PERSONAL

4

2,654

Octopath Traveler - First Impressions

5 years ago - Edited 5 years ago1,755 words

This is likely only interesting to maybe a couple of people, but it's valuable for me since I'm making a game of this genre myself: here are some of the things I noticed and felt playing Octopath Traveler for about 50 minutes.

I got this game a while ago, and I've been meaning to play it ever since, but haven't found the time. I'm trying to look into other games more this week though, so... this!

Actually I intended to play Celeste, which I got from the ridiculous itch.io sale thing (it seems almost criminal to get so much content for so little!), but when I downloaded it and tried to run it, nothing happened! I re-downloaded it and tried again, same result. Oh well, I don't mind buying it again on Steam later.

But for now I had this. It's not an indie game at all, but it's the same genre as Divine Dreams, so it's interesting to notice how I feel about it as a player so then I can know how to approach similar problems in my own game.




What I assume is one of the game's most defining gimmicks is that it lets you choose which of eight characters you want to follow the story of from the start. The positioning of the cursor was closest to a scholar called Cyrus, so I assumed that this is the one the developers intended to be played first. I did!

One of the issues with Taming Dreams is that it started with an exhausting amount of dialogue before the player could do very much of their own accord. But that seems to be the case here too! It dives right into generic fantasy lore stuff too, the sort that - for me at least - goes in one ear and out the other. I don't care about kingdoms or wars or whatever; it's not how I think. I'm more interested in the personal, the psychological, though I wonder if I'm unusual in this and more people GO NUTS to learn that the Garustavarians defeated the Ch'harexieth in the Great War of 104 QCE. The Elder Scrolls' books are full of this stuff, so there's obviously some audience for it? I never had the slightest interest in history though.

I didn't know the game would have voice acting! A couple of people mentioned that Divine Dreams' dialogue should be accompanied by Animal-Crossing-like gabble; currently there's just a 'whoop' sound when a new dialogue box appears. Here, some dialogue is fully voiced, while others lines just have a voice fragment. This is nothing new, but I've always found these voice fragments an annoying solution, especially when they don't match up to the words actually being said except in general intention or feel. I find it distracting. It also feels weird to me having these graphics accompanied by crisp voice acting.

I felt there were too many cutscenes before I got a chance to move around manually, and it wasn't even clear to me when these cutscenes were over since there were long pauses at times. I think that movement should be introduced ASAP because there's a certain eager fidgetiness that I feel when I've yet to actually move the character which I can't imagine is unique to me. I never skip dialogue, but I also wasn't paying much attention during it because I was just eager to get to the actual gameplay.




I find this 'pixelated 3D' look abstractly interesting, but not especially pleasing on the eyes. It's something I'd be happy to support the creation of as an idea, but which my subconscious isn't responding well to. It looks rough, busy. It's something that made me think "I'd like to do something similar in my own games", but these screenshots don't look pleasant in themselves in the way that, say, ∞ GRIS ∞ screenshots do (to me).

It's interesting seeing modern effects like the sleek UI and depth of field blurring together with these heavily pixelated graphics. Feels like something that'll need to grow on me rather than an immediate "oooooh!".

I also found it annoying how there are NPCs standing around like statues who can't actually be interacted with. I can understand why from a gameplay standpoint, and other RPGs do this, but I suppose I've not played another one with these 2D style graphics which did it. Usually they're 3D RPGs where the characters at least animate to suggest interaction with one another.




I find these sprites quite limiting in general, really. I get that they were going for the nostalgia factor, and they did an amazing job of it, but I suppose it's just different to the direction I personally want to go in with DD. This dialogue line amused me; what expression? Or what face, for that matter!

Also, there's a clothy 'fwip' sound effect when this character changes between certain poses which felt... strange, to me. I mean, it made sense, but maybe it's got something to do with defying expectations for these types of visuals? The voice acting felt the same at first.

The angle at which characters stand make scenes like this odd; Cyrus is facing the camera more than he's facing who he should be talking to, it looks like.

I particularly liked how I could transition into rooms or even buildings and the cut between outside and inside was instant instead of a fade through black. Very pleasing; I went in and out of doors a few times just to appreciate it. Something I'd like to copy!




This Headmaster character seemed like A Villain from the first three seconds he was shown. I suppose that's good communication of the character's role, but also an example of how this genre is typically populated by caricatures (some people recently expressed concerns about DD's characters appearing caricatured; I suppose it's different for some NPC though than for the protagonists).

The plotting so far seems... uninteresting to me. All the characters on the character select screen came across as familiar to the point of being boring (a thief, a paladin, a scholar, etc), but I suppose the point of this game is to pay homage to the genre's history, and familiarity breeds appeal. I've yet to have a reason to particularly care about this character's concerns, but that too is very similar to how a lot of these JRPGs tend to go.




This cave is interestingly chaotic and vertically variable in design. Again I find it quite rough, unpleasant on the eyes. Not TERRIBLE, but it doesn't inspire awe or envy or anything. It's fiiiine. Suits the game. I like the pixelated 3D treasure chests!

The camera angle is interesting. I had to think a bit about this with Divine Dreams: do I angle it more top-down, or more flat like this? With this, much, much more of the scenery in front has to be visible, so a lot more needs to be made. I chose the easier option.

There's an item vendor NPC next to this little dungeon's save point for practical reasons. If I had someone like that in my games, I'd give them some absurd dialogue explaining why they're there to make the player laugh. Here, he just says he has some supplies and you can buy them if you want. But why is he there?!

This whole area just exists as a forced-in gameplay obstacle though; the character is seeking out one of his colleagues who just happens to do his research in an underground lab. There's also a bit before this where he's doing some detective work to find out who's committed some crime... and it just happens to be the one guy with the vast underground lab? Who ever would have suspected.




I got up to this first boss, which I found hilarious because he's ENORMOUS, in an obvious reference to how human enemies were handled in the early Final Fantasies (though exaggerated here to really make the point). I always found that funny, how my allies were these little dolls by comparison; really interferes with immersion! I definitely appreciate it here, though, because I know why they did it. And yet this isn't exactly a comedy game, so... hmm.

I died against this boss. I don't understand the battle system yet, despite a brief tutorial (in the form of a static info screen shoved briefly in my face), and despite running around enough to trigger more battles than I would if I'd made a beeline to the goal (also, I greatly dislike that the battles are just random encounters, though that's very much congruent with the aim of the game too so it'd be odd if it was any other way).

My ignorance here is notable because some people on this blog expressed concerns about Divine Dreams' potentially elusive combat mechanics. I can't think of a JRPG I played where the battle mechanics weren't baffling to me for the first hour or so of gameplay! They become clearer as I get more familiar with them.

From what I can tell so far, these mechanics seem straightforward enough, nothing worth really saying much about. I tend not to have strong opinions about JRPG battle systems anyway and just accept them as whatever they are. Strange, maybe, considering how much thought and effort I've had to put into my own.

Also, I notice there's a turn order indicator in the UI, so that's interesting. My character's status display is in the upper right corner, which feels too out-of-the-way to me, though perhaps it'll feel different with more characters. Interesting what's displayed for the enemies: weaknesses, and a number relating to the unique mechanics I don't understand yet, but no HP bar.



I probably spent more time writing this than I did playing the game! But I felt it was valuable to make a note of these thoughts now because the first few minutes are the most valuable for winning a player over or not. I might seem particularly critical here, but it's because I'm paying attention to things I'd rather not do to players with my own work, which I feel is more important than stuff they might like. Human minds are more attuned to annoyance than appreciation, annoyingly.

I enjoy the game overall and I'll keep playing it, to be clear! I'll probably write about it again when I finish, whenever that might be. It seems long.