The original Octopath Traveler was an unexpected hit. The Bravely Default series proved that Square Enix fans hadn’t lost their appetite for calculated, turned-based combat. So the developer gambled on another retro revival by styling Octopath with its instantly recognizable HD sprite-based artwork. The success of that title left fans wanting more.
A console sequel is still over the horizon but the mobile gacha prequel, Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, is a promising stop-gap for those craving more 16-bit goodness. The game recently launched in Japan and is accessible via VPN to non-Japan residents, but it might be better to wait for a global release.
In prior Square Enix gachas like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the global versions of these apps included minor functionality reworks beyond simple localization changes. Here are some additions that’ll hopefully come to mobile Octopath in its eventual global release.
10 Revamp Steal/Purchase
Octopath reinvented the classic JRPG wheel (in a good way) through the introduction of “path actions”. These are unique to each character and base job. Path actions allow players to interrogate witnesses, guide key NPCs to areas where their influence is required, or even rob townsfolk if you can’t afford that fancy new broadsword. The steal and purchase actions are particularly useful. Even when using the latter, Tressa can haggle a seller into parting with wears for a significant discount from the shop price
For many steal targets, however, the available items are either too useless to be worth the effort or so powerful as to be nearly game-breaking if people acquire them early. The stronger the item is, the smaller the odds of successfully stealing it. Of course, simply reloading a game is all that’s required to sidestep the consequences of a failed steal. It’d be good to see these abilities neither nerfed nor buffed but balanced such that the items players earn aren’t so boring as to be passed over nor so enticing as to warrant hours of reloading saves to swipe an endgame-worthy sword at level 10.
9 Party Interactions
The original Octopath was criticized for its lack of intra-party dialogue. Teammates join the party in whichever order a player chooses and people can even skip characters entirely. A result of this narrative liberty is that personal connection between characters is minimal. A complex arc for Ophelia that’s dependent on her knowing Primrose’s starkly contrasting backstory couldn’t work when the player can choose to ignore Primrose.
Champions of the Continent is a gacha meaning there’s almost no chance that randomly awarded playable characters will interact. But fans know that the original party members exist and are involved in this prequel story. So perhaps we’ll see how the actions of one influence the backstory of another even before they meet in the original game.
8 Tiered Endgame
The original game has a few noticeable mechanics. For instance, it is hard to be under-leveled during the main questline, strategy matters more than anything, and a lucky Bewildering Grace grants tons of XP. The secret boss is a different story though. The challenge is grueling, features waves of mini-bosses leading up to the big bad, between which players cannot save.
This represents an astronomical difficulty spike over the story content – which is good for a secret boss. Octopath’s endgame basically consists of grinding to become strong enough for said boss… and that’s it.
A vast gulf between ultra-casual and maximum-sweat content isn’t conducive to running a successful gacha. These kinds of games need to attract all kinds of players. Square Enix mastered difficulty tiers long ago with Final Fantasy XIV though, so they should be able to work something out for the Octopath prequel.
7 Legacy Characters
This wish list item is already confirmed, but one can still dream about which characters will be introduced specifically and how they’ll interact. The original Octopath cast wasn’t short on compelling characters with stand-outs like Olberic, Primrose, and Cyrus.
But there were plenty more non-playable characters who were equally interesting. H’aanit’s master Z’aanta is a worthy early addition. There’s also an entire school of mages just like Cyrus to draw from; maybe his old flame Odette will make an appearance?
6 Mini-games
Octopath’s straight forward RPG design was refreshing, however, there’s one area where Square Enix regressed too much with the original title: mini-games. There are none. Chocobo racing, Blitzball, Triple Triad – these are just mini-games in other Square games.
BandaiNamco had snowboarding and poker in Tales of Vesperia and the infamous Gwent even had a whole mini-game RPG attached to it called The Witcher 3. For a game with dungeons as simplistic as Octopath, mini-games are crucial to breaking up the monotony.
5 Shared Backstories
As the plot unraveled in the original Octopath, the subtle interconnections between each character’s backstory became more apparent. Unfortunately for most of the game, the motivations of one traveler seem incidental to the rest of the party – as if the only reasons they have for banding together are each hero’s unique approaches to punchin’ goblins.
Even if gacha mechanics make it hard to design an ongoing narrative around playable characters, Square could intertwine backstories such that the player feels that their party composition has diegetic significance.
4 Defend. Are You Sure?
From early impressions, it appears that Champions of the Continent won’t import one of its predecessor’s annoyances. Like most vintage JRPGs, Octopath has a ton of menus. Fighting boils down to shuffling a pointer through lists of skills and enemies. Each turn requires multiple clicks which is good because there are many chances to undo a selection…unless people click “defend” by accident.
The new game appears to take the Brave Exvius approach by letting players choose commands for a whole party then telling them “go!” at once. Hopefully, this prevents some wasted turns.
3 Dungeon Variety
For all of the charm of its playable characters, the way Octopath tells their stories leaves a bit to be desired. Traversal is never a chore – the world is detailed, vibrant, and feels new despite the retro aesthetic. But this kind of thing could be improved upon. After all, every chapter plays out the same.
Go to town, get a quest from NPC, find the boss in the nearest dungeon, repeat. The layout of the dungeons changes, but none of them have unique mechanics; players simply walk. Never take the water temple for granted.
2 Summoner…
Really, they could add any new job, but especially summoner. So far, Champions of the Continent has copied all of the jobs from the original game. That’s great, but there’s a lot to be said for mechanical familiarity. If mobile Octopath wants to stick around in the extremely competitive gacha market, however, it’ll have to update itself fast and hopefully, that’ll mean adding more jobs.
The original Octopath already had hunters who functioned like Pokemon trainers by catching mobs and unleashing them later under a player’s command. But while hunter looked a bit like summoner, it didn’t function the same. Hunter only tames regular mobs, not bosses, and it can call upon them instantly for a limited number of uses. Classic Final Fantasy summoners are the opposite – they call upon previously defeated bosses specifically and there’s no limit to how many times this can be done. The only limitation placed on the job’s abilities is the lengthy cast time. For a game like Octopath that emphasizes planning ahead, summoner seems like a natural fit.
1 Advanced Buffs/Debuffs
Octopath already has its own “reflect” equivalent spells, but the game rarely forces players to use these more intricate buffs and debuffs. Considering some of the tricks that Final Fantasy has thrown at players before, Octopath’s combat doesn’t quite expect players to think creatively to the same degree (with the exception of the one secret boss).
FF4 had players use reflect to bounce spells off of their party, FF10 made players zombify their own team, and FF14 regularly expects its players to dance around mechanics or play Simon-says. We’re sure that, as the series ages, its mechanics will mature with it and we can’t wait to see that happen.
