I played Octopath Traveler and it's sequel, Octopath Traveler II. And then I talked about them for... seven hours. Whoops!
I played Octopath Traveler and it's sequel, Octopath Traveler II and I really liked them, so I wanted to talk about them. I thought this review would be about two hours long. It is not!
Turns out that explaining sixteen full plot lines and two 60+ hour games' worth of mechanics actually takes a while.
Way-too-in-depth character mechanic ratings chart here. For those who have never seen these, characters are rated on a scale of 1-to-7. I have a few skills marked with a purple star. Those are the SSS-tier hypothetical 8/10s for abilities that are objectively broken.
Simplified image versions of tier lists are at the bottom of this post.
As this review is very long, you may want to use the timestamps below to navigate through it or save your place if you don't have seven hours to spare today.
Please be aware that this is a spoiler heavy review and containing entire plot summaries of every character's story line. Unlike with the Fire Emblem games I reviewed, I think Octopath has a handful of stories actually worth experiencing blind. I've marked the ones I think would be better to play spoiler-free with a 👍emoji for listeners who might still want to check this game out.
If you're just here to use this as a podcast and listen to me roasting silly JRPG storytelling, I've marked the characters who I think I summarize in a funny or silly way with a 🎉emoji. I'd still recommend listening to the whole thing, but if you want to cherry pick, there you go!
== OCTOPATH 1 ==0:00 - Intro10:02 - What is Octopath Traveler?50:56 - Olberic, the Warrior 👍1:06:39 - Primrose, the Dancer 🎉1:32:48 - Alfyn, the Apothecary 👍1:48:41 - Therion, the Thief2:00:33 - H'aanit, the Huntress 👍2:08:00 - Ophilia, the Cleric 🎉2:16:02 - Cyrus, the Scholar 🎉2:24:24 - Tressa, the Merchant 🎉2:34:21 - Final Boss + Wrap-Up
== OCTOPATH 2 ==
2:56:33 - Octopath II, what it does better (and what it does worse)4:21:57 - Partitio, my Husband 👍4:41:22 - Temenos, the Cleric 👍5:07:35 - Osvald, the Scholar5:33:33 - Castti, the Apothecary 🎉5:46:39 - Hikari, the Warrior 🎉6:16:08 - Agnea, the Dancer 🎉6:31:37 - Ochette, the Huntress6:36:20 - Throné, the Thief 🎉6:50:46 - Final Boss + Wrap-Up
CHARACTER STORY + PERSONALITY TIER LIST (full size)
MECHANICS TIER LIST (full size)
