Page 4 • Octopath Traveller • Gaming • Switch • Eurogamer.net

uiruki 4 Jun 2018 10:51:57 5,975 posts
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Depends on what they mean by tough. If it’s a case of having to react to enemies and there being lots of scope for them to change things up with the odd gimmicky boss or dungeon then great. If it’s having to find lots of secret stuff to keep up or grind a lot then less so.

DangerousDave_87 4 Jun 2018 11:37:55 7,074 posts
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Rather than stumbling across a bunch of random encounters on your path to the boss, you'll only have one or two – but these battles are almost as hard as a boss battle in another RPG.

Even six hours into the campaign and with our characters at level 25 or so, each random encounter was really, really tough. Basic battles took around 15-20 minutes to complete, and that's if players were able to win the battle at all.

Taken from Pocket Gamer

In battles though, the amount of options leads to long runtimes—I'm talking seemingly 10 or so minutes long—even of the small, random encounter variety while just traversing a dungeon. Whether you've figured out enemies' weaknesses already in previous encounters or not, even the battles that feel like they'd be a breeze for grinding or exploring in other games is a brutal challenge in Octopath Traveler. With no enemies on the map to dodge and unseen battles just springing upon you unexpectedly like a JRPG from the 1990s, you're basically locked in for whatever awaits you in the shadows.

Taken from USGamer

uiruki 4 Jun 2018 11:50:59 5,975 posts
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Interesting. I’m reminded of the approach Akira Tsuchiya’s games for Gust tried to take where there were limited encounters (but still random), to the point where you could barrel through an entire dungeon worth of encounters in one go. That approach makes me more interested in the game for sure as I thought the battles felt too fiddly in the demo if they were going to have you constantly fighting.

THFourteen 4 Jun 2018 11:58:18 54,987 posts
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Post deleted

THFourteen 4 Jun 2018 11:58:29 54,987 posts
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15-20 minutes per battle and you might lose and have to repeat it?! And it’s not a boss battle?

Jebusmeh

DangerousDave_87 4 Jun 2018 12:47:17 7,074 posts
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It'll come down to how engaging the battles are. I did get stuck fighting a rare enemy in Xenoblade a couple of months back that went on for 45 minutes! All because it kept spawning little minions every 5 minutes, and other enemies in the area were respawning every 10 minutes, and the enemy I was trying to take down had an insane amount of health.

And after all that the loot I was rewarded all fell into the cloud sea. :/

Humperfunk 4 Jun 2018 14:29:02 8,634 posts
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Hmm if the norm of a battle is 10-20 minutes per time, let alone without the high risk of losing and having to start again, I'm definitely out unfortunately

ChiefGB 4 Jun 2018 14:52:35 13,815 posts
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I actually started this demo last night after having it sat on my switch for months. It's rather lovely but I did get smashed by the first "boss" then it was late so I turned off. Sounds like the shape of things to come :/

Buts it's oh so charming.

ghearoid 4 Jun 2018 15:23:30 3,758 posts
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I've been on the fence with this one and was planning on trying the demo again, but I think I'll just wait for the dust to settle and see what people think a couple of months after release.

fretto 4 Jun 2018 19:02:58 639 posts
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15-20 mins for a normal battle would be ridiculous. Boss battles must last an hour!?

Duffking 4 Jun 2018 19:13:03 16,964 posts
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Long fights were the exception in X2 though. Save for an awkward phase in Chapter 3 where you haven't fully gripped Blade Combos and don't have chain attacks yet, everything dies quite fast in that game assuming you "get" the combat system.

Sounds to me like this is going for long fights, but less frequent encounters as a rule. Which is largely how the demo was.

richyroo 4 Jun 2018 19:28:51 662 posts
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I thought the demo was spot on with battle lengths. I did hit a difficulty spike at one point then just grinded for 15 mins until I leveled up a couple of times. Overall the difficulty and length of battles felt great.

They will be complaining about turn based combat next and the fact that the graphics look pixelated

PazJohnMitch 5 Jun 2018 09:24:12 17,276 posts
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The talk of hard standard fights is reminding me of Crimson Shroud which was great. (And Etrian Odyssey IV which is also great but had fairly short fights).

Edited by PazJohnMitch at 09:25:22 05-06-2018

hypoBla5t 7 Jul 2018 14:28:01 2,289 posts
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Fights not lasting too long for me. Just joined my 3rd character and did their boss, took 5-10 mins? Was fairly challenging but not impossible. It’s letting me play on after 3 hours though, anyone know how the timing of the demo works? It’s a pre-order for me I think.

richyroo 7 Jul 2018 22:25:49 662 posts
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@hypoBla5t I think the demo just ends once you leave the area/town you are in after the 3 hour limit is up.

Famitsu have already awarded this a generous 36/40. So stoked for this game, already got it pre-ordered.

Evasion 8 Jul 2018 00:37:00 31 posts
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This looks interesting, but I'm one of the people that are concerned over the apparently small level of interaction between the characters. I don't think it has been completely confirmed yet, as this is just based on the previews, but it seems like such a waste to have those characters and yet only give them minimal interaction as a party.

THFourteen 8 Jul 2018 06:01:57 54,987 posts
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@richyroo

36/40 in Famitsu is quite shite :-)

Cadence 8 Jul 2018 08:08:44 2,585 posts
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Didn't they give FF13 full marks?

Switch-v85 8 Jul 2018 08:42:20 4,290 posts
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Yeah Famitsu reviews aren't reliable at all. I've not played the demo but think I might pick it up, really enjoying the Switch at the moment and find a lot more to time to game with it. Not played a proper JRPG for years.

richyroo 8 Jul 2018 09:14:51 662 posts
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I can see why there wouldnt be any interaction between the characters in the first couple of chapters. The openness of the game design means there would be too many possibilities and lines of code to program/record depending on who you have in your party at the time.

I am hoping this changes as the game progresses, but in all honesty I enjoyed the demo so much I am picking up the game regardless.

Edited by richyroo at 09:15:20 08-07-2018

Ultrasoundwave 8 Jul 2018 11:03:19 6,439 posts
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I’m up to 2 1/2 hours on the demo and just met my first other playable character. This is my first JRPG experience and I’m really enjoying it - maybe it won’t turn out as good as other games in the genre, but I’m having a lot of fun.

NOTE TO OTHER GAME DEVELOPERS : Demos still have a place in this world, especially if they’re significant demos that lead into the full game like this one.
Without this demo, I wouldn’t be picking this game up and I imagine there’s probably a few others like me too.

Demos FTW.

DFawkes 8 Jul 2018 14:20:03 32,785 posts
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Start of the game. It's basically 3 timed hours, which you can transfer across if you buy the full thing.

richyroo 8 Jul 2018 14:20:51 662 posts
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@H1ggyLTD Its the 1st 3 hours of the actual game. Your progress carries over to the main game.

richyroo 8 Jul 2018 14:22:02 662 posts
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@H1ggyLTD Or download it Thursday to play the 1st 3 hours a day early and continue the game on Friday!

Duffking 8 Jul 2018 15:36:43 16,964 posts
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I ordered from SimplyGames as they have a habit of dispatching really early.

richyroo 8 Jul 2018 19:55:16 662 posts
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I got my copy pre-ordered from Smyths for £35.00

DFawkes 10 Jul 2018 15:46:29 32,785 posts
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I really shouldn't have started playing the Octopath Prologue properly when I knew full well there was a really nice looking limited edition out for it. I just can't help myself. It's an obvious rip-off (as most of special editions are) but that pop-up book is sooooo pretty!

Also it comes with the game, which I suppose I'll be obligated to play

I started the Prologue with H'aanit the Hunter and have been really enjoying using her beast abilities and capture skills. I actually had a bit of trouble with the first boss due to my stubborn refusal not to use healing items (so entirely my fault), until I found a random beast that is a healer when captured.

My main issue now is I've spent so much time messing about and experimenting with her skills and abilities that I've burned through most of my demo time already and got barely anywhere! I'm reckon I have enough time to recruit an ally, maybe even 2 if I skip their chapter 1s, but I'm honestly more inclined to just do a bit more messing about so I can move on to a second character when I get the full game.

Octopath Traveller • Page 4