wouldn't find enough worthwhile to replay these eight tales. Octopath is good, but for a game calling back to an earlier era of great RPG's, it just doesn't live up.