From Zero to... Well, About Eighty Hours Later Look, I'm not saying Octopath Traveler 0 consumed my life, but I definitely forgot what sunlight looks like and my houseplants have staged an intervention. The Good Stuff: This is what happens when Square Enix takes their mobile game, strips out all the gacha nonsense (thank the pixel gods), and asks "what if we made this "actually good"?" The result? A legitimate 80-100 hour JRPG that somehow justifies every minute. Let's talk about the elephant in the room: EIGHT-PERSON PARTY BATTLES. Not four. EIGHT. Split between front and back rows with completely different tactical roles. The front row dishes out pain while the back row recovers HP and SP every turn, and you can swap them mid-combat. It's like the previous games' combat system got a tactical depth upgrade and suddenly became the most engaging turn-based system I've touched in years. Breaking enemy shields with your front line while your back row batteries up for massive Boosted attacks? "Chef's kiss". This isn't just an improvement—it's a complete game-changer that makes every fight feel like you're conducting an orchestra of violence. Character customization is here for the first time in the series, which is great because I finally got to create a protagonist who looks appropriately dead inside after their hometown gets torched in the opening. Speaking of which, the story actually *coheres* this time instead of being eight separate tales awkwardly duct-taped together. Your town burns down, bad guys need punching, revenge needs serving—simple, effective, emotionally devastating. The HD-2D art style remains absolutely gorgeous. It's like someone took my childhood SNES memories, ran them through a modern graphics card, and added depth-of-field blur just to make me cry. The "It's Complicated" Stuff: Town building is here and it's... fine? It's like someone said "what if Stardew Valley, but make it medieval trauma recovery?" You'll rebuild your hometown brick by brick while hunting down the jerks who burned it down. Does it feel slightly weird to pause your revenge quest to arrange crop fields? Yes. Will you do it anyway because those stat bonuses are too good to ignore? Also yes. Random encounters remain as prevalent as ever (series veterans know what they signed up for). The combat is so good that I don't mind, but if you bounced off the previous games because of the encounter rate, nothing's changed here. You will fight. A lot. The Reality Check: The middle section drags like you're walking through molasses. The prologue slaps, the finale delivers, but hours 40-60? That's when you'll question your life choices. Power through it. The payoff is worth it. With 30+ recruitable characters, some inevitably feel like glorified stat sticks. You'll have your core crew and then... everyone else who shows up for a side quest then ghosts you harder than that Tinder match from 2023. Bottom Line: Octopath Traveler 0 is a 100-hour commitment to beautiful sadness and tactical excellence. It's comfort food for JRPG fans who miss when Square Enix made games that respected their time by *not* respecting their time at all. The town building is whatever, the random encounters are excessive, and yes, you will occasionally wonder if this could have been a 60-hour game. But then you'll pull off a perfect Break chain into a Boost-powered ultimate ability while Yasunori Nishiki's soundtrack swells dramatically in the background, and you'll remember why you play JRPGs in the first place. Recommended if: You have 100 hours to spare, you're emotionally prepared for pixel-art trauma, and you think "town management during a revenge quest" sounds like reasonable multitasking. Not recommended if: You value your free time, hate random encounters, or think 80 hours is "too long" for a game. (It is. I played it anyway. Send help.) Final Score: "Started from zero, now we're several existential crises deep" out of 10. Would I recommend this game? I already have—to my therapist, as an explanation for my recent behavior.

After spending 10+ hours with the game, the story so far 80% heavyhanded melodrama and misery to the point of unintentional comedy. It actually made me angry on a few occassions, and while games making you feel something is something that devs should strive for, they went about it in the wrong way here. Everyone acts in an unbelivably stupid way and came off contrived. The protagonist having the presence of a stone does not help. NPCs will refer to you as a nondescript barely present lobotomite which is essentially what you play as. It's possible to do created characters well like in the Mass Effect or Dragon Age games. Basically, give player meaningful dialogue choices and agency, but that doesn't happen here.

Welcome To Lazypath Traveler 0, where the 0 stands for the amount of effort that was put into this game. The name has lost all it's meaning, as Octopath usually stood for: You had eight characters, paths, classes and stories. It was really neat. Having only 4 characters in combat but a lot of class combinations to choose from was incredible. Now you're getting swarmed with characters with meaningless or no backstory and you have three main stories to chase. Now why is the game lazy? The sprites, areas and most the soundtracks are CTRL+C'd and CTRL + V'd from the first and second game. The story is copied from their mobile gacha game. On top of all that, there are major audio issues. Wonder what they did in those two years of development time? Not worth the money. Get it when it's on 80% sale or sth. Small edit: The Story I managed to tediously fight through was horrendously written. In no point could you have sympathy with the villain or even second guess their actions or intents. They're just plain evil. And the combats through there, including the bosses, took zero effort to beat. Spam attack, swap characters to use their orbs, swap back, etc. Absolutely zero strategy involved so far. If it's not a boss, you instantly kill them with a scholar (which drains half your SP with one use).

Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 are some of my favorite games ever made. This, however, is an abomination. The low quality sprites that lack any kind of filtering, the overly simple enviornments, the low quality battle voices, and the reuse of music from OT1 leads to a very cheap feeling game. This is obviously by Asano's b-team, and it shows. Don't let this be your first OT game. Play the vastly superior games that came before it. This feels like a cheap fan game and shames an otherwise brilliant series. Easily my biggest dissapointment of the year.

good game but so far the audio crunch sounds kinda ass

Graphics are worse than Octopath 2, sound is worse than Octopath 2, story is so boring and unimaginative that i wont even compare it to the other Octopath games. Combat has lost much of it's depths, despite you now having 8 characters at your disposal, but for that to happen it was apparently required to change every class to a point where they are all so same~ish that is doesnt really matter. So TLDR : everything is worse by a landslide in comparison to Octopath 2. I was somewhat positively sceptic about having a new developer and having it based on a gaccha mobile game and the first public reviews from gaming websites (even independent ones) are so contrary (positive) to what the game actually shows. So save your money this isn't just a step down, it fell down 2 flights of stairs, broke its leg and is screaming for help.

Phenomenal in every way. If you liked Octopath 2, pick this up. If you liked Octopath 1, pick this up. If you like RPGs, pick this up. If you like incredible game soundtracks, pick this up. If you love incredible villains, pick this up. If you breathe, pick this up. It's always worth it.

Unlike some of the others, I have not experienced any issues with the sound. It could be because things are different on Linux (which my system is), or my ears being defective, but I would go with the first option. However, having played both OT1 and OT2, I must say this game falls short on the story, gameplay and combat. The story is like they tried to cross off all the possible clichés. The antagonists are all maniacs who likes to kill innocent people for no reason (evil with no depth), and the main characters' main motivation is the revenge of one of them burning down his hometown just because he can. You have three main paths to follow. All with three chapters. However, the base of the required level is the same for all the 1st chapters, 2nd chapters and 3rd chapters. When you have finished one of the first chapters you are already becoming so overpowered that finishing the others 1st chapters will be a walk in the park, and I just did those random combats I met on the way. The stories of each chapters were all just dull, and really not engaging in any way. Trust me: You've seen it all before. So, on top of being overpowered for all the combat following you have a story that is not engaging in any way. I tried finishing just on of the chapters from start to end after completing all the first ones, and that again was no problem at all. I have a hard time believing that anyone has tested the game, when it comes to the combat and level balancing for the chapters. I thought OT1 was ok, but had quite a few flaws. OT2 seemed to have addressed most of the flaws that people had reported, and was actually pretty good. But OT 0 has absolutely nothing I can recommend, and this comes from someone that adores turn-based RPGs. And this is without having noticed any of the audio issues I'm seeing others address. I really tried, but I feel like I wasted at least 10 of those 13 hours of my playtime. I could have written more, but long story short: Not worth anyone's time, in my opinion.

I absolutely love octopath games, but I really can't play this game without my ears hurting. The audio quality is genuinely awful and this needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Until then, I really don't want to play this game and have my first experience with it be miserable.

Game is great, as shown by the demo. Thanks square enix for your retarded shitty denuvo idiots. Edit.: Since some people cannot understand, Denuvo doesn't impact me, neither on the deck (besides the activation issue), nor my PC, it doesn't bother me directly, I do have some games that do have it, BUT I don't like it, and I don't want it in my games, so the review is negative.

I recommend the game I like the combat and I like the village it makes buying good equipment easier. I only do not recommend the game is because of an NPC you meet in the second half named Traveler Charles FUCK HIM AND UNTILL THEY DEVS KILL HIM I can not recommend the game 6/10 game

Just a heads‑up: demo playtime counts toward your refund window. I only played about 14 minutes of the full version after finishing the demo, and it still made me ineligible for a refund. As for the game itself, it feels very similar to the previous entries. The first Octopath had a lot of charm and nostalgia, but at this point the formula hasn’t evolved much. Given the scope and reuse of tools and assets, it’s hard to justify premium pricing for each installment. Many players have now spent $60 + $60 + $50 — a total of $170 — on this trilogy. To put that into perspective, $170 could provide over 100 simple meals for a family of four in a low‑income region. It’s worth thinking about how much value we’re getting from large publishers and whether our money could sometimes make a bigger impact elsewhere. This isn’t meant as an attack on anyone who enjoys the series — just a reminder to expect more from major studios, and maybe consider supporting people in need while exploring free or community‑made RPG experiences that can be just as meaningful.

Octopath without the travelers story. It isn't even a octopath because there isn't 8 paths, theres 3. I guess the 0 really means 0 clue what they made. Heavy downgrade from 2

The things that made me like Octopath 1 and Octopath 2 are exactly the reasons why I also dislike Octopath 0. Octopath 1 and 2 had a endearing and charming cast that covered a wide range of genres; while Octopath 0 stars a silent protagonist, a cast about as interesting as watching paint dry, and a medley of misery porn questlines that don't make a lick of sense. There are certainly components of Octopath 0 that are enjoyable---combat is generally more polished, the ability to field eight units instead of four lends a lot more flexibility in terms of experimentation and team compositions, the ability to equip a wider range of abilities on each character, etc. But the overall depth of the combat engine tends to flatten a lot as you approach the end game: the vast majority of the cast is outscaled via Gacha-style power creep, so you end up abandoning most of your party over time and reduce them to farms for the 1-2 skills they own that are worth carrying over to your better units; the larger party size means that late-game bosses (especially the level 55+ bosses) start to spam instant death attacks so you're forced to spend most of your time reviving your party rather than actually fighting, the lack of your ability to equip secondary jobs to any party members means that you have no reason to retain any of your old party members and you typically end up equipping 'optimal' skills to each of your end-game units rather than having to be creative with your party combinations like in Octopath 1 or 2. Most of the excitement behind the combat engine erodes into endlessly drudgery and grudge work by the end game. Similarly, the writing in Octopath 0 tries to capture the darkness of Primrose's questline in Octopath 1, but without any meaningful counterbalance to the relentless misery porn and the writing is much less clever, so it has less of an impact. Part of the reason why Primrose's questline was so memorable in Octopath 1 is that it stood out---other questlines had moments of darkness and tragedy, but Primrose's questline was defined by it in the same way that Tressa's questline was defined by relentless optimism for the future. If you needed a break from Primrose's questline, you had seven other protagonist questlines to pursue for awhile, and then you could come back to finish it at your leisure. Literally EVERY major questline in Octopath 0 is as dark if not considerably darker than Primrose's questline, and the writing bends over backward to be tragic or depressing even when it stops making any sense. This isn't helped by the fact that the protagonist LITERALY has no voice or dialogue of their own, so most of these questlines have to be carried a cast about as interesting as watching paint dry repeatedly experience tragedy after tragedy like a Tom & Jerry cartoon. After awhile, the writing stops being clever or entertaining, and you're tempted to just skip most of the cutscenes to get it over already. Let me make this clear---I desperately wanted to like Octopath 0. Octopath 1 & 2 are both among my favorite JPRGs, and Octopath 0 was a game I was really looking forward to. But this game isn't what most of us were hoping for. If Octopath 1 & 2 were both solid 8-9/10 games, I'd conservatively rank Octopath 0 as a 6.5 or 7 at best.

This is just objectively worse than 1 and 2 in almost every way, and I would have known that in advance if the advertising was honest and told the customer how this is a full priced port of a mobile game. The combat is about the same but the classes are terrible, progression and options are even less than OT1, but the worst thing by far is the story. My God is the story awful, the pacing is terrible, there are 5 or 6 false "Finales" before you get to the actual end chapter, I couldn't even finish it, made it to the 3rd final chapter and had to uninstall. Just awful, if you have to play this dreck, wait for 75% off at least. Don't get scammed like I did.

by the name i thought it was a hentai game, never been so dissapointed and happily surprised at the same time.

Sound quality is terrible, it sounds compressed or smth The game looks and feels rushed/unfinished nothing close to the previous two titles feels like a cheap octopath clone you would find on the playstore for your phone

The story of Octopath Traveler 0 operates on a moral spectrum so simple it would bore a toddler. The plot is too aggressively black and white; our protagonists and their companions are so relentlessly kind to everyone and everything, adhering rigidly to the saccharine principle that "friendship power defeats anything." They exist as flawless, two-dimensional exemplars of virtue. Conversely, the antagonist is merely a total, obviously horrendous, and utterly corrupt evil, a villain so transparently wicked that it forces you to suspend belief and wonder HOW on earth someone with that attitude manages to successfully recruit enough people to tie their own shoes, let alone lead an effective organization. If you are the type of person who genuinely enjoys this simplistic, morally pristine narrative where complex characterization is discarded for platitudes, then by all means, buy this game. However, if you prefer genuinely intelligent storytelling that explores moral gray areas, features realistic humans capable of both good and bad, or demands that you actually think about who the villain might truly be, then you should absolutely, for the sake of your intellectual health, avoid this game entirely.

在美术和场景设计方面，本作对HD-2D风格的呈现明显偏离了系列正作的方向。八方旅人1、2代通过清晰的构图、夸张的景深和舞台剧式光影，让像素画面呈现出类似微缩模型的质感，而本作的场景材质则更接近真实材质的直接缩小，木材、石砖和草地普遍缺乏像素风格特征，部分贴图甚至显得粗糙，多种美术取向混杂却缺乏统一审美。景深效果的弱化进一步削减了画面的层次感，使场景不再具有“精致小巧”的舞台感，光影也不再承担情绪表达的作用，镜头整体趋于保守。再加上一些空间布局本身就不够合理，最终导致整体画面更偏向功能展示，而非系列以往强调的氛围营造。 音频和音乐方面的问题主要体现在完成度和整体一致性上。早期存在的音质问题虽然后续得到了修正，但音乐内容大量沿用一代BGM，使听觉体验更像是旧素材的延续，而不是为本作量身打造的整体表达。同时在很多剧情关键节点，BGM戛然而止，或者瞬间跳转到其他BGM，导致代入感和游戏体验奇差。剧情演出中，主角全程没有语音，仅通过文字（其实文字都没有，只有省略号和偶尔几个无足轻重的选项）推进，与角色创建阶段提供的声音选择形成明显落差，使音频设计在叙事层面显得目的不明，也削弱了代入感。 玩法层面引入了多角色战斗（现在能区分前后排了）、多武器（新增加了两种）和村庄建设等新要素，确实与正作形成了一定区分，但系统之间的平衡和引导不足。前期角色的SP上限偏低，而技能消耗普遍较高，导致技能在实际战斗中的几乎毫无作用，直到中后期有装备和等级支撑以后才稍微好一些，玩家很容易回归到BP配合普通攻击的最简解法，技能系统的存在感因此被压缩。这并非玩法本身无法成立，而是数值与节奏设计未能有效鼓励玩家使用和尝试不同战术，战斗体验也随之变得不如前两部作品。 在剧情与整体结构上，本作呈现出明显的流程化倾向。支线任务被直接集中标注在地图上，并支持一键追踪，减少了通过探索和对话逐步发现内容的过程。NPC交互的设计也不够完整，部分NPC完全无法被应用地图技能，显得突兀且带有明显的取舍痕迹。更重要的是，剧情中几乎没有角色展现出不可替代性，每个角色在叙事功能上都显得相对多余，甚至包括主角本身。主角被圣火神选中的理由并未得到充分铺垫，从剧情结构上看，即便将这一身份替换给其他角色，例如建筑师女儿，故事似乎也仍然能够在不发生实质变化的情况下继续推进，这使得人物塑造非常单薄和缺乏说服力。 从名称本身来看，本作对系列理念的背离同样明显。“八方旅人”的英文名 Octopath Traveler 由 Octo（八）与 Path（道路）组成，指向“多名角色、各自独立却并行展开的旅途”，强调每个角色在叙事中的同等地位与不可替代性。但本作中，角色之间的功能与动机高度同质化，个人路径完全不明显，几十个可游玩角色，甚至到通关我都只记得八方旅人1的八位主角，其他人物我连名字都不熟。人物更像围绕单一机制运转的可替换单位，既谈不上“八条道路”，也难以称之为真正的“旅人”。在这一层面上，本作的叙事结构甚至可以被视为对自身名称语义的一种否定。 总结就是手游感拉满，非常廉价，非常劣质，非常没有诚意。能玩下去全靠我对前两作的感情在支撑，即便现在已经通关，也很难说服我自己这是八方旅人的正作，这质量属实不配。 ====================================================================== In terms of art and scene design, this game's presentation of the HD-2D style deviates significantly from the main series. Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 used clear composition, exaggerated depth of field, and theatrical lighting to give the pixelated graphics a miniature model-like quality. This game's scene textures, however, are closer to direct reductions of real-world materials; wood, stone bricks, and grass generally lack pixel art characteristics, and some textures even appear rough. Multiple artistic approaches are mixed together without a unified aesthetic. The weakened depth of field further reduces the sense of depth in the image, making the scenes less like "exquisite miniature" stages, and the lighting no longer serves to convey emotion. The overall camera work is more conservative. Combined with some poorly designed spatial layouts, the overall visuals lean more towards functional display rather than the atmospheric creation emphasized in previous installments. The problems with audio and music mainly lie in their completeness and overall consistency. Although early sound quality issues were later corrected, the music heavily reuses BGM from the first game, making the auditory experience feel more like a continuation of old material rather than a cohesive expression tailored to this game. Furthermore, at many crucial plot points, the BGM abruptly stops or instantly switches to another track, resulting in a jarring and poor gaming experience. During story sequences, the protagonist has no voice acting, progressing only through text (or rather, ellipses and occasional insignificant choices), creating a stark contrast with the voice options provided during character creation. This makes the audio design seem purposeless on a narrative level and weakens immersion. In terms of gameplay, new elements such as multi-character combat (now with front and back rows), multiple weapons (two new types added), and village building have been introduced, creating some distinction from the main series. However, the balance and guidance between these systems are insufficient. Early on, the characters' SP limits are low, while skill costs are generally high, rendering skills almost useless in actual combat until later stages with better equipment and levels. Players easily revert to the simplest solution of using BP with normal attacks, thus diminishing the importance of the skill system. This isn't because the gameplay itself is flawed, but rather because the numerical balance and pacing fail to effectively encourage players to use and experiment with different tactics, resulting in a less engaging combat experience compared to the previous two games. In terms of plot and overall structure, this game exhibits a clear tendency towards a more linear and formulaic approach. Side quests are directly marked on the map and support one-click tracking, reducing the process of gradually discovering content through exploration and dialogue. The NPC interaction design is also incomplete; some NPCs cannot be interacted with using map skills, which feels abrupt and shows clear signs of compromises. More importantly, almost no character in the story exhibits indispensability; each character seems relatively redundant in terms of narrative function, even including the protagonist themselves. The reason the protagonist was chosen by the Sacred Flame God is not adequately explained. From a narrative structure perspective, even if this role were given to another character, such as the architect's daughter, the story would still seem to progress without substantial changes. This makes the character development very weak and unconvincing. From the name itself, the game's deviation from the series' concept is also evident. The English name "Octopath Traveler" is composed of "Octo" (eight) and "Path" (road), referring to "multiple characters, each with their own independent yet parallel journeys," emphasizing the equal status and indispensability of each character in the narrative. However, in this game, the functions and motivations of the characters are highly homogenized, and individual paths are completely unclear. With dozens of playable characters, even after finishing the game, I only remember the eight protagonists from Octopath Traveler 1; I don't even know the names of the other characters. The characters are more like interchangeable units revolving around a single mechanism, neither representing "eight paths" nor truly being "travelers." On this level, the game's narrative structure can even be considered a negation of the meaning of its own name. In summary, it feels completely like a mobile game, very cheap, very low-quality, and very insincere. The only reason I was able to finish it was because of my affection for the previous two games. Even now that I've completed it, it's hard to convince myself that this is a legitimate entry in the Octopath Traveler series; the quality simply doesn't measure up. ====================================================================== 再来说点好的： 1. 剧情内容很丰富，体量相较前两作都有提升，价格也更便宜，可以说性价比还不错。 2. 有很多系统非常便利，改善了游戏体验，包括但不限于：小地图以及小地图展开、地图显示宝箱和精英探索度、训练所训练非队伍成员。 3. 技能系统相较前两作有很大不同，有点意思，可以只是装备其他职业的技能而非两个职业单纯的混搭。这一点极大程度提升了角色技能的复杂度、多样性和可玩性。 4. 加上了动物NPC，这一点对游戏体验提升其实不算大，但是让画面更鲜活了。 ====================================================================== Now for some positive points: 1. The story content is very rich, and the overall size is larger than the previous two games, while the price is also cheaper, making it quite cost-effective. 2. Many systems are very convenient and improve the gaming experience, including but not limited to: the mini-map and its expansion, the map displaying treasure chests and elite enemy locations, and the ability to train non-party members in the training facility. 3. The skill system is significantly different from the previous two games and quite interesting. It allows you to equip skills from other classes rather than simply mixing and matching two classes. This greatly increases the complexity, diversity, and replayability of character skills. 4. The addition of animal NPCs doesn't significantly improve the gameplay experience, but it makes the game world feel more vibrant.

All the things that made the first two games really good and charming they just decided to completely get rid of.

My town looks worse than my state's ghetto hood

It feels more like a novel than a game. Too many cut scenes, i find myself starting to skip the story because its not interesting and way to many cut scenes. I dont like the fact the protagonist in this one is only one able to have multiple jobs...... took that fun away. Feel like they dumbed down 2 and made 0.

So I'm having a solid time cause its Octopath and I have an affinity for the series, but the audio issues are crazy. Haven't played a game with audio crunch this bad in I don't know how long. Sincerely hoping that the full quality files do actually exist *somewhere* and that this isn't a permanent issue due to initially recording at low quality.

I am on keyboard and mouse, and the controls sucks. I bought the game on PC and was expecting a smooth control system with keyboard and mouse. Probably going to refund the game. Why can't you guys make the mouse cursor able to select anything on the main menu jesus christ man.

Let me preface this by mentioning that I have played the mobile version of this some time ago, so the story and mechanics are familiar to me, sadly this version of Octopath Traveler COTC seems to be a worst of both worlds. For a console release this seems like we are going backwards. There are some QoL features missing, e.g. I constantly find myself teleporting to Wishvale just to heal up my party after a battle with an NPC, while the mobile version knew this and would fully heal your party after a battle. Update: They locked QoL features like teleporting to Dungeons or seeing your boss counter behind a town quest you can only do 20h into the game. This game is a big joke, even the mobile port had this stuff enabled from the getgo. I just saw now that this is from the same developers as Various Daylife, makes sense why they would mess this up so badly. I know that they cannot have the level of complexity of the mobile port, but what they did here is just a half-way solution that feels very underwhelming. None of the travelers I met so far feel exciting to use, their skillsets are boring. The strength of the OG Octopaths 1 & 2 was it's class system and how each traveler had a base class you could combine with another, what we get here is a shitty version of the mobile system where each traveler has a desingated class. Exploration is rather boring too since they took too much inspiration from the mobile port which made sense there to have a focused map with tiny locations, but why keep this for the console release? Can't say much about the city building thing, don't care about it. Can't say much about the story too since I never care about those in Octopath, for me these games shine the most in their exploration and combat. Octopath 0 is quite a fitting name, cuz it feels like we went 2 steps back with this one.