Octopath Traveler....

Octopath Traveler has been a game I've been interested in for some time. It's been on and off my PC game wish-list a few times over the years. I like a lot of the games elements; The look/style and animations as well as the turn based combat. What made me hesitate most with it on the game wish-list front was the scale of the game, 8 characters in branching/crossing paths of 60 to 100 hours of gameplay. While I avoided in depth details of the game, that's a big game; A complicated time commitment. Games and time commitments on that scale are ones I've veered away from in the last few years.

Having a chance to play it on PC via Xbox Ultimate was interesting. It confirmed all I liked about the game but there are things I now know for sure that I do not like.

The starter area's/quests at the beginning of each character/class are close clones from one to the other. It's not the only area of the game that has 'similar' activities. With a game this big the last thing I wanted to see was such obviously similar repeated content. Never mind 'Filler'. If your into it then great; If your into games that do a lot of filler then even better... But seeing that the game needed that amount of hours to complete never mind be a 'completionist' with. No wonder I was skeptical then and biased against it now. I know I'd have had a compulsion to do/see 'all the things'. 'Do' the 'filler' for the sake of it. After so many similar games over a lifetime of gaming(Bethesda!) I know my best bet is to avoid it. I know I'm also missing out.

Each character is fun to see in game. A lot 'feels' familiar about the classes/jobs, actions/spells which is good. A lot that can be min/maxed if your into it. Enhanced with the graphical style, artwork, voice acting etc. It all works well......But familiarity breeds contempt. I still favor a hunter over a warrior like in WoW and other RPG's(most of the time); And just like that I found I wanted to spend more time as a certain class and avoid others. A hard balance for a game to cater to as many players play-styles as possible. This game does it well for what I liked; But I guess that all leads down to putting a character party together which is chopped and changed to your style as the game progresses. Not a bad thing overall, for the most part.... 

The old adage of the proof of the pudding is in it's eating is all to true here. As much as there is for me to like about the game; As much as the game 'clicks' with me. I can't get over two of it's game mechanics. 

- The amount of repetition in the game, from surprise ambush filler fights that can ruin my flow, to 'samey' quests/missions.

- Text bubbles...... I found that even with the 'quick' text bubbles enabled, fantastically voice acted in both (English and Japanese) as they are; Are so time consuming and bland that I kept clicking past all the text and in doing so all the story and context/motivations(all of which I found to be 'meh'). 

With those two facts, frustration at repetition and skipping all text/story.... What really is the point of playing for 60 to 100 hours! The combat is good but it's not that good! 

I'm not a hardcore JRPG fan so I can't be 'forgiving' never mind shill for it. Each to their own(again). Saying all this, it's my personal considerations to my play-style; Small quibbles I can't get past because they seem to snowball as the game goes on..... The more I played the less the game has clicked with me. 

So I stopped......And uninstalled it.... It's not the only game I can play. I'm happy to have checked it out as far as I did and see it in the flesh myself; But dámn I'd have been disappointed to have bought this game blind(I avoided YouTube playthroughs).