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[JohnnyTropics]

I think that the individual stories are interesting and pay off well enough, the complaint was that the characters basically have no interaction once they join your team. It's like 8 mini stories with NPCs in the background. I really enjoyed Primrose's story quite a bit.

I'm sure the budget for the first game wasn't huge, since they had no way to gauge its success, so given that, and the fact that the narrative style was fairly unique, I think it was pretty good.

It's a Squenix game that sold 3 million and released on all major platforms.
Not to say it was a massive project, but on a sliding budgetary scale, I'm moving it closer to marquee title than plucky indy that could.
Don't get me wrong--turn based JRPGs will always be my favorite genre, so I wanted to love this one, but...
I think saying that we need more character "interaction" misses the mark: we need more narrative structure.
10, 15, 20 hours into an RPG, I should not be slogging through introductory missions and chapter one plot points.
If that happens one time it's annoying.
Twice would be highly unusual and a legitimate gripe.
3 times would be unheard of.
4 times? Wow.
5 times? This seems absurd, but let's keep going.
6? Why stop here.
7? That's the sweet spot, apparently.
And if that's the narrative intention, fine--but don't make me out to be the bad guy for wanting a narrative pay off commensurate with that amount of set up.

 

[Topher]

It's a Squenix game that sold 3 million and released on all major platforms.
Not to say it was a massive project, but on a sliding budgetary scale, I'm moving it closer to marquee title than plucky indy that could.
Don't get me wrong--turn based JRPGs will always be my favorite genre, so I wanted to love this one, but...
I think saying that we need more character "interaction" misses the mark: we need more narrative structure.
10, 15, 20 hours into an RPG, I should not be slogging through introductory missions and chapter one plot points.
If that happens one time it's annoying.
Twice would be highly unusual and a legitimate gripe.
3 times would be unheard of.
4 times? Wow.
5 times? This seems absurd, but let's keep going.
6? Why stop here.
7? That's the sweet spot, apparently.
And if that's the narrative intention, fine--but don't make me out to be the bad guy for wanting a narrative pay off commensurate with that amount of set up.

Sure, but that's a matter of personal preference. I looked at it like a book of short stories that were interconnected but stood alone. I liked jumping back and forth between the stories all the way through. Obviously the devs took feedback that the characters need more interaction than just the side conversations and that is fine, but personally, I'm afraid that the stories might lose some of their individual charm. I mean.....if you just didn't the structure then that is fine, but I don't think anyone is making you out to be the "bad guy" for having an opinion.

 

[Pejo]

It's a Squenix game that sold 3 million and released on all major platforms.
Not to say it was a massive project, but on a sliding budgetary scale, I'm moving it closer to marquee title than plucky indy that could.
Don't get me wrong--turn based JRPGs will always be my favorite genre, so I wanted to love this one, but...
I think saying that we need more character "interaction" misses the mark: we need more narrative structure.
10, 15, 20 hours into an RPG, I should not be slogging through introductory missions and chapter one plot points.
If that happens one time it's annoying.
Twice would be highly unusual and a legitimate gripe.
3 times would be unheard of.
4 times? Wow.
5 times? This seems absurd, but let's keep going.
6? Why stop here.
7? That's the sweet spot, apparently.
And if that's the narrative intention, fine--but don't make me out to be the bad guy for wanting a narrative pay off commensurate with that amount of set up.

Well it's not like the budget is set AFTER the game is out and has success. I don't have any internal financials of SE, but they seem to have no faith in turn-based games, even less so before the success of the first Octopath, so I don't think you can correlate sales with budget in this case.

Also, your point on the 8 introductions, the game was built that you could solo your way through it with any particular character. All of the recruiting was optional. If you don't see the intro to the character(s) you are recruiting, what would give you any information on what they are, what they represent, what are their unique mechanics, etc? The game actually gets harder the more characters you recruit, so there's nothing forcing you to get all 8 in a single playthrough. Just because you are geared mentally to do it doesn't make it mandatory.

Was it a perfect storytelling mechanic? No way. But it's not so offensively bad that you can't be assed to play through 7 optional introductions to get invested in the characters at least a little. My opinion anyways.

 

[Knightime_X]

So basically massive walls of text.
I couldn't stand the 1st game, wayyyyyyyy too much text padding.

 

[Topher]

So basically massive walls of text.
I couldn't stand the 1st game, wayyyyyyyy too much text padding.

What massive walls of text?

 

[Hero_Select]

That was the main reason why I skipped the first game. Now I'm legitimately hyped for this one!

 

[Knightime_X]

What massive walls of text?

By the time I finished reading all the nonsense in the first game I was already at the 2nd boss in final fantasy 4.
Way too much reading.

 

[Metnut]

Hopefully they include real dungeons this time too.

 

[Topher]

By the time I finished reading all the nonsense in the first game I was already at the 2nd boss in final fantasy 4.
Way too much reading.

There was dialogue between characters and short "the story so far" summaries. Not walls of text.

 

[Captain Toad]

I disagree. I enjoyed the stories. Oh well.

Same. They were all good, even though they didn't really overlap.

 

[Danjin44]

Same. They were all good, even though they didn't really overlap.

Me too, stories and character were good for me, the only problem was each story is isolated until very end.

 

[Knightime_X]

There was dialogue between characters and short "the story so far" summaries. Not walls of text.

It's still 20+ minutes of talking.
Just give me bullet points if it's not lore or remotely important.

 

[Topher]

It's still 20+ minutes of talking.
Just give me bullet points if it's not lore or remotely important.

20 minutes? Are we talking about the same game? Wall of text and 20 minutes of dialogue? This does not describe Octopath Traveler.

 

[Knightime_X]

20 minutes? Are we talking about the same game? Wall of text and 20 minutes of dialogue? This does not describe Octopath Traveler.

1st game.
Edit: Tried the demo, got bored of reading.
Tl;dr uninstalled

 

[Topher]

1st game.

 

[Knightime_X]

Implying 2nd game has less text?

 

[Topher]

Implying 2nd game has less text?

Stating the first game doesn't have as much reading as you say it does. Still trying to figure out where 20 minutes of dialogue is coming from.

Maybe someone else can tell me where I missed that.

 

[Knightime_X]

Stating the first game doesn't have as much reading as you say it does. Still trying to figure out where 20 minutes of dialogue is coming from.

Maybe someone else can tell me where I missed that.

I know what I played.
Compared to earlier rpg titles 16bit or newer it was a bit much in the text department.

I found final fantasy tactics to be less chatty.

Lots of filler nonsense.
Not for me.

Was interested in this but will probably skip.

 

[Topher]

I know what I played.
Compared to earlier rpg titles 16bit or newer it was a bit much in the text department.

I found final fantasy tactics to be less chatty.

Lots of filler nonsense.
Not for me.

Was interested in this but will probably skip.

If it isn't for you then it isn't for you. I'm not questioning that.

 

[Knightime_X]

If it isn't for you then it isn't for you. I'm not questioning that.

And that's fine.
It'll give it an honest go if it ever comes to gamepass.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

I am 10 hours into the first game, and have made the decision to abandon it.
I searched for some opinions on here, and happy to have found this thread with others who share my view:
The tales not joining together into a satisfying story resolution bothers me on a (GM) level so deep that I am almost offended they're making a sequel.
I am genuinely curious, though, which JRPGs you would rank below this title.
If you don't mind responding: what are 3 JPRGs you think are better than this, and 3 that are worse--and why they're better/worse.

What an odd request. I think a lot of jrpgs are both better and worse than OT for various reasons. I love the game because of the battle system. You having only played 10 hours, quitting and then "being offended of a sequel" beckons an explanation.

 

[sigmaZ]

They will fuck each others brains out after every battle won.

 

[sigmaZ]

By the time I finished reading all the nonsense in the first game I was already at the 2nd boss in final fantasy 4.
Way too much reading.

This is precisely why I stopped liking most RPGs since the late PS1 era. I'm always relieved when I play game that 'get it'. I want the bulk of my time in battle and customization and the story short, sweet and poignant.