Octopath Traveler 0's journey to our PCs is rather unusual as the game is a conversion and expansion of the gacha game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, which was released as a free-to-play game for mobile devices. Upon learning this fact I was (understandably, I think) hesitant about whether such a transfer could lead to a satisfactory result. In the end my concerns proved largely unfounded as all gacha elements have been removed, although some of the differences from previous games in the series warrant comment and criticism.
Our story begins in the village town of Wishvale, where our protagonist enjoys a peaceful life as the son/daughter of the guard captain until an enemy attack destroys everything and drives the few survivors of the massacre to the four corners of the earth. As part of a small group of survivors we take on the moral duty of avenging those responsible for the destruction of our homeland, but also of rebuilding Wishvale as a tribute to the fallen. One major difference between this game and the previous Octopath titles is the custom protagonist that we create through the (simplistic) character creation, whereas in Octopath 1 and 2 we essentially had eight specific characters as protagonists and followed the personal story of each of them. As a result, the structure of Octopath Traveler 0 resembles that of other traditional jRPGs on the market and lacks the unique style that characterizes the series, which has both positive and negative effects. On the positive side, the plot has greater coherence and does not leave the impression of eight different stories with little connection between them. On the negative side, the protagonist and most of the party members you will gather lack the strong personalities of the characters in previous games.
Octopath Traveler 0 is a long game, lasting over 100 hours if you engage with both the main story and several of the side quests. This is obviously very good news from a value-for-money perspective as you will be playing the game for months until you finish it, but it also has a particular feature that I find more controversial. The plot begins on a more personal note, with the protagonist seeking revenge against the three villains who caused the destruction of his village. However, the completion of this storyline is followed by events involving multiple kingdoms, new characters and completely new plot threads with relatively little connection to what came before. After doing some quick research online, I found that most people think the later storylines are more interesting than the early ones, but I'm in the minority on this one. I found the first three main quests (one for each villain) to be significantly more engaging than those that followed, primarily due to their direct connection to the protagonist's life and fate and the more personal stakes involved. However, I emphasize again that personal preference plays a big role here and you may have a completely different opinion.
The main combat system remains mostly unchanged from previous games in the series, with some changes found in the party composition and the number of units participating in each battle. In Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 we had a party of eight characters in total, four of whom could usually participate in battle at the same time. In Octopath Traveler 0 your party may consist of dozens of characters, obviously a remnant of the game's gacha origins, and now the number of participants in battle has increased to eight, placed in two rows (front and back row). The characters in the front row can attack and use abilities while those in the back row gradually replenish their health and ability points. Switching between characters in the front and back rows can be done at any time, but only one character in each spot is allowed to attack each turn. Beyond that I have nothing more to add about the combat system; it remains as interesting and addictive as in previous Octopath Traveler games.
Evaluating Octopath Traveler 0 isn't particularly difficult and I think things are pretty clear: if you liked the previous games in the series then you should definitely add this one to your wishlist. Despite the changes made to the story structure and narrative style, I think the overall experience is close enough to Octopath 1 and 2 that veterans of the series will feel familiar with it and enjoy it as much or even more than the previous games. I should mention that overall, I consider Octopath Traveler 2 to be better than 0 (and 1, of course), but the differences are not so great as to change my recommendation to buy Octopath Traveler 0 and the entire Octopath series if you love JRPGs.
Thanks to CD Media for providing the review code.
RATING - 83%
83%
A quality jRPG with good value for money that does enough things well to earn a comfortable purchase recommendation.
