You would think an entire army of eight highly-skilled warriors would be more than enough to take down a flock of dungeon-bound beasts, but in Octopath Traveler 0, you really need to work for the victory, even with the help of your friends.
This upcoming prequel cribs a lot from its predecessors, introducing a vast 2D-3D world of magic and monsters, where you are the saviour of humanity. In a recent preview, I was able to get hands-on with a singularly difficult dungeon, with the action picking up after an introductory sequence. Even lacking context, the preview locks you right in – there’s lush paths to travel (of course) and you’ll want to keep your entire team alive with every new and ever-more-dangerous choice you make.
Even with tiny, pixel sprites, the heroes of Octopath Traveler 0 have style and personality in spades. You can see it in the swish of their cloaks, and their fancy little fashion sense – from Phenn’s forest ranger style, to Stia’s practical overalls giving a girl-next-door vibe. In battle, the uniqueness of each character also shines, with each having access to their own full slate of abilities, some more useful than others.
Octopath Traveler 0 makes you work for victory
You can’t really pick favourites in Octopath Traveler 0. Instead, you need to pay attention to circumstances in each turn-based battle. To kick off my preview, the path forward was relatively easy, littered with random encounters against various beasties. A normal attack from at least 3-4 of my heroes would swiftly put these foes away. Entering a main dungeon, the path grew much rockier, requiring strategy over button mashing.
What Octopath Traveler 0 does so well is balancing its difficulty. With a massive party at your command, you’d expect to be overpowered when facing down a roving band of creatures – but the game is never easy. It demands you mix and match your strategy, ensuring you’re making the most of your party and their potential.
It’s not enough to simply lash out. You must experiment with each enemy to figure out their possible weaknesses, and then ensure you’re matching element types as you unleash high-powered magic attacks. There’s other considerations that spice up combat, as well: when an ally inevitably falls, should you waste a precious move to bring them back, at the risk of downing your whole party? How do you ration your healing supplies? When do you use a regular attack, or start using SP to drive damage down?
There is elements of exploration in your combat steps, as you test the waters. Some foes hold secrets close to their chest, and have special attacks or strategies that may be unleashed at the most inopportune time.
Facing off against the preview boss, an entire spanner was thrown in the works when additional monsters spawned in to ruin my strategy of performing sweeping, multi-enemy attacks of lower power in each turn. I was dealing damage to the boss, but spreading the damage across multiple enemies that eventually respawned meant I was wasting time on little critters. So, a new strategy had to be forged: pick the right attacks for elemental weaknesses, but where characters had devastating single-hit blows, use them first – and use a boost to ensure their power.
I fell in my first battle, but changing up strategy served me well in the next stanza, with a refocussed plan ending with my enemy obliterated, and the next stages of the dungeon crawl unlocked.
Seeing the fruits of my labour, and adapting my strategy, proved entirely satisfying. I’m not particularly enamoured by turn-based gameplay in general, but with its mix of opportunities, and how it corrals strengths and weakness, plus the Octopath twist of having such a full and diverse party, the combat here is standout. Paired with that lush 2D-3D art style, battles are bright and dynamic, and add flavour to each step of your travels.
After an hour with the game, it was clear that Octopath Traveler 0 treads familiar ground, in its style and combat blend. But more Octopath Traveler is never a bad thing, and a brand new chapter – however unexpected in its swiftness – will certainly be appreciated by loyal fans.
