Octopath Traveler 0

Octopath Traveler 0 asks you to stick with a 100-hour journey, and it rewards you with the kinds of moments only lengthy RPGs can pull off with its overarching story, an intricate turn-based combat system, and a soundtrack that'll leave you absolutely floored.

Octopath Traveller 0 masterfully transforms the once mobile game into a fully fleshed JRPG romp that feels as feature-rich and engaging as the prior console and PC releases.

Octopath Traveler 0 is much, much more than a simple remake of a mobile game. It uses that as a base, but still feels like a full fledged RPG in its own right. It’s a different take on a lot of Octopath’s usual systems and tropes, and feels incredibly refreshing in that respect. Its plot can flounder at the start and middle chapters, but can be enthralling once it finally gets going. The battle system is just as fun as ever, being bigger and yet more restrictive in a very interesting way....

With the Octopath Traveler series, Square Enix went in a different direction than its previous RPGs. Rather than focus on a single main protagonist, the idea was to focus on eight of them. They'd come from different walks of life, but fate would bring them together to fight alongside each other. They'd fight against evil with a unique spin on the typical turn-based combat system. While Team Asano crafted the first two Octopath Traveler games, the new Octopath Traveler 0 has been put together by DokiDoki Groove Works, a studio that most recently put together the mobile-only Octopath Traveler: C...

Octopath Traveler 0 is a good prequel that stands shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the series.

Square Enix's conversion of Champions of the Continent delivers an engaging, if completely different, take on Octopath.

Octopath Traveler 0 is a great game in its broadest strokes, but manages to miss the high benchmark that the rest of the series has set for me. The bones of a mobile game are still very much here, candied with the presentation of a console experience. Despite this, I still largely enjoyed my time with Octopath Traveler 0, and very much want to see more from this now staple franchise.

Octopath Traveler 0 is a game I'm glad I spent time with, even if it made me sigh as often as it made me lean forward. It delivers some of the series' most memorable moments, both in how it tells its story and in how it lets you build a small corner of its world through Wishvale. At the same time, its constant cutscenes, uneven rewards, and reliance on the illusion of choice keep it from reaching the heights it seems so close to touching. For every moment I was absorbed by its atmosphere or impressed by its combat, there was another where I felt the game tug me back into a pace that wasn't my ...

Now on its third entry in seven years, the Octopath Traveler series and the HD-2D art style it pioneered have quickly become RPG stalwarts. They entertain with retro charm, engaging battles, and cute storylines. On that basis, prequel game Octopath Traveler 0 is another solid dose of turn-based action destined to please — just don’t expect it to match the highs of the second instalment.

Rebuilding Wishvale goes hand-in-hand with how you progress through the campaign. You’ll be able to install new structures and evolve the storyline in the life-sim module, but it depends on levels, which require you to play through the campaign. It’s a great way of mixing up the stories and having you face villains and return home, and an ingenious way of making you play through the core of the game instead of focusing solely on the life-sim mode.

Octopath Traveler 0 has a strong start, with a combat system that feels like a huge improvement over the previous entries and a powerful narrative set up. The story loses steam after the opening narrative branches, and the combination of a silent protagonist and no static party members makes it hard to get invested in the rest of the game’s narrative beats. The combat also starts to grow stale as the game progresses, with the focus on having tons of party members limiting the depth of each ...

It’s certainly a better alternative to the mobile game that inspired it, but what few new ideas Octopath Traveler 0 has do little to give it its own identity and paint a worrying picture for the series’ future.