Nonetheless, traditional JRPGs still hold a near and dear place in my heart. With games like Persona 5 and Dragon Quest XI carrying on the JRPG legacy and garnering critical acclaim, perhaps it is too soon to say that JRPGs have become obsolete.
Octopath Traveler, as many have already noted, is very reminiscent of the old-school 2D JRPGs that were released on the Super Nintendo. Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger are oft remembered as the greatest games of all time (they're also a couple of my favorite games). Like many others, these games left indelible impressions on my mind when I played through them when I was younger. Clearly, Square Enix took inspiration from these classics (and many other games like them), which arguably perfected the JRPG formula.
The common elements of a JRPG are easily recognizable for anyone who has played them. Turn-based battles, random encounters (usually), experience points and a leveling system, unique characters and storylines, and a lot of grinding...
Octopath Traveler incorporates all of these elements and embraces a 2.5D aesthetic with pixelated sprites and artwork that make the game look like a gorgeous pop-up book. The special "Wayfarer's Edition," which I of course had to buy, also includes a pop-up book, which further illustrates this point. The graphics of this game instantly remind players of good ol' days of Snes JRPGs.
In truth, the gameplay in JRPGs can quickly become repetitive and monotonous. Attack, attack, heal, use magic or special skill, attack, attack, heal... Usually it's not necessarily the gameplay that draws people in: it's the stories.
Does Octopath Traveler tell an amazing story like many of its predecessors?
The story's alright.
Now, I really like the characters in Octopath Traveler. A few of them struck me as bland or generic at first, but as I witnessed their stories develop, I began taking a liking to them. Compared to other JRPGs that often include convoluted (but very interesting) stories involving evil empires, gods, and end-of-the-world scenarios, Octopath Traveler instead chooses to focus on more down-to-earth stories for each of the eight characters that explore various themes such as the dangers of pursuing knowledge (Cyrus), self-discovery through adventure (Tressa), facing one's past (Olberic), unconditional love for family (Ophelia), the consequences of revenge (Primrose), regaining the ability to trust others after betrayal (Therion), loyalty to one's mentor (H'aanit), and the difficulties of choosing between life and death (Alfyn). Of course, should the player decide to complete the post-game content, they can fight an evil god as the final boss. Beating this guy took me four tries and I think almost ten hours. Oh yeah, JRPGs can be pretty tough, and I have learned several lessons of patience from playing them throughout the years.
For the most part, in Octopath Traveler, each character's story arc is stand-alone. There are some loose ends and connections between various characters that are revealed in the optional final dungeon, but the four chapters of a character's story generally just concentrate on that particular character.
Of the eight stories in Octopath Traveler, I personally found Alfyn's to be to most memorable. Though, I also liked the conclusions to Cyrus' and Tressa's stories.
We are now treading into spoiler territory, so if the reader doesn't like spoilers, then they should stop reading until after they've finished the game.
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I need to provide some commentary on Alfyn's story in particular. Initially, I thought that he was the most bland character of the eight. Then, I soon found his story to be the most compelling.
As an apothecary (the equivalent to a traveling doctor in Octopath Traveler's world), Alfyn travels from town to town to see if there is anyone suffering from illness or in need of treatment.
In chapter 2, Alfyn comes across another apothecary named Vanessa. Turns out she deliberately planted a disease in a town in order to force the citizens to have to buy her medicine for exorbitant amounts of money. Also, she doesn't treat a poor young girl simply because her mother doesn't have enough money (and this apothecary is the reason the young girl became sick in the first place). Ironically, the girl's mother chastises Alfyn at first because she assumes that Vanessa is a better apothecary, then Vanessa refuses to save the daughter's life because the mother cannot afford the medicine. Desperate, the mother begins to lose hope, thinking that her daughter will die because of their poverty. It's almost like the U.S. healthcare system, except doctors aren't making their patients sick on purpose. Thankfully, Alfyn saves the day and confronts this unethical, greedy apothecary, bringing an end to her schemes and procuring the medicine for the mother's daughter. Postconventional morality at its finest.
Chapters 3 and 4 are when things get heavy, for Alfyn's story can be pretty dark at times. A man named Miguel, whose life Alfyn saves, ends up lying to Alfyn and taking advantage of his kindness. After being told that Miguel was a life "not worth saving" by Ogen, another and far more experienced apothecary, Alfyn still chooses to save Miguel's life, hoping to inspire him to start over and leave behind his life as a murderer and thief. Then Miguel kidnaps a young boy and threatens to kill him.
Great.
Now, I found this story fascinating because it addresses a moral dilemma that I find incredibly complex. How does one go about deciding who should live and who should die? Should anyone have this authority? If given a choice of whether to save the life of an immoral human being, should we save them or let them die? According to Ogen, some lives are simply not worth saving. The logic is that if one saves the life of a murderer, this will lead to the deaths and suffering of others. As Ogen suggests, we have to ask ourselves "what it truly means to save a man's life." Is every life worth saving? How do we determine whether someone is beyond saving?
Like Alfyn, I originally felt that Ogen was incredibly cold when he told Alfyn that Miguel's life was not worth saving. Yet, Miguel also made up a story about having to resort to thievery in order to support his family. We find out later that Miguel lied; he doesn't have a family. Of course, how could Alfyn have known? Is he simply too kind and gullible for his own good? Perhaps, but so am I.
After beating Miguel, Alfyn ultimately decides to not treat him a second time. Alfyn's entire ethos of treating others no matter what the circumstances begins to crumble, as he doubts himself and questions whether he can live up to his ideals and moral standards as an apothecary.
In chapter 4, Alfyn finds out that Ogen is dying due to disease. Ogen does not want to be treated and instead chooses to embrace his own death. In the past, Ogen's wife was murdered by a criminal whose life Ogen chose to save, much like how Alfyn chose to save Miguel's life. After coming home to the scene of his dead wife's body in a pool of blood, Ogen sought out the murderer and ended his life. Even though he killed Ogen's wife, this man had a family, and now this family was without a father. As such, Ogen concludes that his own life is one that is not worth saving, for he blames himself for his wife's death and regrets allowing his vengeance to consume him.
Which leads Alfyn to ask himself
Indeed, how does one go about fixing a busted soul? When one has experienced such tragedy, is death the better option? This is one of Shakespeare's favorite questions.
Instead of letting Ogen die, Alfyn chooses to save Ogen's life. This involves defeating a giant bird for an ingredient needed to make an elixir that can cure Ogen's malady. Despite constantly berating Alfyn to let him be, Ogen is eventually touched by Alfyn's selflessness and willingness to go so far to save a life, one that Ogen himself deemed "not worth saving."
Alfyn is correct. We aren't gods; we're simply human. My takeaway from Alfyn's story is that we need to keep on living and never give up on one another. Sure, there are plenty of terrible people in the world, but screw them.
Besides Alfyn's story, I also liked the lesson in Cyrus' story about how pursuing knowledge can be dangerous. Cyrus' story reminds of Frankenstein: Like Victor Frankenstein (and myself in some ways), Cyrus has an insatiable thirst for knowledge. However, unlike Victor, Cyrus truly understands the need for responsibility and caution when one has so much power/knowledge. He also knows what it means to be a good teacher.
To every bad teacher out there in the world, listen to Cyrus. Learn to teach better.
Anyways, I really enjoyed playing Octopath Traveler. I invested 80 hours into completing not only the main story, but all the side quests in addition to defeating the secret final boss. This game reminded me of why I fell in love with JRPGs in the first place so many years ago, and it gave me hope that traditional JRPGs still have a place in today's gaming world. Sure, they can be a bit boring and repetitive at times, but their stories are certainly worth the time. They're also very pretty.
Now here's my gallery of each character's ending artwork.
After four attempts and nearly ten hours, I finally managed to beat the final boss. Here's my proof:
Octopath Traveler is a lovely game. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the game serves as a reminder of how and why JRPGs have been so great throughout the years.
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