When I ask people for their thoughts on the original Octopath Traveler, opinions are varied, but seem to flow in a broadly positive direction. Gorgeous visuals, breathtaking music, engaging battles, and an overarching charm — that's what folks tell me. And I concur. Yet even as this praise is heaped, it's often followed with a rather damning caveat: that Octopath Traveler overstays its welcome, and players seldom seem to stick with it the whole way through.
There are several reasons for this, but they share a common thread. I'm told that its charm can't hold it together, that the magic of the HD-2D engine flickers and fades. All the more frequently, there are gripes galore toward the tedium of its repetitive storytelling structure. Eight characters. Four chapters apiece. And that's a wrap.
It's too dull an approach to hold one's attention for dozens of hours, and worst of all, the sense of repetition is heightened exponentially because the protagonists of Octopath Traveler almost never speak with each other in any capacity. There's no growth between them, only on their lonesome, and none of the supporting NPCs in their respective stories remotely covered the bill for that costly creative decision.
While I nevertheless adore
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