Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, Square Enix’s new gacha review

relationship between them Square Enix and mobile gaming was pretty complex until a while ago, starting with the first expensive and not very detailed porting of old games. Recently, however, the house of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest seems to have stepped up its strategy in this area and embraced the latest trends with a certain enthusiasm. This does not necessarily lead to titles appreciated by historical users, but often quite the opposite, but as we see here Octopath Traveler review: Champions of the Continentmore precisely, games that focus on usage dynamics and mobile business models that demonstrate significant mastery in this area are emerging.

Unfortunately, this also leads to titles that diverge from historical tradition, often for a publisher tied to game genres far from those genres, but in some cases a convincing middle ground can emerge. Considering that even Octopath Traveler itself is a highly experimental project, perhaps this has bolstered its adaptation in this new format: Its focus on meeting different characters along the way seems like an invitation to reject it, in fact in RPG mobile gacha form. , even if that last feature always seems like some kind of blasphemy in the face of more traditional JRPGs.

Square Enix was able to capitalize on this idea to create a well-structured game that balances between its classic origins and the most modern trends of the mobile market, tapping into the already built world for its consoles division, and changing its history. and progress to place them in the new context. The result is convincing regarding various aspects such as the narrative, setting and combat system, but the system’s distortions gacha free to play but they arise in the long run and even turn to costly microtransactions to reach the cutting edge.

Story-seeking characters

like his ancestor, History of Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent focuses on its characters and changes to the hero’s traits based on the choices we make at the beginning. The first part, in particular, proposes three different paths with quite different stories depending on the destination we set for our traveller: wealth, fame or power. Each of these desires leads to a different path that leads to exploring different environments and fighting a particular enemy, but all three are characterized by somewhat dramatic overtones. right there storytelling it represents one of the characterizing elements of this game: although it doesn’t shine in a particular way compared to other RPGs, the writing quality is definitely superior to most mobile RPGs with gacha elements, and that’s already an important distinguishing feature.

system gacha Naturally, it goes well with a game with a strong focus on heroes and the possibility of expanding your group, with more than 60 different characters you can communicate with, some with a narrative background to explore, especially the heroes of the game. various posters were offered in stages.

The summoning of characters follows the standard rules of the genre, with different rarity classes corresponding to the maximum attainable power: their drop percentages are in line with those typical of most gachas, ie. highest levels. It is clear that it is a challenging system. microtransactions And technically, the absence of any multiplayer PvP elements is a pay-to-win, even if it at least avoids the most frustrating drags of such games. The idea remains that the implementation of this solution, moreover with very expensive in-app purchases (up to 100 Euros for currencies, 30 Euros for 10 calls), pollutes a pure JRPG born with very different intentions, but yes, one might say which, if nothing else, is not one of the worst practices of gacha.

Gameplay and mobile adaptation

Even then, the tutorial is obviously long and boring, but the menus look pretty clear and aren’t filled with obscure text or icons, which is pretty rare in this type of experience. Perhaps the most positive element of Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, battle system, from the episode on consoles, which appeared mainly with some variations on the progression and management of the characters, but remained as deep and tactical as the original for the rest. Here, too, we have a party of eight warriors arranged in parallel rows of four, with characters that can be changed as needed, and a “guard break” system that forces them to hit enemies’ weak spots using specific weapons or skills. persistence, to be able to concentrate on stronger attacks later through the boost system. Given the amount of different specializations (professions) that can characterize warriors, and the variety of upgrades that open new slots for special abilities, in addition to the variety guaranteed by the 8 characters on the field, it is easy to understand how conflicts have always been. quite encouraging, so much that while the need for Leveling up is not lacking, it is true that autoplay is not even taken into account.

system Control On the other hand, it has been completely revised for touchscreen and relies on swipes and taps of the screen, as even exploration – while conceptually free – is guided on very sensitive tracks that only require you to change directions with quick finger movements. and even no support for controllers.

Technically speaking, Champions of the Continent convincingly continues “HD-2D” style it was very successful with the original, but there is still a general simplification, especially in using 2D sprites.

It should also be said that the graphics system is quite expensive, and in most cases the game automatically lowers it to the lowest settings in order to preserve performance (though not too high). graphic noticeable decrease in quality. In any case, the look remains truly remarkable, and the atmosphere is always pleasant and special, thanks to a truly high-profile soundtrack. Finally, the dialogs are (at least for now) only in Japanese and all text is in english.