I can't really see any way I'll spoil the game because I'm going to stray away from story entirely but I'm putting the warning here just in case. There might be spoilers for some game mechanics.

Now let's go!

Octopath Traveler is a lavish and layered experience with many elements to keep one coming back. While the art style may have been what drew many in the gameplay and stories are what will keep you there.

To start the gameplay is very easy to grasp. It's a classic turn based RPG. But they add multiple elements to it that end up creating a large strategy.

Every turn you gain boost points and when used they increase the power of an attack substantially. Enemies are also weak to certain weapons and those weapons will damage their shield. Hit an enemy enough times and they'll 'break.'

When broken an enemy can not attack and regular attacks deal more damage. This is normally when you unleash your strongest attacks upon enemies to take them down.

Every character has their own different ability in battle, some of which are tied to their jobs. You have to make the most out of every move and plan ahead to try and break the enemy while keeping yourselves alive and having enough Boost Points to win.

The game was already layered enough when they introduced SubJobs. These are basically a secondary moveset and made the game so much more fun.

There were many new strategies I could pull off such as healing with Cyrus and dealing 12,000 damage with Tressa. The variety truly never ends.

On top of this you have 8 characters to choose from and can customize them accordingly, like in other RPGs. You have tons of items and equipment you can give them so that really it's hard to have the same team as someone else's team.

The battle system always kept me interested but I wish there were a few more elements to it. Regular enemies aren't nearly as interesting when compared to what the bosses can do. I kid you not they have some crazy abilities that turn battles on their heads.

I think it could've been cool if you had shields as well and had to worry about being broken yourselves, because as of right now I just have my healer fully restore the entire team when trouble's afoot.

The game was challenging but not in a frustrating way. I felt like I could overcome any boss with the right team and strategy.

The game's stories are pretty cliche and don't do anything to wow you. But they're serviceable and I found a couple to be really interesting.

There's no real cinematic moments or groundbreaking story elements. (Ok there's one.) but each story has a very satisfying conclusion that wraps up the character's arc and goals. The game opens itself up to not requiring you to play the other stories in this way.

I do wish there was character interaction just like many others do. There is some and what little there is, it's great. The game's characters have incredible chemistry and I often found myself either saying 'awwwww' or just bursting out laughing. There's so much personality and I can tell a lot of care went into these moments. They're reminiscent of Heart to Hearts from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which were some of my favorite parts of that game.

The voice acting is always very good but sometimes the music is so loud it drowns out the people talking. It's a serious issue because it made actually getting immersed difficult.

Another odd thing was because very character only has 4 posses when they would shake hands or come in contact the moment was undercut because I can see they're both just doing the outstretched hand pose and not even touching in the slightest. I sorta understand this but couldn't they just move the sprites a bit closer?

Then when characters attack each other there's just a flash on the screen. Again I understand why but it's always a little jarring.

The game looks astounding. I have never seen a better use of nostalgic 2D sprites. The HD textures are gorgeous and the world is richly detailed.

I wasn't around for the 16 but RPGs but this game really does harken back to the style in a good way. Everything has a pop-up book style to it, because of how the camera is always looked in a certain perspective.

The environments are very unique and I always wanted to explore and find all the hidden treasures and secret passages.

I wish the world was just a little bit bigger. There isn't really much traveling despite the game being called Octopath Traveler.

My favorite areas were the more open ones. Despite them being small and few and far between I always love the idea of running through huge plains with monsters everywhere. Alas the game often locks you on a hard path and even the secret paths are easy to spot because of how little freedom the game allows in terms of movement.

The cities are always fun to run around and explore however. I find their creativity simply sublime most of the time and they can either be pretty small to fairly huge with massive towering mansions in them.

The music is some of the best I've heard in a long time. Many character themes get stuck in my head, not every single one hits but the ones that hit get trapped in my mind.

The battle themes especially are some of my absolute favorites. The boss themes pump me up and I take time to listen for my favorite parts before attacking.

Then there's the real reason why this game is special. The Path Actions. I just love them. It adds layers to the NPCs when you can bring them to battle, learn about their pasts, and buy things from them.

Therion's path action is a personal favorite. Robbing people is very fun especially when you're higher level and stealing is easier.

The path actions are used decently well in each story but they shine the best in the sidequests that take advantage of them.

You actually have a choice in how the sidequests can go depending on which path action you use. Rogues have a risk reward factor but sometimes when you choose a noble they can't use their path action on an NPC so you have to take the risk.

The subjobs also help you build your team around their character and path actions. You don't have to worry about not having a warrior because of the subjobs if the other path actions interest you more.

The game has a large amount of optional areas that will give you plenty to do outside the main story and tons of sidequests. There's even plenty of special enemies and mini bosses.

The game can easily run you over 50 hours just to beat the main stories. Then there's tons of sidequests and other areas to explore in the post game.

Overall I recommend this game to any JRPG fan. It's crafted with tons of love and deserving of anyone's purchase.

I give the game a 9/10.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone! Bye!