Octopath Traveler 0 Review – Grim Tales and Great Battles

Octopath Traveler 0 Review

I’ve always played Octopath games for the mechanics, rather than for the story. I just love building the perfect party so much, everything else feels diminished by comparison. Octopath Traveler 0 is the first time I’ve actively disliked, rather than ignored, the larger narrative. To be fair, the mechanics are still excellent. I love the combat, the customization is deeply satisfying, and there’s a whole town to build. But the plot is something of a giant bummer. Or rather, said plot is front-loaded with gruesome tragedy. It’s downright unpalatable.

Acts of Insidious Evil

Don’t worry, I won’t dig into any specific details. It’s just, why are the villains so cartoonish and utterly despicable? True, Square Enix games are famous for their charismatic psychopaths in colorful clothing. I’m not sure why this specific set has me so unsettled. There are tiny glimmers of humanity, but they’re buried in a cavalcade of unspeakable cruelty. These guys are the absolute worst, in other words. I found myself dragging my heels, not wanting to progress in their stories. I was so certain only suffering awaited me, and I was frequently proven right. To be fair, the whole game isn’t quite this bleak. Some of the storm clouds do part, at least a little. But my overall enthusiasm for the game was definitely dampened.

I also felt a bit restrained by the pacing. But this might be an extension of my reluctance to progress through the first major portion of the campaign. Just like the first two games, you’ve got a lot of freedom to choose your specific route forward. Although you’ve got fewer paths, there are still many choices to be made along the way. In fact, it’s the changes that make the pacing feel off. Where you’d previously be spending a third of the game or more assembling your complete roster, Octopath 0 is much more expedient. You’re also chewing through story sections a bit faster than usual. Getting to the last chapter of a given tale is breezy work compared to before.

0 to 8 in Record Time

One major change to the combat mechanics is your party size. You’ve now got eight characters to work with, which totally rules. But I’m also concerned that this slightly upends the difficulty balance. I’m used to major battles in Octopath being something of a noble struggle. You ride the line between victory and defeat, limping across the finish with a handful of hit points between your whole party. But all this changes once you get a full complement of fighters under your belt. Suddenly you’ve got twice as many units, way more weapon variety, and a lot more chances. A lot of fights just feel easier all of a sudden. Which is either amazing or awful, depending on why you play these games in the first place.

The flipside to this problem of too many characters is that you have a ton of them to choose from. Way more than 8, for starters. Which I’m just thrilled about. It might throw off the balance a bit, but the customization possibilities are tantalizing. I wish the protagonist wasn’t the only one able to change jobs, but you can still whip up basically any party configuration you require. Elemental magic is split amongst multiple characters, which I don’t love. It reinforces the need for a well-balanced party, but even eight people can feel useless without the right spells.

All New Party Mechanics

Octopath 0 is also a city builder, at least in theory. Practically speaking, this is more of a main quest line with some new mechanics added in. You pick where buildings go, who lives in them, and what kind of decor is all over the village. It’s pretty light work, but still satisfying. If nothing else, you watch the town of Wishvale come back to life. Also, all the surviving residents get to grieve and heal. It’s a fascinating way to make the initial tragedy, the inciting incident, feel more tangible. It’s an awful thing that happens to these people, it makes sense that the event would linger forever in their hearts and minds. So it’s not quite mechanically satisfying, but it adds depth and weight to the plot.

I don’t play Octopath games for the plot. This is more true than ever before with Octopath Traveler 0. This story spends several long hours being a gigantic bummer. It’s bad enough to mess up the pacing and sap my enthusiasm. On the other hand, the mechanical systems at work are as intricate and rewarding as they’ve ever been. I love tuning up my gigantic party, tweaking their skillsets, and unleashing them on the world at large. If it’s a little too easy at first, that’s okay. The music and the visuals are as excellent as I hoped for, and there’s a whole town to rebuild as well. Like the previous games, there’s a lot to love about Octopath 0. It all comes down to what you’re looking for.

***A PS5 code was provided by the publisher***