A white progressive’s view of a Japanese-targeted game.
Tonight’s theme:
Intro / Progression
Octopath Traveler is Japan’s college student answer to Skyrim. As an “open-world” game here’s the path I took:
-
- Have to choose one of the 8 characters to start with, better pick carefully
- If you pick anyone but Teresa you’ve already lost
- Go through Teresa’s chapter 1
- Just like a classic RPG! Battles, exploration, awful graphics! ~wut nostalgia~
- Carefully travel around the map, assembling a party of tropes with less flavor than a box of cheerios
- Yes, I mean the box itself
- Spend time grinding to reach the minimum levels recommended by the game for the next chapter
- Uh-oh, maybe the combat is less classic than it is shit
- Find out you can save scum for end-game equipment and infinite money
- Because of who I am, this is appealing
- Realize that even if you’re gussied up like a medieval Lady Gaga, the combat is still painfully boring, the characters are little more than NPCs who don’t acknowledge one another’s existence, and you essentially paid 60 bucks and 20 hours for an RPGMaker reject
- Squenix’d_again.bmp
- Have to choose one of the 8 characters to start with, better pick carefully
Yet after dropping the game at the 20-hour mark, I realized that if I wanted to avoid a hoard of low-T fuckbois whining in the comments about how I didn’t really play it, I’d have to run this shit to completion. So I pumped in another 50 hours to beat it harder than those Ninty fans’ fathers beat them.
Gameplay – Combat
If the above battle looks boring, that’s because it is. Every instance of combat — from the very beginning to the post-game content — is an exercise in tedium. Each mind-rotting battle plays out the same way: hit an enemy weakness enough times that the shield gauge drops to 0, and then you unleash your strong attacks now that your damage can get through. How fucking novel.
For boss battles, this makes a certain amount of sense, but that sort of logic should not be applied to every goddamn uninspired group of re-colored mobs. Eventually I hit a point where avoiding/running from encounters was the only game I was playing.
The closest real-world example to Octopath’s combat would be slowly pouring a bottle of ghost pepper sauce into your urethra. About as recommended as watching Twitch streams.
Gameplay – Bosses
A hallmark of any good RPG is meaningful, memorable bosses. But as we have already established, Octopath Traveler is not a good RPG.
Take Teresa’s final boss: Teresa spent her entire story sussing out the true meaning of treasure (spoilers: it was the friends we made along the way), and the culmination of her efforts is a showdown with some random kleptomaniac who nicked a useless diary from her. And when I say ‘random’ I mean it literally — that bulimic meth head up there has absolutely no significance beyond making me rub my dick raw.
Oh, there’s also a final boss, hidden behind a couple shitty sidequests, that starts off with an 8-boss rush, followed by a two-part onslaught of the worst RNG bullshit that gaming has to offer. If boss-kun hits his crits during any point of that, you instantly lose all progress and have to start the 2-hour battle over again. Fun.
Characters – Overworld Gameplay
Octopath’s gimmick is that you have 8 characters, 4 of whom can be in your party, and each of which has a “unique” overworld skill. But some skills are more equal than others, so you’ll find yourself with a party as diverse as a reddit comments section.
Want to be able to open every treasure chest and get end-game equipment for free? Welp, guess that means Therion’s going to be a staple in your party. Maybe you’re looking to improve party skills, get special items, and build the town equipment store’s stock up? It’s Alfyn or bust. How about opening doors to “secret” areas and completing sidequests? Bold choice friend; Olberick and Ophilia it is.
Honestly all I bought this game for was the ability to have a party of four chicks so I could at least pretend I was heading up a carpet-muncher convention gone wrong. Yet when I finally understood the gameplay mechanics I found I was as out of luck as a dude attending said con.
Maybe it’s time to replay FFXII.
Characters – Interaction
These 8 characters hardly deserve the moniker of “character”. We somehow got a group of 8 that are all even more bland than the tropes they’re based on. I thought of giving y’all examples by putting down a sentence for each that wholly describes every character individually, but I can sum it up in one: They’re shit.
The whole point of an ensemble cast of characters is getting to watch the unique personalities bounce off one another. However, the only way to get your characters to even acknowledge the others exist is by having specific characters in your party at specific points in the stories. This earns you a 10-line “dialogue” per chapter on the most inane shit ever. Plus there’s only like two lines of innuendo to even screencap. Fucking bullshit.
By the end of the game I ended up skipping the dialogues because those 30 seconds were better spent analyzing how the fuck I got myself into a situation where I would put myself through hell just for a drunknacht post on a blog I killed off half a decade ago.
Story
There honestly is none, unless you count a couple lines of ass-pull in the end-game dungeon which you’re not even reaching till you’re 50 hours in, and not beating till you’re 60+ invested.
EPIC REVIEW!!!!!!
thx onii-fam
Based as fuck。fuck nintentards and fuck botw
You all are worthless pieces of dumb shit.
Stay retarded, friend.
um, botw has some of the most amazing graphics i have ever seen in a video games. octopath has CRAZY legit pixel art, that I could not do in my wildest dreams, and It DOES have good stories. U suck, Hate you 4 EVER. bye.
i feel pretty bad knowing you played 70 hours of this shit
It was that or a Gintama marathon. My soul never had a chance.
Spot-on review. Why do you own a Switch though?
Mario Kart.
Because he owns everything. Have you seen his buyfaggery posts?
Damn, top Tier Bait right here
Wow
Just wow
You sound like a sad 12 year old anime weeb. I lost my shit multiple times while reading this “review” because almost everything you say is nonsense and cringey.
I’m still trying to figure out the racist part but hey what ever its 2020 we throw that around everywhere. That being aside the game was pretty fun for like the the one hours it took to get all the characters and then it’s like grind grind grind grind to make all but one character meet min levels and then your first and main is wildly over powered. I started with the cleric as my main and it helps to have an op white mage that heals everyone to max with one heal but my god the boss battles take for ever because everyone else is so low. The game would have been thousands times better if you could swap characters at least while on the road to even their levels out and maybe swap the lead too. It’s a shame it was such a slow paced bare min story because it was advertised decently.
Agreed.
This entire “review” was a joke.
I feel bad for the poor sap that took the time to put… whatever this is together. Imagine being THAT big of a bitch…
Amen
Are you retarded? Why would only a racist enjoy it (OR are you just throwing that world around because you still think a thesaurus is a dinosaur)? Jesus, don’t have kids you loser.
Sounds like a comment a racist would make. :/
Article is a trainwreck, comments are a shitshow
Considering that the article was written by a whiny cocksucking internet faggot, not sure why I expected anything different
Your mother is a jerk.
Lmao this dudes 12
Wow what an incompetent reply done by a shit head who just recently learnt that 1+2=3 you have right to say the gameplay is shit when you can’t even write the character’s names properly and to say it’s racist is absurd since there is no racial comments
Worst article I’ve ever seen written. What a biased and racist article. You have some nerve thinking this game only appeals to racists. This is how far left people think. You have a sick view of the world. It’s not the other people around you, it’s just you.
I am racist though :)
Not hating on your opinion or anything, but none of these have anything to do with racism, also, just because you didn’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s a bad game, if you wanted exciting action-packed battles, why did you buy a JRPG?
Sounds like you’re on the wrong site.
Is “A white progressive’s view” supposed to be a joke?
*a game only a racist could like* I’m not racist and I like the game and if your looking for action why are you playing a jrpg and it is 8-bit graphics by the way
Wow, you nailed it. You actually pulled off an extremist view from all the bad game’s “journalists” and put it into one Article. The best part is that you bait racism the most, but yet never acknowledge the theme or any evidence that points to it. I hope you really work hard and write for a great publisher and that this banter is just a throw away account.
I test out my Kotaku articles here first.
I found your shitty article while looking for Primrose hentai.
You must be incredibly irrelevant for this garbage to only show up when looking for that
learn how to booru, faggot
ME TOO LMAOOO
NGL I showed up here too LOL
I was looking for ship art of primrose my fave tied with H’aanet and this complete shitshow showed up. also, I am not racist, some of my best friends and my favorite singers are black.
you are entitled to your opinion, but why should nintendo fans kill themselves over a fucking game? Why do you think this has ANYTHING to do with racism? Maybe it could do something with incels, but not rascists. It’s not like blackface is in the game. I don’t understand your logic. By that logic literally any game with killing is a game only a murderer would like, and every fucking game with cars in it are for people who like to crash them. And also, why so serious about a GAME!? There are muslim terrorists out there killing people, and all you do to contribute to those families who have someone who lost their lives is make an article on how games are for racists. And you could like a game just bc of MECHANICS. Y’know what, I don’t even know why I’m doing this. Fuck you. Get a life. Get friends to care more than games like I have.
lol
Imagine getting fucking toasted only to reply with lol. I heard that people that tell others to kill themselves tend to be suicidal themselves. Hopefully you go through with it in the most painful way because reading your fucking article made me want blind myself.
Sincerely, the guy fucking you mom
BRAVO! seriously! good job. U did the right thing this article is not helping! also it was made in JAPAN and japan is one of the nicest places on earth further supporting your statement
You hypocrite. You point out something that is supposedly racist by your simpleton logic, seeming like you are against hate, yet you tell these “RaSiSt!11” people to go kill themselves, obviously spreading you’re hatred. What if these lovers don’t like it because of the graphics or a SINGULAR character’s storyline, but because of nostalgia and the mechanics? Are these mechanics racist? No. And you gave this game a 2/10 just because you couldn’t help it because you have a prejudice against square nix, I presume… I’m not surprised, bitch. I wish whinny-ass bitches like you died instead of Etika. If you ARE dead irl, I’m happy. Does this make me racist by your logic? By that logic, everyone who hated you will automatically be racist then! You’re just like Zarna Joshi – calling anything and everything and anything “Sexual harassment”, or in your case, “RaSisM”, just because you don’t like it. Betcha you’re just a whinny 16 year old who’s sulky bc their parents took away the Xbox. Fuck you. Stop blaming video games for all your problems and get a life.
The fuck’s an Etika?
God you fucking disgusting racist piece of fucking shit garbage game reviewer get a fucking life, you didn’t care enough about this game to get the damn Character names right, ffs just actually play the game, you played JRPG for fast-paced action, why in the everloving fuck would you do that, you stupid 6th grade twat, and you just said you don’t know “what’s an Etika?” you’re saying this about a man who actually died, god if i could stick a 12 foot pole down your fucking throat god help me i would, luckily for you that wont happen because you’re just a Neckbeard sitting behind a screen all day eating Cheeto’s behind a fucking anime girl profile picture, not only you have a fucking Clickbait article? Why would you that you fucking sociopathic, racist, braindead idiot on the internet a damn game.
Killed himself because shiters like you
Fucking weeb
Obvious troll, idk how people got baited into actually thinking this a serious article lol. I found this shit while looking for R34 on the game :/.
This is a glorified hate piece
brugh u have an a anime profile fuck off
I dont understand what it is with people like you these days. It’s like your sad pathetic insignificant lives are just so little to you that you have to shit on things to get attention and acknowledgement. Like good for you? You baited some people, myself included… but like… isnt there something more productive you could do with your time? I dont know why I’m even bothering to ask. Lol get off the computer and go play in traffic.
Where does the racist part come from
I hope you got Corona and hugged your grandparents. :) Even knowing this is a shitpost and bait, it’s just sad and attention seeking. Which makes me wonder if your grandparents, parents, or any family or friends even like you, let alone exist.
aw he couldnt beat his peepee to the game :(
this is so sad :pensive:
i personally disagree, but i actually commented here to point out the really concentrated amount of toxic hate and shit. what the actual fuck though? why can’t you disagree with a person online without personally insulting them? specifically one that said that OP shouldn’t wish people dead, AND THEN FOLLOWING THAT UP WITH WISHING OP WAS DEAD! why does the interet disappoint me so much? why can’twe argument with ONLY facts and logic instead of insults? to all you who act toxic on the internt, please just grow up, it’s just a game, you’re allowed to like something or dislike something without having to experience this kinda shit. same goes for you OP.
my personal score of the game: liked it. 7/10. did get a bit repetetive though.
Too far. You gloss over the music, and how it naturally flows into the start of a battle, or into a boss battle. You gloss over the fact that the combat is original, and requires you to think through every turn, and then cherrypick a screen of your drunken ass getting handed to you by some grind fodder in sunshade, and call it “boring gameplay.” I don’t care that this was written like a shitpost- you still told people who play the switch to kill themselves, when you bought the damn thing to play some Mario Kart.
Mario Kart Switch is the only good game Nintendo ever made.
Sounds like something someone who hasn’t played Mario Kart DS would say
I play the superior game, Crash Team Racing, which is for people who have skill and can consistently power slide into more power slides.
Mario Kart is a game for casuals with its weak power sliding compared to Crash Team Racing’s much more competitive power sliding.
Mario Kart Wii would like a word
Is that an N64 game?
Nuh uh, Sonic is the best you fucking butthole
🗿
i hate this game, but you’re actually retarded
man, i really don’t like this game, but the way ur review is titled, i guess i have to like the game? or is this a thumbs and fingers thing, like all octopath fans are racists but not all racists are octopath fans.
i’m not tryna be a fan
i found this article last year and i frequently think about it as i lay awake at night
Imagine being so stupid the only thing you can think of to say about a game you don’t like is that it’s ‘racist’. Even while you demonstrate the most disgusting level of misogyny and transphobia this side of the last young republicans meeting. This is what happens when you let meth replace your breakfast. Wear a helmet when you go outside, moron. Maybe look into having your mittens sewen to your jacket while you’re at it.
You are the blackest retard gorilla nigger I have ever seen
Bro what is that from i need to know
I agree completely with this! I enjoyed playing the game when I first got it, but I think a lot of that was just me filling in the gaps for the lack of character they show. I actually stopped playing the game because of how grindy it is, and realized later I wasn’t invested enough in the characters’ plotlines to actually finish the game. Still, I won’t lie, I liked a lot of the ideas behind the characters (I think it was mostly the st themes and aesthetic of the characters tbh), Tressa was probably my favorite character just because she seemed the most light and enjoyable, and the idea of playing as a merchant I thought was a pretty novel idea at the time. The soundtrack is probably the best thing I got out of the game by far, it does such a good job of conveying stuff it basically carries how boring the game is.
also – I found this article by searching up “Octopath traveler sucks” because I wanted to understand more why I couldn’t pick up the game and why other people didn’t like it, and it’s sad to see how many people went to search up r34 only to for some reason read an entire article instead. Like I don’t even get why you stuck around and read the article AND made a comment after it was obvious this wasn’t what you wanted. Not only did you not accomplish what you set out to do, you also self-reported in a huge way, don’t understand why you’d willingly comment that.
also realize I’m really late to the discourse, still thought I’d leave my appreciation for this.
I hate nintendo as an organization, but I think they can make some pretty good games